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  • About
  • The Global ETD Search service is a free service for researchers to find electronic theses and dissertations. This service is provided by the Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations.
    Our metadata is collected from universities around the world. If you manage a university/consortium/country archive and want to be added, details can be found on the NDLTD website.
81

A training programme based on the principles of social constructivism and focused on developing people for the future world of work : an evaluation

Cooper, Jean Henry 16 March 2005 (has links)
Human resource development needs to take cognisance of the unique challenges the workplace of the future will pose for individuals in order to be able to effectively prepare individuals for the future. The objective of this study was to evaluate a training programme that was based on the principles of social constructivism and focused on developing people for the workplace of the future. A non-equivalent groups design with a pre-and post-measurement was used to evaluate the programme. The experimental group consisted of thirty-six individuals and the control group consisted of twenty individuals. The training programme contributed to a significant increase in the creativity, adaptability and self-acceptance of the experimental group (compared with the control group). These characteristics are necessary to succeed in the future workplace. The training programme thus made a valuable contribution to the development of the experimental group for the workplace of the future. / Dissertation (MCom (Human Resources Management))--University of Pretoria, 2006. / Human Resource Management / unrestricted
82

Structuring of breeding objectives in the pork supply chain in South Africa

Visser, Daniel Pieter 14 January 2005 (has links)
Pig production is a techno-scientific internationalized business that is continuously exposed to change and risk. Changes in the Agri-Business are inter alia caused by changes in globalization, information technology, biotechnology and changes in consumer trends. The consumer, within the framework of the pig supply chain, is fundamental to this study. Hence an in depth review of meat market surveys for the period 1970 – 2000 was undertaken. The central theme of the study is: "How to reconcile meat quality, genetics and the consumer with bio-economic pig production in the South African pig supply chain?" A detailed analysis of the South African pig supply chain was subsequently conducted in order to add value further down the supply chain. The inherent structure of the South African pig industry was researched with the emphasis on production statistics, the pig feed industry, genetic improvement and pig information systems, slaughter houses and also slaughtering statistics. The different industry institutions, industry organisations and computer programmes in support of the South African pork supply chain were also investigated. Genetics is the hidden golden thread running through any livestock supply chain. If a substantial portion of consumer satisfaction and quality assurance can be resolved (guaranteed) at the genetic level (thus conception), these guarantees will be conducive to quality assurance further down the supply chain. Carcass and meat quality have become increasingly important in modern day pig production, despite the fact that the emphasis has been too long on input efficiency and too short on output efficiency in South Africa. This called unambiguously for the accurate estimation of genetic parameters of production and carcass traits through appropriate methodology and the right genetic technology. A high degree of accuracy will further optimize the estimation of breeding values, that of breeding objectives and also enhance the credibility of a national breeding scheme. Genetic parameters for five carcass traits were successfully estimated for the first time in the history of South African pig breeding. In future, breeding values for carcass traits, can now be determined more accurately for the Large White, Landrace and Duroc pig breeds. Extension of the present carcass evaluation analysis (Phase E of the National Pig Performance Testing Scheme) to incorporate the essential meat quality traits such as pHu, marbling, tenderness and colour into future breeding goals should eventually satisfy the consumer. In order to finally progress from an immature to a mature pig supply chain, pig producers must align themselves with value partners on both the input (raw materials) and output (end product and value added products) end of the supply chain. To embrace the concept of quality (a consumer demand principle) all levels in the production chain (at the genetic level through the breeding objectives, at the farm level through the entire production system, in transit and at the slaughterhouse and processing levels) should be integrated. / Thesis (DPhil (Agricultural Economics))--University of Pretoria, 2006. / Agricultural Economics, Extension and Rural Development / unrestricted
83

The measurement outcome equivalence of the career path appreciation (CPA) for employees from diverse cultural backgrounds

Kitching, Jolanda 16 March 2005 (has links)
The aim of this study is to determine whether or not the Career Path Appreciation (CPA) is cultural unbiased. The use of assessment instruments in South Africa has been criticised, because it is said that they are largely based on the values and knowledge of overseas instruments, which are considered to be less valid for South Africa’s various cultural groups. In this study, an Asian, black, coloured and white group were included to determine the cultural equivalence of the CPAs measurement outcomes. The results indicate that the CPA measurement outcomes are not biased and are, therefore, equivalent for groups of diverse cultural backgrounds. / Dissertation (MCom (Human Resources Management))--University of Pretoria, 2006. / Human Resource Management / unrestricted
84

The relationship between personality traits and vocational interests in a South African context

Momberg, Christine 17 March 2005 (has links)
The purpose of this study is to determine if there is a relationship between personality traits and vocational interests in the South African context. A sample of 770 subjects completed the Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire (16PF) and the Interest Questionnaire (INQ). The Pearson’s r indicates a number of low and moderate correlations between the factors on the 16PF and interest fields of the INQ. Partial correlations conducted shows that gender and race may influence these relationships, however these were slight changes. It is evident that a relationship exists between personality and vocational interest but seems to be weaker in the South African context than those found in studies conducted in Europe and the United States of America. / Dissertation (MCom (Human Resources Management))--University of Pretoria, 2006. / Human Resource Management / unrestricted
85

The validity of the assessment centre in predicting managerial performance of business development managers

Le Roux, Emezia 17 March 2005 (has links)
Having recognised the need to keep abreast and meeting the demands of the changing business environment, a well-known insurance company in South Africa (referred to as “the Company”), decided in October 2000 to restructure the advisers’ channel within its sales business unit. Several major challenges, such as growth in focused market share, growth in premium income, growth in volume, profitable distribution, and a high-performance culture, had to be addressed. All Regional Managers, Branch Managers and Assistant Branch Managers within the Company were affected by this business decision. After the consultation process had been finalised, 183 employees were given the opportunity to apply for 86 Business Development Manager positions nationally. The selection criteria rested on a competency-based evaluation process. Each candidate attended a one-day assessment centre, comprising of a leaderless group discussion exercise, an in-basket, a coaching interview and a written case study, measuring 13 different competencies. Specific production standards with reference to growth in premium income, growth in volume and growth in manpower were also considered as part of the selection criteria. Irrespective of these appointments, a number of black Business Development Managers from the external market, were also appointed to the Company on a national basis since June 2001, due to further expansions in the black upcoming market. The total number of Business Development Managers appointed by the end of December 2002, amounted to 116. The rationale behind the position of Business Development Manager is to become more creative in order to generate business, add value and ensure organisational success. The ability to convert ideas into business within a sales franchise environment, is an important requirement for a Business Development Manager. This will result in increased volumes, growth and market share which is critical for the survival of the Company. A team of 15-20 Advisers supports the Business Development Manager to achieve these business objectives. The recently passed Employment Equity Act 1998 states clearly that psychometric testing and other similar assessments of an employee are prohibited, unless proven to be scientifically valid, fairly applicable to all employees, and not biased towards any employee or group. Employers must therefore, subject themselves to situation specific research with reference to psychometric properties of assessment instruments, where applicable. No conclusive evidence is currently available to indicate that Business Development Managers, appointed since January 2001, by means of competency-based assessment procedures, are successful and meet their respective business targets. The purpose of this study, therefore, is to establish the predictive validity of a managerial assessment battery for Business Development Managers within the Company. This will determine whether the competencies identified, and the assessment instruments used during the evaluation process, is projecting a clear indication of managerial potential amongst Business Development Managers, as well as the successful achievement of business results. The vital question regarding specific competencies essential in appointing successful Business Development Managers, will be identified and well researched. Furthermore, evidence of the predictive validity of assessment instruments, is essential in determining the level of accuracy with which work-related behaviour is predicted. The strength of the statistical relationship between a predictor score (the assessment centre results) and a criterion score (the work-performance results) indicates the predictive validity of the measure. The sample for this research study consisted of a convenience sample of 92 managers, who participated in an assessment centre evaluation for managerial competencies, during the period 2000 to 2002. Assessment centre ratings were measured against three different variables. The first variable was a business indicator known as Score point, calculated for each Business Development Manager as on 31 December 2002. This performance outcome indicator is used as an internal recognition system where intermediaries score points, based on the volume of business they generated during a specific period. Another business indicator known as Weighted point, which is also an internal measurement system, where different elements of a Business Development Manager’s performance is measured and weighted, was calculated for each Business Development Manager as on 31 December 2002. In November 2002 performance ratings were conducted by each Provincial Manager, evaluating his/her team of Business Development Managers respectively, which was seen as the third variable for the purpose of this study. This evaluation was based on several behavioural competencies as demonstrated by the Business Development Manager in his/her work environment. These 13 competencies were the same 13 dimensions measured in the managerial assessment centre, conducted during the selection process. For the purpose of this research report, “Score” or “Score point” refers to a performance outcome indicator, used as an internal recognition system in this particular insurance company, whereas “score” refers to the result(s) obtained by a candidate, applying for a Business Development Manager position in the Company, who attends a managerial assessment centre as part of the selection process. Biographical and other company-related information was collected for each Business Development Manager and captured, together with assessment centre data and performance data. The data was screened and statistically analysed using descriptive statistics, correlation coefficients, factor analysis and multiple regression analysis. Based on the sample, the Coastal region was statistically the best represented sub-group at 33%. The remaining percentage (67%) of cases was more or less equally distributed amongst the other regions. The white group constituted 85% of the sample, followed by the black group at 12%. The coloured and Indian groups were least represented, at 2% and 1% respectively. Male Business Development Managers, representing 97% of the sample, dominated the sample. The age of the sample group ranged between 37 and 62 years, with an average age of 46 years. The majority of the Business Development Managers (85%) were appointed on 1 January 2001. The rural market group (32%) was the best represented sub-group in the sample, followed by the self-employed group (28%), the salaried group (24%) and the emerging market group (16%). The results obtained in the study, compared well to the results of similar studies conducted elsewhere. The validity of the assessment centre varied between low to moderate and high in predicting managerial performance in accordance with the Weighted point (R = 0.251), Score point (R = 0.414) and behavioural performance (R = 0.499). It can therefore be concluded, that the predictive validity of the assessment centre is superior in terms of behaviour related managerial performance, compared to organisational outcome variables. These results are consistent with what is to be expected from behaviourally based assessment instruments. A statistical significant multiple correlation of 0.519 was also obtained between the supervisor’s rating of behavioural performance and the Score point, signifying that performance in terms of work behaviour, relates strongly to tangible performance outcomes as well. This finding indicates that high managerial ratings, correlates with a high Score point. The best predictors of actual performance appear to be Action Orientation and Financial Management Skills, followed by Judgement and Decisiveness, Leadership Skills and Business Strategy Skills. However, the best predictors of managerial behavioural performance appear to be Self-Motivation, Performance Management Skills, and Judgement and Decisiveness, followed by Action Orientation, Entrepreneurship, Leadership Skills, Business Operation Skills, Business Strategy Skills and Energy. The best predictors of the Weighted point are Action Orientation, and Judgement and Decisiveness. Another interesting conclusion is that both Action Orientation, and Judgement and Decisiveness, appear to be very good predictors of actual performance, managerial behavioural performance and the Weighted point. Factor analyses revealed that the behavioural competencies included in the managerial assessment centre, could be divided in two main components. The first and most important component can broadly be defined as embedded entrepreneurial and leadership qualities. The component consists of Entrepreneurship, Leadership Skills, Coaching Skills, Action Orientation, Judgement and Decisiveness, Assertiveness, Self-motivation and Energy. The second component can be described as essential qualities for effective day-to-day business management and consists of Performance Management Skills, Business Operation Skills, Business Strategy Skills, Financial Management Skills and Adaptability. The two components explain a large proportion of the differences in behavioural competencies that were observed for Business Development Managers. The results of the factor analysis performed on the supervisor’s rating of behavioural performance, were very similar to the assessment centre results. The two main components were largely replicated and indicate that the behavioural competencies and their interrelationships are well understood and manifested in a consistent manner, for both the assessment centre evaluations and supervisor performance ratings. The results therefore, revealed that the supervisor’s rating of performance is projecting a clear indication of the overall performance of the Business Development Managers. The evidence acquired by means of factor analysis, provides additional credibility to the findings of the study. A limiting factor in validity studies is the difficulty to determine the extent to which performance ratings are biased. The same applies to this study. Should behavioural performance ratings in future form part of the performance ratings of Business Development Managers, Provincial Managers must be sensitised to the limiting effect of bias. The effect of central tendency and/or the selection ratio also appears to limit the score variance of the assessment centre, which jeopardises the discrimination value of the Provincial Managers’ rating of behavioural performance. The use of a seven-point rating scale instead of a five-point rating scale could be considered to provide more scope for score variation, and consequently, result in better discrimination of performance levels. Another limitation is that the Weighted point was characterised by a large number of extreme scores, where the distribution deviated significantly from the normal distribution. It is recommended that the process to which the Weighted point is compiled, be reviewed prior to future use in similar studies. A further suggestion is, that by using assessment centre scores in combination with objective tests and structured interviewing techniques, the validity of the selection battery, used by the Company in appointing Business Development Managers, is expected to increase significantly. Proven dimensions identified in the study, must be evaluated and re-defined in the form of behavioural indicators, and weights allocated for each dimension in terms of importance. These well-proven dimensions must continually be monitored and rewarded in performance management, and be linked to formal and informal development initiatives. The assessment of behavioural performance dimensions should also be included as part of the routine assessment of Business Development Managers, as these dimensions could contribute significantly to an understanding of the effectiveness of behaviourally based assessments, as well as that of the relationship between behavioural performance and tangible performance outcomes. In conclusion, the managerial assessment centre appears to have significant predictive validity. Future performance of individuals, can be predicted substantially more accurately, when applying the results of the assessment centre as part of the selection process, compared to not utilising the assessment centre at all. Research evidence suggests that, when applied correctly, assessment centre evaluations can contribute significantly to effective employment decisions. The application of the assessment centre could result in substantial benefits for this insurance company, in respect of increased productivity and reduced employment costs. / Dissertation (MCom (Human Resources Management))--University of Pretoria, 2006. / Human Resource Management / unrestricted
86

Traumatic ritual murders in Venda : a challenge to pastoral care

Munthali, Robert 22 March 2006 (has links)
no abstract available / Dissertation (MA (Trauma Counselling))--University of Pretoria, 2007. / Practical Theology / unrestricted
87

Academic achievement on the National Higher Diploma in Emergency Medical Care : the role of personality and study attitudes

Louria, Sharon 24 March 2006 (has links)
This study undertook to examine factors potentially contributing to a high rate of attrition experienced on the National Higher Diploma in Emergency Medical Care (EMC) at the Witwatersrand Technikon. The sample group consisted of students currently registered for the EMC course who wished to participate. The total group consisted of 53 students (n=53), 30 of which were first year students, eight were second year students and 15 were third year students. Using the 16 PF and SSHA as assessment tools, this study assessed the role of personality and study habits and attitudes on academic achievement on this course. Initial Kruskal-Wallis analyses of the scores for the three-year groups on a selected number of factors from these instruments showed no significant statistical difference between the groups. Subsequent analyses were consequently performed on the whole group. Five factors were found to be significant in relation to academic achievement on this course. These included abstract, verbal reasoning, levels of anxiety, levels of extraversion, work methods and year level of study. Of the personality factors, two are in accordance with findings of previous research. The findings of this study included comments and recommendations for amendments to the current National Higher Diploma EMC selection procedure. / Dissertation (MA (Counselling Psychology))--University of Pretoria, 2007. / Psychology / unrestricted
88

The role of opinion leadership among maize farmers in Lesotho

Williams, Remaketse Frederick 24 March 2006 (has links)
The purpose of the study was to investigate the intermediary role that opinion leaders can play in the dissemination of agricultural technologies among the rural farmers in Lesotho in order to bridge the gap between extension and the farmers. A structured questionnaire was administered to 200 randomly sampled maize farming households, representing a 20 percent sample, from three villages in the Qeme area, namely Ha Mohasoa, Ha Pita and Ha Jimisi. Opinion Leadership was measured on the basis of number of nominations within and beyond the sample. The research findings confirm the importance of opinion leadership, which exists among both male and female farmers, but varies according to the degree of influence (number of nominations). Thirty-nine percent qualified based on influence as opinion leaders, but the strong opinion leaders were between 6 – 10 percent. Of the various personal and environmental factors that were assumed to have influence on opinion leadership, only some but not all actually had influence. The factors having influence were age, marital status, gender, farming efficiency and exposure to mass media. Factors having no influence were formal education qualifications, scale of farming operation and the reliance on farming as a source of income. Competence and accessibility appeared to be key dimensions of opinion leadership. However, in the study area, accessibility – was formal to be a precondition for the effective flow of information – was not a constraint. Ninety percent of all opinion leaders were, for example, assessed to have a high or very high accessibility. This accessibility was influenced by friendship, and gender, but social status appeared to have no bearing on it. Physical accessibility was also an important factor, which was emphasized by the finding that 85 percent of the strongest opinion leaders resided within a distance of less than 2km from the followers. In general, the opinion leaders were of a polymorphic type and seem to be consulted over a wide variety of subjects or commodities. Although there were indications of the stronger opinion leaders being more involved in reciprocative consultations, this tendency was much less pronounced than what has been found among white commercial farmers in South Africa (Düvel, 1996). Based on the similarities of findings of this study and those of Adupa&Düvel (1999) on small scale farmers in Uganda, it was recommended that more research should be conducted to interrogate and exploit the use of opinion leaders in the diffusion of information and innovations in Lesotho. / Dissertation (MSc (Agric))--University of Pretoria, 2007. / Agricultural Economics, Extension and Rural Development / unrestricted
89

The moral subject vs. the political actor : the political price of interiorization

Mabille, Louise 17 January 2005 (has links)
This dissertation is an attempt to examine the political implications of the ethos of self-persecution that accompanied the rise of modern man. The attempt at achieving self-transparency and to locate a final, deep 'truth' within the depths of the subject, which began in the apparently harmless search for God through acts of confession, grew into the merciless persecution of the auto-voyeuristic subject. I argue that the horror that complete self-transparency would imply, is mercifully kept at bay by the opacity of language, that makes complete penetration to the 'final' self impossible. I illustrate the possibilities of redemption from self-persecution by referring to the work of thinkers like Hannah Arendt, Friedrich Nietzsche and the post-structuralist thinkers like Jacques Derrida. Chapter 1 is an attempt to show that what we understand by 'the subject' is by no means static or universal, different ages and cultures developed radically different conceptions of self - alternatives that could provide the necessary inspiration for the revival of a flagging political tradition. One such alternative is self-conception in antiquity. The usage of the word 'subject' is inappropriate to refer to any pre-Christian Greek concept of self, because no single word refers to Homeric Man as a unity. Instead, Homer, who employs no non-material language, depicts parts of characters that are always more than the whole. There is not even a single word that could roughly be taken as a synonym for 'mind'. The Homeric self was an assemblage of various narratives and impressions, without an inner core or 'self', loosely held together by the broad narrative that is an individual's life. For this reason, it could offer an alternative politics to an age weary of the discipline that accompanies the rigidly defined modernist subject. I deal with the ambiguity and slipperiness of the classical subject, and illustrate its complex 'superficiality' at the hand of a number of relevant Greek concepts including <font face>splachma, poiésis, daemon, psuché, phrenes, nóós, thumos</font> and <font face>até<font>. If there was no rigid distinction between self and world in the ancient Athens, the same cannot be said of the public and private domains into which the polis was divided. Difference was spatially, not morally defined. After her horrific experience with totalitarianism in Nazi Germany during the 1930's, Hannah Arendt drew on the Greeks to show that the public space was the unique space of appearance where a public actor could show off his virtù on stage in front of his peers. Her usage of masks indicate the impersonal dimension to acting. Far from wanting to give us a theory of self-expression, she constructed a philosophy that is in many ways the opposite of the Rousseauian politics of authenticity. I explore the ways in which Arendt questioned the traditional philosophical hierarchy between the vita contemplative and the vita activa, and her re-evaluation of the activities of the vita activa, namely labour, work and action. In addition to my brief exposition on the Homeric world, I briefly examine the shift from acting to thinking man as it occurs in the Republic. I address Plato's reaction to the political decay in which Athens found itself after the Golden Age of Pericles. I argue that, already in the Republic, there are signs of a certain impatience towards the hidden, and a desire to 'bring things to the light', a desire that would never leave Western man again, but would grow into an all-consuming passion. After the hermeneutical turn we know that no literary work allows a definitive interpretation. This is especially true of great masterworks, and the Republic is no exception. Although I think that Arendt is justified in locating in Plato one of the sources for the anti-political character of our philosophical tradition, it is necessary to distinguish between 'Plato', and Platonism. Anticipating the argument put forward in chapter 4, I argue that the multivocity inherent in Plato may make him more political than Arendt initially took him to be. Chapter 2 focus on the turn inward. Augustine, through his notion of the confessing-self, seeks to formulate an ethos that does not allow everything to revert back to the self. The self turns away from the lust to dominate the world and into the depths of the soul where it seeks to fashion even the most fleeting desires in obedience to God's truth and the standards of His morality. At this stage in the development of the self, there is no question of self-transparency - the relationship to the transcendent makes it an impossibility. For all or Augustine's profound insight into depth - remembering, willing and unifying the scattered self in confession, the inner Augustine remains a battlefield. In this respect, Augustine's confessing-self inadvertently provides a beacon of warning to an ethos that demands self-transparency at all costs. In the second part of chapter 2, I compare the Confessions of Augustine with those of Jean Jacques Rousseau. Living during the European Enlightenment of the eighteenth century, Rousseau's motives are radically different from that of Augustine in the fifth century. The revelation of self, hesitantly presented in Augustine, takes a different turn fourteen centuries later. Gone is the link with the transcendent. Augustine confessed to God, Rousseau sometimes to a filled public house, packed with enemies, sometimes merely to the shifting selves he refused to acknowledge. Augustine sought truth, Rousseau, sincerity. For Augustine the self would represent a barrier to God, Rousseau publicly created a private self. Rousseau's purpose is rather to unburden himself of shame, and to justify what he deems weak. In doing this, the 'defined self' - a self that can fall back upon himself without reference to what is perceived as a 'hostile order' - comes into being. Drawing on Michel Foucault's analysis of the 'normalizing' tendencies that characterizes much of the concrete functioning of power in modernity, I briefly summarize his critique of modern power as it operates through 'panoptic power' and confessional strategies which assert that we harbour 'deep truths' within ourselves that we must carefully decipher and follow. I then focus specifically on the concept of the 'autopticon', and how power operates at its greatest efficiency by strategies of self-surveillance. When Foucault's theoretical work is read in terms of his genealogies, his work acquires a Nietzschean profundity. In contrast to Augustine, for whom depth is the dimension of freedom, Foucault sees depth as the dimension of subjugation. It is this dimension in which the other is rooted out and the subject is constituted in terms of hegemonic norms and the standard of self-transparency. That we somehow fail to get to the 'bottom of things' by no means discourage the therapeutic society, it merely ensures the persistence of endless subjugation. But Foucault was not the first to identify the self-tortured subject. This honour belongs to Nietzsche, and his response to the naked, unmasked subject of philosophy forms the topic of chapter 3. Nietzsche's genealogy of Herkunft is not the erecting of foundations: on the contrary, it disturbs what was previously considered immobile, it fragments what was thought unified, it shows the heterogeneity of what was imagined consistent with itself. And, one might add, it shows the folly of looking for a 'deep', liberating truth within the self when in fact, nothing but surfaces for the inscription of the social order, for the application and imposition of power exists. This is precisely what Nietzsche points to as his genealogy demonstrates the oppressive use of subjectivity as a construct of oppression in what he terms a 'hangman's metaphysics'. In addition to an analysis of Nietzsche's criticism of the modern subject, I point to his anticipation of the cure to the problem of self-transparency, namely an acceptance of the redemptive potential to be found in language. This forms the topic of chapter 4. In chapter 4 I argue that the vita lingua contains the possibility for at least a certain degree of relief from our culture of surveillance. Language, by its very opacity, makes the ideal of (self)transparency an utopian illusion. Every attempt to come to a final conclusion about a text is bound to fail. This aspect makes our linguistic engagement with the world tragic, yet at the same time allows for a merciful, messianic dimension that might save us from the horrific nihilism that the granting of the Enlightenment wish would entail. I draw again on Arendt, this time for her conception of the storyteller, to find a viable middle ground between the death of the author and the absolute author of the Romantic era that acted as a guarantee for the truth of his text. The linguistic turn certainly requires an altered conception of the self, but there is no need to sacrifice the self to an entirely autonomous and impersonal language system. In addition, I refer to the hermeneutics of Hans-Georg Gadamer and the deconstruction of Jacques Derrida, to demonstrate the alternatives suggested by the very anti-utopian nature of language. The fact that we exist linguistically, a fact that appeared in more positivistic age as a curse, is now the very feature that saves us from the hell and obscenity of absolute (self)transparency. If language is indeed as opaque as Nietzsche, Lacan, Derrida and others have claimed, intentionality can play no determining role in the establishment of meaning. Nietzsche explicitly proclaimed the virtual impossibility of having his texts understood. To understand his texts the way Nietzsche understood them, one would have to be Nietzsche. And perhaps, one hastens to add, perhaps not even then: If this is the case, the question arises as to what a confession really reveals, and even if it does not conceal rather than reveal, makes its appearance. If the author 'disappears' behind his text, textuality appears in our time to have replaced the lost mask of antiquity and the ancient regime. / Dissertation (MA (Philosophy))--University of Pretoria, 2006. / Philosophy / unrestricted
90

Clergy, crusified within the body of Christ - a challenge to pastoral care

Steyn, T.H. 17 January 2005 (has links)
A tree is known by its fruit (Matthew 7:16), and a person’s priorities are known by reading his diary! We try so hard to be something we are not and often we succeed, … but it is only for a short moment, or maybe two… The words you and I speak become a mirror, reflecting our heart’s content to whoever wants to listen. James asks this question; “Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring?” (James 3:11 - NIV) How then, is it possible to speak peace and war from the same tongue? How could I bless and curse, all in one breath? How could I declare my love for my Lord, yet crucify him from the same heart? How could I love my neighbour with bloodstained hands? How could we declare victory in the cross at Calvary, where our Saviour died? How could we claim to be victorious in Jesus, saying that we will reign with him forever, (Rev 22: 5) and yet, as Christians, we are crucified over and over again? This is the true mystery in Christ; there is victory in defeat, there is strength in weakness, there is life after death. / Dissertation (MA (Practical Theology))--University of Pretoria, 2006. / Practical Theology / unrestricted

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