Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Black people in missionary work'

Thesis advisor: Thanh V. Tran
Suicide is an escalating public health crisis for Black people in the United States, yet the majority of the suicide research in the United States is based on the European American population. The psychological impact of the centuries of persistent stress and pain Black Americans have endured in the U.S., fueled by racism since the tragic period of slavery, is well-documented. However, despite the unrelenting historical and contemporary manifestations of racism and other systems of oppression in U.S. society, Black Americans have chosen death by suicide at rates lower than White Americans. Previous research has established the complexity of suicide and revealed that there are multiple personal and societal stress factors that contribute to creating risk factors for Black suicide. Research has also established that Black Americans historically have cultivated a resistance to the desire to take their own lives, seemingly linked to religious/spiritual and cultural coping resources that have served as a protective factor against suicidal behavior. Yet, there is a lack of scholarship that explores the impact of these resources on suicide in this population. Suicidologists are calling for suicide to be examined within a multidimensional contextual framework and for there to be a shift from a deficit approach to a strengths-based approach. There is a need for greater research focus on the factors that influence suicidal behavior in Black Americans, as well as the factors that are associated with creating a shield of protection against this self-destructive behavior. Through a convergent mixed-method approach, and guided by a robust cluster of theories, with Critical Race Theory and the Afrocentric Worldview as the overarching theoretical and philosophical approaches, this dissertation aims to address the gaps in the literature by examining several research questions. The following questions are examined through quantitative research: (1) Do racial discrimination and personal stress influence suicide attempts among Black people in the U.S., and does religion/spirituality serve as a protective factor and moderate the relationship between attempted suicide and racial discrimination and personal stress?; (2) Do post-incarceration status and personal stress influence suicide attempts among Black people in the U.S., and does religion/spirituality serve as a protective factor and moderate the relationship between attempted suicide and post-incarceration and personal stress?; (3) Do veteran status and personal stress influence suicide attempts among Black people in the U.S., and does religion/spirituality serve as a protective factor and moderate the relationship between attempted suicide and veteran status and personal stress? The data for this study were drawn from the cross-sectional National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions (NESARC) III which covers April 2012-June 2013. Logistic regression was employed to analyze the data. The quantitative research explores the impact of personal and societal stressors on the mental health of Black people and the role of religion/spirituality in cultivating a healthy emotional and mental environment that insulates them from suicide. The qualitative data include interviews with three adult Black men from the researcher’s family across three generations. Through three generations of Black men from one family, this dissertation further aims to examine whether religion/spirituality is a protective factor insulating Black people in the U.S. from developing suicidal behavior as they navigate societal stress factors including racial discrimination, post-incarceration status, and veteran status and whether religion/spirituality as a protective factor is passed down intergenerationally. If so, it aims to explore whether there are any intergenerational patterns and/or differences in the utilization of religion/spirituality as a source of protection against developing suicidal behavior. Assessed together, the findings from the quantitative and the qualitative research underscore the potential impact of stress and societal stress factors on suicidal behavior among Black people. Specifically, the quantitative research shows an association between personal stress and societal stress factors including racial discrimination, post-incarceration status, veteran status, and suicide attempts. The quantitative research also underscores the complexity of the role of religion/spirituality as a protective factor, as the findings from the quantitative research show that religion/spirituality was not a buffer against suicide attempts for the participants in that study. The findings from the qualitative research reveal that religion/spirituality can serve as a buffer and illustrates religion/spirituality functioning as an extension of Afrocentric culture and serving as a protective shield enabling some Black people to resist the full psychological impact of personal and societal stressors. This dissertation provides the foundation for the broader work highlighted through this study encapsulated in the Ubuntu Relational Framework for the Study of Black Suicide, an Afrocentric framework I developed that emerged as a guide for exploring the risks and protective factors of Black suicide. The constructs of death consciousness and Divine consciousness emerged during the analysis of the qualitative research as a way of conceptualizing the influence of societal stressors and protective factors on suicidal behavior, and they are an expression of Afrocentric culture. This framework highlights the need to equally prioritize the concern of what animates Black people’s desire to live, which was illuminated through the qualitative research, along with the question of what factors make them at risk for cultivating a desire to die. It further attends to the need for social workers to address the conditions of the racist U.S. environment these factors are assessed within. This dissertation also includes my autoethnography which serves as an analytic review and critical analysis of key concepts related to the study of Black suicide. It is a resource for further grounding in the historical and contemporary context of the Black experience and the Afrocentric worldview incorporated in this work. Autoethnography is an epistemological site for exploring Divine consciousness and the role of religion/spirituality and culture passed down intergenerationally as a protective factor against suicidal behavior. It further outlines a methodology for employing spiritual and cultural resources and operationalizing spiritual resistance. Finally, this dissertation goes beyond identifying risk and protective factors for suicidal behavior in Black people. It outlines a structure for training social work clinicians and researchers in this Afrocentric framework that would expand social workers’ knowledge of African-centered social work, and a method appropriate for responding to this multidimensional mental health problem that requires a creative, culturally rich approach. The training includes a methodology for employing religious/spiritual and cultural resources that operationalizes spiritual resistance that will equip social workers for supporting Black people in developing a healthy holistic mental and social environment within an oppressive racist environment
Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2021
Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Social Work
Discipline: Social work

This thesis overall is concerned with three cardinal considerations in relation to working with young people in a modern and fundamentally demographically changed Britain. These themes include considerations of how young people’s racial/ethnic origins and religious identity continue to shape how mainstream services interact with them as well as understanding how an increasingly globalised world changes how young people from Britain see or are seen in a new way at the personal, local, national and global levels. This thesis argues that the majority of these considerations are not currently well understood; hence the need for practitioners in youth and community development to gain cultural competency and global literacy. It has been evidenced that Black young people continue to be disadvantaged in education, employment, criminal justice and a host of other socialisation spaces in comparison to the rest of society. In addition, the furore raised constantly and continuously in relation to the vulnerability of young Muslims to violent extremism deserves more critical attention. Furthermore, globalisation means that the world is much closer economically, politically, environmentally, technologically and culturally and there is increasing consciousness about the repercussions of these connections at the personal, local, national and global levels. However, questions remain as to whether practitioners who work with young people have the required competency to work across these racial, religious and global considerations. This thesis, consisting of the author’s published works and this overview explores these three cardinal considerations of race, religion and globalisation when working with young people in a multicultural, multi-ethnic, multi-racial and multi-faith modern Britain. The thesis comprises an exploration of working with Black young people within a historical and social policy context, as well as presenting research that explores the views of young Black children and parents. The author’s key contributions consist of explaining how cultural relativism and dogmatism, as extreme positions, are constructed, with potentially fatal consequences. The second dimension of working with young people in Britain explored in this thesis is that arena of Global Youth Work within both a theoretical and practice setting, especially in relation to the training of practitioners. This section also reports on research in relation to how Global Youth Work is conceptualised and operationalised in British Higher Education Institutions delivering youth work training. The last section of the thesis focuses on the contemporary issue of working with young Muslims. Against a backdrop of the government’s policy context of the “Prevent" agenda, perceptions of barriers young Muslims face in accessing mainstream services are explored, as well as the wider implications of fostering a culturally and religiously competent way of working with young Muslims.

This thesis examines the work of the American Zulu Mission in Natal from 1835 to 1910. Of the institutions controlled by this mission, the most famous was that known in the 20th Century as Adams College, named after one of the founders of the Natal work, Dr Newton Adams. Although other research work has been done on this institution and this mission in general, this thesis attempts to examine the work in the light of the mission's own view of its educational purpose and the expectations of the Colonial Government of what could be expected of missionary education. To meet this purpose particular stress was laid first on the actual development of the mission's educational institutions, especially when reports and letters assessed the aims of the developments and the ways in which these aims were being met. Secondly, the aims of missionary education were explained through five capital Colonial Government Commissions, which looked, in a number of different ways, at the current position and future of the Zulu peoples of Natal. These Commissions reported in 1846, 1852-1853, 1881-1882, 1892 and 1902. Two major findings emerge from the investigation. The first was lack of clarity, not only on the part of what the mission was trying to do, but also on what the Colonial Government expected it to do. To this absence of clarity must be added the continuous shortage of finance, the reluctance of the Zulu themselves to accept the combination of education (which they wanted) and conversion (of which they were often suspicious). In these circumstances, their slow progress of the 75 years from 1835 to 1910 becomes understandable. Had these years been the total extent of the mission' s contribution to Natal, there would be little justification for any extended investigation, or any reason behind the high prestige which the mission enjoyed. It is shown, however, that from 1902 onwards a new, more incisive and directional policy, especially on the question of education, came from the mission. This emerged particularly under the leadership of Le Roy, Principal from 1903 to 1925. The last part of this thesis assesses this new direction. The detailed investigation comes to an end at 1910 when with the creation of Union, an entirely new organisation and dispensation came into being. In the last years of Le Roy's principalship the promise of the period of 1902 to 1920 came to fruition and in the final chapter a brief summary of these developments are given

A dissertação tem como objetivo compreender a atuação da Junta das Missões de Pernambuco que, instituída em 1681, funcionou ao longo da primeira metade do século XVIII, sendo extinta apenas em 1759. A Junta das Missões de Pernambuco foi criada no contexto de consolidação da economia da pecuária e do conseqüente incremento do número de ordens religiosas envolvidas no processo de missionação. A necessidade de conquistar novos territórios, de garantir a estabilidade do povoamento na região e, portanto, o inevitável contato com populações indígenas desconhecidas e que, via de regra, tornaram-se os maiores obstáculos aos anseios portugueses, levou a Coroa a desenvolver novas estratégias de domínio e conquista com base nas contingências e especificidades locais. Pretende-se estudar a referida instituição buscando identificar suas competências, sua esfera de atuação, e seus mecanismos de funcionamento, observando como se chegavam às soluções e a maneira que se davam os encaminhamentos, tendo em vista que, em virtude da diversidade de sua composição, a Junta das Missões de Pernambuco constituiu-se num espaço privilegiado para a percepção dos diferentes interesses em jogo. Considerando a jurisdição que a Junta exercia nas chamadas capitanias de fora do sertão norte do Estado do Brasil, buscarse- á investigar seu papel na configuração da política indigenista, uma vez que se trata de uma instituição especializada no gerenciamento do projeto missionário, bem como na consecução dos interesses metropolitanos na região. Pretende-se observar, em outras palavras, não apenas sua dimensão missionária, mas também sua dimensão política, como uma instituição que, direta ou indiretamente, zelava pela estabilidade do domínio português em Pernambuco e em suas capitanias anexas.
This master thesis aims to comprehend the action of the Junta das Missões de Pernambuco, institution that was founded in 1681 and continued to work during the first half of 18th century, ending its activities in 1759. The Junta das Missões de Pernambuco was created in the course of the consolidation of the cattle economy and of the increase of the number of the religious orders involved in the missionary work. The need to acquire new territories, to settle the people in the area and, therefore, the inevitable contact with unknown indian people who, in general, represented the main obstacles to the Portuguese willings, estimulated the development of new strategies of control and conquest by the Crown based on local aspects and contexts. We intend to study the institution in order to identify its competences, its area of influence and the mecanisms of its work, observing the making of its resolutions and the ways the directions were made, considering that, due to the diversity of its composition, the Junta das Missões de Pernambuco became a privileged locus to comprehend the different interests in dispute. Considering the jurisdiction of the Junta on the capitanias de fora of northern backlands of the State of Brazil, we intend to investigate its action in the configuration of policies for the indians, knowing that the institution dedicated its efforts to the management of the missionary project, as well as to the viabilization of the metropolitan interests in the area. In other words, we intend to observate not only its missionary dimension, but also its political dimension, keeping in mind that it was an institution that mantained, directly or undirectly, the stability of the Portuguese domain in Pernambuco and in its annexed captaincies.

Doctor of Philosophy
Department of Family Studies and Human Services
Karen S. Myers-Bowman
The purpose of this study was to conduct a phenomenological inquiry into the impact HIV/AIDS-related stigma has on People Living with HIV/AIDS (PLHA) and their family members in Ghana and the overall relationship family members have with PLHA. The study explored the concept of stigma in the Ghanaian context, ways in which it is expressed, factors influencing HIV- related stigma and its consequences on both PLHA and their family members. Strategies that PLHA and their family members consider for effective HIV- related stigma prevention were also explored. The study further explored some of the gender- biased nature of HIV- related stigma in Ghana. Data was gathered qualitatively through interviews with five PLHA and their discordant family members. Interviews were transcribed and translated into English, coded and analyzed. After inductively establishing themes and categories, final confirmatory analysis was deductively established, by using the Bronfenbrenner’s ecological model and Symbolic interaction theory to affirm the authenticity and appropriateness of the inductive content analysis. The study found that HIV- related stigma begins with serostatus disclosure. Stigma is manifested in myriad contexts including the family, community, healthcare institutions and gender. The major factors influencing stigma are insufficient knowledge of HIV transmission, fear and misconception of HIV created by the media, cultural and religious factors as well as poverty. Family members experienced similar stigma as PLHA, such as loss of jobs, loss of social network, loss of identity and self stigma. However extreme impacts such as suicidal thoughts were only experienced by PLHA. The impact of HIV- related stigma is worst for women because of beliefs and values relating to gender- role expectations. While women accept and support their husbands when they have HIV/AIDS, women are often neglected and abandoned by their husbands. To address this stigma, participants suggested house to house education, financial support from the government, revision of educational content especially discontinuation of negative images of HIV/AIDS used by the media. Implications for this study in the areas of research, practice and policy are provided.

In this holistic, multiple-case, replication study, key informant interviews, focus group interviews, documents, and field notes were gathered, coded, and analyzed from three stratified, randomly selected Hmong C&MA churches to discover the family ministry perceptions and practices of these Hmong churches. These family ministry perceptions and practices were then compared to the religious education of children within the traditional Hmong religion in order to identify areas for contextualization. The Hmong are a collective, clan-kinship, indigenous people group of southern China and Southeast Asia who converted to Christianity in 1949 through the missionary work of the Christian and Missionary Alliance (C&MA). Prior to conversion, the Hmong practiced animism, shamanism, ancestral worship, and reincarnation. Children were religiously instructed through informal, oral, experiential, and intergenerational learning. The home was the central shrine for religious instruction via altars, offerings, sacrifices, and rituals. Fathers were the primary religious instructors of children, followed by clan spirit fathers, and the shaman and religious experts. Through this research, it was discovered that since conversion, the Hmong churches have experienced a paradigm shift in the religious education of their children: from an oral, informal, ritual-oriented, home-centered, father-led religious education paradigm to a literate, semi-formal, classroom-oriented, church-centered, pastor-led Christian education paradigm. The segmented programmatic model of family ministry was established in the early Hmong church by C&MA missionaries, and has continued to be perpetuated in the three case studies. The age-segmented children’s church and Sunday school were the principle Christian education programs utilized in these churches. The effects of the segmented programmatic family model in the Hmong churches have been both positive and negative. Some children have been evangelized and discipled in the Christian faith. Some have drifted from the Christian faith due to lack of parental involvement, and the lack of mature adult teachers. To develop a more contextualized family ministry within the Hmong church context, children need to be equally valued, fathers elevated as primary spiritual leaders, the home re-established as the center for Christian education, and intergenerational mentoring increased so that Christian faith can be transmitted to the next generations.

M.A. (Social Work)
Lack of appropriate facilities for the mildly mentally disabled children in the black communities of the Witwatersrand was a source of concern for parents. These parents did not want their children to attend the "training centres for the mentally handicapped children" as they felt their children functioned above the criteria used at these centres. Some parents, as a result, choose to keep their children at home. This study was undertaken to research the hypothesis that mildly mentally disabled children could benefit from educational facilities and programs. Respondents were parents of the affected children and teachers from the training centres in Soweto, East Rand and Alexandra. An exploratory study was conducted. Forty teachers administered the questionnaires and trained interviewers assisted 93 parents to complete their questionnaires. Problems were encountered due to wrong addresses (many houses were then unnumbered in Soweto) and reluctance from some respondents to participate. The results confirmed the hypothesis as both teachers and parents felt that alternative facilities to the training centres were needed for the mildly mentally disabled children, that teachers should be qualified in that special field of teaching, and more contact between teachers and parents was recommended, A multi-disciplinary approach in the treatment program was also an important factor, unfortunately none of the centres had more than three professionals. Social workers were used by other professionals to provide services from the birth of the disabled child as support systems, catalysts and advisers to parents. The social worker's role is to educate, empower, support, mediate, liaise with the external resources and nurture the person to independence and self-reliance.

This disseration addresses a historical-education analysis of events that contributed to the deterioration of a culture of learning from 1652-1998 among Black South Africans. Black education was purported to be inferior and unjust. The previous government spent less on Black education and applied stringent measures to solve problems besetting Black education. Dissatisfaction among Blacks led to rioting that unsettled the culture of learning, especially during 1970-1990. It was only during the 1990's that the Nationalist government under F.W. de Klerk, acknowledged the legitimacy of the demands by Blacks for an equitable and just education. After Nelson Mandela had been elected as the first Black president of South Africa, a single education system was formed. Control and administration of education was assigned to the nine newly established provinces. The provinces adopted the motto : Re a soma - We are working in our schools, for the development of a culture of learning, especially in Black communities.
Educational Studies
M.Ed.(History of Education)

This research investigates and discusses missionary education in South Africa in general, and in the Bushbuckridge (BBR) area in particular, during the period 1910-1973. It also investigates and highlights how missionaries from various church denominations from Europe and the United States of America, spread the Word of God in South Africa. This research reveals that they founded and provided educational assistance to illiterate Black people. in order to enable thein to read the Bible, as effective means of realising their goals of Christianisation, evangelisation and civilisation. This study also finds that mi.ssionaries in the BBR offered Black people education in matters of industry. manual skills and farming, at their mission stations and mission schools, as a strong means of not only providing them with job skills and knowledge, but also preparing them for possible future self-employment and promoting their economic development and that of the community at large. This investigation indicates that missionary education removed out Black culture and traditional religious beliefs, and inculcated Western culture and Christian religious belief. Missionary education atso inculcated civilised habits of cleanliness, obedience, loyalty, patience, punctuality, tidiness, subordination, submissiveness, trustfulness and a sound attitude to work, industriousness, perseverance, respect and a sense of humour amongst Black people, as characteristic of Christianisation, and Christian evangelisation and civilisation. After a thorough investigation and discussion of missionary education, in South Africa· in general, and in the BBR area in particular, several recommendations and proposals are formulated, in order to advance the purpose of this research.
Educational Studies
M. Ed. (History of Education)

The thesis of this study is that both Pentecostal and non-Pentecostal churches can grow at a time when only the Pentecostal churches have grown. The stagnation that has occurred in many ''mainline" churches.need not be allowed to increase or continue. In Venda (Northern Province) both the Lutherans and the Pentecostals have enjoyed visible growth. Chapter 1 introduces the thesis, the choice of the study area, the objectives of the study, and the typology, methodology and relevance of the study. Chapter 2 looks at the history and socio-economic backgrowtd of the Vhavenda. Chapter 3 describes traditional Vhavenda beliefs and rituals. The Vhavenda world-view is different from that of the West but closer to that of the East and the Bible. Chapter 4 concentrates on missionary Christianity in Venda and briefly discusses the missionary methods adopted by the Berlin Missionary Society. Chapter 5 discusses the coming of Pentecostalism to South Africa and Venda. Chapter 6 examines how the Lutherans and the Apostolic Faith Mission church conducted their mission during the "maturation of Apartheid'' in Venda. Major events in the collision between apartheid and the Vhavenda are highlighted. Chapter 7 discusses the unfinished work of the church in Venda. Chapter 8 examines the challenge for Christian mission in the twenty-first century.
Christian Spirituality, Church History and Missiology
D.Th (Missiology)

Summaries in English and Afrikaans
In die verlede het matrikulante van Tswanaskole in die Noord-Kaap oor die algemeen nie goeie uitslae verkry nte. Politieke onstabiliteit wat tot klasboikotte aanleiding gegee het, was as een van die hoofredes aangevoer. Die hoofoorsaak van hierdie navorsing is om die rol van kultuur wat tot swak prestasie lei, te bepaal. Met behulp van literatuurstudie is bepaal dat daar 'n noue verband tussen onderwys/opvoeding, volwassenheid en kultuur bestaan. Geen mens kan volwassenheid bereik sonder opvoeding nie en verskillende kulture het verskillende kriteria vir volwassenheid. Die skole in Suid-Mrika is oop vir alle rassegroepe en die gevolg is dat 'n verskeidenheid van kultuurgroepe in een klaskamer onderrig ontvang. Om kontlik en misverstande in die klaskamersituasie te voorkom, kan van multikulturele onderwys gebruik gemaak word. Met die empiriese ondersoek is deur middel van vraelyste en onderhoude probeer vasstel watter kultuuraspekte 'n rol speel in die swak akademiese prestasies onder Tswana-matrikulante. Die medium van onderrig is 'n probleem in 'n multikulturele land waar dit soms, tot nadeel van die kind, onprakties is om moedertaalonderrig toe te pas. Wat Engels as medium van onderrig betref, is dit problematies vir baie Tswanas in die Noord-Kaap wat voorskools min met Engels in kontak kom. Wat die kultuur-historiese aspekte betref, is die Tswanas trots op hulself en wil graag kontak maak met ander kultuurgroepe en meer van hulle leer. Sosiaal-ekonomies woon baie Tswanas as uitgebreide gesinne in klein huise. Onderwysers sal professioneel moet optree in die uitvoering van hulle pligte. Leerlinge sal verantwoordelikheid moet erken vir hulle dade en saam sal beide onderwysers en leerlinge moet bou aan die skep van 'n leerkultuur by die skool.
Matriculants from Tswana schools in the Northern Cape generally have been achieving poor results. Political instability leading to class boycots has been regarded as one of the main reasons. The main reason for this research is to determine the role played by culture in the achievement of poor results. A literature survey has indicated that there is a close interrelationship between education/ upbringing, adulthood and culture. A human being cannot reach adulthood without education and different cultures have different criteria for maturity. Schools in South Africa are open to all race groups which results in a variety of cultural groups receiving education in the same classroom. To avoid misunderstandings and conflicts in the classroom, multicultural education may be used. With the empirical investigation by means of questionnaires and interviews an attempt is made to determine which cultural aspects play a role in the poor academic results achieved by Tswana matriculants. The medium of instruction is a problem in a multi-cultural country where it is sometimes impractical to apply mother tongue education. As far as English as medium of instruction is concerned, it is problematic for many Tswanas in the Northern Cape as they are seldom exposed to it during their pre-school years. As far as the cultural-historical aspects are concerned, the Tswana is a proud people who gladly make contact with and want to learn from other cultures. Socio-economically many Tswanas live as e..'Ctended families in small dwellings. Educators will have to act professionaly in the execution of their duties. Pupils will have to accept responsibility for their actions and build, with the teachers, a cultUre of learning at every school.
Educational Studies
D. Ed. (Historiese Opvoedkunde)

Text in English
This dissertation has examined the University Christian Movement (UCM) over its turbulent five year history from 1967 to 1972 in terms of the original hopes of the sponsoring ecumenical denominations. Contextual factors within the socio-political arena of South Africa as well as broader youth cultural influences are shown to have had a decisive influence. These factors help to explain the negative reaction from the founding churches. While this is not a thesis on Black Consciousness, nevertheless the contribution of the UCM to the rise of Black Consciousness and Black Theology is evaluated. UCM is shown to be a movement well ahead of its time as a forerunner in South Africa of Black Theology, contextual theology, feminism, modem liturgical styles, and intercommunion. As such it was held in suspicion. It suffered repressive action from the government and alienation from the churches. Constant cross referencing to other organisations such as the World Student Christian Federation, the National Union of South African Students, the South African Council of Churches, the Christian Institute, and the Sllldents Christian Association, helps to locate the UCM within the flow of contemporary history. The concluding evaluation differs markedly from the report of the Schlebusch Commission by making both critical and positive judgement from the perspective of the UCM as an ecumenical mission to students.
Christain Spirituality, Church History & Missiology
M.Th. (Missiology)

This study finds its place in a global resurgence of interest in the Reverend Tiyo 'Zisani' Soga's and nineteenth century black political activism. It attempts to deepen our inderstanding od Soga's global milieu and identity, providing an assessment of scholarship on Soga's life and commenting on the major critical works on Soga provided by Williams, de Kock and Attwell and addressing the question of his multiple identities. The thesis explores Soga's relationship with textuality to reveal the struggles he encountered during his career as an author, most especially as the translator of the Bible.
English Studies
D. Litt. et Phil.

Text in German, summaries in English and German
In dieser Forschungsarbeit werden Aspekte für die Partizipation älterer Menschen in gemeinwesendiakonischer Jugendarbeit im Sozialen Brennpunkt erforscht, um Wege aufzuzeigen, wie Seniorinnen angesichts demografischer und gesellschaftlicher Her-ausforderungen (Interkulturalität, Generationskonflikte und Milieuunterschiede) Kir- che mitgestalten und das gemeinwesendiakonische Profil der Kirche stärken können. Aufbauend auf sozialwissenschaftlichen und missionswissenschaftlichen Vor-überlegungen bildet eine empirisch-theologische Studie unter engagierten älteren Menschenimgemeinwesendiakonischen Projekt Richtsberg Mobil in einem Sozialen Brennpunkt das Zentrum der Untersuchung. Es wurden zehn problemzentrierte quali- tative Interviews geführt, die auf Grundlagedertheoriegenerierenden Methode der Grounded Theory ausgewertet wurden. Als Ergebnis der Typenbildung nach Kelle und Kluge können sechs grundlegende Aspekte festgehalten werden. Daraus werden Handlungskonsequenzen für die missi- onarische Praxis und die Missionswissenschaft gezogen, die sowohl in die unmittel- bare Praxis des untersuchten Projektes als auch vergleichbare generationsübergrei- fende und gemeinwesendiakonische Projekte zurückgeführt werden.
The research topic of this thesis are aspects for the participation of elderly people in a welfare-oriented youth ministry in a deprived area in order to identify how elderly people can help shape church in the face of demographic and social challenges (in- terculturality, generation conflicts and milieu differences) and strengthen its profile of community diaconia. Based on social-scientific and missiological prolegomena the center of this re- search is an empirical-theological study on commited elderly people in the welfare- oriented youth ministry Richtsberg Mobil in a deprived area. Collecting data through ten qualitative, problem-centered interviews the phenomena are evaluated by using the Grounded Theory. As a result of the data analysis six basic variables can be assumed that have an impact on the participation. The study is then utilized regarding its implications for missionpractice and missiology that can both assist the studied project Richtsberg Mobil as well as comparable intergenerational and welfare-oriented projects.
Christian Spirituality, Church History and Missiology
M. Th. (Missiology)

Text in German, summaries in English and German
This dissertation is a missiological research on reports of first and second generation missionaries from the Hermannsburg mission society in Germany. The missionaries worked for their lifetime among the Batswana. An important point in the first chapter is the attempt to clarify the theological foundation for the understandung of inculturation, from which my conception later arose. The second chapter deals with the founders of the Hermannsburg missionary society and describes the spiritual background of the missionaries. The following three chapters cover the work of the missionaries, in each case father and son at Dinokana, Bethanie and Phokeng chronologically from 1857 - 1940. Special attention is given to their socio-cultural expierences and traditional-religious knowledge. The last chapter evaluates the work of the missionaries and takes into account the present missiological debate on mission. Here again it becomes clear what I mean by Inculturation.
Die vorliegende Arbeit ist eine missionsgeschichtliche und -theologische Untersuchung uber die ersten beiden Generationen Hermannsburger Missionare unter den Batswana in Transvaal. Im ersten Kapitel stelle ich verschiedene Konzepte zum Verstandnis von lnkulturation vor, aus denen ich Anstosse fur meine eigene Konzeption gewonnen habe. Das zweite Kapitel beschreibt die spirituelle Herkunft der Missionare und ihre theologische Pragung. In den folgenden drei Kapiteln untersuche ich die Arbeit der Missionare, jeweils Vater und Sohn, auf ihren Stationen Dinokana, Bethanie und Phokeng von 1857 - 1940 in chronologischer Reihenfolge. Ein besonderer Schwerpunkt liegt dabei auf den sozio-kulturellen Erfahrungen und traditionell-religiosen Erkenntnissen dieser Missionare. Das letzte Kapitel enthalt eine Bewertung der Missionsarbeit und beleuchtet sie auf den Hintergrund der gegenwartigen missionstheologischen Diskussion. Besonder in diesem Kapitel wird noch einmal deutlich wie ich Inkulturation verstanden habe.
Missiology
D.Th. (Missiology)

Mem de Sá, fidalgo da Casa Real e licenciado em Direito, esteve ao serviço da Coroa de Portugal durante 39 anos. No Reino foi corregedor dos feitos civis da Corte, desembargador da Casa da Suplicação e conselheiro régio. De 1557 a 1572 foi Governador-Geral do Brasil, cargo que exerceu até morrer nesse mesmo ano. O facto de ter sido o primeiro jurista nomeado para um governo ultramarino e de tê-lo exercido até morrer tornam-no num caso singular entre os outros altos oficiais. O seu desempenho ao serviço da Coroa singularizam-no entre os membros da sua família, uma elite ligada à Casa Real e ao serviço do aparelho de Estado no Reino e na Expansão desde o século XV, porque, e ao contrário destes, nunca prestou serviços na guerra ou na governação de praças em África ou na Índia. Garante da autoridade pública do Estado Português no Brasil, o seu governo alicerçou-se na justiça, na guerra contra franceses e ameríndios e na lei. Procurou, deste modo, alcançar a unidade político-administrativa, a eficácia do povoamento e a criação de riqueza. Nele, cruzaram-se o plano colonizador da Coroa, os interesses dos colonos, os projectos evangelizadores da Companhia de Jesus e os seus próprios interesses de mercador e de homem de negócios com interesses nas principais praças europeias e da América espanhola. Detentor de um vasto património móvel e imóvel que aumentou a par do exercício do cargo de Governador-Geral era, à hora da sua morte, um homem rico cuja fortuna constituirá o dote de sua filha e herdeira Filipa de Sá, possibilitando-lhe o acesso à titulatura pelo seu casamento com D. Fernando de Noronha, filho herdeiro e primogénito dos condes de Linhares em 1573.
The Royal House nobleman and lawyer, Mem de Sá, was at the service of the Portuguese crown for thirty-nine years. This included twenty-four years as chief magistrate, judge of the House of Suplicação, and royal counselor; and fifteen year in Brazil (1557-72) as Governor General, a position he held until his death in 1572. The fact that he was the first jurist appointed to an overseas government, a role he held until his death, makes his case unique among other officials and his family. Unlike them, Mem de Sá never provided services in war or governance in Africa or India during overseas expansion. Ensuring the public authority of the Portuguese state in Brazil, his government had its foundations on justice, in both the French and Amerindian wars and in law. He sought to achieve political and administrative unity, as well as the effectiveness of settlement and wealth creation. These activities intersected with the colonization plan of the Crown, the Interests of the settlers, the Society of Jesus’s evangelization projects, and his own business interests related to merchant activity among European markets and Spanish America. Holder of a vast movable and immovable property empire, which increased throughout his time as governor, Mem de Sa was, at the time of his death, a rich man whose fortune became the dowry of Filipa de Sá, his daughter and heiress, allowing her access to titulatura through her marriage to Fernando de Noronha, the eldest son of, and heir to, the Counts of Linhares in 1573.