The constituent concepts of the gospel is not only vital for the correct understanding of the true meaning of Christ, but also for the appropriate meaning and practice of mission to enlarge the church of Christ in his service. The thesis researched the background of the Prosperity Gospel critically in addition to the use of it for missiological purposes to enlarge the church with the luring of poor people with the excessive promises of vast wealth after contributing to the Prosperity Churches generously and substantially from within their poverty. The heart of the research was the analysis of ten sermons by prosperity preachers according to the “open coding” of the “Grounded Theory”, drawing conclusions from the practical analysis of the sermons, instead of the usual research working with the material from a pre-conceived theory. This approach uncovered and displayed the distortion and falsification of the true gospel. The thesis constructed an appropriate benchmark of the authentic gospel against which to measure deviations from the traditional gospel and mission according to this gospel. The dissertation exposed courteously, but deliberately that the Prosperity Gospel was infiltrated with alienated concepts from unscriptural humanism, the “American materialistic dream” and the secular Rogerian psychology with its non-spiritual psychotherapeutic approach, as well as the “profane” preaching of Norman Vincent Peale, comprising “New Thought”, metaphysics, Christian Science, and medical and psychological practices. More serious was the specific “cultic” influences and teachings. Cultic here indicated a system of religious or spiritual beliefs, especially an informal and transient belief system regarded by the traditional churches as misguided, unorthodox, extremist, or even false, and directed by a charismatic, 2 authoritarian leader. Ultimately, the Prosperity Gospel was contaminated with Swedenborgianism, Mesmerism and Unitarianism. The thesis, however, is not negative about the overflowing blessings of God, also regarding temporal prosperity, but the research unearthed the true riches of the gospel of Christ in an exegetical scriptural manner and delineated it in an extensive way – money is indeed “raining from heaven”, but spiritually in a true gospel way, through prayer and in obedience to Christ, depending on faith in God. The norm was “abundance, but not accumulation of riches”. It is sad to have unmasked the fact that some prosperity preachers commanded the churches not to pray anymore, but to command the blessings of God “onto” the “true” believers towards accumulation of vast wealth (cf. “pastor” D O OYEDEPO). The 10 sermons were thoroughly scrutinised and the main problems with the “claiming” of vast wealth according to the gospel brought out in the open – the lack of Christ-centred preaching, the absence of the emphasis of the work of the Holy spirit, the misunderstanding of the “revelation” history, the deficiency of scriptural exegesis and the unscriptural obsession with vast material wealth as a “blessing”. Usually only the prosperity preacher and a few supporters became the “blessed” rich from all the compromised donations of the “masses”. This was followed by a development of the academic discipline of theology, indicating revelation as a historical process, where the gospel moved from survival to justice in the Old Testament, and finally to unconditional love and care according to the Messiah, Jesus Christ. This was situated vis-à-vis an evaluation of the theology of the Prosperity Gospel, portraying the false concept of “faith”. Towards the end of the thesis the perspective of the development of missiology was explained up to the contemporary point and an oversight of the concept of mission of the past century was outlined: It became clear that ecclesiology did not precede missiology, but rather, missiology precedes ecclesiology, because a community of Christians did not first create a church and then developed its mission; a community of Christians participated in God’s mission and thus constituted a church, according to the New Testament. This placed the preaching of the blessings of the gospel and the functioning of God’s mission in true perspective. As poverty is a vital concept regarding the preaching of the Prosperity Gospel the plight of the poor in all its shocking depths were exposed as a problem and a mission task for all the churches of Christ - approximately 15 million people in South Africa live in dire poverty without any hope of alleviation, and 1 billion people in the world live under the poverty datum line. This is a wake-up call for the church of Christ, existing for God’s mission, to face this challenge of mission to the poor. The research closed with a summary of the mission task to the poor. The dissertation concluded with a delineation of possible further topics in this field to be studied. / Christian Spirituality, Church History and Missiology / M.Th. (Missiology)

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ABSTRACT THE USE OF IMAGINATION FOR EXPOSITORY HERMENEUTICS AND HOMILETICS Barnabas Youn Soo Kim, Ph.D. The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, 2014 Chair: Dr. Robert A. Vogel The purpose of this dissertation is to discover the value of imagination for expository preaching. The thesis of this dissertation is that a rightly developed evangelical theory and use of imagination will improve the practice of expository hermeneutics and homiletics. In the introductory chapter, the challenging nature of imagination is examined. Despite its subjective challenging nature, imagination is an important subject for expository preaching. Imagination is necessary in order to improve both hermeneutics and homiletics. The second chapter provides an overview of expository preaching. Essential elements of expository preaching, author-centered hermeneutics and audience-focused homiletics, are discussed to form the backdrop against which imagination is to be examined. Second, the concept of imagination is introduced and explained. Chapter 3 demonstrates how the New Homiletic methodology deals with imagination in preaching. After a brief introduction to the basic philosophy of the New Homiletic, the work of two new homileticians, Paul Scott Wilson and Thomas H. Troeger, is discussed. They are important, because they were one of the first to devote an entire work to imagination and preaching. This chapter concludes with a critical evaluation of their methods in light of evangelical expository preaching. Chapter 4 presents suggestions for the use of imagination in expository hermeneutics. In particular, the role of imagination in specific steps of the exegetical process is explained. Furthermore, boundaries are discussed that ensure imagination is used in way that is faithful to the biblical text and the author's intention. Chapter 5 suggests how imagination can be used in homiletics. Committed to a hermeneutic that is faithful to the text and the author's intention, preachers can find in imagination a rich resource to convey God's truth to people.

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The association between the experience of depression and the use of religious coping methods has been widely researched in recent studies. However there is a dire need in this area of research in South Africa. Further most of the previous studies have been quantitative in nature limiting the subjective aspect of the depressive experience. The current study was undertaken to explore the perceived impact of religious beliefs on the individual's coping with depression. The sample used was a convenience sample of Christians from various denominations with a history of depression or a current diagnosis of depression. A semi-structured interview was conducted to collect the data from volunteers who agreed to participate, and a thematic analysis method was used to analyze the data. The findings of the research revealed that the use of religious coping methods can have both beneficial and detrimental effects on the individual's experience of depression. Conversely it was found that depression can also have both positive and negative impact on the individual's faith. Furthermore this study has highlighted the importance of the individual's appraisal of their depressive experience which in turn influences the form of religious coping methods (either positive or negative) that would be used. / Thesis (M.Soc.Sc.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2011.

This dissertation is primarily about the ethical evaluation ofbrain death, brain-dead persons and organ transplantation in contemporary Muslim ethics. / Cette tQese est premierement au sujet de l'évaluation éthique de la mort cérébrale et les personnes dans un coma dépassé aux éthiques Musulmanes contemporaines.

This thesis is an attempt to interpret the conception of authority that was predominant among the Central and Northern Arabs at the time immediately preceding the rise of Islam. Since that conception was not explicitly formulated, we have analyzed the role and influence of the different political and religious functionaries as well as the reactions of their "subjects" to their commands in order to discover the basis of legitimacy for that authority. As there exists an essential relationship between authority and society, we have presented the social and economic organization and the ideal values of the pre-Islamic Arabs which might have influenced their conception of authority. That is why we discuss the Bedouin and the urban settlements separately. As a possible origin and justification of authority, we discuss its connection with religion, in particular, whether in pre-Islamic times there ever existed a theocratic rulership. [...]

This study will explore and investigate the response of the Free Methodist Church of Southern Africa (FMCSA) to HIV and AIDS in the Southern KwaZulu-Natal region. It will also reflect on how the Wesleyan Healthcare Response (WHCR) can be used as an inspiration for this Church to fulfil its mission in engaging with HIV and AIDS from a gender-sensitive perspective. With reference to the knowledge that religions possess assets for addressing HIV and AIDS and gender inequality, the study argues that the FMCSA possess the necessary resource to address these interconnected challenges which it is not profitably employing currently. This resource is the theological and practical healthcare response developed by the founder of Methodism, John Wesley, during his lifetime. Using the missio Dei theory to explain the mission of the church in the world, and considering Jesus‘ healing ministry as patterns of the missio Dei‘s materialisation in times of health crises, the study suggests that the FMCSA as a Christian church is expected to respond to HIV and AIDS, a contemporary health crisis in South Africa. The study also hypothesises that Wesley‘s healthcare response is a legacy to the Free Methodists that the FMCSA can appropriate as an effective asset to fulfil missio Dei in time of HIV and AIDS and its gendered nature in the South African context. Therefore, the question responded to in this study is: how can the Wesleyan Healthcare Response inspire the FMCSA to respond to the HIV and AIDS pandemic from a gender-sensitive perspective? The following objectives were formulated in order to respond to this question: 1. to explore the discursive account of HIV and AIDS and its gendered nature in South Africa and the response of the FMCSA; 2. to critically reflect on WHCR as FMCSA‘s potential resource for missio Dei's fulfilment in time of HIV and AIDS; 3. to examine the attitude and concrete response to HIV and AIDS pandemic in the Free Methodist Southern KwaZulu-Natal (FMSKZN); 4. to assess the extent to which WHCR has been used as a resource for addressing HIV and AIDS by the Free Methodist Southern KwaZulu-Natal; 5. to suggest insights to make WHCR a resource to respond to HIV and AIDS within the Southern KwaZulu-Natal context. The data for the study was collected using empirical and non-empirical research methods. Therefore, in addition to the written sources, individual interviews with selected church leaders and caregivers and focus group discussions with ordinary adult and youth church members in five circuits of the FMSKZN were conducted. In examining the attitudes and concrete responses to HIV and AIDS in the FMSKZN, the study realised that this Church failed to learn from WHCR in order to fulfil missio Dei during this pandemic in terms of gender issues. It therefore postulates insights from WHCR that will help fill the gaps identified in the response of this Church to HIV and AIDS and its gendered nature. / Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2013.

Unemployment is a massive and rapidly growing problem in the world as a whole and in South Africa in particular. Its consequences have assumed proportions comparable to those of disasters caused by tornados and hurricanes. Social commentators believe it should be treated the same way as HIV/AIDS in the South African context. Yet policy makers and decision makers have not given enough attention to the problem of unemployment in relation to its devastation effects. Economics and its theories seem unable to provide coherent understanding as to the mechanism leading to unemployment on such a massive scale. The response of the Church to this problem have been indifference; either due to ignorance or to a spiritualised faith and emphasis has been on personal virtues and vices such as industriousness and initiative over and against laziness and lethargy. This thesis aims to give an indication of the extent and urgency of the problem of unemployment, investigate the impact of the phenomenon on the youth in Pietermaritzburg, and the role befitting the Church in helping people deal with the problem. This study attempts to present to the public the contribution of theology, especially Industrial Mission, to the understanding of unemployment. Most research in the field of unemployment has been done by economists and the availability to an audience outside the community of economists is extremely limited. Economists generate their ideas and research results in technical journals where emphasis is on the methodology used and established scientific terminology. This vast technical literature fails to reach the wider public debate about work. This study tries to avoid both jargon and oversimplification in the belief that the research effort must become widely known amongst the employed and unemployed alike. / Thesis (M.Th.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2007.