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The cooperation between God and man is seldom clearer than in Theology and in the ministry. In Theology we have the privilege to practice science within a transcendent dimension. In the ministry we have the privilege to serve from the transcendence and immanence of God. Whether it be in the exegesis of the parables or the wisdom literature, the contact with convicts and victims of crime, or in the use of the Internet for evangelism – we must have an openness for God's intervention. What a privilege to worship and serve the Lord wherever He places us.
God bless,
Lyzette Hoffman
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| The pastoral answer to the problem of crime |
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From the left are Prof Immink (Protestant Theological University, Netherland), Dr Dawid Kuyle (prison chaplain) and Dr Van der Sar (Protestant Theological University, Netherland).
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The Department of Practical Theology, UFS, wants to give a pastoral answer to the problem of crime in South Africa. The pastoral therapy program now includes modules on the pastoral care of perpetrators and victims of crime. It is easy for Christians to complain about crime, while no constructive involvement take place. In this course students receive a theoretical background on crime, the complexity of crime (criminological background), the law process and the context of the prison. The theoretical knowledge is paired with practical experience when students have pastoral interviews with prisoners and write their reports.
The practical orientation of the students is done at the Mangaung Correctional Centre – a private maximum security prison run by GSLGolbal Solutions for the state. The majority of the students do their practical work there, while some other students do their practical work at the prisons of the Department of Correctional Services. In this way, students get to meet the perpetrators of whom they read in the newspapers every day. They discover who the person is, what influenced them to commit a crime, but also discover together how God can make a difference. "We believe that the church must be involved with the perpetrators as well as the victims, thus the same principles are adhered to in this module, namely theoretical knowledge as well as practical experience. In this module students meet a rape victim and a paedophile to prepare them to be able to meet the needs of victims of sexual assault. We belief that with this course a foundation is laid for a theological and pastoral answer to the problem of crime," says dr Dawid Kuyler, one of the lecturers of the pastoral therapy program. For more information on the pastoral therapy program, click here.
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| Jesus Sirach on meaningful life |
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| From left to right: Proff Hans Ausloos and Bénédicte Lemmelijn (Catholic University, Leuven) and Fanie Snyman (Department Old Testament, UFS). |
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The discussion group for Biblical sciences at the UFS, with prof Bénédicte Lemmelijn as speaker, put the "Wisdom of Jesus Sirag" under the searchlight. From a protestant perspective the "Wisdom of Jesus Sirag" is an apocryphal book, however, it had a place in the Septuagint and therefore part of the Roman-Catholic cannon. There are many similarities between this book and other wisdom literature in the Old Testament. Biblical wisdom has a clear horizontal and vertical dimension. Biblical wisdom is in the first place wisdom about life. Living with wisdom has a definite influence on a person's life. It brings God's blessing (the vertical dimension). One of the blessings Sirag talks about, is a good wife. The husband of such a wife can live up to twice longer! Professor Lemmelijn is a lecturer in the Old Testament at the "Katolieke Universitiet Leuven" (K.U.Leuven). She and her husband, prof Hans Ausloos, were guest lecturers at the UFS Department of Old Testament. There exists an exchange agreement between the UFS and the K.U. Leuven.
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| A paradigm shift in the exegeses of parables |
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Parable exegesis was traditionally done according to the Jülicher-School. However, Prof Ruben Zimmermann proposed a paradigm shift in this regard at a recent workshop at the University of the Free State. Prof Zimmermann is from the University Bielefeld, Germany. He recently published a comprehensive compendium on the interpretation of the parables.
The paradigm shift Zimmermann proposes is using six characteristics of parables in their interpretation. He defines a parable as a short narrative (1) fictional text (2) that is related in the narrated world to known reality (3) but, by way of implicit or explicit transfer signals, makes it understood that the meaning of the narration must be differentiated from the literal word of the text (metaphoric, 4). In its appeal structure (5) it challenges the reader to carry out a metaphoric transfer of meaning that is steered by co-text and context information (6).
Several students and pastors attended the workshop organized by Prof Francois Tolmie, Department of New Testament. The parable of the Good Samaritan was one of the parables analyzed using the following five-step method: Step 1: Linguistic-narrative analyses. Step 2: Socio-historical analysis. Step 3: Analysis of the background of meaning. Step 4: Summarizing interpretations. Step 5: Aspects of the parallel traditions and history of impact.
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| Practical theology – human science or theological discipline? |
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Practical theology is a discipline that poses special challenges to the intellectual capacities of the theologian, says professor Immink, Protestant Theological University, the Netherlands. He gave a guest lecture at the Department of Practical Theology, UFS on research in practical theology. Practical theology investigates practices in perspective of transcendence. It deals with the human being as an actor in relation to God. Practical theology is not a human science with theological interpretations. It is a theological discipline that uses theological concepts in its analysis. This discipline needs people who have a strong feeling for conceptualising and theory building, people who can listen well to other people and develop a high level of abstraction and theory building. Empirical studies emphasise that religion is inherently human. In the observation and analysis of empirical research in practical theology, there needs to be a theological openness, openness for Divine active presence.
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| “Justisie pastoraat” in the Netherlands with a Free State flavour |
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From left are Prof Jan-Albert van den Berg (coordinator: Pastoral therapy programme), Dr Van der Sar (Protestant Theological University, Netherland), Prof Immink (Protestant Theological University, Netherland) and Prof Johan Janse van Rensburg (Head of the department: Practical Theology, UFS).
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The Department of Practical Theology at the UFS is the only theological department in the country with a comprehensive module on pastoral care for prisoners and victims of crime. It forms part of the masters’ degree in Pastoral therapy (see also news item elsewhere). The Protestant Theological University in the Netherlands (PTU) is also interested in developing a module they call “Justisie pastoraat”. With this in mind Prof Immink, rector of the PTU and Dr Van der Sar, chairman of the university board, visited the UFS. The PTU has campuses in Utrecht, Kampen and Leiden. Ministers for the Protestant church in the Netherlands are trained at this university.
Prof Immink and Dr Van der Sar met with Prof Johan janse van Rensburg, head of the Department of Practical theology and with Prof Jan-Albert van den Berg, co-ordinator of the pastoral therapy program. Dr Dawid Kuyler, prison chaplain, organised a visit to the Magaung Correctional Centre. Their visit to the UFS was a pleasant and informative experience, which will be very useful in their development of a module on “Justisie pastoraat” at the PTU in the Netherlands.
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| Internet Evangelism |
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| 27 April is Internet Evangelism Day |
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"We'd love to use the Web for outreach, but we don't know how," is a frequently heard sentiment. 27 April 2008 has been designated Internet Evangelism Day – a worldwide focus day which answers this need, by offering churches and other groups the means to create a web awareness focus spot in their activities. By using free downloads from the Internet Evangelism Day website – PowerPoint, video clips, music, drama scripts or handouts – churches can demonstrate to their members the huge potential of the Web for evangelism.
Their website also carries a wide range of pages explaining how best to build church websites, write blogs, create video clips, and interact in many other ways with the worldwide web community, to share the gospel. Visit their website at ied.gospelcom.net
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