AFRIKAANS: Die Belhar Belydenis was sedert sy ontstaan in 1982 ‘n omstrede dokument in die NG Kerkfamilie. Ná die Kerkbode-debat in 1998, is Belhar al hoe meer gesien as ‘n struikelblok in die weg van eenwording. Denke oor die Belydenis het gepolariseer tussen diegene wat dit aanvaar as konfessie teenoor diegene wat dit nie aanvaar nie. Besware wat teen die Belydenis ingebring is, het te make met sy ontstaansgeskiedenis, sy status as konfessie en inhoudelike besware. Die negatiewe persepsies oor die Belhar Belydenis is diep gewortel. In hierdie studie word ‘n derde posisie voorgestel, naamlik dat die missionêre waarde van die Belhar Belydenis vir die NG Kerk genoeg rede is om die inhoud van die belydenis te ontgin, ongeag of die belydenis as konfessie aanvaar word of nie. Deur ‘n bestudering van die sendingbenadering en –beleid in die NG Kerk as historiese aanloop tot die Belhar Belydenis, word die belang van inheemswording in terme van die missie van die kerk uitgelig. Die NG Kerk het ‘n sendingbeleid rondom die negentiende-eeuse Europese teologie van inheemswording ontwikkel wat bygedra het tot die ontstaan van afsonderlike kleur-bepaalde kerke. Hierdie beleid van inheemswording het bygedra tot ‘n versmelting van kerk en volk by die Afrikaner, met ‘n verdere gevolg van toenemende isolasie, ‘n geloofwaardigheidskrisis en ‘n missionêre gevangenskap. Dit vorm die missionêre agtergrond van die Belhar Belydenis. Ongelukkig het die NG Kerk die belydenis baie negatief ontvang – saam met ‘n aanklag van kettery en afgodery. Selfs te midde van hierdie negatiewe persepsie van die Belhar Belydenis, het die belydenis nogtans ‘n vormende en bevrydende invloed uitgeoefen op die sending van die kerk tot op hede, weereens: missionêre waarde. Die leemte in die inheemswording van die NG Kerk is dat dit tot volks-inheemswording beperk was. ‘n Nasionale inheemswording-benadering word uitgewys as ‘n meer relevante uitdrukking van die missie van die kerk in Suid-Afrika, met ‘n Suid-Afrikaanse Gereformeerde kerk as oogmerk. In terme hiervan is die Belhar Belydenis ‘n instrument tot inheemswording vir die hele NG Kerk-familie. Belhar is nie die struikelblok in die weg van eenwording nie. In die herenigingsgesprekke het ‘n inwendige teenstrydigheid ontstaan, en dít is die werklike struikelblok. Verskillende benaderings tot belydenisse bring verskillende beoordelings van Belhar mee. Karl Barth se teologie van Gereformeerde belydenisse dui op ‘n derde weg uit die hereniging-dilemma. Die aanvaarding van ‘n belydenis in die Gereformeerde benadering geskied altyd in vryheid, want Gereformeerdes staan onder gesag van die Skrif en Christus alleen. Die gesag wat die Kerk aan ‘n belydenis toeken word nie ontken nie, maar eerder ontgin. Die studie sluit af met riglyne vir die ontginning van die missionêre waarde van die Belhar Belydenis, gegrond op 14 onderhoude met teoloë uit die NG Kerk en VGKSA. Die onderhoude word weergegee as stimulasie tot gesprek tussen die lede van die NG Kerk-familie, veral tussen die NG Kerk en die VGKSA. Die studie eindig met enkele praktiese riglyne vir leraars en gemeenteleiers wat die missionêre waarde van die Belhar Belydenis wil ontgin deur ‘n oop en eerlike gesprek oor die Belhar Belydenis. ‘n Verwysingsbron van aktuele temas in die Belhar Belydenis word as hulpmiddel gegee. ENGLISH: Since its inception in 1982, the Belhar Confession has been a controversial document in family of Dutch Reformed Churches. After the debate in Die Kerkbode (1998), Belhar was progressively seen as an obstacle in the way of church unity. Opinion on the Confession polarized between those who accepted Belhar as their confession and others who did not want to accept it altogether. Objections on Belhar has to do with factors surrounding its inception, its status as confession and objections on certain textual formulations. The negative perceptions of the Belhar Confession is deep rooted. This study proposes a third position, namely that the missionary value of the Belhar Confession reason enough gives to make use of the contents of the Confession, irrespective of whether it is accepted as confession or not. Through a study of the missionary approach and policy of the Dutch Reformed Churches, the importance of indigenization as mission of the church is highlighted. The Dutch Reformed Church (DRC) developed its missionary policy based on nineteenth century European theology of indigenization. This policy of indigenization, however, contributed to the formation of separate churches determined by colour. This policy of indigenization also contributed to a fusion of church and “volk” (indigenous people) of the “Afrikaner”, further resulting in isolation, a crisis of credibility and a missional imprisonment in die DRC. This is the missional background of the Belhar Confession. The DRC, however, had a very negative reception of the Confession, since it was accompanied by a charge of heresy and idolatry against this church. Nevertheless, even in the midst of this negative perception of Belhar, the Confession still had a formative influence on the mission of the church until now: hence its missional value. The shortfall in the indigenization of the DRC is that it was confined to “volks”-indigenization. A national indigenization approach is shown to be a more relevant expression of the mission of the church in South Africa, with a South African Reformed Church as objective. In terms of this, the Belhar Confession is an instrument of indigenization for the whole DRC-family. Belhar is not an obstacle in the way of church unity. In the re-unification talks, an internal contradiction appeared, which is the actual obstacle. Different approaches to confessions lead to different evaluations of Belhar. Karl Barth’s theology of Reformed confessions points to a third way out of the dilemma of the re-unification process. In the Reformed approach, the acceptance of a confession is always voluntary, because the reformed believer is only under the authority of Christ and his Word (Scripture). The authority that the church gives to a confession is not denied, but rather discovered. The study concludes with a contemporary reading of the Belhar Confession, based on 14 interviews with theologians in the DRC and the Uniting Reformed Church. These interviews are presented to stimulate a conversation between members of the DRC-family, especially between die DRC and the Uniting Reformed Church. At the end of the study, some practical guidelines are given for church leaders and pastors who wish to make use of the missional value of Belhar by facilitating and organizing an open and honest dialogue between members of the DRC-family. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2009. / Science of Religion and Missiology / unrestricted

Employing decolonized, Indigenous research methods, the author considers Métis Beadwork Practice through the analytical lens of Therapeutic Jurisprudence and establishes the practice as a holistic Indigenous Legal Pedagogy for knowledge creation and mobilization in legal education. The author agrees with Drs. Friedland and Napoleon who suggest that a significant challenge in and to Indigenous legal research is that such research occupies a space of “deep absence,” with the starting line moved back as a consequence of colonialism. Building on the work of Dr. Shawn Wilson, the author espouses an Indigenous Research Paradigm which requires a prioritization of the relationship to the ideas and making space for non-linear logic systems and Indigenous ways of knowing in scholarly research. In her work, the author prioritizes synthesis over deconstruction on the belief that deconstructing relationships to ideas for the purpose of analyzing them would have the effect of damaging the cognitive and emotional relationships developed through the research ceremony. While the work embodies the four essential elements of autoethnography, the author argues that the work of Indigenous scholars speaking in their own voices is sui generis in nature. She argues that Indigenous scholars who employ storytelling and other culturally-relevant knowledge mobilization practices are engaging a distinct Indigenous Research Method. This work ultimately progresses in a non-linear fashion and incorporates extra-intellectual knowledge including poetry, music, and photography. The use of multiple fonts and other formatting devices including right justification are used to underline shifts in voice and perspective throughout the work. These pedagogical choices valourize the ways of knowing of Indigenous women and honour the author’s Métis worldview, including her understanding that all things are interrelated. The author examines, and ultimately eschews, notions of neutral objectivity in research as colonial constructs that undermine Indigenous Knowledge Systems and contribute to the ongoing colonization of Indigenous peoples in post-secondary education. Following an introduction to the legal and social history of Forced Assimilative Education of Indigenous Peoples in Canada, the author reviews recent research into ongoing colonialism, racism, and ethno-stress experienced by Indigenous Learners in post-secondary education. The ii author subsequently explores the specific concern of the subjugation and erasure of Indigenous women’s knowledge in academia. She conducts a review of existing literature in the sphere of Feminist Legal Theory, examining and ultimately rejecting intersectionality and conceptualizations of sisterhood as possible remedies to discrimination faced by Indigenous women legal scholars. She argues that the lived experience of Indigenous women is situated not at an intersection, but rather in the centre of a colonialism collision. As a consequence, the author argues that existing Feminist Legal Theory does not create adequate space for Indigenous difference, experiences, or worldviews. Offering insight into legal education, legal ethics, and professionalization processes, the author also explores questions of lived experience of Indigenous lawyers beyond the legal academy. She argues that learning the language of law is but the first element in a complex professionalization process that engages structures of patriarchal hierarchy in addition to the other forces, including colonialism and racism, that shape the legal profession. She further argues that, for Indigenous peoples, learning to speak the linear, official language of legal education represents a collision of even more complex systems of dominance, with the regulated approach to learning and problem-solving standing in direct opposition to Indigenous ways of knowing. Consequently, Indigenous law Learners frequently experience an intellectual rupture when engaging in the professional assimilation process. The author offers an overview of Calls to Action 27, 28, 42, and 50 of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada and an introductory environmental scan of ongoing efforts to decolonize and indigenize law schools including land-based learning and the development of Indigenous Course Requirements (ICRs). The author subsequently considers the process of decolonizing the legal academy through the analytical lenses of Therapeutic Jurisprudence and Therapeutic Jurisprudence+. She ultimately positions the act of decolonizing legal education as an act grounded in decolonial love with the potential for healing individuals and communities struggling with ongoing colonialism and racism in the academy. Building on the work of the late Professor Patricia Monture-Angus and contemporary Indigenous legal scholars including Drs. Tracey Lindberg, Darcy Lindberg, Val Napoleon, and John Burrows, the author considers possibilities for reimaging legal education through the development and use of Indigenous Legal Pedagogies. The author argues that Beadwork Practice holds a distinctive language of possibility as an Indigenous Legal Pedagogical practice as a result of deeply entrenched links between beads and law. The author explores the social and legal history of beads as a tool for legal knowledge production and mobilization in the context of wampum belts and beyond, including the use of Métis beadwork as a mnemonic device to facilitate intergenerational knowledge transfer of stories and songs that carry law. Further, she examines colonial law and policy that served to undermine the legal value of beads, and canvases emerging trends in the revitalization of community beadwork practice. Finally, the author positions Beadwork Practice as a holistic Indigenous Legal Pedagogy to support not only the revitalization of Indigenous Legal Orders and the development of cross-cultural competency as required under Calls to Action 27 and 28, but also therapeutic objectives of individual and community healing.