PhD Theses

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

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    Práctica de la medicina tradicional en la comunidad Shipibo-Konibo de Cantagallo en el contexto del COVID-19: un acercamiento desde la perspectiva de la misión integral.
    (South African Theological Seminary Johannesburg, 2022) Márquez Bardales, Roger 1955; Paredes Alfaro, Rubén E.
    El presente trabajo de investigación tiene como objetivo aportar lineamientos teológicos contextuales a los creyentes de la comunidad Shipibo-konibo de Cantagallo frente a la práctica de la Medicina Tradicional (MT) en el contexto del Covid 19, desde la perspectiva de la Misión Integral (MI) de la iglesia. Desde el año 2018 hasta el año 2021 se realizaron cincuenta entrevistas abiertas a: Chamanes, curanderos, sanitarios, médicos, artesanos, músicos, maestros bilingües, autoridades, líderes y pastores de la iglesia. Los resultados mostraron que el uso de la Medicina Tradicional (MT) fue determinante para que los shipibos de Cantagallo se salvaran de morir por el Covid 19; solo fallecieron tres personas de dos mil habitantes. Se aplicó el método de Observación Participativa, con un enfoque hermenéutico desde la perspectiva de la Misión Integral. Se identificaron los factores que contribuyeron a dar respuesta a la Gran pregunta: ¿Qué desafíos y oportunidades presenta para la iglesia la práctica de la Medicina Tradicional (MT) en la comunidad shipibo? Se hizo uso de las ciencias sociales. La práctica de la Medicina Tradicional (MT) presenta desafíos porque está relacionada con las prácticas chamánicas. No existe una línea clara que limite qué es aceptable y qué no lo es. Por otro lado, la MT les brinda “bienestar”, es decir, “Jakon Jati”: el “Buen Vivir”. Por lo tanto, es necesario descubrir los puntos de encuentro y los desencuentros analizando la cosmovisión cristiana y la cosmovisión Shipibo Konibo al usar la MT.
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    A missiological exploration of the encounters between Reuben Omulo and the Church Missionary Society in Central Nyanza, Kenya
    (South African Theological Seminary, 2022) Omondi, Francis 1966; Kritzinger, J. N. J.; Johannes S. Malherbe
    This research examined the Anglican Church’s history of mission in Central Nyanza, focusing on the formative role played by Reuben Omulo, a Luo mission innovator. It explored the key features of the mission praxis of Omulo and his encounters with the Church Missionary Society (CMS). It adopted Kritzinger’s (2008) seven-point “praxis matrix” in an “encounterological” approach to probe the encounters between the mission praxes of Omulo and CMS. This involved investigating the dynamics of the interaction between those praxes, focusing on each of the seven dimensions in turn. The study used data from personal interviews and discussions with a selected group of respondents from Siaya and Kisumu Counties, among families and places where Omulo worked. It analysed secondary data from relevant published works and other written materials from private archives. The pre-colonial encounters forged the diverse Luo people into a nation, as this research clarified, and further described those complex relations, which shaped critical features of the Southern Luo world, priming them for their encounters with the European colonialists and CMS missionaries. CMS’s intention for indigenizing the Church met resonance in Omulo. As the research illustrated, Christianity met spiritual needs that traditional religion could not. For Omulo and his colleagues, more so, the vernacular Scriptures eliminated ambiguities in the Luo religion, making the transition to Christianity more effortless for them. The study revealed a creative tension between Omulo and CMS praxes, which for Omulo was an attempt to balance Christianity’s demands with traditional responsibilities and integrate the Luo into Christianity. But CMS sought to interpret the Luo worldview to infuse it with the Scriptural message of Christianity. Omulo and his colleagues proved to be active recipients of the Gospel, as the study showed, for protesting colonial injustice, compelled the authority to reform, and further stimulated CMS and Anglican Church in Kenya to embrace a social justice spirituality. The challenges facing the Anglican Church of Kenya (ACK) can be traced to how CMS established the African Anglican Church in Central Nyanza, as this research showed. This research, therefore, suggested that the ACK should focus on empowering the laity as her primary agency for mission and that the Church’s mission praxis must reaffirm culture to speak to the core needs of the people. It recommended that mission history be studied with the praxis matrix as part of an “encounterological” approach.
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    Evangelism Practices of the Church of Pentecost in the Afigya Kwabre District, Ghana (1962 To 2016): Towards Designing a New Missional Strategy
    (South African Theological Seminary Johannesburg) Gyamfi, Onyinah 1962; Kipimo, Jesse F.
    This dissertation investigates the Church of Pentecost in the Afigya Kwabre District of Ghana, evangelism practices between 1962 and 2016, and develops a new missional strategy for the church. The research literature review surveys educated articles, books, and other credible scholarships that focus on the spectrum of evangelism, missions, and church growth. It also includes a biblical and theological assessment of the early church's evangelism in selected chapters in the book of Acts of the Apostles that can be applied to all evangelism praxes. The purpose of the study is to begin to create awareness in the church about declining problems. The survey asks to what extent evangelism practices contribute to the church's growth and how the church is experiencing a decline. This analysis assists in facilitating the design of a new missional strategy. The findings showed that they made an innovative contribution to the unprecedented and phenomenal growth of the church and made the church become the leading classic Pentecostal in Ghanaian society. The research shows factors responsible for the decline are obstructing and influencing the development of the church. Additionally, the study further examined evangelism in selected chapters of the book of Acts and analyses; the mode of evangelism, manifestation of God’s accredited power and miracles performed by Apostles, combined with the empirical and literacy findings to facilitate adopting a new missional approach. The significance of this study is that despite the phenomenal growth, it informs the theoretical awareness and understanding of a decline in the evangelism praxis. Thus, recommending a focus on a new missional approach to evangelism hitherto lacking. Finally, it informs empirical understanding to mitigate and overcome the decreased challenges to foster a better way of evangelism practice, sustains the gains and keeps on spreading the Gospel in Ghanaian society.
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    Novos Desafios, Novos Paradigmas: Ministério Com Jovens E Ação Missional No Contexto Urbano—Uma Análise A Partir Da Igreja Evangélica Holiness De Londrina - Brasil
    (South African Theological Seminary Johannesburg) Yahiro, Dilma Higa 1967; de Lara Proença, Wander
    This thesis presents the importance of contextualizing the message of the gospel in the cities. It analyzes the context and culture, according to concepts presented by Latin American theorists such as Van Engen, Charles E., Jorge Barro, Tito Paredes, René Padilla, in addition to other authors. The Holiness Church of Londrina is delimited as a case study, which, initially, in terms of evangelization, addressed Japanese immigrants in rural contexts. This history reveals the ecclesiastical and doctrinal identity of the community, which is important for the analysis of the generational transition. Bibliographic researches show the challenges for young people in the urban context, such as the issue of consumerism, individualism, new family configurations, demands, pressures and the increase in psychological disorders. And, in order to know this reality, a field research is developed through questionnaires, focus groups and interviews with young people from the Holiness church in Londrina. It was found that the new challenges that the youth ministry must observe in order to be relevant in discipleship with youth and missional action in the context in which they are inserted, imply a rupture in paradigms, a change in habits and ecclesiological traditions.
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    Designing and Evaluating a Curriculum for the Effective and Accessible Training of frontier Missionaries from New Sending countries
    (South African Theological Seminary Johannesburg) Vermont, Henry 1959; Malherbe, Johannes S.
    Many missionaries, especially those from the New Sending Countries (NSCs), go to the field inadequately prepared for the challenges they will face, resulting in high missionary attrition rates. This dissertation seeks to answer the question, how should a curriculum for accessible cross-cultural training of effective frontier missionaries from the New Sending Countries be designed and tested? The research answered this question by following a practical theological research approach. Using literature review and analysis, the researcher investigated the commonalities and differences between the main cultural traits of missionaries from the Sample of New Sending Countries and those from the Old Sending Countries. Another literature review examined the best practices in adult education, curriculum design, technological trends in education and missionary training. Further literary research and analysis resulted in a new competency-based framework for missionary training. The researcher then synthesized the results of these literature reviews to create a curricular approach that addresses the identified challenges. Concurrently, with these reviews, the researcher led a small team that implemented a set of online courses and evaluated learner experiences through structured questionnaires, opinion polls, computer log files and analytics of video usage. The literature reviews revealed that Western training methods should be adapted to suit the cultural learning preferences of New Sending Countries. The research found that adults prefer self-driven and self-paced learning, learnt Just In Time (JIT) for its application. Therefore, the synthesized curriculum uses hybrid online e-learning in a time-phased approach. The analysis of missionary competencies mapped onto missionary life phases is made possible by the CPL (Competency-Phase-Learning domain) training matrix designed in this dissertation. This analysis showed that pre-field training is mostly cognitive and could therefore be done mostly through online video-based training. Nevertheless, on-field training requires learning in the affective and psychomotor domains in addition to the cognitive. Therefore, a hybrid blend of online e-learning and practical application is the solution for training in each phase. Such training can be facilitated by the missionary team leader in conjunction with the online course content. Once implemented by mission organizations, this approach should make training accessible to missionaries from most countries. The empirical evaluation of actual course usage showed high levels of engagement and learner satisfaction among both New- and Old Sending Country learners. The final chapter of the dissertation contains the findings and recommendations for further research.
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    O IMPACTO DAS IGREJAS EVANGÉLICAS TRANSFORMACIONAIS EM DUAS CIDADES DE ANGOLA
    (Johannesburg South African Theological Seminary) Luacute, José Bernardo
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    El “Reino De Dios” En La Teología Y Misiología De La Fraternidad Teológica Latinoamericana (1970-2000)
    (Johannesburg South African Theological Seminary) Ocaña Flores, Martín Willman
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