This study investigates the understanding of heresy and the heretic according to John of Damascus. For him, a heretic was any Christian who, by wilful choice, departs from the one orthodox tradition by adopting a personal opinion on the common faith which he intends to institute as sole truth. Our research is divided into two parts and aims to apply John of Damascus' understanding of the recurring identity of the Christian heretic and his behaviour. By using historical-theological, interdisciplinary and diachronical approaches, our research demonstrates that this Church Father, who is the `seal of the patristic era,' remains a relevant authority for our comprehension of heresy and the heretic. Through two case studies, namely, the Dutch Reformed Churches and Apartheid, and Kimbanguism, our study specifies, on the one hand how a distorted Christian confession contributed to the rise of Apartheid, with its attendant sense of a theocracy, predestination, election, supremacy, divine love and justice. Kimbanguism, on the other hand, represents a heresy against its will. It is an example of Christian leaders who abused their power to apply cultural elements that resulted in a dramatic misinterpretation of the Christian dogma of the Trinity. Finally, our study intends to apply the notions of wilful choice, obstinacy and fanaticism, libertine exegesis, personal opinion and orthodox tradition or common faith, to portray a heretic by using an interdisciplinary approach: theologically as a libertine-exegete, psychologically as a dogmatic and fanatic person, and sociologically as a negative cultural reformer. Thus, our analysis is both historical and theological, and clearly and substantially elucidates the heretical mind in modern times. Consequently, our inquiry may be summed up as follows. Firstly, heresy habitually comes from an existing text, doctrine or discipline; secondly, it concerns people who are originally Christians; thirdly, it demonstrates that a heretic may be a fervent and an educated Christian, a layman or a church leader, who, on the basis of wilful choice, interprets Biblical texts freely, with his personal exegesis and hermeneutics, and ultimately incorrectly. From this exegesis and hermeneutics he deduces and sustains a new doctrine that he defends with obstinacy and fanaticism. / Christian Spirituality, Church History & Missiology / D. Div. (Church History)

The use of kinaesthetic experiences associated with dance to support learning of curricular mathematics has been little represented in the available literature. Maths Dance is an approach to teaching and learning mathematics through dance and movement. The objectives of the study are related to assessing the impact of Maths Dance on students’ cognitive, affective and physical developmental areas in preschool and primary school settings. The investigation of the case study on Maths Dance took place in London, UK, with the participation of four teaching staff members, who were interviewed in detail, and thirty students of Reception, Year 2 and Year 3 classes, out of which eleven students were interviewed. All thirty students were observed once during three Maths Dance sessions, one session per each age group.      Based on a qualitative research approach, the data are analysed and discussed below around seven themes in relation to the theories of constructivism, Dienes’s theory of learning mathematics, Gardner’s theory of Multiple Intelligences and educational neuroscience. According to the main findings, students and teaching staff members express positive attitudes regarding most aspects of the research questions. Specifically, Maths Dance is believed to improve students’ maths skills, critical thinking and creativity, as well as enhance student motivation, socio-emotional and motor skills. The pleasant nature of the activities is also highlighted, an element that is believed to make this method adequate for students of low achievement in maths.  However, the small sample size, in addition to the fact that Maths Dance has recently started being implemented in schools, does not permit generalization of the results.

This study investigates the understanding of heresy and the heretic according to John of Damascus. For him, a heretic was any Christian who, by wilful choice, departs from the one orthodox tradition by adopting a personal opinion on the common faith which he intends to institute as sole truth. Our research is divided into two parts and aims to apply John of Damascus' understanding of the recurring identity of the Christian heretic and his behaviour. By using historical-theological, interdisciplinary and diachronical approaches, our research demonstrates that this Church Father, who is the `seal of the patristic era,' remains a relevant authority for our comprehension of heresy and the heretic. Through two case studies, namely, the Dutch Reformed Churches and Apartheid, and Kimbanguism, our study specifies, on the one hand how a distorted Christian confession contributed to the rise of Apartheid, with its attendant sense of a theocracy, predestination, election, supremacy, divine love and justice. Kimbanguism, on the other hand, represents a heresy against its will. It is an example of Christian leaders who abused their power to apply cultural elements that resulted in a dramatic misinterpretation of the Christian dogma of the Trinity. Finally, our study intends to apply the notions of wilful choice, obstinacy and fanaticism, libertine exegesis, personal opinion and orthodox tradition or common faith, to portray a heretic by using an interdisciplinary approach: theologically as a libertine-exegete, psychologically as a dogmatic and fanatic person, and sociologically as a negative cultural reformer. Thus, our analysis is both historical and theological, and clearly and substantially elucidates the heretical mind in modern times. Consequently, our inquiry may be summed up as follows. Firstly, heresy habitually comes from an existing text, doctrine or discipline; secondly, it concerns people who are originally Christians; thirdly, it demonstrates that a heretic may be a fervent and an educated Christian, a layman or a church leader, who, on the basis of wilful choice, interprets Biblical texts freely, with his personal exegesis and hermeneutics, and ultimately incorrectly. From this exegesis and hermeneutics he deduces and sustains a new doctrine that he defends with obstinacy and fanaticism. / Christian Spirituality, Church History and Missiology / D. Div. (Church History)