Premarital pregnancies resulting in unwed mothers is a problem within the church and in society. My hypothesis is that this plight of unwed mothers is not the sole responsibility of the girls but rather the result of lack of education of the church and the society. Therefore the main objectives of the research is to investigate. Firstly, to highlight the plight which unwed mothers receive from the Church and Society. Secondly, to conscientize the Church and the society as to the severity of the problem and its future implications. Thirdly, to challenge the Church not only to rethink its present stand as regards discipline, but to seek ways and means to alleviate the problem of teenage pregnancies. Fourthly, to sensitise all involved in the problem. An overview of literature and interviews was used to arrive at a broader appreciation of the root causes of being unwed mother. In depth interview with a small sample of unwed mothers were interviewed in order to document individual case studies. Church leaders, parents and other Youths were also interviewed. The research has found out that there are various factors that lead young women to bear children out of wedlock. Usually, those young Unwed mothers face severe consequences which impact negatively on themselves, their families, their children and the Church. To heal their painful experiences, unwed mother is last resort is to seek relief from the Church. The current Church practice is to put these unwed mothers under Church discipline. This research challenges the Church attitude and instead recommend several practical coping strategies to assist the unwed mothers and to alleviate the problem. These strategies include pastoral counselling and care, educational activities such as organisation of educational seminars and workshops and the publication of youth magazines in order to educate young people and society on his matter. / Thesis (M.Theol.)-University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 1998.

No description available.

Symeon of Durham's history of the church of Durham, a number of earlier narratives and the fine collection of twelfth century Durham charters formed the basis for this history of the Community of Saint Cuthbert before 1150. They generally concentrated upon the acquisition and maintenance of the community's lands, the changes in which reflected the major events in northern history. The survival of the sources and the story they tell bear witness to the remarkable resilience and continuity of the community. At no time did it suffer the destruction characteristic of northern monasticism, often flourishing at times of upheaval, as during the Scandinavian and Norman Conquests. In its first days the acquisition of land was, predictably, associated with early Anglian settlement, especially royal sites. Throughout the period the growth of the patrimony was largely dependent upon royal patronage, though some bishops were also avid acquirers of land. Royal and other lay patronage can be directly associated with the need to gather support in the north. Rulers secure in the north, as native northern earls, or strong enough to subdue the area were unlikely to be great benefactors and were inclined to despoil the church. For the Cuthbertine community jurisdictional rights were important and there is evidence to suggest that there existed a substantial jurisdictional immunity within the patrimony by the tenth century. The rights of sanctuary of a mother church and the immunities of church land in the seventh century seem to have been important factors in its establishment, rather than, as has generally been suggested, the alienation of comital rights to Durham in the late eleventh century. The combination of landed wealth, jurisdictional privilege and survival accounts for the immense power of the community in the north from the seventh century onwards.

Practical Theology / (M. Th. (Practical Theology))

No description available.

No description available.

Thesis (MPhil (Ancient Studies)--University of Stellenbosch, 2008. / This thesis explores the importance of the function of religion in the life of the average, non-royal woman in Ancient Egyptian society. As Ancient Egyptian society and the historical documentation thereof were dominated by the male perspective, the extent of religious participation by women was, until recently, underestimated. Recent research has shown that women had taken part in, and in some cases even dominated, certain spheres of Ancient Egyptian religion. This included religious participation in public, as well as the practice of certain religious rituals in the home. The religious lives of ordinary women of non-royal families were studied by looking at their involvement in the public aspects of Egyptian religion, such as temples, tombs and festivals, as well as at the influence of religion on their identities as women and mothers. The research method followed was that of an iconographical analysis of original sources, which were classified and examined in order to establish their religious links to women of the middle and lower classes. A catalogue of sources is given, including sources depicting women participating in public rituals and objects used in a more domestic sphere. The first included tomb paintings and reliefs from tombs and temples, as well as objects given as public offerings to various deities. The second group included objects and visual depictions relating to fertility, birth and death. This thesis attempts better to understand and illuminate to what an extent the ordinary women of Ancient Egypt were involved in religious participation in their daily lives, as well as to illustrate the dimensions of this participation.

Abstract not available

The research question for this thesis arose from the author's desire to find ways to integrate into her sense of Self her personal experience as woman and mother and to be empowered by that. She sought a source of empowerment that affirmed the life honouring, spiritual and ecological values that were being highlighted by the mothering experience. The connection is deepened further by the recognition of a time when these values were incorporated into the earliest of human creation stories, from watching the creative cycles of the seasons, and the bodies of women in the gestating creation cycles. The body which forms the presentation of this thesis is in two media, text and the visual arts. It is expressed and interpreted in three parts: through the texts of the book, 'The wheel of the year : seasons of the soul in quilts' and the research document, and through the visual medium of artquilts in exhibition which symbolise the Old European and Celtic seasonal celebration. The process for construction of this research has been to piece together the fabrics of two women's research groups' life experiences, and the author's own personal reflections on her life and theirs, through the creative process of mothering, patchwork quilting and participating in seasonal ritual / Master of Social Ecology (Hons)

The purpose of this study was to explore and delineate leadership practices, which could facilitate the transition of Catholic religious institutes into the world of the third millennium, within groups facing the diminishment, and even death, of current forms of religious life. Hermeneutical phenomenology, particularly as developed by Ricoeur, provided the philosophical base for an analysis of the multiple hermeneutical dimensions of culture, human sciences, spirituality and religion. Elements of postmodernism and feminism were also found to be useful starting points. Qualitative research provided the mechanisms out of which meaningful data was elicited and text and context explored. An extensive literature review and individual interviews with thirty women and men in leadership positions in religious institutes formed the basis of the research. Initial findings were tested against the insights of a focus group of religious involved and interested in the future of religious life and its leadership. Additionally, the responses of the leaders of religious congregations in NSW at their annual conference provided a valuable sounding board for the research findings. Core to the study, respondents believed, was a changing concept of God, described in the interviews as ‘the larger God’, and named as the foundation of contemporary religious commitment. A second fundamental call was pinpointed as that of radical commitment to ‘the other’. ‘Commitment to, and relationship with, the other’ was seen as a critical focus for religious organisations in an increasingly divided and polarised world. For women and men currently in the midst of religious life transition, identity, mission and community were identified as specific orientations from which unfamiliar and emerging forms of ‘the larger God’ and ‘relationship with the other’ were examined. Authenticating leadership was used to describe the form of leadership believed to be necessary during this time of transition to endorse and authenticate the tentative sparks of new life. This leadership was depicted as stimulated by a sense of spiritual dynamism and an outward focus, activating the motivation of the congregation towards ‘the larger God’ and ‘the other’. Energising, empowering and challenging the group were described as intrinsic to these orientations. Demonstrating authenticity, embracing diversity, accepting suffering as the inevitable price of effective contemporary leadership, and ‘holding leadership lightly’, were also highlighted as essential elements for a leadership aimed at authenticating diverse expressions of new forms of religious life. Two clear leadership practices were named as essential for effective transition during this period of decisive transformation. Consciously managing the disintegration and death of current expressions of religious life, while simultaneously mobilising the energies of small emergent groups to explore and attempt new and diverse forms, were seen as the most difficult, but probably the most critical, challenges for leadership at this time.