Doctor Theologiae / South Africa

This thesis looks at the experiences and needs of pastoral counsellors and ministers regarding ethical dilemmas in performing their pastoral duties. Brief attention was paid to the nature of pastoral counselling and the challenges it faces in the South African context. The problem that arose is that pastoral counsellors have a difficult and ethically and psychologically dangerous task and are not necessarily adequately prepared for or supported in that task. As such it is a study conducted within the framework of practical theology. A social constructionist paradigm, supported by a narrative approach to research was chosen. Thus the research was of a descriptive, qualitative nature. The empirical research took on the form of unstructured interviews with pastoral counsellors and others who work in related circumstances. Eight themes were identified as playing a role in pastoral counsellors’ experiences of ethical dilemmas and ethical decision-making. They are: The role of God and faith in the life of the pastoral counsellor; pastoral identity; evangelisation, prayer and preaching; hermeneutics and the role of the Bible; training and the role of mentors; approach to ethics and ethical dilemmas. Professional ethics was also identified as a contributing factor in the literature review. It was shown that these themes cannot be separated from one another and all contribute toward pastoral counsellors’ way of thinking about and dealing with ethics. A further survey of philosophical issues – such as postmodernism, pluralism, relativism, social constructionism and the South African context – shed light on the challenges pastoral counsellors face in ethical dilemmas, as a result of the postmodern discourses that influence contemporary thinking about ethics in general and Christian ethics in specific. It also showed that thinkers within the church have proposed various useful responses to these challenges. This study has shown that the emerging profession of pastoral counselling is faced with great challenges in terms of ethics. Pastoral counselling in South Africa is unique, because of the unique nature of South African society. However, the goals and principles of pastoral counselling remain the same. The value of the Judeo-Christian community’s history and the legacy of hope that has been built by pastoral counsellors in the recent past cannot be underestimated. / Dissertation (MA)--University of Pretoria, 2008. / Practical Theology / unrestricted

Made available in DSpace on 2017-06-01T18:12:54Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 hamutal_rocha_costa.pdf: 764310 bytes, checksum: d17bdac5ddc258a5c70025af4f23dc44 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-07-24 / Nowadays so much of the crisis of transmission of values is spoken in the society, especially reaching the adolescents and young in their existential dynamics concerning to their ethical and social formation. The present work seeks to understand what is happening with the individuals that compose the society and to know hat influences of religious education in ethic sand social education of adolescents in public schools in Boa Vista-RR. There search will be conducted with student volunteers, selected in a public school. A mixed questionnaire with closed and open and semi-structured interviews, conducted as a supplement to teachers and school management issues will be used. Also observation s in the context of school behavior and attitudes of the students during school religious teaching will take place. The methodology is an approach to qualitative nature and descriptive in nature, based on field research. Content analysis will guide the process of interpreting the answer to open questions. Closed question s are subjected to simple statistical analysis, which enable us to construct graphs. The data analyzed in the study will result in the construction of the Product: A Manual for Religious Education for the formation of ethical and social values. / Em nossos dias, fala-se muito em crise de transmissão de valores, especialmente atingindo adolescentes e jovens em sua dinâmica existencial no que concerne-a sua formação ética e social. O presente trabalho visa a entender o que está acontecendo com os indivíduos que compõem a sociedade e a saber quais as influências do Ensino Religioso na formação ética e social dos alunos das escolas públicas de Boa Vista-RR. A pesquisa será conduzida com alunos voluntários, selecionados em uma escola estadual. Será utilizado um questionário misto, com questões fechadas e abertas e entrevistas semiestruturadas, realizada como complemento, aos professores e gestão da escola. Também realizar-se-ão observações no contexto escolar do comportamento e atitudes dos alunos durante as aulas de ensino religioso. A metodologia empregada é uma abordagem de cunho qualitativo e de natureza descritiva, apoiada em pesquisa de campo. A análise de conteúdo orientará o processo de interpretação das respostas às questões abertas. As perguntas fechadas serão submetidas a tratamento estatístico simples, que possibilitará a construção de gráficos. Os dados analisados da pesquisa resultarão na construção do Produto: um Manual de Orientação para o Ensino Religioso para a formação de valores éticos e sociais.

The Diploma Thesis "Ethical aspects of work as a long-term human commitment" deals with the question under what condition the work assigned as the external obligation can be understood as the personal responsibility. The Thesis deals with the dilemma between commitment and responsibility, the purpose of work as a commitment from the Christian and philosophical point of view. It describes and analyzes the variety of meaning and forms by which a person's work can be personaly commited, further defines the criteria for such binding, including Christian and philosophical bases. The Thesis connects the general socio- ethical argumentation with the reflection of the author's practical experience from the metallurgical industry in the Ostrava region. On concrete examples, it shows the current ethical issues associated with understanding the assigned work as a personally responsible commitment and proposes solutions to them in accordance with Christian principles. Keywords ethics, work, long-term commitment, responsibility, business ethics, Christian ethics

The purpose of the research, which shaped the research question, was exploring the social construction of cultural stories of substance abuse and the difference that God-stories can make in these circumstances. The research is about the difference that the positioning of the self in the biblical and Christ-stories, the stories of faith, can make in the construction of self-stories in the context of substance abuse. This study thus studied the social construction of self-stories embedded in God-stories in the context of a short-term rehabilitation programme for addiction. I had conversations with 12 participants in Ramot, a rehabilitation centre for alcohol and drug addiction in Parow, Cape Town in the year 2005. A narrative approach was followed, because it is particularly suited to exploring the interaction between stories of identity or self-stories, stories of faith or God-stories, and stories of the struggle with substance abuse. The concept of stories opens up issues and ideas that initially seem to be fixed „realities‟ to change, as alternative meanings can be applied and stories can be told differently in different contexts. This approach therefore correlates with people‟s lived experience. Stories as texts are constitutive of our worlds, but are open to re-visioning and editing. With regard to problematic stories, hope can thus be performed in telling stories differently (recognising different contexts) or in telling different stories (previously marginalised texts). The main body of the research is a theoretical consideration of the way self-stories, God-stories and the stories of a struggle with substance abuse are socially constructed. Particular attention is paid to the way in which self-stories are socially constructed, because that is the basis for the narrative approach adopted in the research. This includes the postmodern, social constructionist and poststructuralist emphasis on the discursive positioning of the self, with the alternative positionings that this makes possible. Religion/spirituality are explored as part of the narrative resources or context that contribute to the social construction of self-stories. For a believer, this relationship with God through biblical stories informs other relationships and influences the construction of the person‟s self-stories.This research report therefore also reflects a critical interaction between the contemporary situation in respect of the struggle with substance abuse and the stories of the Christian tradition for the sake of improved praxis by the faith community. / Systematic Theology & Theological Ethics / D. Th.

This thesis is an analysis and examination of the concept of Faith as understood, experienced, and held by John Wesley: Throughout this study, the question, "Is this Faith possible" lingers, depicting the serious quest of heart and mind to understand Wesley's theology and his empirical view of Faith, as found in the eighteenth-century Revival in England and in Methodism. The problem of the usage of Faith, and the confusion of Freedom, in the life of the "true Christian" in Society, forms the basis of this discussion. The concepts Faith, Freedom, and Society are each examined in this work: The Spirit of the Age, as depicted by the thought of Kant the "transcendentalist" in Europe; of Locke the English empiricist; and of Edwards the Calvinist in America, give insight into the struggle in the pursuit of Freedom. These difficulties are met by the unique ministry of Wesley, who would not compromise man's "unalienable right" to be Free, especially in the light of "salvation by faith." In this analysis and consideration I look at Wesley's concepts of Faith, Freedom, and his understanding of Society, in the light of his theology and ethics, as well as the milieu of the eighteenth century; the implications of these are considered, taking note of, the influence and the impact of Wesley's ministry and writings upon almost all of the eighteenth-century English population, as well as the overflow of the same into the wider world. What happened through his ministry stresses the truth that, what he knew as Faith, was very different from the orthodox and traditional views. More than ever, this needs to be understood today. Wesley's experience of Faith, in his Freedom with regard to Society, is as relevant today as it was then. This thesis sets out to clarify some of the problems: What Wesley had found, history cannot deny. / Philosophy, Practical & Ststematic Theology / D. Th. (Theological Ethics)

Recent literature by several eminent psychotherapists ·such as Bergin and Beutler argues that counsellors' personal values are probably the greatest influence on the success and outcome of therapy and that the counsellor tends to convert the client to the counsellor's values. This literature provided strong support for this researcher's contention of the need for similar studies in pastoral counselling. The researcher was particularly concerned about the role of pastoral counsellors' value systems and moral judgement development in counselling situations. The researcher selected the Rokeach Value Survey and the Rest Defining Issues Test as instruments to test a sample of South African pastoral counsellors in this regard. The research questions addressed were as follows. Firstly, what are the value systems of a sample of pastoral counsellors in the South African context? Secondly, what are the moral judgement development levels of the pastoral counsellors? Thirdly, what is the relationship between the rank ordering of values and pastoral counsellors' levels of moral judgement development? Fourthly, what implications could these variables have for pastoral-client pairing in pastoral counselling? The chief findings were as follows. Firstly, the pastoral counsellors were shown to have conservative value systems with a preference for introspective terminal values over social terminal values. Secondly, the pastoral counsellors had a P score of 39.6 on the Defining Issues Test. This compares favourably with Asian university students who score between 36-40 as opposed to American university students who have a mean P score of 42.6. The researcher concluded that the conservative religious ideology of the sample helped to explain the low P scores somewhat. Thirdly, the Spearman correlational coefficient indicated little correlation between the Rokeach Value Survey and the Rest Defining Issues Test. Fourthly, both instruments indicated that the conservative nature of the pastoral counsellors would no doubt make them very effective counsellors in most denominations. They would tend to counsel in support of the status quo in the church. A major recommendation of the study was the need for further pastoral counsellor education in dealing with moral values issues. / Practical Theology / D.Th. (Practical theology)

This dissertation attempts to answer the questions, “What is the most appropriate background for understanding Paul’s views on marriage, celibacy and divorce as found in 1 Corinthians 7?” and “How do we account for the unique features in 1 Corinthians that are not clearly delineated in the Greco-Roman works, Jesus tradition or in other NT writings?” This work argues that Paul derives the substance of his perspective on marriage, celibacy and divorce directly from the Jewish Scriptures (LXX) and the uniquely motivated Jesus tradition to which he was exposed. Paul’s reception of this Jesus tradition can be traced to first generation believers as well as to his own revelatory religious experience. Such a proposal does not preclude Paul from being significantly influenced by his social context, but suggests that he was acutely aware of the philosophical differences between himself and other thinkers of his day. This work follows the contention that Hellenism only affected the ‘outer shell’ of Paul’s brand of Pharisaism (Hengel). What is more, the Apostle openly uses this Jesus tradition when the situations of his missionary churches paralleled those confronted by Jesus and seems to have expanded upon it when he had no explicit tradition from which to draw as new situations arose within his communities. / New Testament / D. Th. (New Testament)

Thesis (MTh (Old and New Testament))--University of Stellenbosch, 2006. / This paper undertakes a detailed study of Matt 6:19-34 for the specific purpose of accounting for the unique context and content of the material/financial ethic being articulated here by Jesus. The passage, made up of four pericopes, is located within the first of the five discourses of Jesus recorded in Matthew’s Gospel in which Jesus evidently articulates the ethical standards required of the children of the emerging Kingdom of God. The need for such a study stems from an understanding that the passage, indeed the Sermon as a whole, has been treated by traditional scholarship in a somewhat distanced and abstract manner i.e. it has been read without adequate cognisance being taken of the particular socio-linguistic and socio-historical context in which it was originally formulated and articulated. Relatively recent social-scientific and socio-historical New Testament scholarship, however, has provided a specific set of interpretive tools that enable a modern reader to make a far more dynamic and context-sensitive interpretation possible. Accordingly, this paper undertakes a socio-rhetorical analysis of Matt 6:19-34, together with a social-scientific and socio-historic/financial/religious analysis of the eastern Mediterranean world of late Second Temple times. Together these interpretive tools shed new light on the text and provide the opportunity for re-reading that text in a way that, hopefully, more closely articulates the ethic as an original audience might have heard it. Specifically, the use of these interpretive tools provide insights into why it was that Jesus explicitly prohibited worry, some six times in the passage, amongst the children of the Kingdom concerning the provision of their food, drink and clothing i.e. the tools provide something of an explanation for both the rhetorical force of the ethic and the underlying realities that gave rise to its formulation in the first place. These insights are then applied in an attempt at formulating a dynamically equivalent ethic that might be appropriated and applied by present day children of the Kingdom reading the passage today.

Due to the fact that Scripture is the authoritative Word of God (Belgic Confession. Article 5), the infallible written Word of God. is and stays the basis for Christian ethics. Scripture is not just another single source for Christian ethics among other sources, but it is the decisive source among all other sources. The question then arises - how is it possible in the ever-changing life situation of the modem day context of society? In an ever increasing secularized society places the Christian life and also the Christian ethics under more pressure. The acceptance of the authority of Scripture is therefore indispensable for Christian ethics. Scripture does however not present a text as an absolute answer for every possible or similar ethical problem. The deep-seated principles of Scripture must be exposed. From these principles norms should be derived that is applicable to the modem problem. The problem statement that follows from this culminates as the following: Can a thematic analysis of the Biblical dogma present a fundamental working foundation for Christian ethics in modem day society and serve as a corrective for the problematic approaches of a biblicistic as well as an over critical view of Scripture for the basis of ethics? The central theoretical argument of the study is the following: A thematic analysis of the Biblical dogma can indeed present a fundamental, working foundation for Christian ethics in modem day society and can serve as a corrective for the problematic approaches of a biblicistic as well as an over critical view of Scripture for the basis of ethics. In the second chapter the definitions of what could be defined as Christian ethical perspectives and principles is examined. In other words, the purpose of the chapter is to examine and to give a broad overview of the understanding of ethics, morality, morals etc. The qualified deontological approach is chosen due to the fact that normative approach with its focus on Scripture as authoritative therein plays a big role. The third chapter focuses on which view of Scripture and use of Scripture is normally applied in Reformed ethics in the use or interpretation of Scripture. Special attention is given to the authority of Scripture, view of Scripture and an attempt is made to convey the hermeneutical points of departure (axioms) in order to derive an intra-biblical use of Scripture. The chapter comes to the conclusion that even though the Christian ethicist does have in theory at his disposal a biblical-founded hermeneutical model it does not safeguard him against a faulty use or interpretation of Scripture in practice in the fourth chapter the present-day Scriptural principles that serves as basis and cadre for the interpretation of Scripture in light of the answering of Christian ethical questions is examined. In light of the present-day situation seems that although there is a sound hermeneutical axiom that serves as filters in the interpretation of Scripture in the reformed ethics, in practice either a biblicistic or a Criticism of Scripture approach to Scripture is chosen. The approaches of the fundamentalistic/biblicistic and Criticism of Scripture is examined and m e s to the conclusion that both, in their own way, does bring the authority and the message of Scripture in disrepute. In the event of the fundamentalistic and biblicistic approach the divine inspiration character of Scripture is overemphasized and all Scriptural Utterances is treated on the same level to such an instance that everything is sanctioned. In the event of the Criticism of Scripture the human fallible character is again overemphasized to the extent that the normative authority of Scripture for Christian ethics is not taken into account . The chapter comes to the conclusion mat a "third way” must be examined to circumvent the many pitfalls of either a fundamentalistic/biblicistic of Criticism of Scripture in the interpretation of Scripture in light of a modem day ethical problem. In the fifth chapter an adjudication and evaluation of the quality of the use or Interpretation of Scripture in light of capital punishment within the biblical view of a right to life is given as a representative of modem day ethical problems. In light of the principles given in Chapter 3 and 4 it is shown that Scripture is most often misused despite fair hermeneutical principles Only to reflect the ethicist own preconceived ideas. The last chapter indicates an approach that might possibly serve as an alternative/valid use or interpretation of Scripture in reformed ethics other than a typical biblicistic/fundamentalistic or Criticism of Scripture approach. The chapter draws to the conclusion that the contextual-paradigmatic approach is at this time the only capable approach of acknowledging the proper interpretation of Scripture to shed some light on the ethical problems of modem day society, without stepping into the boundaries of either a biblicistic/fundamentalistic of Criticism of Scripture interpretation of Scripture. The contextual-paradigmatic approach succeeds in preventing the ethicist to misinterpret Biblical texts that seems to be of importance to the debate of capital punishment and to make a scientific contribution lo important debates in South Africa today, especially those related to the interpretation of the Bible and its use in the development of South Africa. In this way an attempt is made to contribute towards and to provide guidelines for a healthy and responsible society and for the functioning of Christians within the current South African state. The message of the Bible must thus be established in a responsible and valid way, and communicated effectively to society. / Thesis (Ph.D. (Ethics))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2006