scholarly journals Teaching theology at African public universities as decolonisation through education and contextualisation

Author(s):  
Johan Buitendag ◽  
Corneliu C. Simut

This article is an attempt to provide a systematic and integrative picture of the main contributions presented at the colloquium which addressed the current state of theological education, proposals for the basic values to be laid as foundation for a new theological curriculum and concrete attempts to build such a curriculum in South Africa, the African continent and especially at the University of Pretoria with a particular stress on decolonisation as contextualisation. In dealing with these aspects, the article focuses on whether or not theology as an academic field has a future in university and society by implementing a concrete programme of decolonisation which is adapted – by means of education – to the specifics of various local contexts including those in Africa. If the answer to this question is positive – and the colloquium contributors, as well as the authors, of this article do believe to be so – then one must find out how theology should be done in the university, how theology should work in society and what (kind of) theology should be taught in the university so that its impact in society is continuously transformative and permanently relevant to human life and human existence in Africa and throughout the world.

Author(s):  
N.R. Madhava Menon

The purpose of looking at Indian universities in a comparative perspective is obviously to locate it among higher education institutions across the world and to identify its strengths and weaknesses in the advancement of learning and research. In doing so, one can discern the directions for reform in order to put the university system in a competitive advantage for an emerging knowledge society. This chapter looks at the current state of universities in India and highlights the initiatives under way for change and proposes required policy changes.


Groupwork ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. 6
Author(s):  
Annie Pullen Sansfaçon ◽  
Valérie Roy ◽  
Dave Ward

<p>Looking at practices in different locations is beneficial since it helps challenge assumptions that we may take for granted. Groupwork, as a method of social work, is specifically interesting to explore in the light of different contexts since, like social work, it may or may not translate well across cultures. This paper draws from data collected in the context of a research project that aimed to describe the current state of social work with groups in Quebec and to explore trends within social work with groups elsewhere in the world. Specifically, it focuses on the exploration of practices in Quebec and discusses them in relationship to those found in the USA, as a counterpoint. Our findings highlight some differences and similarities between Quebec and the USA with regard to groupwork, which leads us to discuss a range of factors that may impact on groupwork in the different contexts. Of these, the differences of organisational context and organisation of services have emerged as particularly noteworthy, which echoes findings in general social work literature with regard to the importance of local contexts on the definition of practice itself.</p>


2017 ◽  
Vol 73 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
André G. Ungerer

In 2017 the Nederduitsch Hervormde Kerk van Afrika (NHKA) celebrates its centenary of theological education at the University of Pretoria (UP). In this article the focus is on the build-up to setting up the first 50 years 1917– 1967 at UP. From as early as 1909 there was a yearning for our own theological seminary; however, some of the church leaders expressed their desire for theological education at a university. At the dawn of 1916 everything was in place for the NHKA and the Presbyterian Church of South Africa, as the first two partners, to start a faculty of theology at the Transvaal University College (TUC). On 01 April 1917 the Faculty of Theology commenced its work with prof. J.H.J.A. Greyvenstein of the NHKA and prof. E. MacMillan from the Presbyterian Church. The Presbyterian link with the faculty was broken in 1933. From 1938 the Nederduitse Gereformeerde Kerk (NGK) joined the NHKA and two independent sections were established: Section A for the NHKA and Section B for the NGK. There was a steady growth in the number of students and professors and on 13 June 1967 the NHKA filled its sixth professorship in the person of prof. I.J. de Wet. This era was also characterised by a lot of political tension in the heyday of the policy of apartheid. The NHKA was known for Article III in its constitution that propagates that church membership was for whites only. The NHKA support of the policy of apartheid was the cause of a dispute between the Church and prof. A.S. Geyser. In the end the matter was settled in favour of Geyser. There was also a dispute between professors A.G. Geyser and A.D. Pont that ended up in court in 1967. Pont was accused of defamation against Geyser. The court ruled against Pont and Geyser was granted the largest amount of compensation up till then.


2017 ◽  
Vol 73 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Andries G. Van Aarde ◽  
L. Wiseman Nkuhlu ◽  
Johan Buitendag ◽  
Olav F. Tveit ◽  
Jerry Pillay ◽  
...  

This article represents the contributions of ecclesiastical and academic office bearers participating in the centennial celebration of the Faculty of Theology of the University of Pretoria on Youth Day 16 June 2017, in collaboration with the Faith and Order Commission of the World Council of Churches. This Youth Day commemoration showcases the profound way of transformation at the University of Pretoria and, in particular, its theological faculty in democratic South Africa since 1994. It presents a truly historic event, highlighting a global participation of specifically the Reformed churches in South Africa after a period of ecumenical isolation because of a formerly endorsement of apartheid, nowadays confessed as a theological and humanitarian heresy.


2020 ◽  
Vol 56 (1) ◽  
pp. 9-13
Author(s):  
Svanibor Pettan

With Bruno Nettl’s passing on 15 January this year, the world of ethnomusicology lost one of its major figures, a scholar who significantly contributed to its affirmation as an academic field worldwide, and who inspired and kept supporting generations of ethnomusicologists on their way to new heights. His lectures at the University of Ljubljana’s Faculty of Arts in 2007 raised lots of interest among the professors and students; at that occasion, he presented the Department of Musicology his collection of abstracts. Musicological Annual lost a respected member of its International Advisory Board and the author of the article “What Are the Great Discoveries of Your Field? Informal Comments About the Contributions of Ethnomusicology,” published in 2015. Nettl’s crossdisciplinary scholarship provides a broad and multi-layered picture of both selected musics and of ethnomusicology as a discipline.


2002 ◽  
Vol 23 (3) ◽  
pp. 642-657
Author(s):  
G. A. Duncan ◽  
J. W. Hofmeyr

The quality of visionary leadership requires serious attention in current South Africa, both because of its importance but also sometimes because of the lack of leadership in church and theological contexts. In the first section of this article, focus is placed on leadership in the Faculty of Theology (NG Kerk) at the University of Pretoria, and in the second section, on the leadership at the Lovedale Missionary Institution in the Eastern Cape. Finally, some comparisons and conditions are drawn.


Author(s):  
Raúl Fuentes Navarro

This paper takes up previous works by the author and reformulates them to argue that there are increasingly clear indications of the adoption of “post-disciplinary” modalities in the institutionalized practices of knowledge production on communication in various regions of the world. Faced with the growing epistemic fragmentation and dispersion of this academic field, and the evident transformations of the sociocultural practices that are its references and subject matters, post-disciplinary research may represent a useful alternative consistent with the very history of the university institutionalization of this specialty, in which contributions from the humanities and social sciences converge, with apparent independence from the different conditions of national higher education systems. Some of the more developed formulations of this perspective and their strategic implications for university practices in the field are analysed.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 31-41
Author(s):  
Trinh Thuy Anh ◽  
Bui Quang Hung ◽  
Nguyen Pham Kien Minh

Recently, the trend of university autonomy is seen as a solution to promote the development of universities, improve the quality of education and contribute to the training of high–quality human resources for the country. So how should university autonomy be recognized, evaluated, and development-oriented? Is university autonomy aimed at promoting corporate governance towards corporate governance as a solution to today’s problems? This article aims to assess the current state of university governance in Vietnam and the world. Studies related to the university governance model, which is in the direction of corporate governance – are also analyzed and discussed. This article proposes a model to help standardize modern governance activities according to corporate governance, limit unnecessary overlap between unrelated departments in university activities, thereby promoting the development of universities in the future.


2019 ◽  
Vol 63 (4(250)) ◽  
pp. 289-302
Author(s):  
Irena Wojnar ◽  
Adam Fijałkowski

Editor in Chief of “The Pedagogical Quarterly” discourses with Irena Wojnar, employed at the University of Warsaw since early post-war time. Her intellectual evolution (l’âge où l’on grandit) occurs in changing dramatic periods of our history, optimism of elementary school before the World War II, painful time of clandestine education during the Nazi occupation in Warsaw, hopes and illusions of the post-war epoch. In these periods, the essential inspirations for Irena Wojnar were successive books of Bogdan Suchodolski, with symbolic titles: Love life – be valiant (2nd ed. 1930), Whence and where are we going to? (1943) and Education for the future (1947). In the Polish school before the WWII, pupils were educated in the spirit of patriotism and civic duties, sensibility to the surrounding world and the service of humans. Tragic heroism of the WWII became the proof of those values. In the conditions of constant aggressive and permanent threat, quasi “against the night”, the fight with the occupant becomes the essential moral duty. For young people, pupils and students, when secondary and tertiary schools were closed by the Nazis, this duty signified participation in clandestine education supporting hope to preserve future order in the world and preparation of the future activity in the free Poland after the WWII. The end of the WWII created a chance for the future shape of the world in line with our humanistic values. It was the period of the reconstruction of Warsaw, destroyed during the WWII, becoming a city of “sorrow and dreams”. In the final part of the conversation there appears the general opinion that every individual life–story, beyond its individual aspects, reveals a more general educational idea. Human life runs across destiny and personal consciousness. Independently of our destiny, we have a chance to choose values important for us, to realise the “poetics of the self” (poétique du soi) based on our capacity to overcome own limitations and to increase goodness in the world.


A sense of satisfaction is felt in presenting the seventh edition of the Pretoria Student Law Review. With each successive edition, the Review comes ever closer to being infused into the heritage and culture of the Faculty of Law at the University of Pretoria. Thereby, cementing into legacy a dialogical space for the expression of young people — some being future lawyers, advocates and academics — a space that challenges the status quo. As a consequence, the Review, as a true creature of education, may bring about positive change in the world.


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