Thesis (MTh (Practical Theology and Missiology))--University of Stellenbosch, 2009. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: “First, the church isn’t ours; it’s God’s. And second, it isn’t ours; it’s us” (McLaren 2000:7). Wat ook al van die Kerk gesê word, hoe ons as Kerk funksioneer en leef – dit moet altyd gedoen word met hierdie woorde van McLaren in gedagte. Die gesindheid waarmee ons na mekaar kyk en met mekaar verskil is juis dit wat vertel van ons volwassenheid in Christus. “Die kriterium waarmee julle oordeel, sal ook vir julle self gebruik word” (Matteus 7:2)1. Gelowiges vanuit verskillende kerklike agtergronde, met verskillende dogmatiese tradisies en oortuigings, aanbid en dien die Here saam in 'n geloofsgemeenskap sonder enige teologiese spanning. Terwyl daar ruimte gebied word vir verskeie denkrigtings en elkeen se eie pad met God gebied word, gaan dit vir elke gelowige om 'n verhouding met God deur Jesus Christus en die leiding van die Heilige Gees. Verder gaan dit oor verhoudings tussen medegelowiges en 'n missionale praksis2 in die gemeenskap. Volgens Barna verlaat miljoene gelowiges die denominasies en tradisionele gemeentes (2005:11) omdat hulle gefrustreerd geraak het met die beheer binne die onbuigbare mensgemaakte strukture, sisteme en tradisies. Die bedanking van 'n paar honderd gelowiges vanuit die hoofstroom denominasies, net in George alleen, waaronder daar 'n hele aantal voltydse werkers, kerkraadslede en aktiewe lidmate is, maak dit nodig dat die tradisionele manier van kerkwees heroorweeg word. Die Kerk 24/7-beweging wat ontstaan het rondom predikante met Pinkster en Gereformeerde agtergronde, bied 'n geloofsgemeenskap vir dié wat saam met Barna se miljoene, die denominasies verlaat het. Die Beweging besef dat dit deel is van 'n postmoderne omgewing waarin die Kerk besig is om te verander. Hierdie beweging is deel van die Ontluikende Kerk as fenomeen en nie as 'n organisasie wat deur sekere “emergants” of enige iemand anders gelei word nie. Hierdie studie beskryf die Ontluikende Kerk soos veral deur die oë van Barna, Gibbs & Bolger, en McLaren gesien. Dit omskryf ook die ondervindinge en betrokkenheid van veral drie predikante, Breedt, Badenhorst en Potgieter wat saam met ander gelowiges op soek is na God se wil vir die Kerk in 'n postmoderne omgewing. Gedurende die bestaan van drie en 'n half jaar het nog agt ander predikante en voltydse werkers vanuit die Charismatiese, Pinkster en Gereformeerde agtergronde betrokke geraak en is deel van die vorming van die huidige bedieningspraktyk van die Kerk 24/7-beweging. Die antwoorde van die respondente werp meer lig op die redes waarom die betrokke gelowiges hul denominasies en gemeentes verlaat het om hulle saam met ander wat dieselfde oortuigings deel, te “fellowship” en die Here dan so te dien. Hierdie kwalitatiewe studie is die navorser se bydrae om die siening en belewenis van die postmoderne Christen se kerklike ervarings binne sy leefwêreld te beskryf. Die ontstaan van die Kerk 24/7-beweging is volgens die navorser 'n antwoord op die behoefte van talle gelowiges om die Here buite die tradisionele kerkstrukture en sisteme te dien. / ABSTRACT: “First, the church isn’t ours; it’s God’s. And second, it isn’t ours; it’s us” (McLaren 2000:7). Whatever is said about the Church, how we function as the Body of Christ and how we approach the future, must always be done with McLaren’s quote in mind. The attitude with which we differ from each other, will always point to our maturity in Christ. “For in the way you judge, you will be judged; and by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you” (Matthew 7:2). Believers from different spiritual backgrounds and convictions fellowship together in a faith community without any theological tension. While the focus is on a relationship with God through the Holy Spirit, each person is allowed to minister as he or she feels led by the Holy Spirit. What is very important, is the relationship amongst fellow believers and a missional praxis within the community. According to Barna, millions of believers leave the denominations and traditional congregations because of the control within the human-made systems and structures. In George alone a few hundred believers, of which quite a number were full-time workers, left the mainstream denominations in the past four years. This definitely calls for a reconsidering of the traditional way of doing church. The Church 24/7 movement, which was started by pastors from Pentecostal and Reformed backgrounds, offers a faith community to those who left their congregations just as Barna’s millions. The Movement realizes that it finds itself in a postmodern environment where the church is constantly changing. The Church 24/7 movement forms part of the Emerging Church as phenomenon and is not an organization led by the emergants like Brian McLaren or any other leader. This study describes the Emerging Church as chiefly seen through the eyes of Barna, Gibbs & Bolger and McLaren. It also emphasizes the experiences and involvement of Breedt, Badenhorst and Potgieter who started the Movement together with fellow believers. During the past three and a half years, eight other Ministers and full-time workers from the Charismatic, Pentecostal and Reformed backgrounds became part of the exciting development of this ministry which day by day unfolds through the Holy Spirit’s inspiration. The answers given by the respondents help us to understand why believers left their traditional congregations to spontaneously get involved with this new way of thinking about God’s Church. This qualitative study is the contribution of the researcher to describe the experience and perception the postmodern Christian have of church life within this world. According to the researcher the rise of the Church 24/7 movement is an answer to the believers who long to serve God without the traditional church structures and systems.

Thesis (MTh)--Stellenbosch University, 2012. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: In this thesis, we seek to highlight the possible implications, challenges and opportunities postmodernism has for evangelical ecclesiology. Informed by the ongoing conversation between the emerging church movement and mainstream evangelicals, we seek to determine how we account for our being and becoming the ecclesial people of God in Christ by the Spirit in the light of emerging postmodern realities. Taking postmodernism as an ally of post-colonialism and seeing negritude as its antecedent, we also seek to highlight the implications and opportunities these paradigms may have for our understanding of evangelical ecclesiology in our post-colonial, multi-ethnic African contexts. Perhaps these paradigms may enable a nuanced understanding of the theological motifs that inform our understanding of being the ecclesial community of God and enable an innovative space for articulating Afro-centric evangelical ecclesial expressions that are biblically faithful, theologically coherent, contextually relevant and socio-economically informed. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: "Geen opsomming"

THE MINISTRY OF DAN KIMBALL: A MODEL FOR REACHING EMERGING GENERATIONS Blake Thomas Ring, Ph.D. The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, 2011 Chair: Dr. Charles E. Lawless, Jr. This dissertation examines the ministry of Dan Kimball to determine if his ministry is a contributing model for effective ministry to emerging generations. Chapter 1 begins with an examination of the landscape of North American Christianity, seeking to demonstrate that the church is struggling to reach and retain emerging generations. It establishes the need for exploring effective ministry models and presents Kimball's ministry as a possible model for effective ministry to emerging generations. Chapter 2 provides a biographical account of Kimball's life. His adolescence, college years, conversion, pastoral ministry, and roles in the ECM and contemporary Christianity receive examination. Chapter 3 examines an evangelical theological taxonomy, or classification, of Kimball. Attention is given to his theological presuppositions and his doctrinal beliefs regarding Scripture, Christology, the gospel, and Ecclesiology. Chapter 4 explores Kimball's methodological framework. Attention is given to those presuppositions that guide his methodology. His approach to evangelism, discipleship, worship, and preaching are examined. Chapter 5 critiques Kimball's theology and methodology, ascertaining positive and negative contributions. Further consideration is given to the types of adjustments traditional churches might adopt as they engage emerging culture. Chapter 6 summarizes Kimball's involvement in the ECM and his contribution to emerging generational ministry, while also identifying areas of further study regarding Kimball's ministry.

This thesis investigates the subversion of Biblical discourse in Jeanette Winterson’s first two novels, Oranges are Not the Only Fruit and Boating for Beginners. By rewriting Biblical stories Winterson challenges traditional Western religious discourses and their rules for heteronormative social and sexual behaviours and desires. Winterson’s texts respond to the patriarchal nature of socially pervasive texts, such as the Bible, by encouraging her readers to regard these texts with suspicion, thus highlighting what can be seen as a ‘postmodern concern’ with the notion of ‘truth’. Chapter One of this thesis comprises a discussion of Biblical boundaries. These boundaries, I argue, are a process of historical oppression which serves to subjugate and control women, a practice inherent in the Bible and modern society. The Biblical boundaries within which women are expected to live, are carefully portrayed in Oranges and then comically and blasphemously mocked in Boating. Chapter One also argues that Winterson’s sexuality plays an important role in the understanding of her texts, despite her desire for her sexuality to remain ‘outside’ her writing. Chapter Two of this thesis, examines the mix of fact and fiction in Oranges, in order to create a new genre: fictional memoir. The chapter introduces the concept of the ‘autobiographical pact’ and the textual agreement which Winterson creates with her readers. In this chapter, I examine Winterson’s powerful subversion of Biblical discourse, through her narration of Jeanette’s ‘coming out’ within a Biblical framework. Chapter Three of this thesis examines Winterson’s second book, Boating, and the serious elements of this comic book. This chapter studies the various postmodern narrative techniques used in Boating in order to subvert Biblical and historical discourse. Chapter Three highlights Winterson’s postmodern concern with the construction of history as ‘truth’. Finally, Chapter Four compares Oranges and Boating, showing the texts as differing, yet equally relevant textual counterparts. This chapter examines the anti-feminine characters in both texts and Winterson’s ability to align her reader with a feminist or lesbian viewpoint. This thesis argues that Winterson’s first two texts deliberately challenge Biblical discourse in favour of a postmodern feminist viewpoint.

A new concept has appeared over the last couple of years, and it is receiving more and more attention in the media. Its name is postmodernism. Our children are experiencing it in the schools, on television, on the Internet, and magazines are full of it. Postmodernism is busy changing our society irrevocably, and has arrogantly seated itself in our Churches, preaching and Theology. According to postmodernism, there is no such thing as objective, firm and universal truth – everything is subjective, personal and relative experience. That is why postmodernism has brought the following problems to current preaching in the Christian Church. The preaching will eventually loose its grip on objective, revealed truth and will become morally accommodating, and stop proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ as the only Mediator. Soon the Church will forsake its faith, loose its identity and forfeit its calling. Lastly, the attack on preaching is not persecution, but making everything relative. The question is: will we still be able to preach Christ as the only way to the Father? The aim of this thesis is to see the challenges that the postmodern time frame has set for the current preaching, and to take the opportunities it presents, to preach the Word of God effectively. According to this thesis, the answer lies in confessional preaching by confessing Jesus Christ. / Dissertation (MA(Teologie))--University of Pretoria, 2007. / Practical Theology / unrestricted

Afrikaans: In hierdie proefskrif word 'n postmoderne weergawe van die filosofiese redekritiek gesitueer binne die hermeneutiese raamwerke van die onderskeie eietydse diskoerse van die filosofie en die gangbare teologie in die Nederduitsch Hervormde Kerk van Afrika. Vanuit 'n Kantiaanse oriëntering word aangetoon dat daar pogings was om die spanning tussen moderne filosofie en die gangbare teologie in die Nederduitsch Hervormde Kerk te bestendig. Die vrugbare gesprek in die Nederduitsch Hervormde Kerk oor die verhouding teologie-filosofie gedurende die negentigerjare word in hierdie verband krities geresumeer en van 'n analitiese forum voorsien. Postmoderniteit word vervolgens geanaliseer en beskryf as wesenlik redekritiek met dringende identiteitskritiese implikasies. Hier kry die kandidaat se teologiese aansluiting by 'n filosofiese kontinuum waarvan Nietzsche die oorsprong was en wat eietyds verteenwoordig word deur veral Foucault en Adorno, reliëf. Vanuit hierdie weergawe van die postmoderne redekritiek tree die kandidaat, met verwysing na 'n "negatief-dialektiese teologie" en 'n "postmoderne hermeneutiek", met die gevestigde etiese-, konfessionele- en dialektiese tradisielyne in die gangbare teologie in die Nederduitsch Hervormde Kerk en die neerslagte daarvan in hierdie kerk se lewe en werk, in gesprek. English: From the premise of a (postmodern) critique of instrumental reason, this dissertation explores some consequences of such a critique for church and theology. The candidate finds an intimate relation between the philosophical critiques of reason in the work of Nietzsche, Adorno, Foucault and his own theological position which is being described as a "negative dialectical theology". A postmodern critique of reason as presented here is very specific in its relation to history, society and knowledge. It has as its main influence or philosophical source the Kantian project of limiting conventional theoretical rationality. From this Kantian position it proceeds to show how Nietzsche exploited the Kantian notion of the limits of reason and how Adorno and Foucault extended Nietzsche's position to its most extreme but, nevertheless, logical socio-historical consequences. This critique of reason boils down to a somewhat subversive stance. By teaming up with Adorno and Foucault, the candidate describes both modernity and Enlightenment as something to be overcome, to be transgressed, exactly because of the dangerously ambivalent nature of modernity's favorite presentation of rationality: instrumental reason, which focuses on identity thinking, cognitive results and the formalization of reality. The implications of a postmodern critique of reason extend towards a deep rooted pessimism of modern culture, a critique of its systems of knowledge and actions, a critique (or at least recognition) of the typical-modern configuration of power into "normal" socio-historical discourses such as those we find in the institusionalised church and in theology, a critique of identity thinking, a critique of rational propositions (without necessarily agitating for an epistemological relativism), an encouragement to honour the inherent flaws in language and linguistic constructions, the ability to recognize and honour singularity whilst shifting the focus away from universal claims or "master narratives" and, last but not least, the critical recognition of "Otherness" or non-identity. These consequences are brought forward into the socio-historical reality, life and work of the Nederduitsch Hervormde Kerk van Afrika and its current theology by strategic means of a negative dialectical theology, a theology which is mutually Nietzschean, Adornian and Foucauldian in its philosophical nature and eventually, in its theological convictions. / Thesis (DPhil (New Testament))--University of Pretoria, 2007. / New Testament Studies / unrestricted

The phrase “glimpsing the balance between earth and sky” in the thesis title is taken from Jeanette Winterson’s Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit. In this novel, the central character Jeanette believes she has glimpsed the possibility that human relationships can find their mirror in the relationship with God, as she understands the divine Other. This glimpse has set her wandering, trying to find such a balance. This examination of four selected novels by Jeanette Winterson and John Irving shows that for Irving, “glimpsing the balance” means in part, giving voice to a strongly “Christian” view of humankind and human nature but in an age where the prevailing intellectual worldview is strongly sceptical of any Grand Narrative. The “voice” expressed in Irving’s work has to be situated, like Winterson’s, as one among many possibilities. Irving’s voice is itself masked as different, other/Other, freakish, in the narrative worlds he creates. Through his use of grotesque comedy as a vehicle for deeper philosophical concerns, Irving asks us: What after all in the postmodern world is the main show? This thesis argues that if Winterson and Irving are testing or re-presenting a Christian worldview in a postmodern context, than they are asking whether Christianity is capable of assimilating and rising above the worst circumstances the world, writer, and life can throw at it. In Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit, Winterson tells a story of “forbidden love”, posed as a direct challenge to the prevailing way of knowing in her character’s community. In Gut Symmetries, she expands this challenge by employing the insights of quantum physics to make sense of the complexities raised by a triangular love relationship. Irving offers the story of Owen in A Prayer for Owen Meany as the kind of story which might possibly make a believer out of him; in short, that he would have to be a witness to some kind of miracle, something utterly inexplicable. In A Son of the Circus Irving narrates the quest for identity undertaken by an Indian doctor who is in every way a Displaced Person – the condition, he implies, of anyone who purports to find their piece of the truth. The theoretical concerns of the postmodern project are examined through Lawrence Cahoone’s argument that postmodern writing offers criticism of: presence, origin, unity and transcendence through an analytical strategy of constitutive otherness. In each of their texts, Irving and Winterson are seen to use these four critical elements and to offer a postmodern strategy of re-presenting meaning through “constitutive otherness”. Both writers also employ a strategy of historiographic metafiction (as defined by Linda Hutcheon) as a means of constructing and re-presenting their narrated stories. Postmodern paradox is compatible with what could be called a Christian plan for living, if the latter is in turn given an appropriate 1990s interpretation. The selected novels by Winterson and Irving are offered as contemporary evidence for this view. This thesis argues that the connection between postmodernism and other worldviews, particularly Christianity, is found in both projects’ process of making meanings through encounters with an other/Other.

Please read the abstract in the 00front part of this document / Thesis (DD (Practical Theology))--University of Pretoria, 2007. / Practical Theology / unrestricted

The constituent concepts of theology, also practical theology and counselling, have lost much of their previously precise meaning, also by virtue of the growing confusion surrounding what counts as counselling and theology. This crisis has created a lot of uncertainty that this thesis endeavours to counter. As the defining paradigm inscriptions of the old modern methodological boundary stones have weathered away, any attempt simply to rework traditional counselling and theological problems proves to be a futile venture. Even if the measure of critical consciousness regarding worn-out modernistic concepts has been raised to a maximum height towards renewed initiation and even if the intentions remain unabashedly sincere to move beyond the disintegrating modernistic approaches, they prove to be an ineffective scheme. The dissertation states courteously, but deliberately that it is not possible to move beyond modern counselling and theology from within modernism. Postmodernism is also not simply a new critical approach barring generalizations, "grand narratives", objective descriptions and dogmatic statements. Deconstruction, not as a new approach, but rather as opening up new dimensions towards celebrating life, can move beyond modernism towards postmodernism, maintaining reason and logical arguments, and rejecting the slogan "everything goes". In fact, if you scratch a sceptical relativist, you will expose a ... modernist, as the reverse side of an absolutist conviction. Postmodernism and deconstruction set new differentiated agendas for and redraw new-fangled "maps" of counselling and theology. The exposure of the different contemporary approaches regarding certainty in modernism and Cartesian proclamations is distinguished and the different perspectives are thematically woven together as a response to the sense of "crisis" in need of new discernment, rather than by new approaches in defining specific problems. The conclusions of postmodernism and deconstruction are not gratuitous nuggets containing certain solutions to be exchanged for edification of some spurious second enlightenment, but perhaps they are bridgeheads to different shores. The story of "dancing with uncertainty" starts with disentangling modern communication of sending "meaning" and receiving "clear" messages as impossible, towards postmodern communication where "communication is the message". Consequently, counselling and theology are enlivened from ontology to praxis, not by the objective Word or an a priori method, theory or faith determination, but by the praxis of the Holy Spirit. Descartes' legacy, determining life for more than three hundred years, is unraveled and thwarted: - The subject-object split in thinking and acting, supporting "representation" of objects by the subject, is debunked as false. - The transforming of "representation" into "presentation" as the heart of the modern problem, where knowledge is obtained "immediately" and not by way of mediation of language and numerous interpretations, and where God is known directly or "immediately" and not by way of interpreted revelation or human concepts, is rendered fictitious. - The determination of life in al its variety as mathematically, logically and formally certain, causing "facts" to be either true or false depending on the "correct" methodology and theories as solutions, is exposed as conjured. Life, counselling and theology are always in a specific historical vista, cultural context and personal detailed milieu. The perspective determines the validity of the "fact". If you live by "eternal truths" and predetermined certainty, there is no room for the work of the Holy Spirit. A start is made to remove the modern Cartesian foundations of counselling and theologies towards postmodern approaches where we do not know what heals and what certain theology is. Every one can counsel through the Holy Spirit and there are as many theologies, as reactions on the revelations of God in Christ, as there are people. Theology and counselling are pre-theoretical and pre-cognitive as they do not proceed from a translucent self or a "neutral" language. We are not healed or saved through an objective certitude of believing dogmas or applying curing techniques, but by a living faith in Christ and an empowering praxis of the Holy Spirit enlivening us towards more humanness and humaneness. Our approach is pneumatological as we can never in any circumstance determine theology and counselling from outside the process of performing counselling and theologizing. That would follow the devious Cartesian subject-object split of determination of eternal objective truths and methods of curing from inside an isolated monad, the self. Postmodernism claims that we are always already immersed in the world and only when we assume not to be and step back, theorise, theologise and narrate narratives, devise counselling techniques, we actually determine final truths and facts. This is a total deception as we always approach theology and counselling, "objective reality" already with concepts, language assumptions, theories and values. Postmodernism claims that both realism, the conviction of a neutral independent world "out there", as well as idealism (anti-realism), the conviction that certainty entails the mind in full self-consciousness, are false outgrows of Cartesian representations of the subject-object split. The thesis culminates in the postmodern claim of the Holy Spirit overcoming the 2000 years old faith-knowledge dichotomy and dualism. The Holy Spirit does not assist in attaining "supernatural" healing in counselling or obtaining "eternal truth" clarity in theology, but in enhancing the humanness and humaneness of people in this world, eschewing another realm, the supernatural with dominant "theories", "eternal truths" and final dogmas. Exuberance invading this life from the final victory of the Kingdom of God is effected by the Holy Spirit in all spheres of life, albeit tentatively and provisionally. This study concludes by claiming that life is not theologically or psychologically certain, but joyous and beautiful, so that we can always dance with uncertainty. / Philosophy, Practical & Systematic Theology / D.Th.

Thesis (MDiv (Practical Theology and Missiology))--University of Stellenbosch, 2007. / In the postmodern times people’s world changed a lot. A lot of sociological and ecclesiological paradigm shifts took place. These shifts weren’t limited to one area. Globalisation caused these shifts to take place the world over. During modernism the emphasis was mainly on knowledge and the cognitive aspect of man. Now the emphasis shifted to experience. The media provides in this need. Television, films and the internet are focused on giving an experience. The question is what influence these changes have on the church and what people want from the church. The answer is simple. People want an experience of God. The Dutch Reformed Church’s (DRC) emphasis on a rational understanding of God which crystalises in the preaching of the Word which takes a central role in the worship service, does not provide in people’s needs anymore and is out of touch with the experiences of everyday. The hypothesis is as follows: a rediscovery of the essence of reformed liturgy as continuing reforming liturgy has the potential to find a way between the extremes of set traditionalism and irresponsible experimenting where people of our generation can come home and find liturgical guidance for life.