Bibliography: leaves 205-213. / This study explores the vexed problem of authenticity in religion. In making that exploration, the study uses for its data the multitude of diverse and disparate religious formations found in the relatively disordered and anarchic spaces created with Internet technologies, formations that I have tentatively called virtual religions. The theoretical framework applied here is developed from the unique and original critical theory of Walter Benjamin. This study is therefore located at a number of important intersections: between religion and popular culture, between religion and politics, between religion and philosophy, and between religion and art. The argument is comprised of three major parts, corresponding to Chapters Two, Three and Four respectively. The first part approaches authenticity from the perspective of empiricism, with its scientific methods of verification and falsification. The keyword here is forensics because it implies both the scientific paradigm and police detection. This second implication is an important addition to the first because it draws attention to power in the vexed problem of religious authenticity.

Bibliography: leaves 96-100. / Pancasila, literally meaning "Five Principles", is the philosophical basis on which the modem Republic of Indonesia was established. It was devised in order to fulfil the goals and ends of independence. One such goal is the establishment of religious harmony and tolerance in national life. The aims of this thesis are, in the first place, to explore the importance of such a system as Pancasila, and to provide emphatic interpretation of Pancasila which in essence discloses the dynamics of religious interaction in Indonesia. This thesis is divided into two parts. The first part is dealing with the historical context out of which Pancasila was found. Here, it is ultimately concerned with the question of the genealogy of Pancasila. It is also dealing with the question of how Sukarno -the first Indonesian president and the father of Pancasila- laid its foundation. The second part is mainly concerned with the questions of, what the elements of Pancasila are, and through what mechanism Pancasila is maintained. Thus, while the first part is historical, the second is cultural, and examines Pancasila from the cultural point of view. Pancasila as a cultural system will be dealt with from two angles, namely Pancasila as an evaluative system, and Pancasila as a symbolic system.

The debate about whether or not religious education should be included in early childhood education is a longstanding one. Even those who believe that Religious Education should be included in early childhood programs cannot agree about the content or method for including it. The phenomenon of religious education in Montessori pre-primary schools in the Western Cape Province of South Africa is explored in this study, using a qualitative research approach. More specifically, the study explored the goals of their religious education; the level of awareness of Montessori's approach to religious education and finally looked at how they were implementing religion in their schools. A sample of 4 pre-schools were selected from the 90 Montessori pre-schools in the Western Cape. These included a Non-Denominational, Muslim, Christian and a Jewish School. The Muslim and Non-Denominational schools are full Montessori schools, while the Christian and Jewish schools have incorporated Montessori alongside other curriculums, namely the Jubilee Excellence School Curriculum and Reggio-Emilia approach, respectively. A collective case study approach was adopted and data was collected through observations and interviews. While the findings cannot easily be generalized, it is significant in providing a starting point to understanding the phenomenon of religious education in Montessori pre-schools in the Western Cape. The study highlighted Dr Montessori's personal and professional struggle with religion and found that the struggles Dr Montessori faced in terms of Religion have still not been resolved today. The schools in the Western Cape still grappled with the essence of Montessori's struggle, i.e. where to place religion and how to integrate it in the Montessori method and philosophy. Dr Montessori's beliefs about the importance of spirituality in the early years were found to be consistent with the contemporary views of scholars around the world. The religious schools followed guidelines of their own religions when deciding on which values to focus on. At the Jewish school, the focus was on the community, while at the Muslim school the focus was on the individual and selfetiquette. The focus of the Christian school was on discipline and obedience. The schools had various commitments to spiritual and ethical development of the children. Finally, the study found that the Montessori method was ideal for teaching the practices of religion, but when schools delved into issues of faith or love of God, they switched to other modes of teaching (e.g. preaching). This disjuncture between teaching faith and practices was ultimately Dr Montessori's reason for abolishing religious education from her method.

Includes abstract. / Includes bibliographical references. / This thesis analyses the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) television production, Siyakholwa - We Believe. This series is the first and remains the only children’s multi-faith educational television programme produced for South African viewers. This thesis discusses how the constitutional ideal of religious pluralism is mediated through public service television. The relationships among the state, religion, public education and public service broadcasting in the light of post-apartheid policy are examined. By analysing national policy for religion in education and public service broadcasting along with theory about religion education, this thesis argues for the pedagogical viability of television for teaching about religion in South Africa.

Bibliography: leaves 161-169. / This study purposes to develop an African religio-political symbol of ikhaya in the context of a newly found democracy in South Africa. Drawn from the insights of the oikos model by Everett, the study assumes that a governing symbol taken from the heritage of the African black masses in South Africa is essential for a sound public life and the emancipation of the black people.

Bibliography: leaves 77-82. / The primary intention of this study is to contribute to scholarly interpretation of the New Testament Infancy Narratives. It owes much to Schaberg (1990) who, undoubtedly, has done an extensive study of the infancy narratives. In contrast, it is a challenge to her claim that, studied from a feminist theological approach, the texts dealing with the origin of Jesus, Matthew 1:1-25 and Luke 1:20-56 and 3:23-38 originally were about an illegitimate conception and not about a miraculous virginal conception. It challenges her claim that the intention of the evangelists was to transmit the tradition that Jesus, the Messiah, was illegitimately conceived during the time when Mary, his mother, was still betrothed to Joseph. My argument is that, looked at from a womanist Afrocentric perspective, these infancy narratives were about the legitimate conception of Jesus and nothing else. They were, rather, aimed at passing down the tradition that Jesus, charged with illegitimacy, was, in fact, conceived legitimately. The charge only served to defame Jesus. In other words, that charge had a social and not a biological value. An investigation of the understanding of Jesus's birth in the Mediterranean world in chapter 4 shows that that charge came solely from Jesus's opponents whether they were Jewish or non-Jewish. An examination of pre-marital sexual relations and marriage customs among African societies in chapter 4 shows that Joseph could be the biological father of Jesus. He probably made Mary pregnant before or during the betrothal period. Given that, Joseph could not only be the legal father of Jesus but his biological father too. Chapter 5 and 6 of this study look at Matthew's and Luke's reading of the virgin birth. There is really nothing suggesting that the evangelists intended to write about the illegitimacy of Jesus. They were clearly writing about the legitimate conception of Jesus.

Bibliography: leaves 76-82. / This study focuses on the centrality of the Logos theme in the prologue of the Fourth Gospel. The study demonstrates that the author of John's Gospel is keen to present to his audience the uniqueness of the Word which became 'umuntu' or 'flesh'. Apparently, the author of the Gospel is in interlocution with various strands in his audience who have a different understanding of the Logos. Second, we discern a movement that ascends from verse 12 which is seen as the proof of the prologue. In his ascension, the Logos dwells, embraces, and befriends those who accept him. The dialectic between those who reject him and those who accept him calls for a sociolinguistic approach in order to highlight what the discourse of the author is all about. The methodology that is employed in this study is that of sociolinguistics, and with the emphasis being on antilanguage. John consciously uses a dialogical method in order to distinguish between those who speak the language of the rejection of Jesus, and those whose language is different from the opponents of Jesus.

Writing in 1999 the eminent Fuller Theological Seminary missiologist, Peter Wagner, claimed that the shape of Protestant Christianity was being changed by the emergence of a new movement that he called the New Apostolic Reformation (hereafter referred to as the NAR). The NAR is a movement that has developed among traditional Pentecostal/Charismatic churches in an attempt to break free from the pressure of denominational structures and influences. One of the key premises of the NAR Movement is that the church must return to the early church's pattern of a five fold ministry as presented in Ephesians 4: 11 because we are living at the end of the current age. The movement calls for the renewal of apostles and prophets to go with the evangelists, pastors and teachers who already exist in many Pentecostal and Charismatic churches. In view of the NAR advocates, this ideal of returning to patterns of New Testament Christianity can only be accomplished by the restoration of the offices of the prophets and the apostles. Proponents of the movement claim that the other three offices, namely, those of the pastor, teacher and evangelist have already been recognised by the church. In the last several years the NAR Movement has emerged in South Africa and has begun recruiting members from traditional Pentecostal and Charismatic churches. Little has been written about this movement in South Africa or its connection to a world widespread of the NAR Movement.

Word processed copy. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 74-79) / In this thesis three interrelated tasks are undertaken. Firstly, it attempts to unveil the misogyny of the Catholic Church fathers' andocentric miss-reading of the Virgin Birth narrative. Secondly, it looks at feminist theologians' critical analyses of Marian devotion in Latin America as being about the veneration of an archetypal figure working in the interests of patriarchal social control and the oppression of women. Thirdly, it discusses the hermeneutical method of Feminist Liberation Theologians which has been designed to uncover and critique andocentric scriptural interpretations, and reinterpret the traditional images of the Bible from a feminist perspective.

Includes bibliographical references (p. 169-186). / The argument of this dissertation is that the garden can be considered a proleptic eschatological landscape outside of time. To prove this argument I pull together strands of philosophical reflections on death, history of religions analysis concerning sacred space and time and monastic spirituality. I develop this argument by focusing on the enclosed garden, which has connected with it, in myth and metaphor, abundant meanings concerning life after death in a paradisiacal state of bliss. These meanings also become evident in the physical layout of the garden, which, when analyzing it in terms of substantial and situational definitions of sacred space, becomes a prime example of a sacred space, linked physically and symbolically to an eschatological space. The enclosed garden plays a very important role in monastic spirituality as it is not only associated with the cloister, but also with the Virgin Mary, which both offer the monk a gateway to eternity in Paradise. Physically the enclosed garden becomes the very center of the monastic precinct, offering through a ritual-sensory experience of its spatial qualities an experience which allows the monk a moment of spiritual transcendence. It is also, thus, in this moment, when the monk’s physical experience of the garden is woven together with ideas of paradise as an abode of eternity, that the garden becomes a sacred space which can lift him outside of time to experience paradisiacal happiness. This requires a process of hermeneutical interpretation from the monk and the theorist reflecting on this encounter. It is a dialogue between the garden and its interpreters, which leads to the conclusion that an encounter with the sacred never stands in isolation.