Philosophiae Doctor - PhD / With the National Development Plan vision 2030, the South African government has charted a path to ensure that through social development, poverty, inequality and unemployment will be eradicated in post-apartheid South Africa. After more than twenty years of democracy and freedom, the nature and scale of the problems plaguing social development are far from alleviated. However, scholars share the view that social development partnerships could enhance the delivery of developmental welfare services as is implied in the South Africa’s National Development Plan (NDP). The variety of actors involved in any functional partnership pose particular challenges, risks and benefits. In order to explore ways to assess the functionality of such partnerships, this study will focus on religion-state partnerships in social development, with special reference to FBOs, their relation with the state, society and the context within which they exist; hence, defining the nature, identity and role of FBOs in social development.

In the United States, faith-based and other small credit unions are vanishing at the rate of nearly a credit union each workday. The purpose of this causal-comparative study was to provide managers of faith-based credit unions with information about differences in financial performance and risk tolerance between faith-based and non-faith-based credit unions in order to improve their investment strategy and long-term sustainability. The study included a comparison of ratios measuring the financial performance and risk tolerance of randomly selected faith-based credit unions in the United States with the corresponding ratios of non-faith-based credit unions of similar size and location from 2003 to 2012. The data were collected from the National Credit Union Association, the U.S. government regulator of federally insured credit unions. The data analysis involved t tests and one-way ANOVAs to determine the differences in mean ratios of financial performance and risk tolerance between faith-based and non-faith-based credit unions. The findings demonstrated mixed support for the theoretical framework based on the Protestant ethic theory, which holds that certain traits associated with religion (e.g., thrift and debt avoidance) might influence financial performance and risk tolerance. The findings revealed significant differences between faith-based and non-faith-based credit unions in capital adequacy, liquidity risk, and credit risk, but not in profitability and interest rate risk. The implications for social change include the potential to strengthen the risk management and investment strategies for faith-based credit unions, thereby helping to ensure the continuation of vital financial services valued by members and their communities.

The purpose of this qualitative multiple case study was to examine how music teachers at Jewish day schools integrate both general music skills and repertoire with Jewish repertoire and themes in their curriculum. Research questions included: (1) How do music teachers at Jewish day schools integrate general music skills and repertoire with Jewish repertoire and themes? (2) What challenges do teachers face when implementing their curriculum in the Jewish day school environment? (3) How do teachers describe their decisions to integrate? (4) How do their beliefs and values impact integration? And (5) How do teachers understand their role as music educators in a Jewish day school? Research on music education in Jewish day schools is a rarity, and as of the completion of this study, no apparent research yet examined the integration of general and Jewish music. For this study, I selected three general music teachers at the lower school or elementary level from two Jewish day schools in the Northeastern United States that represented different Jewish communities. Data collection consisted of three semi-structured interviews, three-four observations of general music classes for kindergarten through fifth grade, and artifacts.Data analysis revealed the following findings, organized by the five research questions. Participants integrated general and Jewish music through music basics and deliberate curricular decisions. They faced the challenges of time, tensions between values and practical considerations, and on some occasions, support. Participants made decisions about integration by taking the repertoire-first or concept-first approach, and then checked to make sure that their lessons were multicentric. Participants’ beliefs and values fit the overarching theme of “feet in two different worlds.” Two participants, Shira and Tamar, derived their beliefs and values from the general music world, the Jewish music world, and from a combination of the two. One teacher, Kate, who is not Jewish, derived her beliefs and values from the general music world and showed a belief in being open to Jewish music. Shira saw her role as “The Connector,” Tamar viewed her role as “The Advocate/Connector,” and Kate viewed her role as “The Facilitator.” This research strives to shed light on the practicalities and thought processes involved in integrating Jewish and general music that will transfer to other Jewish day schools, other Jewish educational institutions, and other faith-based schools. / Music Education

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Faith-based environmentalism involves caring for the earth through a reflection of one's morals, values, and faith. In this study, religious leaders that are actively involved in faith-based environmental groups were interviewed and congregational members surveyed to explore belief systems and attitudes with the goal of understanding how to increase program participation and make faith-based environmental groups more effective. Twenty environmental religious action leaders were interviewed. Survey questions were also administered to 10 church/synagogue congregations within the study region. Interview results showed that action leaders were interested in secular and religious partnerships, although they felt that some partnerships may be more appropriate than others. Leaders felt that clergy support was essential to program success. The extent to which faith contributes to one's identity could be a factor for participation for some congregants. Leaders thought that a combination of hands-on, scripture-based, and sermon-based approaches, as well as integration throughout church or synagogue practices and activities would increase efficacy. Political perceptions were cited as a reason for non-participation. Congregational survey results showed that environmental commitment positively predicted program participation, whereas political conservatism was an inverse predictor. Faith identity, secular and faith partnership attitudes, religiosity, church attendance, and attitudes about support from church leadership did not impact whether or not congregational members participated in faith-based environmental programs. Program preferences and environmental views were analyzed to determine any differences. Preferred learning methods included hands-on activities and expert guest speakers. Congregants most viewed environmental problems as being a moral, social justice, and economic issue. / Master of Science

"If the [White House faith-based] initiative was going to have an impact on the local community, you had to begin to think of the initiative in local terms." – Brad Yarbrough, Director of the Oklahoma Office of Faith and Community Initiatives Charitable Choice and other faith-based initiatives attempt to provide faith-based organizations (FBOs) easier access to public funds for social service delivery in the community. Five years after Charitable Choice was included in the federal welfare reforms of 1996, President George W. Bush introduced the White House Office of Faith-Based & Community Initiatives in order to expand partnership opportunities between federal agencies and FBOs. The Bush administration actively recruited religious groups to apply for public dollars that would fund local social programs. The actions in Washington mirrored similar movements that took place in many states during the mid to late 1990s. Since then, so-called "faith-based social services" have received their share of media attention and public scrutiny. Much of the attention has been on political-philosophical debates and the legal challenges to church-state separation. Research by Bartkowski and Regis (1999), Kennedy and Bielefeld (2001), Gomez (2003), Vanderwoerd (2004) and Sager (2006) depict the efforts of individual states to implement Charitable Choice policies and the attitudes of FBOs towards partnerships with government. However, there has been inadequate research on the experience of local governments who engage faith-based providers on a daily basis. Much more can be learned about the themes that shape current collaborations between local social service agencies and the faith community in Virginia. Using a collective case study design, this research captures the experiences and perspectives of local public managers who have formed partnerships with FBOs mostly through non-financial means. The data shows that federal and state faith-based initiatives have little influence on the way local social service agencies in Virginia conduct their work. The typical partnerships with FBOs are the result of pre-existing, informal and non-financial relationships that have been fostered and sustained long before welfare reform or without the impetus of any faith-based initiatives. / Ph. D.

This dissertation is based on an ethnographic study of a discussion board and its 120-150 female participants, all of whom are members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS). My primary goal was to discover how the women’s religion influences their uses of and the rewards of their online literacy and how their online writing affects how they practice their faith and define themselves. Methods of inquiry included two years of participant observation, phenomenological interviewing, discourse analysis interviewing, and collection of discussion board threads. Participants’ spoken comments and writing show how they created an enclave in order to communicate in ways driven by their religious beliefs and to discuss the multiple essences that emerge as they live their faith. Participants’ literacy practices also demonstrate that the discussion board functions simultaneously as a private board and as a public LDS community, in which participants use intimate literacy to construct public voices that are in harmony with LDS teachings but that reflect their individual differences with those teachings. My analysis reveals that writing in this enclave often contributed to openmindedness and critical agency. The participants conscientiously engaged in both deliberative discourse and in a pragmatics of naming to claim religious essences and to negotiate their multiple relationships to their religious doctrine, even as they accept that doctrine. In doing so, they have found power to resist other cultural discourses. They also have become more open to difference within their community. This study shows that agency can occur within a fixed structure because there are choices within fixity and that religious discourses offered participants a position of resistance from which to speak. This study suggests the importance of qualitative research on private contexts for faith-based literacy because public contexts may not be deemed as “safe” for discussions of fluidity within faith. I argue that composition studies and literacy studies need to pay attention to the extent to which religion informs individuals’ literacy practices, particularly students who struggle to reconcile the coexistence of religious and academic literacies. I also suggest pedagogical tactics for welcoming faith-based literacies in the composition classroom.

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