Judea Harvest is a modern cross-cultural gospel-mission outreach that started four years ago. During this short span of time it has laid claims to phenomenal success. The view has been expressed that the cross-cultural gospel-mission has a world wide crisis. This is due to goals that are set which are not in line with God’s goals for the gospel-mission. Some goals are even seen as being unfamiliar with the Bible itself. Responsibility from the church’s side calls for an investigation into the total strategy of Judea Havest regarding the mentioned crisis. This situation was researched by means of a literary study and qualitative research and certain proposals were made to Judea Harvest. We need to determine what God’s goals are. Concepts that are strange to the Bible are no longer acceptable. An example is the dichotomous view concerning man. The Bible does not uphold such a dichotomous view where man’s spiritual life is separated from the rest of his existence. The Bible upholds a holistic approach to man. Another example is the view that the gospel-mission is directed to a specific geographical area. Jesus’ ministry was centred towards man – man in his crisis and need. A geographical approach, like Judea Harvest has, results in a situation where a specific people-group and their unique needs are totally overlooked. Cross-cultural gospel-mission asks that the role of culture be reconsidered. God meets man within his cultural context, and this must be the aim of the gospel-mission. Culture is not cancelled by the Gospel, but the Gospel acknowledges the existence of culture. For far too long the gospel mission was approached with a view that the missions organisation, as is the case with Judea Harvest, determines the needs of a people, and how that need is to be met. The perception of the people-group that is to be reached, must give the direction in what the needs are and how they are to be fulfilled by the Gospel. For this to happen, in-depth research of the people-group is required. The time has come to rethink God’s goals for the gospel-mission. / Prof. W.J. Hattingh

This thesis presents the historiographical concerns guiding the work of Christopher Dawson, Roman Catholic historian, sociologist, and philosopher of history, in terms of a science of human being, which is adequate to conceptualize human activity in time. The author attempts to show that Dawson rejects the modern, empirical paradigm, both for its secularity and its reconceptualization of the relation between time and human activity in history. A conceptual continuity Dawson sees between the work of modern empirical thinkers G.W.F. Hegel, Karl Marx, and Friedrich Nietzsche, and its consequences for understanding history as a teleological process, or the progress of Reason, consciousness, Spirit, self-overcoming, etc., is treated in the first section. Dawson's account of the natural conditions of human knowing, and its relation to his theory of culture, is treated in the second section. And in the final section, Dawson's understanding of the relation between religion and culture is presented.

This research explores Iranian audiences of Farsi Christian satellite channels. It considers what the narratives and interviews of participants of this research reveal about the way audiences interact and negotiate with both religious broadcasts and their socio-political or religious contexts. What are the motivating factors that led the audiences first to watch Christian channels and secondly, where relevant, to change or add to their religious belief system? For those whose faith was transformed, how did this process happen according to their self-declared stories? Expressions of belief are analysed in order to consider their different understandings of religion, faith and their own belief system. The research also studies the triangular relationships between the audience, Farsi Christian media, and the audience’s culture(s). It is therefore a study of Farsi Christian channel audiences, their motivations in viewing the Christian message, their methods of interpretation and negotiations with different media texts, and their process of changing or altering their religion, using the concept of conversion as a tool of analysis. More specifically, I investigate the motivations of those in the audience of the four Farsi Christian satellite channels who stated that they had become Christians through that medium. I will examine factors that influenced both their interpretations of and negotiations with the religious media message, and their process of changing, adding to or modifying their belief system, including their understanding of religious conversion. My research investigates the interactions and negotiations between meaning making and mediation, and the process of faith transformation within Reception Theory against the background of the sociology of religion and culture in contemporary Iran. This research contributes to three areas of study: media reception (largely religious television) and sociology of religion and culture, mostly from the point of view of selfidentified conversion; Media, Religion and Culture, mainly using audiences’ interactions and negotiations methods with the channels, and the religion of Islam and Christianity in the Iranian political-cultural context. This involved analysing three hundred narratives drawn from audiences of four Farsi Christian satellite television channels, during the period between 2010 and 2015, as well as fifteen semi-structured interviews, two focus group discussions and a telephone survey. The argument develops over nine chapters. Chapter one provides the socio-political and religious context of the Iranian audience as well as presenting literature reviews and methodology, while Chapter two gives the Iranian (state and society) understanding of religion (din and mazhab) and of globalisation, as well as discussing the satellite channel usage. Chapter three introduces the four Farsi Christian satellite channels using data from interviews channel directors. Chapter four analyses the two focus groups’ discussion of the central question: how do audiences interact and negotiate with the Christian message presented on the channels? Chapters five, six and seven examine the participants’ narratives and interviews using respectively experimenting, negotiating and resisting attitudes of participants. Chapter eight discusses and analyses the findings, the conclusion sets out the implications, contributions and limitations of the research.

Thesis (M.A. (African Languages)) --University of Limpopo, 2014

Thesis (M.A.)--Catholic Theological Union at Chicago, 2003. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 143-147).

Both the counterculture and its music will be examined using the concepts of heteronomy, autonomy, and theonomy and their dialectical relationship according to Paul Tillich's theory of religion and culture. The main themes beneath the emergence of the counterculture will be outlined, and the ways in which the dominant culture of the time may be considered what Tillich describes as a heteronomous phenomenon will be presented. The historical significance of the counterculture will then be demonstrated in terms of Tillich's concept of kairos. Through examination of the lyrics of some of the most popular songs between 1965 and 1970, the years during which the movement was at its height, the ways in which the counterculture may be seen as autonomous protest will be discussed. This will be followed by an examination of theonomous elements apparent in the song lyrics and an evaluation of the movement in terms of the Tillichian dialectic.

This study examines the ways and the extent to which Japanese new religions that seek to attain an international presence adapt and alter their techniques of proselytism in moving from one culture to another, and the ways in which their development varies in non-Japanese cultures. In particular I focus on Shinnyoen, one of the largest new religions in Japan, which has achieved a foothold in Hawaii and other areas with large Japanese immigrant populations, but which has also begun to develop in Europe and other parts of Asia. Currently, movements such as Shinnyoen are in their infancy in Britain, although they have already begun to establish a presence and have developed to some degree beyond the Japanese population. Accordingly, the activities of such religious groups and the ways in which they seek to appeal to and attract non-Japanese followers form a highly appropriate topic for research. This study will examine Shinnyoen and its proselytizing campaign in three diverse locations - the UK, Hawaii, and Singapore - in order to glean a clear account of the dynamics involved in the proselytizing activities of Japanese new religions overseas. The ethos of Japanese new religious movements and the conditions (social, organizational, cultural) conducive for dissemination abroad, especially among local populations, are issues explored in the process. The extent to which these patterns differ at the various locations will also be examined in order to determine whether Shinnyoen attracts, and targets, the same type of people in Britain as it does in Singapore and Hawaii. What will emerge at the conclusion of this study is a clearer picture of the challenges Japanese new religions face in their efforts to expand overseas and flourish in foreign soil and the necessary provisions they must possess in their praxis and organizational structure if they are to meet these challenges.

No abstract available. / Thesis (M. A.)-University of Durban-Westville, 2004.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Wyoming, 2007. / Title from PDF title page (viewed on June 9, 2009). Includes bibliographical references (p. 89-92).

Thesis (D.A.)--Illinois State University, 1978. / Title from title page screen, viewed Jan. 18, 2005. Dissertation Committee: M. Paul Holsinger (chair), Earl A. Reitan, Charles E. Gray, Arlan C. Helgeson, Joel G. Verner. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 84-91) and abstract. Also available in print.