Koers (E-Journal)
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Een getuie, geen getuie: die herkoms en betekenis van die regsreël van meervoudige getuies
Get PDFOne witness, no witness: the origin and meaning of the legal rule of multiple witnessess The practice of calling various witnessess to testify in court is so well known that it is taken for granted. Calvin even says that God “has naturally inscribed this law upon every heart”. Yet, in administering justice, it has not always been acknowledged and applied, thereby causing in many cases justice not to prevail. In searching for the origin of this vital rule, one has to go not to the Greeks or Romans, nor to the Babylonians or Persians, but to the Bible. It was given by God to Israel in establishing the truth and administering justice. It was a common rule during New Testament times and left its indelible stamp on the writings of the New Testament. In the fourth century it penetrated Roman law and eventually became part of Roman Dutch Law. One should respect the biblical meaning of terms like “witnessing” and “witness” as reflected in jurisprudence and reject the seemingly pious, but dubious practice endowing these terms with a spurious connotation
A creative humane university – coping with the business model
Get PDFIn this article it is attempted to indicate that the economistic application of economy of scale in the context of a university pushes a university, even in its reigning epistemology, ideologically in the direction of technicism, scientism, and economism (imposed by neo-pragmatist managerialism). Economistic application of economy of scale includes minimising academic staff and their support systems, but combined with the maximum intake in student numbers. This managerial system introduces stereotypical forms of innovation, and inhibits risk-taking, although, disciplined playfulness is indeed needed for creative scholarship. It is also attempted to analyse creative possibilities in terms of the spectrum of possible scholarly problem statements with their proportionate risks. The basic forms of abstraction are also outlined in order to give some indication of how scholars are to support the development of a responsible spirit of renewal of knowledge in their students
’n Psigo-opvoedkundige ondersoek na enkele vooronderstellings en konsepte onderliggend aan die Neurolinguistiese Programmeringsmodel
Get PDFA psycho-educational investigation into a few suppositions and concepts underlying the Neuro-linguistic Programming model In the early 1970s a model was developed to identify the therapeutic methods that were used by outstanding psychologists. Eventually the so-called Neuro-linguistic Programming (NLP) model was introduced and this model is still used today in many fields such as in psychotherapy with children, in teaching, in the business world and so forth. The purpose of this article is to shed more light on the main presuppositions and concepts underlying the NLP model. This investigation will mainly be undertaken from a psycho-educational perspective. It will, however, also be attempted to concentrate on application possibilities (if any) of NLP concepts, taking a Christian point of departure. The most important NPL concepts will be discussed in relation to children on their way to adulthood, whether they are in therapy or in a classroom situation. In conclusion, while referring to the relevance of NLP in psycho-education, certain transcendental-critical perspectives will be provided concerning the most important concepts and presuppositions of NLP
Waardes in die opvoeding en onderwys: ’n Babelse verwarring
Get PDFValues in education and teaching: a Babylonian confusion Although the debate on values and values-education has been going on for several years, it is evident from literature that there is, as yet, no unanimity on what is meant by the concept “values”. This article is an attempt to clarify the confusion between various value-education related concepts and to analyse the phenomenon from an ontological perspective and also to demonstrate that man’s choice of terminology depends on presuppositions. This article was written from a reformational perspective, based on the ground motif of the creation, fall, redemption and restoration. From this perspective it is clear that man was created as a value-driven being and that his/her values are guided by religious convictions and a concomitant world view. It is further argued that “principles” and “values” are neither synonymous nor the same. “Principles” are fixed, unchanged points of departure, whereas values emanate from principles and their application is determined by the demands of the contingent situation
Metaphors, domains and embodiment
Get PDFInvestigations of metaphorical meaning constitution and meaning (in-) variance have revealed the significance of semantic and semiotic domains and the contexts within which they function as basis for the grounding of metaphorical meaning. In this article some of the current views concerning the grounding of metaphorical meaning in experience and embodiment are explored. My provisional agreement with Lakoff, Johnson and others about the “conceptual” nature of metaphor rests on an important caveat, viz. that this bodily based conceptual structure which lies at the basis of linguistic articulations of metaphor, is grounded in a deeper ontic structure of the world and of human experience. It is the “metaphorical” (actually “analogical”) ontological structure of this grounding that is of interest for the line of argumentation followed in this article. Because Johnson, Lakoff and other’s proposal to ground metaphorical meaning in embodiment and neural processes is open to being construed as subjectivist and materialist, I shall attempt to articulate the contours of an alternative theory of conceptual metaphor, meaning and embodiment which counteracts these possibilities. This theory grounds metaphorical meaning and meaning change in an ontological and anthropological framework which recognises the presence and conditioning functioning of radially ordered structures for reality. These categorisations in which humankind, human knowledge and reality participate, condition and constrain (ground) analogical and metaphorical meaning transfer, cross-domain mappings, and blends in cognition and in language, provide the basis for the analogical concepts found in these disciplines
Kontekstualisering: geologiese tydskaal en preservering van die fossielrekord
Get PDFContextualising: geological time scale and preserving of the fossil record Our point of departure is that the universe came into existence 13 000 million years ago as a result of a big bang. The earth formed in the known galactic system 4 600 million years ago. The concept of geological time and its measurement changed during the course of the history of man. In the 18th century, some natural scientists formed the view that the earth was very old, although it was not possible to determine the absolute age of the earth before the discovery of radioactivity (1896) and its application in the dating of rocks (1905). The principle of uniformity (the present is the key to the past) of James Hutton (1726-1797) is replaced in modern geology with the constancy of natural laws and uniform processes, while acknowledging that the rates of processes may vary considerably. It is also acknowledged that natural catastrophic occurrences, like meteorite impacts and earthquakes, can occur and that they are ordinary geological processes. Since the 17th century geologists in Europe and Britain, and later North America found that they could determine the relative ages of rock successions and could compare the rock successions over long distances, by applying stratigraphic principles. The result of this research was the geological timescale, as well as a description of the broad history of life on earth. This geological timescale was already completed at the end of the 1830s. This completion happened more or less 55 years before the publication of Darwin’s theory of evolution by natural selection in 1895. By using radiometric dating, it became possible to assign absolute ages to the different Periods of the geological timescale. That provided a good test for the reliability of the principles applied when the timescale was compiled. Nowhere were any contradictions found between the relative ages of Periods in the timescale and their absolute ages. The geological timescale is not invalidated by limitations in the application of radiometric dating, because the timescale is based on relative age and fossil content. The concept of deep space is readily accepted by Christians, but not the concept of deep time. It is important to remember that deep space and deep time are scientific concepts; findings, theories and concepts that may change when new knowledge is gained. Our faith, however, is not subject to scientific theories. We steadfastly stand by what we know and believe: God is the Creator and Sustainer of everything – of the whole universe. Scientific findings serve to bring us a deeper awareness of God’s omnipotence
Biblical counselling regarding inner change
Get PDFThe concept of inner change is not only the ultimate goal of counselling; it is also a central concept of the gospel. Biblical counselling entails a Scriptural understanding of the nature of change and aims at helping the counsellee change his/her inner life under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Change is the essence of the process of sanctification, entailing “putting off” (laying off) sinful ways of life, renewing the mind, and ”putting on” (“clothing” oneself) with godly ways of life (Eph. 4:22 ff.; Col. 3:8 ff.; Rom. 12:1-2). Although believers have a new identity in Christ, they still suffer from the effect of sin and have to grow in sanctification. Often the believer has not been instructed about changing previous irrational and unbiblical beliefs, behaviour, and habits, and he/she thus still integrates these negative results of sin into his/her new life. Unless old patterns are replaced with new ones, the counsellee can revert to sinful habits, unbiblical beliefs and behavioural patterns. A pastoral counsellor thus needs to teach the counsellee that God has made provision for him/her to change. A worldly anthropology-psychology is entirely opposed to the Biblical doctrines of sin and sanctification. Effective Biblical counselling depends on a Biblical anthropology and world view. A Biblical counsellor should promote holiness and a lifestyle in accordance with Biblical guidelines, thus shaping the counsellee to the likeness of Jesus Christ. When a Biblical counsellor ministers the Word of God in a life-transforming way, then God himself changes the counsellee from the inside out. A counsellor may not ignore sin and its effect as it will limit the effectiveness of counselling in facilitating lasting change in the life of a counsellee. It is important that a Biblical counseller understands the nature of change and is equipped with knowledge about, and the character of change
Editorial
Get PDFProfessor Annette Combrink can truly be seen as a “first lady”. She made history by being the first woman on various commissions, committees, and societies, as well as being the first female Dean and Rector of the Potchefstroom campus of the North-West University. Furthermore, she was also the first female editor-in-chief of Koers. Of the eight editors, in the 70 years of Koers’ existence, Annette Combrink served 21 years
The voices of victims and witnesses of school bullying
Get PDFThere has never been a stronger demand from the South African public to reduce school violence than at present. The demand for safe schools cannot be achieved unless the issue of bullying is adequately addressed. However, it appears from newspaper reports that some of the role players are not willing to listen to the victims of bullying. The aim of this article is to give a voice to some of the victims, as well as those witnessing school bullying. This article reports on findings from an investigation of the experiences of a group of Free State learners who were witnesses and victims of bullying. The research instrument was the Delaware Bullying Questionnaire. The first important conclusion from this study was that bullying was a serious problem in some Free State schools. Secondly, it was found that the respondents were more often the victims of male than of female bullies. Thirdly, the quantitative data indicated that the majority of victims were bullied by learners who were in the same grade as they were. The qualitative data, however, revealed that the bullying of Grade 8 learners by Grade 12 learners seems to be a fairly common occurrence. Finally, some comments and recommendations are made