Read the rest of this article by Dr. Ben Khumalo-Seegelken.

Overview of article: What is religion? An African understanding

Author: Jaco Beyers

Abstract: Western thought has influenced the way that religion is understood. Western philosophy supported the separation between the sacred and the profane.
Modernism, focusing on human rationality, reduced religion to a set of correctly formulated dogmas and doctrines. Western thought, dominated by Christianity, created a hierarchical structure of world religions through a theology of religions. Can an African understanding of religion make a contribution to the understanding of what religion is? Such a question requires an African understanding of religion, as well as an understanding of African religion. From an African perspective, religion emphasises the human effort to systematise, in society, the continuation of a religious experience relevant to a specific context. Tradition, expressed in rituals and ethics, becomes the social expression of these religious experiences.
African religion tends not to differentiate the transcendental from the earthly. African scholars do not present one unified understanding of religion. Some scholars would even argue that an African understanding is nothing more than an internalised form of Western perspectives. To characterise African Traditional Religion as a separate type of religion minimises the contribution that an African understanding can make to religion.

http://www.hts.org.za/index.php/HTS/article/view/341

Lees die res van Gerda de Villiers se artikel op www.teo.co.za.

Read more

Religion and Masculinities in Africa: its impact on HIV and gender based violence.

Ezra Chitando

Introduction

The study of religion in Africa2is a product of external influences. The discipline has been closely related to the experiences of the continent and its encounter with “outsiders.” To a large extent, the study of religion in Africa has been shaped by European traditions.3   The implication has been that the methods and approaches adopted in the study of religion in Africa have been derived from outside of Africa.  For a continent that has waged liberation struggles, this becomes a contentious issue. How can African scholars be subservient to the theories and methods of their erstwhile former colonisers?  Can African scholars of religion have the confidence to take the discipline in a different direction as they respond to African realities?  Such questions lie at the heart of debates on developing African traditions in the study of religion in Africa.

Read the rest of this article on the Faculty of Theology’s website.

Overview of article:
A psychological perspective on god-belief as a source of well-being and meaning

Authors: E. Karen van der Merwe, Chrizanne van Eeden, Hans J.M. van Deventer

Abstract:
This article reports on a qualitative exploration of the well-being and meaning that second- and third-generation Christians from an African context experience because of their integration of religion in their life and being.
A textured, integrated tapestry is created of the participants’
understanding of God (God-concept), experience of their relationship with God (God-image) and understanding of life as coloured by their belief systems. The contribution of their God-belief to their sense of meaning and psychological well-being frames the tapestry of this article.

http://www.hts.org.za/index.php/HTS/article/view/332

Widowhood: a story of pain, a need for healing

Gertrude Aopesyaga Kapuma

Introduction

Women are created in the image of God.  Yet this is hard to believe when one sees the way they are treated  in most societies, even by their  family members. Abusive relationships abound and violence against women is common within our communities.

One particular passage of life is particularly fraught with danger for women: that of becoming a widow.  Losing one’s partner is traumatic, but this trauma is compounded by the societal and cultural expectations of widows.  With the spread of HIV&AIDS widowhood has become even more common, with women becoming widowed at an ever younger age, often also debilitated by the virus.

Despite the trauma suffered by widows and despite the fact that this status is becoming more common, widowhood remains an issue people are hesitant to speak about.  Death and the dead is a topic to be avoided and people are hesitant to address and confront traditionalcultural practices.   This hesitancy is also present within higher institutions of theological learning.  Ministers are not trained on how to support women who have lost their partners, nor are they shown how to confront cultural practices that discriminate against widows.  On the contrary, ministers often do not even see what is wrong with such cultural practices.  Thus widows are not supported in their time of need and the church  plays no role in helping women to heal.

Read the rest of this article on the Faculty of Theology’s website.

Lees die res van Ferdi Clasen se artikel op www.teo.co.za.

Churches, seminaries and gender statistics

Introduction: methodology

This chapter focuses on mostly quantitative data related to the twelve seminaries that form the NetACT network. Some remarks about the methodology followed to get the information. In March 2010 a letter was sent to the NetACT Board members explaining how the NetACT Executive planned the workshop. The letter stated:Each NetACT institution nominates two representatives, the principal / board member and a woman. The principal or his representative has the responsibility to create the institutional initiative, support and supervision that is needed for the research that has to be done by the female representative. At the first workshop in Aug 2011 each institution will present a report / evaluation of the gender equality situation at their institution, church and society indicating to which extent their curriculum deals with it (a structured questionnaire accompanies this letter). Our first academic publication will be a compilation of these reports. At the first workshop we will have papers on our research topic. A call for papers accompanies this letter and we encourage you to submit a proposal. We hope to get leading (women) theologians to give papers. However, our main objective will be to jointly decide on how to structure the research on “Teaching Gender Equality in Africa.Although all the institutions were represented at the workshop and all except ISTEL had a women representative  present (she had a baby), the  last questionnaires was returned  in February 2012. Three schools are Portuguese speaking.  They  received and answered their questionnaires in Portuguese. This researcher  communicated with institutions to clarify uncertainties  and to get the data as trustworthy as possible.

Read the rest of this article on the Faculty of Theology’s website.