The exposition of patriarchy and feminism in this thesis points toward the difficulty women experienced in the past, and in many cases still do, in their pursuit for equality in a male dominated society. Without feminists’ consciousness raising concerning women’s oppression, women might still be under patriarchal domination, oppression, and marginalisation; in fact, many still are. As a result, many women today can reject the views that men are superior, stronger, and more rational than they are, and that God created men to dominate on male-female relations. In their struggle against patriarchy, some feminists however, began to transform Biblical images and language for God, with the result that masculine images of God were simply replaced with feminine images, presenting God as androgynous and not as a Deity who transcends sexuality. God’s identity thus, in my opinion, became obscured. In this thesis I argue that both patriarchy and feminism have contributed to our experiencing difficulties when we try to identity with a loving and caring God as portrayed in Scripture. Daly’s outrage and anger against men and the Christian faith, as well as her decision to turn away from Christianity on the basis of its patriarchy, I judge to be, for various reasons given in this thesis, a negative influence in this debate. She is undoubtedly one of the most radical feminists of the past decades and her slogan “since God is male, the male is God” implies that in order for women to become liberated they require the emasculation of God. Daly’s line of reasoning is that Christianity is a male structure with a Scripture that is irredeemably patriarchal. Her belief that Christians are fixated upon the person of Jesus, a male, and that, therefore, women have to overcome this idolatry needs serious questioning. Her radical views have created disunity and separatism between women who are striving to answer life-changing questions / Philosophy and Systematic Theology / D. Th. (Systematic Theology)

This descriptive study investigates the link between religion, (institutional and private) identity (ethnic and personal) and the community (Portuguese and South African) in the context of religious and cultural pluralism. It analyses sixteen Portuguese women in Durban - nine Roman Catholics, five Protestants and two agnostic and it is executed within the framework of the theory of conditionalism or 'radical relationality', as expounded by J.S. Kruger. The religious practice, experience and identity of the participants are explored, and their social integration as well as famiIy and marital relationships (with special reference to submissiveness) are examined in the light of Catholic Feminist theology. The influence of their experiences on their religion and vice-versa, as well as the fluidity of their identities are analysed. The. results of the study highlight the paradoxical role of religion, as well as a decline in ethnic identity and Catholicism. / Religious Studies and Arabic / M. Th. (Religious Studies)

Made available in DSpace on 2017-06-01T18:12:20Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Janice.PDF: 1466550 bytes, checksum: 2e948cb45b1c773d6dc7dad5899db295 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2007-03-28 / The principal objective of this dissertation is to detect and analyse the construction of a new psicological, social and ethical religious identity of the female catholic university student in Recife. By means of her life style and conceptual representations, she evidences a confrontation between the Catholic Church´s magistery and the challenges she faces in today´s world. This academic work proposes to indicate the Catholic Church´s principal orientations about women elaborated since Vatican Council II, to identify problemas faced by women referring to corporality, sexuality and reproductive health and to confront the Church´s teachings with the living spirituality of the women as they face challenges in the modern world. Gender hermeneutics is used as the interpretative instrument of analysis of the Church´s magistery and the results of the reseach. A characterization of the two Institutions of Superior Education, the Catholic University of Pernambuco (CATÒLICA) and the Frassinetti College of Recife (FAFIRE), where the survey was conducted, has been elaborated, as well as the verification of the catholic female students´ construction of their new psychological, social and ethical-religious identity, and the day by day living of their feminine spirituality. The methodology of the research involves a field survey of 178 catholic women, from the two educational institutions, by means of a questionnaire with 31 closed questions. The conclusions are a result of quantitative and qualitative analyses, which will later be socialized with the educational institutions and other institutions and councils interested in this theme. The results of the research are the identification of the psycological, social, ethical, religious and cultural elements constituting the new identity of the female catholic university student in Recife as she faces contemporary challenges in her relation with the Catholic Church magistery. It is hoped that these results will contribute to a reflection about possible integrative educational and pastoral strategies to help catholic women live their new identity in this complex world. / A presente dissertação tem como objetivo geral detectar e analisar a construção de uma nova identidade psicossocial e ético-religiosa feminina, através da vivência e das representações que a universitária católica recifense faz sobre as orientações do magistério da Igreja Católica concernentes à mulher diante os desafios do mundo contemporâneo. O trabalho visa resgatar as principais orientações da Igreja sobre mulher depois do Concílio Vaticano II, levantar dados sobre a realidade da mulher brasileira nos campos de corporeidade, sexualidade e saúde reprodutiva e confrontar o magistério da Igreja com a espiritualidade vivenciada pela mulher ante os desafios que enfrenta hoje. A hermenêutica de gênero é usada como instrumento de interpretação na análise do magistério da Igreja e dos resultados da pesquisa. As duas instituições de ensino superior (IES) de orientação religiosa católica, a Universidade Católica de Pernambuco (CATÒLICA) e a Faculdade Frassinetti de Recife (FAFIRE), participantes da pesquisa de campo, colaboraram na verificação, junto às suas alunas católicas, da construção da sua identidade psicossocial e ético-religiosa e da vivência da sua espiritualidade feminina. Como parte da metodologia, foi realizada uma pesquisa de campo com a aplicação de um questionário fechado de 31 questões a uma amostra aleatória de um total de 178 universitárias, das duas IES. Houve análises quantitativa e qualitativa de dados, com a proposta de posterior transferência de resultados às IES e outras instituições/conselhos interessados no tema. Os resultados demonstram os elementos constitutivos da nova identidade da universitária católica recifense nos aspectos psicológico, social, ético-religioso e cultural no enfrentamento de desafios contemporâneos diante do Magistério da Igreja Católica podem contribuir para estimular a reflexão sobre possíveis estratégias integradoras da vivência da nova identidade psicossocial e ético-religiosa feminina na mesma.

Christian Spirituality, Church History and Missiology / M. Th. (Missiology)

Christian Spirituality, Church History and Missiology / M. Th. (Missiology)

A growing body of research recognizes spirituality as a key element in well-being, but the agency of individual spirituality remains unclear. This study explores the role of embodied knowledge in reality construction and its effect on illness by considering how spirituality as embodied existence shapes reality. Spirituality, as a form of embodied knowing, is shown to reach deeply into the fundamental relatedness of existence. The study argues for a mindbody- spirit unity, making no distinction between self and spirit, emotions and subjective experiences situated in the spirit. As the medium between body and self, spirituality gives form to the felt reality of embodied knowledge and meaning, shaping language, cognition, thought and action towards lived reality. New ways of thinking about eating disorders were stimulated by innovative discoveries through investigating the lived reality of the illness within an epistemology that included subjective experiences as part of reality. While acknowledging the influence of social discourse, the study calls for a recognition of vulnerability in the human condition giving rise to the embodiment of a wounded self or disenabling spirituality, manifested in the development of an eating disorder. It uncovers the anti-spiritual properties involved in the lived reality of people struggling with anorexia/bulimia, evident in social withdrawal and/or self-injury. Behavioural patterns of obsession and repetition underscore similarities to addiction and ritual. The study synthesised pastoral therapy and research. A postmodern approach to illness and a qualitative design with interpretive phenomenology were used. Three young women struggling with anorexia/bulimia participated in semi-structured research interviews. Their narrative accounts provided a chronology of developing, living with and healing from anorexia /bulimia. Emphasis shifted from an approach aimed at fixing the body to focusing on individual experiences of the illness; what she brought to the encounter in her own resources and potential to heal. Healing is envisaged as the ongoing development of a renewed sense of self, an inherently spiritual process orchestrated from within. Previous disassociation of body and self is replaced with reconnection between body, self and other, care of the spirit became care of the body, expressed in harmony and wholeness of being. / Practical Theology / D.Div. (Pastoral therapy)

Women have been abused from the beginning of time and it would appear that a patriarchal system has facilitated this abuse. Churches, in general, and Seventh-Day Adventists, in particular, have been silent on the issue of Abuse. It is my thesis that a predominantly confessional Seventh-Day Adventist's view and use of Scripture are foundational to this silence on human rights issues. Adventist eschatology is predominantly apocalyptic in nature, focussing on end-time events, thus, the present is viewed secondary. Human rights issues are marginalised with the focus on evangelism. Thus, relationships are secondary and abused women have not been accommodated within the Seventh-Day Adventist framework of worship and caring. / M.Th. (Practical Theology)

This study is designed to assess the causes and the effects of poverty and HIV/AIDS on women's spirituality. A case study of Mpererwe Township in Kampala, Uganda was chosen because this researcher has been staying in this township now for 7 years; and has seen most women experiencing difficulties in their daily lives. Poverty and HIV/AIDS among women of Mpererwe Township is a much-needed area of study because the majority of women's lives and their contribution to development have been hampered by economic, religious, political, social and cultural structures. However, all in all, the purpose of this social analysis was first, to identify the factors that render Mpererwe women to be vulnerable to ill situations that pave the way to poverty and HIV/AIDS conditions. Then thereafter, to suggest strategies that may transform the physical, political, religious, economic and social life of women in Mpererwe Township. / Thesis (M.Th.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2006.

This thesis seeks to offer new perspectives on the role of women in African-American Christian denominations in the United States in the period between the Civil War and the turn of the twentieth century. It situates the changes in the roles available to black women in their churches in the context of ecclesiastical politics. By offering explanations of the growth of black denominations in the South after the Civil War and the political alignments in the leadership of the churches, it seeks to offer more powerful explanations of differences in the treatment of women in distict denominations. It explores the distinct worship practices of African-American Christianity and reflects on their relationship to denominational structure and character, and gender issues. Education was central to the participation of women in African-American Christianity in the late nineteenth century, so the thesis discusses the growth of black colleges under the auspices of the black churches. Finally it also explores the complex relationship between domestic ideology, the politics of respectability, and female participation in the black churches.

Women have been abused from the beginning of time and it would appear that a patriarchal system has facilitated this abuse. Churches, in general, and Seventh-Day Adventists, in particular, have been silent on the issue of Abuse. It is my thesis that a predominantly confessional Seventh-Day Adventist's view and use of Scripture are foundational to this silence on human rights issues. Adventist eschatology is predominantly apocalyptic in nature, focussing on end-time events, thus, the present is viewed secondary. Human rights issues are marginalised with the focus on evangelism. Thus, relationships are secondary and abused women have not been accommodated within the Seventh-Day Adventist framework of worship and caring. / M.Th. (Practical Theology)