This study is a historical analytical investigation and theological interpretation of Wesleyan Methodists' political teaching and practice in Zimbabwe from 1891 to 1980. In an attempt to come up with an informed interpretation of the political teaching and activities, the study traced Wesleyan Methodist political praxis John Wesley, the founder of Methodism and interpreted his teaching and practice from a third world perspective. That perspective was used as a basis for evaluating the contextualisation of his teaching by Wesleyan Methodists in Zimbabwe. The Zimbabwean Wesleyan Methodists' political teaching and practice during the colonial era were explored using four themes: politics of land, race relationships, Federation and war. Two hypothetical statements were tested in this study: Wesleyan Methodism outlines a framework for constructive participation in politics, and the Wesleyan Methodist Church in Zimbabwe provided and supported positions of political leadership in Zimbabwe. The objectives of this study are to: unveil successes and failures of Wesleyan Methodists in Zimbabwean political arena, expose the historical significance of Wesleyan Methodist influence in politics for Zimbabwean history and present a historical account of the Wesleyan Methodist Church in Zimbabwe. The methodology preferred in this study included oral history and a combination of the ecumenical and southern approaches to Church history. The study utilised archival and oral data as primary sources, the translation model of contextual theology, holistic framework for analysing history, the principle of the overriding right and the conflict transformation model as part of the methodology. Through the use of the translation model of contextual theology, the study revealed how John Wesley used principles from the Christian message and Church tradition in addressing his political context. The study exposed that John Wesley was obsessed with accountability to God and constituency, respect for every person, respect for political structures as well as authorities and relationships among people as fundamental pillars in political activities. He based these on his understanding of God's free grace, people's liberty to accept or reject that grace and the validity of popular religious expression. The study revealed that Wesleyan Methodists in Zimbabwe had a special relationship with the colonial government due to an invitation by Cecil John Rhodes for the church to participate in the Pioneer Column. The relationship determined how retrogressive or progressive ministers responded to government requirements and made demands on government until the country's independence in 1980. The study also exposed how retrogressive Wesleyan Methodists moved from acceptance and collaboration to acceptance and selective rejection of colonial policies and how both retrogressive and progressive ministers employed the concept of non-contestation of participation in armed conflict and throwing one’s lot on the expected side. It also showed how progressive ministers contributed to the political emancipation of Africans and the role played by the mission-educated elite in Zimbabwe. The study ended with pointing out that Zimbabwean Wesleyan Methodist political teaching and practice had very bright future prospects at the independence of the country in 1980. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2011. / Church History and Church Policy / Unrestricted

The thesis is a study of a Guaraní community (comunidad) situated in the Department of Santa Cruz in the southeastern lowlands of Bolivia. The thesis uses the concept of ‘comunidad’ as a focus of investigation. While this concept is one that is familiar and firmly embedded in contemporary discourses throughout Bolivia, the meanings which different people and interest groups attach to it and the purposes which they ascribe to it are far from unanimous. Apart from the physical and legal entity, comprising a group of people, the land on which they live, and the legal title for its ownership, a comunidad is a multifaceted and multilayered complex of diverging and sometimes competing ideas, desires and agendas. Questioning the concept of ‘comunidad’ in this way opens up new perspectives on what people are doing and why that could easily be overlooked in continuing to assume that we know what we are talking about when talking about a ‘comunidad indígena’ in Bolivia today. The thesis explores the case of Cañón de Segura by eliciting and bringing together the various claims and perspectives that impact on the lives of its inhabitants (comunarios). Starting with a historical overview to situate the comunidad within Bolivian and Guaraní history, the thesis moves into an ethnographic discussion of the comunarios’ own perceptions and meanings of ‘comunidad’, followed by an exploration of various outsiders’ perspectives on the same topic that impact on the comunarios’ lives in different ways. The aim of the thesis is to illustrate the overlap and entanglements between these different positions in order to show how the different perspectives on the meaning and purpose of a Guaraní ‘comunidad’ all contribute to shape the actual realities of people’s lives ‘on the ground’.