MTh Theses
Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14194/2591
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Item A Socio-Rhetorical Analysis of Paul’s Speech in Acts 17:16–34: Implications for a Missions Strategy Beyond the Ewes in the Global Evangelical Church in Ghana.(South African Theological Seminary Johannesburg, 2022) Sackitey, Francis Lawer 1967; Van Deventer, Cornelia; Van Deventer, CorneliaThe command Jesus gave the Church to make disciples of all nations in Matthew 28:16–20 calls for a missions strategy that takes into consideration the socio-cultural, religious, and linguistic backgrounds of those the Church reaches out to. The writer of the Acts of the Apostles narrates how in carrying out the mandate of the Great Commission, the Holy Spirit through the apostles, adopted various mission strategies to fulfil that mandate. The Apostle Paul’s speech in Acts 17:16–34 is one of the classic examples of how the early missionaries adopted the socio-cultural, religious, and linguistic background of their audiences to carry the gospel message across. This thesis adopts a socio-rhetorical analysis methodology to analyse Paul’s speech in Acts 17:16–34 with the aim of distilling implications of the speech for missions strategy which will take care of the socio-cultural, religious, and linguistic settings of the people the Church evangelises. Many scholars, having researched the Areopagus speech, have proposed that the gospel message must be contextualised into the cultural context of those evangelised. One major gap in those studies however is how the Church must articulate the gospel in a multicultural and linguistic context to distil theological and missiological truth(s) for the African (and, in this case, Ghanaian) context, where language planning and the accommodation of tribal distinctions are frequently undermined in the Church’s missions strategy. The research considered the context of the book of Acts, examined the socio-rhetorical context of Paul’s speech in Acts 17:16–34, undertook a socio-rhetorical analysis of the speech, and explored its significance for missions strategy. The practical significance of the socio-rhetorical interpretation of Paul’s speech in Acts 17:16–34 is the acquisition of handles for the Global Evangelical Church in Ghana and abroad to expand its missions plan beyond service to the Ewe people. The research revealed that though the early Church struggled to integrate Jews and Gentiles as worldviews, language practices, history, and other factors were anything but monolithic, the apostle Paul adopted a missions strategy that demonstrates a worthwhile attempt to bridge tribal and language barriers in his mission work.Item Exploring Challenges of Theological Education for Women in Evangelical Churches in Ndola, Zambia.(South African Theological Seminary Johannesburg, 2022) Phiri, Rachel Eva Melhorn 1055; Amenyedzi, Seyram B.; Brodie, RobertNumerous women from evangelical churches within Ndola, Zambia desire to do theological education. As the women pursue theological studies, they encounter obstacles which hinder their studies. This empirical research, in the field of Practical Theology, explored the challenges experienced by some women from evangelical churches in Ndola. The study was done through finding the current situation of the women, as well as the reason they find themselves in their present circumstances. Next, the research devised a model of what the situation should be in Ndola with women doing theological studies. And lastly, the study discovered some possible ways of responding to the situation with the women from Ndola, Zambia. In order to come to know the barriers, qualitative interviews with four different groups of participants were conducted. In the first task, the interviews provided the current situation with women from Ndola, Zambia doing theological education. Through the second task, the influences that hindered the women from doing theology courses were discovered. The third task was vital to determine what the ideal situation should be. This was done through a biblical and theological reflection on women in the Bible, as well as, seeking wisdom from educators at institutions within Ndola, concerning women and the way they learn. The final task provides suggestions for overcoming the obstacles after determining what the ideal situation should be. A data analysis and findings point to ten different obstacles, called themes, that women encounter as they pursue theological education. The themes are as follows: lack of resources, time management, misunderstood on the reason for pursuing theological education, mentality concerning the priority of educating males over females, learning styles and teaching methods, online learning, the value of a woman as a person, gender imbalance in theology classrooms, and the perception of female leadership in the church. The influences of each of these themes point to a number of trends, which provided the reason for the themes. Lastly, a possible response to the challenges encountered by women from Ndola, Zambia to pursue theological education is proposed as recommendations.Item Ephesians 1:15–2:10as a deterrent to rural Serer Christians in Evangelical Baptist Churches of Senegal reverting to the Pangool (ancestral spirits) in times of life stress.(South African Theological Seminary Johannesburg, 2022) Campbell, Charles C.; Churchill, TimothyThe main research question of this exegetical thesis is “How might rural Serer pastors in the Association of Evangelical Baptist Churches of Senegal (AEEBS) employ Ephesians 1:15–2:10 as a deterrent to the practice of rural Serer Baptist Christians reverting to the Pangool (the ancestral spirits) during times of life stress”? Chapter 2 looks at the religious background of Ephesus, suggesting in part that the Ephesians relied on their goddess Artemis to protect them from invisible spiritual threats. Chapter 5 shows how the rural Serer rely on their Pangool (ancestral spirits) for protection against invisible spiritual threats. Thus, the first hypothesis of the thesis is that if the Ephesian and Serer worldviews concerning the threatening nature of the invisible world are similar, then would not the application of Paul’s teaching be similar also? The second hypothesis is that Paul in this passage use his knowledge of the Ephesians’ cultural and religious background, especially their quest for spiritual protection, to convince them to totally commit themselves to Christ for their spiritual protection. The exegesis in the third chapter looks for evidence of this hypothesis. The exegesis focuses on the power of God that is available to the Ephesians, and the contrast/comparison between God’s power that raised Christ physically from the dead to the heavenly realms, and God’s power that raised the Ephesians spiritually from the dead to the heavenly realms. The exegesis attempts to answer two important questions: How is this power available to the Ephesians? What are the implications of being seated in the heavenlies with Christ? Chapter 4 takes a closer look at the different perceived types of spiritual threats to the Ephesians, confirming their overwhelming dependence on Artemis. Chapter 5 explains the domination of the Pangool (ancestral spirits) in all of the rural Serer life-transition ceremonies, and chapter 6 suggests that Serer Baptist pastors could use the exegeted passage to create a confession of faith to be used during all those ceremonies, so that believers would not revert to the Pangool in times of life stress. Chapter 7 conclusion highlights the validity of the hypotheses.