1,720,961 research outputs found
Salvation as healing?:On the relationship between justice and theosis in Methodist soteriology and spirituality
Full text linkThis chapter explores the intricate relationship between justice and theosis in Methodist soteriology and spirituality, with a particular focus on John Wesley’s theology of Christian Perfection. Grounded in the rich heritage of Southern African Methodism, the discussion examines how Wesley’s holistic vision of salvation, understood as healing, encompasses both personal holiness and social holiness. The chapter highlights Wesley’s theological hybridity, which integrates Protestant, Catholic, and Eastern Orthodox traditions to articulate a soteriology that emphasizes divine-human collaboration in the pursuit of justice, sanctification, and human flourishing. Central to this exploration is Wesley’s concept of “social holiness,” originally rooted in communal Christian practices and mutual edification but extended here to engage contemporary notions of social justice. By weaving together personal piety and public ethics, Wesley presents salvation not merely as justification but as a transformative journey toward healing and the restoration of the imago Dei. His theology insists that personal sanctification must manifest in active engagement with societal injustices, making justice and mercy essential expressions of true holiness. The chapter also reflects on how Wesley’s vision continues to inspire Methodist spirituality and mission today, offering a framework for addressing structural injustices while fostering solidarity with human and non-human creation. By recovering Wesley’s emphasis on salvation as healing, the chapter argues for a theological and practical approach that integrates personal transformation with communal renewal, declaring the worth of God and God’s will for the flourishing of all creation
Narrative aggada, the Church Fathers and narrative theology : the transformative power of wisdom inspired by Old Testament narratives
Full text linkCITATION: Joubert, L. H. 2003. Narrative aggada, the Church Fathers and narrative theology : the transformative power of wisdom inspired by Old Testament narratives. Old Testament Essays, 16(1).This article explores the transformative power of narrative. In recent times scholars have explored the potential of narrative theology, including use of narrative in counselling, preaching and the formation of theological identity. In this article I do not focus on the narratives in the Hebrew Bible but the bulk of Jewish literature that drew its inspiration from Biblical stories. The wisdom character of narrative and its rhetorical function of transforming communities will be explored. In evaluating the role of the narrative aggada for today, I will plot how it was received and valued throughout the centuries by the church, especially the early Church Fathers. The main question concerns the possibility of using the narrative aggada in a positive way in the rhetoric of a Christian community?Publisher's versio
The growth of the holiness of Mary : from flat character to theological construct
Full text linkCITATION: Joubert, L. 2017. The growth of the holiness of Mary : from flat character to theological construct. Stellenbosch Theological Journal, 3(2):423-437, doi:10.17570/stj.2017.v3n2.a19.The original publication is available at http://ojs.reformedjournals.co.za/index.php/stjThis article deals with how a flat character in a biblical narrative could grow and assume a life of its own that becomes the example par excellence of holiness for many believers throughout the ages. Inspired by the work of B. R. Gaventa and her narrative reading of the Gospel texts and exploration of the characterisation of Mary, I would like to explore the dynamic of reception history and the changing criteria for holiness. I will consider the phenomenon of characterisation in narratives, the blurring of lines in interpretation and how a character in a narrative, which is an artificial construct, is taken out of that context and placed in contexts determined, in a sense, by generations of ’new narrators’ with changing understandings of holiness.http://ojs.reformedjournals.co.za/index.php/stj/article/view/1749Publisher's versio
Letter Writing as Storytelling: The Life of Martha Murray as Told in the Mission News Letter
No full textUtilising the growing interdisciplinary discourse between literary criticism and historiography, especially prevalent in the multiple genres of life writing, the letters of Martha Murray, the first single missionary in Nyasaland, are read as a story. By communicating using letters in the Mission News Letter, Martha Murray is an example of the powerful role that evangelical spirituality played in this young woman’s life and her readers. In reading these letters as a story, the elements of a narrative are identified, namely a protagonist, setting, plot, and antagonistic forces. The story told by these letters formed the imagination of the readers and informed them on the vocation of women and the realities of missional life. The powerful role of religion in self-identification and agency is affirmed within the bigger narrative of the late 19th-century and early 20th-century South African public
Covetousness and desire : the Tenth Commandment in Africa
Full text linkCITATION: Joubert, L. H. 2002. Covetousness and desire : the Tenth Commandment in Africa. Scriptura, 81:373-377, doi:10.7833/81-0-741.The original publication is available at https://scriptura.journals.ac.za/This article deals with a central question regarding the interpretation of the tenth commandment, namely “do the two verbs that are translated with covet/desire in the tenth commandment refer to a solely mental attitude or do they necessarily imply action to make the object of desire one's own?” The Decalogue forms part of the relationship between God and Israel where certain values regarding life and harmony in the covenant community is promoted. The proposal of this article is that desire as a mental attitude is the theme of this commandment because it already leads to disharmony in a society even without action to attain the object of one's desire. The same mode of thought can be recognised in African cultures. In reading proverbs from Africa no clear indication is found that they relate to both coveting and any actions resulting from coveting, as with the tenth commandment. The proverbs warn against desire or coveting as mental activities per se. “Be patient a burning desire is not a pain”https://scriptura.journals.ac.za/pub/article/view/741Publisher's versio
John de Gruchy: A reformed mystic?
Full text linkCITATION: Joubert, L. 2020. John de Gruchy: A reformed mystic? Stellenbosch Theological Journal, 6 (1):383–404, doi:10.17570/stj.2020.v6n1.a20.The original publication is available at: https://journals.co.zaIn this essay the life and some of the writings of John de Gruchy are revisited in light of a retrieval of an understanding of mysticism rooted in the Early Church. In revisiting the concept of mysticism through the work of different scholars the question is posed whether the work of John de Gruchy reflects this understanding of mysticism and if he can be seen as a Reformed Mystic.Publisher's versio
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Full text link“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Full text linkWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
- …
