Gabaitse, Rosinah M. “Towards an African Pentecostal Feminist Biblical Hermeneutic of Liberation: Interpreting Acts 2:1-47 in the Context of Botswana.” Ph.D. diss., University of KwaZulu-Natal, 2012.
AbstractThis study is motivated by my own experience as a Motswana Pentecostal woman who inhabits patriarchal spaces of both the Setswana cultures and the Pentecostal church. It highlights the status of women in Botswana society and the Pentecostal church. The study seeks to construct a Pentecostal feminist hermeneutic through a contextual reading of selected texts from Luke-Acts with Pentecostal women in Botswana. The Pentecostal movement is growing exponentially throughout the world, especially in Africa. Botswana is not an exception. Studies on Pentecostalism indicate that the overwhelming membership of the Pentecostal churches is female, yet the teaching and leadership are largely male dominated. Further, women are marginalised within the Pentecostal spaces through Pentecostal hermeneutics. This is ironic because the contemporary Pentecostal church traces its origins to the Pentecost narrative in Acts 2 and their theologies emerge from Luke-Acts. On the face of it, Acts 2 and Luke-Acts encourages egalitarian existence between men and women. This means that Pentecostal beliefs and doctrines are supposed to be inherently inclusive and yet accusations of gender exclusion are often levelled against Pentecostalism. Therefore, one of the other aims of this study is to explore how Pentecostal hermeneutics advances gender exclusion, and how that is contrary to the theologies that Acts 2:1-47 embody. Using narrative and feminist hermeneutical principles, the study engages with Acts 1-2 in order to establish the importance of using this text to construct a liberating Pentecostal hermeneutic. Further, Acts 1-2 are situated within the larger context of Luke-Acts and women. In order to gain insights from Pentecostal men and women about the status of women in the church and home, Pentecostal hermeneutics, and Luke-Acts, qualitative data collection methods were employed. These are focus groups, in depth interviews, participant observation and the Contextual Bible study (CBS). The data from the different research contexts is used throughout the chapters so that there is no specific chapter on data analysis. The data is filtered through feminist theoretical framework of analysis. The research sample consists of 51 Pentecostal women and 3 pastors from two different churches located in Molepolole, Gaborone and Mogobane. The ages of the women range from 17-73. The literacy levels also differ; some have never attended formal schools while some had diplomas and degrees in different disciplines.
Manske, Yvonne Janine. “Toward a Feminist Ecclesiology of Memory and Hope in the Context of the HIV/AIDS Pandemic.” Thesis, Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2006.
AbstractHIV/AIDS has a great impact on lives of all South Africans – but especially on women. HIV/AIDS also presents the greatest threat and danger to the ones living in poverty and without sufficient education and independence in relationships –that mostly includes South African women. In a first chapter I will discuss the connection between poverty and HIV/AIDS as well as between HIV/AIDS and the status of women in South Africa. In a second chapter I want to discuss a feminist ecclesiology of memory and hope and how it is presented by the catholic feminist theologian Elizabeth A. Johnson. In a third chapter I want to use the feminist ecclesiology of memory and hope to link it with the context of South Africa. In that last part I want to give a framework of the effect that a feminist ecclesiology of memory and hope could have on the South African society.
Munro, Alison. “Belated, but Powerful: The Response of the Catholic Church to HIV/AIDS in Five Southern African Countries.” In XII International AIDS Conference, Barcelona, 2002.
Sprong, Jenette Louisa. “‘For Healing and Transformation’ : A Feminist Ecclesiological Study on the Gap between Gender Policy and Practice in the Methodist Church of Southern Africa (MCSA),” 2011.
AbstractThe main premise of this study is that while gender justice is enshrined in the Constitution of South Africa and in the declared statements of the Methodist Church of Southern Africa (MCSA), in practice gender justice receives minimal attention in this church. The existing ‘gender policy’ of the MCSA, which is a mere recommendation, endorses an equitable representation of women, youth and men at every level of Church governance. Since this ‘policy’ is couched in the language of ‘recommendation’, this study argues that a gap continues to exist between policy and practice in the MCSA. Using Letty Russell’s (1993) ‘Table Fellowship’ analogy in her book Church in the Round – Feminist Interpretation of the Church, and Musimbi Kanyoro’s subsequent (1997) In Search of a Round Table: Gender Theology and Church Leadership, the discussions in this thesis focus on ‘the Table’ of the Church.
The research question this study seeks to address is: Why does the MCSA continue to marginalise and exclude women, even though its mission is to be a church of healing and transformation and its gender policy is meant to prevent such marginalisation and exclusion? Hence, the objectives of this study are firstly, to demonstrate the ways in which the MCSA continues to be patriarchal in its ecclesiological practices and secondly, to analyse the reasons why the MCSA remains steeped in patriarchy.
In order to respond to the research question this study utilises a feminist ecclesiological theoretical framework, which examines and analyses the MCSA’s source documents, its liturgies and its hymns.
The theoretical framework is also used to consider the stories of five Methodist women from a narrative perspective. The Wesleyan Quadrilateral – Sacred Scripture, Church Tradition, Human Reason and Personal Experience – was engaged in this research, when deemed relevant.
Transformative models of being church, that will enhance and enable the healing and transformation that the MCSA has declared to be its mission, are proposed in the conclusion, thus fulfilling the third objective of this study. It is here where the hope for gender-healing in the MCSA is expressed, along with a dream that this study will be ‘one more voice’ that is heard.
Key Terms: African Feminist Theology; African Feminist Ecclesiology; Gender Justice; Gender Policy; Women in Ministry; Church Women’s Organisations Community; Healing and Transformation; Women’s Narratives; Feminist Leadership Principles; Ecclesiological Practices; Alternative Models of Being Church; Circle Leadership Styles; The Methodist Church of Southern Africa.
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