Browsing by Author "Meyer, Wilhelm Henry."
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Item Philemon and Onesimus as patron and client in the ancient Mediterranean: an economic reading of the letter of Philemon in the South African context.(2015) Tiroyabone, Obusitswe Kingsley; Meyer, Wilhelm Henry.The letter of Philemon has throughout the history of interpretation been read as the story of a slave that ran away from his master, met Paul in prison and was now being sent back to his master after his conversion, bearing with him a letter that pleaded for his forgiveness. The history of interpretation is however not clear as to what happened between the slave and his master. Exploring the ancient socio-economic world of the Mediterranean, this thesis explores what Paul actually wanted Philemon to do, what likely happened between Philemon and Onesimus, and the implications of such action for the postcolonial reader. The paper explores a number of possibilities for interpretation during the postcolonial era and asks how an economic hermeneutic may be applied in studying biblical texts.Item The proposed Termination of Pregnancy Bill debate in Malawi: a re-reading of mark 5:25-34.(2018) Chisa, William Precious.; Meyer, Wilhelm Henry.This paper has three main focus points using the Tripolar method of biblical hermeneutics as a frame. Firstly, it analyses the context of the proposed termination of pregnancy bill in Malawi. This has involved a presentation of arguments in response to this bill from political, medical and religious spheres. This paper has identified flaws in the law-based approach to termination of pregnancy and has argued for public healthcare and reproductive justice as alternative approaches. Religious responses towards termination of pregnancy – which are based on biblical texts – have been critiqued using African feminist biblical hermeneutics, the theoretical framework of this paper. Secondly, this paper has focuses on the biblical text of Mark 5:25-34. In this regard, it discusses feminist readings of this text. The character of the woman in this text has been used as a source for encouragement for women struggling for voices and choices on matters concerning termination of pregnancy in Malawi. The woman in this text has been identifies in terms of her actions (initiative) and not her condition in this case. Mark 5:25-34 has been analysed literary using the narrative elements that this text presents. Thirdly, this paper suggests ideo-theological resources for engaging with the termination of pregnancy discourse in Malawi. It identifies African feminist biblical hermeneutics and narrative method as ideo-theological resources for this context. Contextual Bible Study and a rap song have been suggested as further resources of appropriation for empowerment, liberation and education through the biblical text of Mark 5:25-34. Overall, the arguments made in this paper are geared towards helping women to have a voice in the termination of pregnancy discourse in Malawi.Item Reading Mark 4:35-41 : a study of student discourses in the School of Theology, The University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg.(2001) Meyer, Wilhelm Henry.; Draper, Jonathan Alfred.; West, Gerald Oakley.In this study I present the results of interviews conducted with thirty-four students in the School of Theology, University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg. In the following eight chapters I have provided a description of the discourses and discourse communities in the School of Theology which have emerged from my analysis of the data collected from these interviews. These discourses fall into three categories: The primary discourse, which is the result of the students' socialisation within their family and the primary community structures of their childhood, the secondary discourse ensuing from their educational and denominational backgrounds and their relationships with their teachers and the hierarchy of their denominations and the tertiary discourse of critical biblical exegesis which they encounter in their studies in the School of Theology. The product of this encounter is a clash of discourses which challenges the students both academically, leading to poor academic performance on the part of many students, and spiritually, leading to such dire consequences as nervous breakdowns or the loss of faith and vocation. In describing this clash of discourses I include a plea for the management and staff of the School of Theology to provide both academic and spiritual support for the students' in their attempt to face and overcome the considerable challenges of studying in the School of Theology.Item The sound of sacrifice : hearing the homily to the Hebrews with Zulu ears.Ndumo, Vernon Sabelo.; Meyer, Wilhelm Henry.; Masondo, Sibusiso Theophilus.The book of Hebrews is saturated with the language of sacrifice especially chapters 9 and 10. It goes on to compare sacrifices of the old covenant and that of the new covenant, appealing that the new one is the better one to be accepted by the community. In this research I do not only look at it as a book but a homily to the Hebrews. This is informed by the way it was written. As the title stipulates, the phrase, “Sound of Sacrifice” is meant to appeal to the orality of the homily to the Hebrews in that the book seems to favour an extensive use of the verbs; “hear and listen” throughout. With “Hearing the homily to the Hebrews with Zulu ears”, I am putting both cultures Hebrew and Zulu into dialogue. I am exploring the new interpretation of the text of finding similarities between Hebrew and Zulu culture in the text and appealing to the Zulu community to accept the new order which is proposed in the homily, as it addresses the very needs of sacrifice but in the new order.Item A study of discipleship in Mark 10:35-52 : a model for leadership development of clergy in the church of Uganda (Anglican)(2012) Ajambo, Nyegenye Rebecca Margaret.; Draper, Jonathan Alfred.; Meyer, Wilhelm Henry.The study is about discipleship in Mark 10:35-52: a model for leadership development of clergy in the Church of Uganda (Anglican). In this thesis I engage with three contextual models that have impacted on the leadership development of clergy in the Church of Uganda (Anglican) namely: the Ganda model of kingship, the Church Missionary Society (CMS) model and the East African Revival (EAR). Kingship models reflect oppressive codes of patronage and authoritarianism which have influenced all sectors of the church leading to constant struggle for power. The East African Revival emerged as a resistance model against the two “banking models” of Christianity. The movement managed to decode the banking models through their values of simplicity manifested through hospitality, fellowship and Bible study. They overcame the racism and ethnic hostility that had been cultivated by the CMS missionaries and the Ganda. These three models are then brought into dialogue with the Jesus model of servant leadership to develop a model which is both Biblical and contextual. Social historical criticism coupled with the Freirian pedagogical approach is used to analyse and critique both the contextual models and the text of Mark 10:35-52. Oppressive codes such as hierarchy, honour and status, kyriarchy, and patronage have been identified in both the text and contextual models of leadership. These oppressive codes have been decoded using Jesus’ model of servanthood in which he embodied the oppressive codes as the New Human Being, resulting in equality for all irrespective of ones’ social status or gender. Jesus embodied the servant role which was meant for the slaves and the poor by laying down his life as a ransom for many. Jesus’ shameful death was a way of decoding the power of the cross where the slaves, insurrectionists, and servants were crucified. Since then the cross became a symbol of liberation where the slaves, insurrectionists and servants could find victory and justification. The cross brought equality between the oppressed and the oppressors. Women found favour before Jesus in the face of a kyriarchal culture where only a male figure counted. The poor, sick and blind and those considered outcasts in society found victory and liberation in Jesus. Appropriation of Jesus’ discipleship model of servanthood creates a place of dialogue, where the situation in the Church of Uganda (Anglican) can enter into an extended conversation with Jesus’ discipleship model. This thesis suggests that the contextual models of leadership development in the Church of Uganda (Anglican) in dialogue with the Jesus model of leadership can result in a contextual model of an egalitarian church where everybody, irrespective of gender, status and tribe, could enjoy the privilege of being a member of the family of God.Item Taking reader-response to its logical conclusion : reading Romans with ordinary readers in Pietermaritzburg.(1996) Meyer, Wilhelm Henry.; Draper, Jonathan Alfred.This study is uses reader-response methodology in order to argue: 1) that it is possible through a right understanding and application of this methodology to use it to discover how ordinary readers interpret the Epistle to the Romans and to present a reading of the text by two groups of ordinary readers in Pietermaritzburg. 2) that it is possible to collect the data necessary for the presentation of the interpretation of Romans by ordinary readers using the techniques .that have been developed in ethnographic research. 3) that the interpretation of the letter by ordinary readers shows that they read the text of Romans with a mixture of acceptance and resistance to the rhetoric of the text. 4) that a discussion of the debate on the authorial i intention in Romans can be used to posit the reactions of the original readers/hearers of the letter and that this reaction can then be compared with that of the readers in Pietermaritzburg. To reach the conclusion that in the case of Romans, and by extension in any other text, it is the ordinary readers of the text who, by accepting or rejecting it, determine the success or failure of the author in communicating her intention through the text .Item Towards a People’s Theology of the road in an African Township: a case study of the Edendale Road Network within the Pietermaritzburg District.(2017) Ngcobo, Sipho Casper.; Balcomb, Anthony Oswald.; Meyer, Wilhelm Henry.One of the legacies of the apartheid era in South Africa is the phenomenon of black townships that exist in the outskirts of urban areas. There is very little development in these townships which means that those who live in them have to make their way to the city centers to survive and make a living. This has given rise to the public transport industry. Millions of people in South Africa use kombi taxis every day. It is no secret that when it comes to these vehicles reckless and dangerous driving is an unfortunate reality. This means that people using them take their lives into their hands every day. The trip from home to work is probably the most dangerous daily experience that ordinary people living in the townships have to face. The vulnerability and helplessness that people feel when on the road causes them to seek help through religious faith. This study focused on one particular township, Edendale, outside the city of Pietermaritzburg. I have experienced the dangers of road travel myself and have always been concerned about the death toll on the roads and interested in the kinds of beliefs, rituals, and other expressions of faith that can be found among commuters. I sought permission from the regional taxi council to undertake this research by traveling on the taxis and conversing with commuters about their faith practices while on the road. I went on numerous taxi trips and cultivated relationships with a wide range of commuters, old and young, male and female, and from a variety of religious persuasions and faiths, as well as taxi drivers themselves. My informants were adherents mainly of Christianity, Islam, and African Traditional Religion. They had many different beliefs, performed a variety of rituals, and used a range of biblical texts if they were Christian. While the majority of them were Christian, most of them Christian or otherwise, reverted to their ancestral religion when it came to invoking help from the supernatural realm. This caused me to investigate further the basic features of a primal worldview and how these found expression in the beliefs, rituals, and other faith practices of my informants. This thesis documents my investigation into the environment of religious faith created by road travel in general and on the road from Edendale into Pietermaritzburg in particular. It outlines the rationale, methodology, and findings of my research, and attempts to theologically reflect on them. It is a “people’s” theology because it expresses the beliefs of ordinary people of Edendale, not the religious professionals of Edendale, and it is a theology of the road because it is done on the roads of Edendale.Item Weaving webs with Paul : conceptual blending in a reading of Romans 1:1- 5 in the context of the struggle in South Africa in the 1970s and 1980s.(2016) Hillebrand, Jennifer Dawn.; Meyer, Wilhelm Henry.; Draper, Jonathan Alfred.With most Biblical scholarship coming from the western world, an African viewpoint can challenge the dominance of the western discourse and create new possibilities of meaning. Using Conceptual Blending this study engages in a reading of Romans 1:1-5 in the South African contexts of the 1970s and 1980s and builds scenarios which describe conversational possibilities between contexts leading to the development of localised meaning and transformative praxis. I use four methods in this study and their application creates a web of meaning, rather than a linear development of ideas. The Tri-polar Method and the Intercontextual Method allow for an African frame of reference in order to arrive at an appropriation for an African context. An intertextual method examines key phrases of the text in the original contexts, South African contexts and the autobiographical context. The phrases are ‘slave of Jesus Christ’, ‘called apostle set apart’, ‘gospel of God’, ‘promised beforehand’ and ‘obedience of faith’. Conceptual Blending creates narratives which invite discussion and encourage the reader to acknowledge his or her ideo-theological biases. These together form a technique which I use here in a case study. The study results in a Conceptual Blend for each key phrase. While conclusions are suggested, the value of the study is in opening new directions of thought for the reader and encouraging a suspension of disbelief in order to perceive new possibilities. The concluding chapter describes a discussion around Conceptual Blending and in it one of the characters makes a comment about a blend which illustrates the experience. “We all identified with that – Jew, Greek, Black and White. The first century had crosses while this age has rubber bullets and tear gas – but there is something viscerally the same in our experiences. It gave an urgency to our work.”