PhD Theses

Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14194/2796

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    Faith Perspective Of Migrant Workers
    (South African Theological Seminary Johannesburg) Vallejo, Rafael; Van Engen, Charles E.
    The dissertation explores faith perspectives and practices of Mexican migrant farmworkers inOntario using a social-science approach called “Lived Religion”. It uses qualitative data fromethnographic field research done by the author with Mexican migrant farm workers inSouthwestern Ontario, Canada from 2012-2017.The objective of the research was to interrogate faith perspectives of Mexican MigrantFarmworkers who come to Canada eight months a year from April to November under theSeasonal Agricultural Workers Program (SAWP). They are among approximately 20,000 migrantworkers who work in fields, orchards and greenhouses in Canada every year. Most of them self-identify ascatolicos(Catholics). They are generally between the ages of 25-40, male and married.The argument for the dissertation flows in three stages. Part 1 begins with a survey of the historyof mission and migration by looking at the historiography of six migrant groups: Nestorians,Huguenots, Puritans, Acadians, Mennonites and West Africans in the transatlantic slave trade. Theauthor argues that the plurality of christian faith expressions in the world today can be tracedback to migration and the many different inculturations of the gospel that was brought aboutbecause of it.A critical analysis of this historiography was done using social science concepts of “structure”and “agency”. The author critiques Euro-American and ethnocentric readings of migration,Christian history, culture and biblical narratives and the normalized practice of defining religionwithin Western frameworks and then applying them to non-Western cultures.Part 2 interprets four narratives from the Hebrew Bible: Joseph, Esther, Ruth and Daniel todetermine what the narratives say about the agency of God in the stories. Central to postcolonialreadings of the Bible is a critique of whose voices are included and/or excluded from thesewritings and who benefits from telling and reading these sacred stories in a certain way and notanother. The author uses insights from Ricoeur and Gadamer’s hermeneutics to affirm that nosingle hermeneutical lens is able to exhaust the manifold layers of meaning that can be found in these texts.This is followed in Part 3 by excerpts from interviews where Mexican Migrant workers describe faith in their own words. Participant responses were coded and clustered into five themes:1. lasalud(Health)2. la familia(Family)3. la fe(Faith)4. las remesas(Remittances)and 5. la lucha(Struggle). The author analyses the findings and suggests that religion is a dominant register inmigrant ways of believing and belonging
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    A Comparative Study of the Practices of the Mystics sadhu Sundar Singh and the Desert Fathers and the Implications of Appropriating Christian Mystic Practices in the Church Today
    (South African Theological Seminary) Parks, Clayton Aaron; Arles, Siga
    This research seeks to answer the question: How do the spiritual practices of Sadhu Sundar Singh and the Desert Fathers compare with each other and what are the implications of appropriating Christian mystic practices in the Church today? This study utilizes the method of phenomenology to solve the research problem by identifying and analyzing relevant literary data in order to explore God’s interactions with man through Sadhu Sundar Singh and the Desert Fathers.First, a literature review explores the current status of scholarly research into the personalities and histories of the legendary Christian figures of Sadhu Sundar Singh and the Desert Fathers. A literature review reveals that within several areas of current scholarship, gaps appear and no substantial inquiry regarding the similarities and differences of spiritual practices between Sadhu Sundar Singh and the Desert Fathers is found. Therefore, the need for researchinto this specific area finds validation.Second, a survey of the lives and theology of Sadhu Sundar Singh and the Desert Fathers is provided in order to introduce readers to the personalities and histories of the legendary Christian figures. Third, a detailed analysis is conducted of the textual examples of documented prayer and meditation, visions and miracles, and self-deprivation undertaken by Sadhu Sundar Singh and the Desert Fathers.Fourth, a comparative analysis of the spiritual practices of Sadhu Sundar Singh and the Desert Fathers is provided, followed by a critical assessment of Christian mystic practices appropriated in the Church today.Finally, a summary is provided of the research findings, including the theological and practical value of studying the spiritual practices of these Christian legends,as well as the pros and cons of appropriating Christian mystic practices in the Church today. Recommendations are then made regarding the benefits of utilizing said practices for deepening one’s personal spiritual life and the dangers of appropriating unbiblical mystic practices in the Church today.
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