Search

Universities’ teaching and learning strategies aim to prepare students for life and the workplace by creating a culture of innovation to solve real-life problems, so that they can participate constructively in society and lead fulfilling professional and personal lives. In order to reach this goal, teaching and learning must have at least three paradigms, namely pedagogical, cognitive and pragmatic or instrumentalist. A pragmatic paradigm presupposes practical, experiential teaching and learning. This paper explores interactive means within the pragmatic paradigm that can be included in the pastoral modules of theology education. The epistemology is from a practical theological perspective. Contribution: The contribution of this article is that experiential role-play activities can have a positive impact in the pedagogy of pastoral care and counselling. The insight of this article links with the developmental goals for effective theological education in South Africa.

There have been many changes in pastoral care and counselling and pastoral theology since the middle 20th century. At first, the changes were viewed as an evolutionary process as the discipline evolved into an authoritative science. Although it seems as if pastoral care and counselling followed the footsteps of psychology, there were important paradigm shifts towards contextual pastoral counselling based on the Word of God. The major question of this article is, what important paradigm shifts in the development of practical theology since the middle 20th century can be distinguished that are in line with the requirements for contextual pastoral counselling? In an attempt to answer this question, a thorough subject-specific literature study was conducted by looking at prominent scholars’ view on the development of pastoral theology. The article is divided into five main parts. The first part focused on the development of practical (and the subdivision, pastoral) theology, with emphases on important paradigm shifts and the work of prominent scholars. The second part focused on the current challenges facing pastoral theology. The third part focused on paradigmatic positions, scientific research markers and approaches, and different layers of meaning unique to pastoral theology. The fourth part focused on diakonia with a religious consciousness of transformative moral or ethical orientation. The article concluded with a reflection on how the paradigm shifts are in line with the requirements of contextual pastoral counselling. The conclusion of the article is that together with the normative deductive aspects of pastoral theology, the inclusion of context-specific empirical experiences is an aspect that must be taken into consideration. Contribution: The primary contribution of this article is that a systematic description of the important paradigm shifts in the development of practical theology since the middle 20th century was given and brought in evaluation against the requirements for contextual pastoral counselling. The objective was to enhance appropriate theory formation with the aim to focus on the distinctive character of pastoral counselling, and its connectedness to the broader field of practical theological science. These insights link to the focus and scope of the journal, because it contributes to the epistemological dialogue of practical theology.

The theory of servant leadership with its key concepts of servanthood and leadership has emerged during the last few decades. A person who has a heart for people and serves them whilst leading them practices servant leadership. Servant leaders are not motivated by attaining higher positions but by serving people. Leaders call people to follow a set vision. In the church, that vision ought to be a God vision, premised on the Word of God. Leaders in the church should lead people according to the guidance of the Bible and inspiration from God. He is the one who calls people, gives them an assignment and will require an account from them. The church has been in the spotlight in recent times because of the conduct of their leaders, who are the pastors assigned with the task of leading believers. Understanding the principles of servant leadership can contribute to spiritual formation of theological students in contextualisation of 21st century theological training. The article begins with a reflection on the findings of an empirical study, followed by a short view on the servant leadership of Moses, David, Paul and Jesus Christ. Thereafter, the article focuses on servant leadership characteristics and competencies or skills according to contemporary scholars, and the article concludes with a proposed model for servant leadership as part of spiritual formation of theological students. Contribution: Although the article is context specific to the Faculty of Theology, Mahikeng campus, the principles of servant leadership can contribute to the spiritual formation of all theological students and is especially relevant to the discourse of contextualised 21st century theological training.

From the early 1970s, and especially since South Africa became a democratic state under the governance of the African National Congress in 1994, many voices have called for decolonising the programs presented at universities. With this article, we as the authors of this article have concluded that, although the science of pastoral caregiving in the South African context has developed into a recognised authentic science, the development has followed Western cultural fashion with its emphasis on individualism. This is directly opposed to the more communal focus of African culture. This approach is also only one example of the differences between these two cultural groups. We investigated the possibility that expressive therapy can contribute to assemble a pedagogical design for a South African contextualised pastoral care and counselling model. The results of the investigation into three forms of expressive therapy are described in this article: First, Practical Theology as an academic discipline in South Africa is described; second, we look into contextualisation in pastoral care; and, in the third place, contextual pastoral care and counselling. The article concluded by the description of the three forms of expressive therapy and their possible place in contextual pastoral care. The research was done from a reformed perspective.

Currently, South African state-subsidised universities experience pressure and uncertainty regarding future theological training. This became evident after the call for decolonisation of the university’s curriculum. The concepts of colonisation, decolonisation and contextualisation are inseparably linked to the issue of culture. Culture is dynamic and vibrant. Wherever a group of people is together, for instance a group of students in a university classroom, culture or a new context originates. Where past theological training – even practical theological training – has purely rested on cognitio, the contextualisation of theological training involves cognitio and experiencia fide. Experience can serve as a hermeneutical key in the explanation of scripture. Although the work of Calvin is considered as the groundwork for reformed theology, his emphasis on human experiences is often left behind. To Calvin, experiential preaching addresses the vital matter of how believers experience the truth of Christian doctrine in their specific cultural circumstances. A reformational-biblical view of contextualisation of theological training is to find a balance between experience and cognition, where grace restores nature. The aim of this article was to explore the contextualisation of the practical theological curriculum for the students (or believers) to apply the divine truth to the whole range of their personal experiences. Theological training, and for that matter, Christianity, should not only be known, understood and believed, but also felt, enjoyed and practically applied.

This article originates from a practical theological paradigm and uses an auto-ethnographic research method as it is a reflection on my own teaching and learning duties at the Faculty of Theology to multi-cultural students. The saying is that effective learning occurs as a result of effective teaching strategies. The research question is: What aspects are of importance in the development of an effective teaching and learning strategy that can benefit multi-cultural pastoral students? The article presents three important aspects based on the view that the (university) classroom can be a hermeneutical community. The article unfolds by discussing the plea for the contextualisation of pastoral care in South Africa, followed by a discussion of what makes a classroom a hermeneutical community. Lastly, three different teaching theories for theological education are presented. The underlying principle is the lecturer’s understanding of teaching and learning theories and how to apply them to reach multi-cultural students in a holistic way (i.e. cognitive, motivational, affective and spiritual). Learning then becomes an active engagement where the content of pastoral modules is interpreted and understood from a cultural context and biblical perspective.

Silent screams echo in South Africa, objecting to violence due to cultural and gender differences. Bitterness and anger increase as the cultures, knowledge systems and ways of being or ‘non-being’ are despised, demonised and declared substandard and irrational or even eliminated. Most of these individuals cannot afford to speak up, because belonging has become more important than being. It is inevitable that people would question their personhood and dignity when they find themselves in the space of intersection between culture, gender and violence. If the meaning of formosus is to bring out the beauty of each person, how is it that ‘non-being’ for some is better than being? In the fable of Hyginus, an alternative word for ‘being’ is ‘care’. Human beings’ existence is essentially dependent on care. The intersection between culture, gender and violence probes for the reformation of practical theological anthropology and, especially, a rethinking of the ministry of compassion. This article seeks to explore hermeneutics of renewal. The focus is on restoring and reforming the human being which can help non-beings to express their deepest quest for personhood and dignity. In this sense, dignity is defined as being one with all the multiplicities, systems and paradoxes of one’s own way of being, doing and knowing. The epistemology is from a pastoral care point of view.

Due to the political changes during the last three decades in South Africa, many voices raised for the post-colonializing of sciences. This is also applicable to the pastoral caregiving ministry. Although the science of pastoral caregiving in South Africa has developed into an authentic recognised science, it seems as if the development followed in the fashion of the Western context and the call for the contextualising of pastoral caregiving for all the people of South Africa was mostly ignored. It was only at the end of the 20th century that the concept of interculturality emerged to indicate that such an approach could be more appropriate that an incultural approach. Since then many scholars wrestles with the aspect of culture in the contextualising of pastoral care and the challenge of staying true to the Word of God. In this regard, the research question concentrates on the interwovenness between the Christian faith and the different cultures of the people of South Africa: How can pastoral caregiving be contextualised in the different cultures of South Africa while staying true to God’s gospel. The central theoretical argument is that the contextualising of pastoral care rest on hermeneutical principles that form a bridge between the Bible text and its application in the circumstances and needs of the people of South Africa. The article unfolds by looking at the compatibility and/or incompatibility of Western and African cultures, the effect of monocultural ethnocentric bias, and concludes with the principles of a Christian culture and its implications for the pastoral caregiving process of addressing certain challenges in people’s experiences of life.

Through the centuries, women from all over the world remain vulnerable to their social status. In some developed countries the situation has improved, but there are many countries where it is still unbearable. United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) aims to assist in this regard by addressing ethical issues pertaining to medicine, life sciences and related technologies as applied to human beings with consideration of women’s social, legal and environmental dimensions. Yet pastoral counsellors on ground level are confronted with the need for assistance to women who suffer because of this exploitation. Therefore, the aim of this article is to focus on biblical principles that can serve as anchors to guide women regarding their human vulnerability and personal integrity when they experience suffering and hardship. The challenge facing the pastoral counsellor is to guide women to accept the reality of their situation within a certain framework, to adequately deal with this and, in spite of overwhelming emotions, continue to grow in personal integrity and healing.