What has come to be known within the Academy as, Identity theology, is presented in the literature as a monolithic belief system which supports and encourages terrorism and other forms of political violence. This dissertation argues that inattention to theological and social issues within the many Identity theology based groups in the US has led to a deeply flawed understanding of the relation between Identity adherents, terrorism and other political violence. Discussions about these groups in the literature are flawed and there is an imprecise understanding which has led to an inaccurate alignment of widely varied social groups with a pejorative classification that is neither descriptive of the various theologies at work, nor the social manifestations observed in these groups. Further, the research suggests that the academic community known as “Terrorism Studies” continues to contribute to the inaccurate understanding and that those inaccuracies are likely impediments to effective government policy in relation to the phenomenon known as Identity theology. The research presented here suggests that there are both theological and social distinctions, which can and should be delineated and understood by all those researching Identity groups. The research highlights four significant types or differences within what is now known as Identity theology, by highlighting the nuances between social groups including the Church of Israel, Covenant, Sword and the Arm of the Lord (CSA), Mission to Israel, KKK and Aryan Nations and suggests that a more precise understanding of the differences could lead to declining instances of violence and more openness to positive social change by those who currently follow these very different types of theological belief systems.

My journey in writing this dissertation has been both intellectually and emotionally challenging keeping in mind firstly that I am a male scholar (an “outsider”) responding to issues related to maleness, the abuse and oppression of women. Secondly, that I have a personal “sacred story” of the effects of abuse and violence in the home where I grew up; and thirdly, that am strongly a conservative evangelical by faith. However, these three aspects interplay in contributing to my motivation of seeking for a mended world especially for professing Christian women within the evangelical context. The focus of this study is: Examining the social, religious and cultural discourses on “maleness” and its possible influence on domestic violence in South Africa: A critique of some expressions of evangelical theology. The study argues that the predominant social, religious and cultural discourses portray some expressions of evangelical theology. It maintains that our distorted perceptions of God (how we have imagined God as “male”)—hence maleness, has influenced male paradigm of domination among partners. As a result, this has possibly influenced and contributed to domestic violence (DV), abuse and oppression of women within some evangelical context in South Africa. Hence, the prevalence of abuse and oppression of women in the evangelical context, the battle for the humanity and dignity of women as human beings created in God’s image and that female and male are equal in God are motivations that made me pursue this study. Having evaluated the theology and the inherited evangelical traditions, it becomes certain that transformative praxis that counteracts abusive and oppressive ideologies against women among evangelicals is imperative. To achieve this, the study has used an already published case study on interviews conducted among Christian women in the Full Gospel Church (FGC) in Phoenix, Durban. This has been used to facilitate theological observations. In seeking to answer its research question the dissertation examines and critiques the predominant discourses portrayed as some expressions of evangelical theology in chapters four, five and six as analysed from the said case study. The study achieves this purpose by engaging a theological reflection as its methodology through applying a “feminist theology of praxis” as its theoretical framework. Hence, the study proposes alternative evangelical theological discourses and resources for transformative praxis as its focus. The findings are tentative and require future empirical research. Arguing that “Theological statements contain as much truth as they deliver practically in transforming reality” (Sölle quoted in Ackermann 1996:42), the dissertation concludes with addressing the implications of this study by proposing practical ways for transforming men, aiming at deconstructing abusive and oppressive male paradigms. / Thesis (M.Th.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2009.

This study is an endeavour to construct a theological (Missiological) reflection on what Christian witnessing could look like in Kano among non-Christians (predominantly Hausa/Fulani Muslims), if interpreted and expressed from the viewpoint of the hope Christians have in Christ. This heads towards a proposal for new Christian praxis, developed in dialogue with and as a response to the role of the life-transforming message of justification in Christ, as it relates to Christian living. This is based on historical fact that attracts non-Christians to the hope in God’s future activity through His saving grace in the unique Jesus Christ (2 Cor. 1: 22), that is, seeking to be like Christ (1Jn 3: 2-3). This leads to the guiding issue on how Christians should explore hope as a fundamental key to become living witnesses to non-Christians, Muslim in particular, in Kano city, Northern Nigeria and elsewhere in the world based on the biblical interpretation of 1 Peter 3: 15-17. It equally means in a hostile environment walking by faith rather than by sight, through suffering rather than by triumph, to bringing about the future Kingdom of God, characterized by peace, justice and love into the community now, and ultimately in the one to come. This in turn makes this study relevant both internally – for the renewal of the church to discover and live out its Christian identity – and externally, in the church’s witness to its Muslim neighbours in the midst of religious intolerance that leads to bloodshed and the destruction of property. Therefore, the two dimensions, the internal and external, of the church’s life, since a congregation’s sense of identity is at the same time its sense of mission in society. A renewal in the church’s sense of identity brings about a renewal in its sense of mission, and vice versa. / Christian Spirituality, Church History and Missiology / D. Th. (Missiology)

The focus of this study was domestic violence in a faith-based setting. The researcher utilized the constructivist approach in building a subjective understanding of the research topic and possible interventions.

This thesis focuses on the impact of domestic violence upon Zulu women, and the role that the Christian faith plays in both helping and hindering the survivors. Through an examination of the relationship between religion and power, the thesis notes how the Christian faith can work both to legitimize oppressive structures and practices, and to provide a form of resistance or survival in times of difficulty. The way in which the Bible and theology deal with domestic violence is examined from this perspective. The thesis builds upon earlier work on domestic violence and the church done in South Africa by a range of scholars, but provides new insights into the way that Zulu women deal with domestic violence and their relationship to the Christian faith. Research undertaken in Sweetwaters, outside Pietermaritzburg, identified the following eight concerns to be of importance for these women in terms of domestic violence: lobolo and women as property, unemployment and male frustration, alcohol, children and the wider family, the scandal of divorce in the Zulu community, lack of social support, the cycle of violence, and the impact upon women. In terms of their relationship to the church, they saw Christianity as a power that both hinders and helps. In terms of the former this had to do with abusers in church leadership, theologies of blame, theologies of forgiveness, disinterestedness and silence, and sanctity of marriage. In terms of the way that Christianity helps, this has to do with prayer, bible reading, manyano and izimvuselelo. In the final chapter the thesis suggests that if the church is to make a difference in the lives of the women who are facing the experiences of domestic violence, then it needs to both challenge the negative and strengthen the positive. This could involve working with young men, men and perpetrators, challenging culture where it abuses women, breaking the silence, legal education, affirming the spirituality of the women, counseling, networking, economic empowerment, and training manyano leadership. / Thesis (M.Th.)-University of KwaZulu- Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2005.

This study is an endeavour to construct a theological (Missiological) reflection on what Christian witnessing could look like in Kano among non-Christians (predominantly Hausa/Fulani Muslims), if interpreted and expressed from the viewpoint of the hope Christians have in Christ. This heads towards a proposal for new Christian praxis, developed in dialogue with and as a response to the role of the life-transforming message of justification in Christ, as it relates to Christian living. This is based on historical fact that attracts non-Christians to the hope in God’s future activity through His saving grace in the unique Jesus Christ (2 Cor. 1: 22), that is, seeking to be like Christ (1Jn 3: 2-3). This leads to the guiding issue on how Christians should explore hope as a fundamental key to become living witnesses to non-Christians, Muslim in particular, in Kano city, Northern Nigeria and elsewhere in the world based on the biblical interpretation of 1 Peter 3: 15-17. It equally means in a hostile environment walking by faith rather than by sight, through suffering rather than by triumph, to bringing about the future Kingdom of God, characterized by peace, justice and love into the community now, and ultimately in the one to come. This in turn makes this study relevant both internally – for the renewal of the church to discover and live out its Christian identity – and externally, in the church’s witness to its Muslim neighbours in the midst of religious intolerance that leads to bloodshed and the destruction of property. Therefore, the two dimensions, the internal and external, of the church’s life, since a congregation’s sense of identity is at the same time its sense of mission in society. A renewal in the church’s sense of identity brings about a renewal in its sense of mission, and vice versa. / Christian Spirituality, Church History and Missiology / D. Th. (Missiology)

The notion that religion intensifies nationalism and escalates conflict is widely accepted. In spite of its frequent association with violence, however, religious doctrines and institutions sometimes appear to have the radical power to deescalate conflict and reroute the expression of political grievances away from bloodshed. How, and under what conditions, might religion lend itself to the mitigation of ethnic conflict? Focusing on Buddhist nationalisms in East Asia and Southeast Asia, the three papers in this dissertation study the influence of religious beliefs on political attitudes and conflict behavior at various levels of analysis. Using ethnographic approaches, case study methods, and original field data collected from nearly a hundred interviews among Tibetan subjects in India and Sinhalese monastics in Sri Lanka, these essays seek to deepen the nuances and complexity in our understanding of the relationship between Buddhism, nationalism, and violence.Paper #1 studies the relationship between Buddhism and suicide protest, focusing on the puzzle of self-immolation: Why do high-commitment protesters in some conflicts choose this method over conventional tactics of nonviolent resistance or suicide terrorism? Taking the wave of Tibetan self-immolations between 2009 and 2018 as a case study, this paper probes the causal importance of strategic considerations, structural constraints, and normative restraints that may have influenced the protesters’ choice of method. I develop a theoretical framework proposing that suicide protesters evaluate potential tactics based on three criteria: disruptive capability, operational feasibility, and ethical permissibility. Leveraging in-depth interviews and a close reading of the self-immolators’ last words, I conclude that the Buddhist clergy’s broad conception of violence, interacting with international norms, constrains the protesters’ tactical latitude by narrowing the parameters of what qualifies as nonviolent action, thereby eliminating many of the standard repertoires of contention from the movement’s arsenal while sanctioning self-immolation as a legitimate form of dissent. I argue that a fundamental paradox in the self-immolators’ theory of change, namely the tension between a tactic’s disruptive capability and ethical permissibility, ends up restricting their freedom of action. Paper #2 zooms out to examine the relationship between religion, nationalism, and violence. It starts with a broad question: How, and under what conditions, might religion lend itself to the mitigation –– or the escalation –– of ethnonational conflict? To what extent do religious ideas travel from scripture to political preferences and conflict behavior? I develop two hypotheses predicting the influence of scriptural ideas on nationalist commitment and suggestibility to violence –– devoting special attention to how a group’s conception of its own national interest might be affected when the religious identity of its members supersedes their political identity. The paper finds that the Buddhist belief in rebirth can undermine the strength of one’s nationalist commitment by injecting a dose of ambiguity into one’s conception of identity. This suggests that a religious belief such as rebirth can be mobilized to deescalate ethnonational conflict by highlighting the fluidity of ethnic identity and thus lowering the stakes of conflict. Moreover, it also finds that Mahayana Buddhism’s emphasis on altruism, while rooted in compassion toward others, can end up increasing an individual’s suggestibility to violence and therefore should not be assumed to be a pacifying force in conflict. Mahayana doctrines, though built on more inclusivist founding principles than the Theravada tradition and therefore more resistant to exclusivist ideologies like nationalism, are nevertheless susceptible to utilitarian reasoning and lend themselves readily to the justification of violence. In our interviews, Tibetan monastics, educated under a uniform Mahayana curriculum, turned out to be far more suggestible to violence than their Theravada counterparts in Sri Lanka, an observation that supports our counterintuitive hypothesis linking an altruism-oriented curriculum with suggestibility to violence. Paper #3 takes a historical case study approach to examine how Buddhist religious ideas may have, in interaction with liberal international norms, influenced the Tibetan leadership’s de-escalation politics in the Sino-Tibetan conflict. While paper #2 of this dissertation explored Buddhism’s relationship with nationalism and violence at the level of rank-and-file citizens, this paper shifts the focus from group-level preferences to elite-level decision-making. It relies on document analysis and process tracing methods to answer a particular historical question: How did the independence-seeking Tibetan nationalist leadership of the 1960s evolve into compromise-seeking pacifists in the 1980s and subsequent decades? I seek to illuminate the pathways by which religious beliefs and charismatic leadership structure, in interaction with the normative constraints of liberal internationalism, may have facilitated the Tibetan leadership’s de-escalation politics in the Sino-Tibetan conflict. To do so, I leverage counterfactual history (Belkin & Tetlock, 1996), biographical data of key leaders (Creswell, 1998), and document analysis of their speeches and writings –– including a close examination of the Dalai Lama’s annual March 10 speeches from 1960 to 2011. While the other two papers explore the multifaceted relationship between Buddhism, nationalism, and violence by studying the political attitudes and conflict behavior of ordinary people and rank-and-file monastics, this paper delves into the political and psychological evolution of two Tibetan leaders, the Dalai Lama and former Tibetan prime minister Samdhong Rinpoche, to examine the ways in which private religious beliefs can interact with global norms to guide and constrain the high-level foreign policy decision-making of political elites.

Text in English / The phenomenon of the 2007/8 post-election violence in Kenya is complex and has numerous facets. This is because of the historical and socio-political dimensions connected with it, some of which the present study has attempted to discuss. The main objective of this research is to develop a missiological model of reconciliation by understanding and addressing the underlying causes of the 2007/8 post-election violence through an interpretive and missiological reading of the 2008 report of the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights. The concepts of politics, ethnicity, human rights and violence are chosen as analytical units for this study and through an integrated approach to their interconnectedness, a more adequate framework to identify and analyze the causes of violence is created. The churches in Kenya have played ambiguous roles in the social-political arena and this study surveys these roles and suggests different missional approaches through which the churches in Kenya can participate in the mission of reconciliation. / Christian Spirituality, Church History & Missiology / M.Th. (Missiology)

Violence in traditional “satisfaction” atonement theologies is addressed here. An alternative non-violent view follows in discussion with Weaver / Heim. Weaver outlines a nonviolent Jesus narrative focussing on God’s rule made visible in history. Jesus’ saving death stems not from God but Jesus’ opposing evil powers. For viability violent biblical texts are disregarded. Church history interpretation is nonconventional. Early church is nonviolent. The subsequent Constantinian “fall” births the violent satisfaction model. Weaver’s problematical violence definition receives attention. Girard’s scapegoating philosophy and Jesus’ rescuing humankind from this evil undergirds Heim’s approach. Scapegoating establishes communal peace preventing violence. The bible is antisacrificial giving victims a voice. Jesus becomes a scapegoating victim, yet simultaneously exposes and reverses scapegoating, his death stemming from evil powers not God. Nonviolent atonement influences numerous theological concepts with Incarnational theology demonstrating Jesus’ humanness impacting upon atonement. Four ways to live out transformation established by Jesus’ saving work follow. / School of Humanities / MTH (Systematic Theology)

Violence in traditional “satisfaction” atonement theologies is addressed here. An alternative non-violent view follows in discussion with Weaver / Heim. Weaver outlines a nonviolent Jesus narrative focussing on God’s rule made visible in history. Jesus’ saving death stems not from God but Jesus’ opposing evil powers. For viability violent biblical texts are disregarded. Church history interpretation is nonconventional. Early church is nonviolent. The subsequent Constantinian “fall” births the violent satisfaction model. Weaver’s problematical violence definition receives attention. Girard’s scapegoating philosophy and Jesus’ rescuing humankind from this evil undergirds Heim’s approach. Scapegoating establishes communal peace preventing violence. The bible is antisacrificial giving victims a voice. Jesus becomes a scapegoating victim, yet simultaneously exposes and reverses scapegoating, his death stemming from evil powers not God. Nonviolent atonement influences numerous theological concepts with Incarnational theology demonstrating Jesus’ humanness impacting upon atonement. Four ways to live out transformation established by Jesus’ saving work follow. / School of Humanities / M. Th.(Systematic Theology)