Text in Afrikaans / The URCSA's synod of Northern Transvaal consists of 128 congregations of which 48 are at present without a minister. Of the 48 congregations, 23 are small rural congregations. This does not include the numerous ward churches of large rural congregations that are in essence also small congregations. The URCSA has two historical legacies; namely, material poverty and the Presbyterian form of church governance known as the tipple office-bearers' doctrine (manus triplex) with a built-in hierarchy that affords pastors a prominent leadership role in congregations. The assumption can thus be made that each congregation should have a church council and pastor. As small rural congregations cannot afford the expense of their own minister, they therefore have to cope without one. Against this background one must understand the importance of elders in small rural congregations of the URCSA where the role of pastor is assumed and performed by elders, yet without any official training. This compels the church to probe alternative ways to become a pastor. The former DRMC and DRCA subscribed to an ecclesiastical practise whereby proven church leaders could be admitted as pastors on the grounds of their unique spiritual gifts. This practise has been accepted by the general synod of the URCSA. It is clear from this empirical study that the top leadership of the URCSA should adapt this accepted practise to accommodate the situation of the rural congregations. The possible synthesis of the apprentice, in-service-training, and tent-making models as general models for ministerial training amongst Protestants in the past, could pave the way for an adapted Pauline tent-maker model that will lead to the admittance of proven local church leaders as pastors in the URCSA's rural ward churches and small congregations. The prevailing situation of the rural church necessitates this mode of ministry as a supplementary alternative to the existing training of ministers. As it addresses a critical situation, it does not stand in opposition to the full-time ministry or the thorough theological training of especially the younger people. What does emerge from the context of the rural church, is the need for both modes of ministry. / Philosophy, Practical and Systematic Theology / D.Th.

Text in German, summaries in German and English / Mit der vorliegenden Arbeit wird Ijob 28 in der Perspektive einer ästhetischen Theologie des Alten Testaments, wie sie vornehmlich Helmuth Utzschneider vertritt, untersucht. Entspre-chend der Grundbedeutung der Begriffe Ästhetik und Theologie stehen die Wahrnehmung im Allgemeinen und die Wahrnehmung Gottes im Besonderen im Zentrum der Betrachtung. Hierfür werden im Großen die ästhetische Gestalt und der theologische Gehalt (die Literari-zität und die Theologie, die literarische Ästhetik und die ästhetische Theologie) von Ijob 28 beleuchtet, wobei der Fokus auf dem theologischen Gehalt liegt. Die Untersuchung folgt der These, dass die Analyse von Ijob 28 in ästhetisch-theologischer Blickrichtung einen neuen Verstehenshorizont des Kapitels eröffnet. Dabei birgt das Ergebnis das Potential, Strukturen des Lebens zu heben und bewusst zu machen, um desgleichen deren Erneuerung im Horizont der Gottesfurcht herauszufordern. / This dissertation is an examination of Job 28 from the perspective of an aesthetic theology of the Old Testament, as represented primarily by Helmut Utzschneider. Following the basic meaning of the terms aesthetic and theology, the perception at large and the perception of God specifically are at the core of this exploration. Therefor the aesthetic form and the theo-logical content (the literary aspect and the theology, the literary aesthetic and the aesthetic theology) of Job 28 are examined although a greater focus is on the theological content. The thesis presented here is that an analysis of Job 28 from an aesthetic-theological perspective opens up a new level of understanding this chapter. The result has the potential to recover structures of life and make them more apparent, as well as to provoke their renewal in the light of the fear of God. / Old Testament and Ancient Near Eastern Studies / M. Th. (Old Testament)

Despite the feminisation of the workplace as one of the key developments of this domain, the meaning of work for women is little understood. A phenomenological approach was adopted in this study to gain in-depth understanding of the meaning ascribed to work by a sample of ten South African, women graduates. Literature was used to generate three models - a male-centred, stereotyped and contemporary conceptualisation. Unstructured interviews were conducted and the protocols analysed using the modified Stevick-Colaizzi-Keen method (Creswell, 1998; Stones, 1985; 1986). Themes illustrated that the meaning of work for women is multifaceted and comprises a number of components including sense of identity and self-worth, meeting instrumental needs, social relatedness, serving others, intrinsic satisfaction and the exercise of power and authority. Findings suggested that the meaning women ascribe to work changes when they experience autonomy. Recommendations were made for future research and organisational practices. / Indust and Org Psychology / MA(IND AND ORG PSYCHOLOGY)

Cette thèse propose une analyse de la « cour royale » égyptienne sous la XXVIème dynastie saïte (664-525 av. J.-C.) à partir des sources majoritairement textuelles (privées et royales) et historiques. Le volume de synthèse se développe autour de trois axes principaux traitant la « cour » dans son acception sociale, telle qu’on l’entend dans la sociologie historique. La première partie est ainsi consacrée à l’étude de la cour comme la Maison du souverain afin d’éclairer l’ensemble des activités qui caractérisent la « vie de cour » et son organisation domestique et qui rendent l’espace curial « privé » ou « officiel ». La deuxième partie examine la cour dans son agencement social et en tant qu’outil de représentation et de communication : ce sont alors le protocole du palais royal et son rôle-clef dans le maintien de l’équilibre social entre les souverains saïtes et leurs sujets (système des faveurs–ḥswt) qui sont analysés. La troisième partie se concentre sur les acteurs sociaux de la Résidence du roi (les courtisans et l’entourage royal) et tente de démontrer les différentes catégories auxquelles appartiennent ces élites et de déceler les modalités de leurs accès au palais et au rang de « courtisan modèle » dans la hiérarchie de la cour. Enfin, l’enquête diachronique suivie tout au long de la synthèse permet de mieux connaître l’impact des emprunts archaïsants dans le système palatin saïte, et par conséquent, d’évaluer la continuité et/ou le changement de ce système par rapport aux modèles traditionnels de la cour pharaonique. Le volume du corpus regroupe un ensemble de données prosopographiques appartenant à plus de 130 officiers royaux. Un troisième volume est consacré à la bibliographie générale, aux annexes et index. / This thesis offers an analysis of the Egyptian "royal court" under the XXVIth Saite Dynasty (664-525 BC) based on textual (private and official records) and historical sources. The synthesis develops around three main axes and deals with the "Court" in its social meaning as defined by the historical sociology. The first part, then, concentrates on the study of the court as the House of the sovereign and attempts to identify the activities which characterize the "court life", its domestic organization and which make the curial space "private" or "official". The second part examines the court as a symbol of social order and the outil of representation and communication of the monarchic authority: the protocol of the Royal palace and its key role to maintain the social balance between the Saite kings and their subjects (system of the favours ḥswt) are analyzed here. The third part focuses on the social actors of the Residence (courtiers and royal entourage) and tends to demonstrate the various categories of these elites and to reveal the modalities of their accesses to the palace and to the position of "model courtier" within the hierarchical order of the court. Finally, the diachronic study followed throughout the synthesis allows to better comprehend the impact of the Archaism on the Saite palace institution and consequently to estimate the continuity and/or the changes of this system compared to the traditional models of the Pharaonic court. The corpus includes a group of prosopographical data belonging to more than 130 royal high officials. The third volume is composed of three sections general bibliography, appendices and indexes.