Joyce Nankabirwa, Etukoit Bernard Michael, Eve Nakabembe
Introduction: Respectful Maternity Care (RMC) promotes dignified treatment of expectant mothers during healthcare encounters. Despite its critical role in improving access to quality maternal healthcare, mistreatment during childbirth remains common in rural public health facilities (PHFs). This study documented the experiences and perceptions of RMC among childbearing women in Busia District, Uganda, including how cultural, spiritual, and gender factors influence maternal care to inform policy development and program implementation in low-resource settings. Methods: A qualitative phenomenological design was employed, purposively sampling childbearing women and healthcare workers from PHFs. In-depth interviews and focus group discussions were conducted, with data transcribed and analyzed using Atlas.ti V9 through thematic content analysis. Quality control included pre-testing tools, training bilingual research assistants, and daily supervision. Themes explored included healthcare provider attitudes, facility constraints, cultural norms, spiritual beliefs, and gender dynamics. Ethical considerations—REC approval, informed consent, confidentiality, and participant autonomy—were ensured. Limitations included non-generalizability and potential social desirability bias. Findings: Some women reported positive experiences characterized by respectful treatment, but the majority encountered disrespect and abuse. Key contributors included limited awareness of maternal rights, gendered expectations affecting access and prioritization, spiritual beliefs guiding care choices, and systemic issues such as overcrowding, understaffing, insufficient supplies, and negative provider attitudes. Cultural and spiritual norms influenced care-seeking behaviors, including reliance on traditional birth attendants and ritual practices, sometimes conflicting with biomedical recommendations. Conclusion: Disrespect and abuse persist in PHFs in Busia District, compounded by systemic, cultural, spiritual, and gender-related factors. The absence of structured complaint mechanisms limits accountability. The study recommends establishing a platform for reporting and resolving maternal complaints, integrating culturally sensitive, gender-aware, and spiritually informed approaches to enhance maternal and child health outcomes and inform national, maternal healthcare policies.
Public aspects of medicine, Practical religion. The Christian life
Matthew’s story of Jesus shows striking similarities to Greek biographies and ancient writings describing famous rulers, their miraculous births, gloriously won wars, deaths, and deification. Matthew’s work was first given the appearance of a biography by the story of the birth of Jesus which is found at the very beginning of the Gospel. It contains numerous motifs that are widespread in the wider ancient literature: the motif of the birth of a child announced by angels, prophets, or heavenly phenomena; the motif of a miraculous birth; the motif of the persecuted royal child. It shows that in the description of the birth of Jesus, Matthew was significantly close to some ancient models; the question is: whether consciously or unconsciously. Answering the question adequately is possible only after looking at the literary content, the motif parallels between the story of the birth of Jesus in the Gospel according to Matthew and the stories of miraculous births in ancient literature. Of the utmost importance is certainly the conclusion that although it is possible to make comparisons between Matthew’s Infancy Gospel and many ancient stories about miraculous births, the motif of the Holy Spirit in Matthew’s story of Jesus’ conception and birth is an early Christian concept that should point to the unique action of God throughout Jesus’ life, so that there is no corresponding parallel in the surrounding world. For the members of Matthew’s community, Jesus’ entire earthly life was designed from his very birth. The Spirit at Jesus’ birth is the same prophetic Spirit that led Jesus into ministries at baptism, like the prophet Jeremiah and other Old Testament prophets. Nevertheless, that Spirit made Jesus’ conception possible and, for Matthew and his community, Jesus was the first and the last born of the Holy Spirit, the incarnated Son of God.
Bu çalışmada, XVIII. yüzyıl Osmanlı âlimlerinden Dâvûd-i Karsî’nin (öl.1169/1756) Risâle fi’l-iḫtiyârâti’l-cüzʾiyye ve’l-irâdâti’l-ḳalbiyye adlı risâlesinde insanın irâdî/bilinçli eylemlerindeki özgürlüğü ve sorumluluğuyla Allah’ın her şeyin yaratıcısı olması arasındaki paradoksu nasıl çözümlediği incelenecektir. Ayrıca risâlenin tahkik ve tercümesi de yapılmak suretiyle risâle literatüre kazandırılacaktır. Çalışmaya konu olan risâle, İslâm düşünce geleneğinde insan fiilleri başlığı altında telif edilen irâde-i cüzʾiyye, efʿâl-i ʿibâd, ḫalk-ı aʿmâl, kazâ ve kader risâle silsilesinden bir halkadır. Risâle, metin ile şerhin iç içe olduğu memzûç şerh yöntemiyle yazılan nadir örneklerden birini teşkil etmektedir. Dâvûd-i Karsî, risâlede irâdî fiiller hakkında üçü gayr-i meşhûr, dördü meşhûr olmak üzere yedi görüşü detaylı şekilde inceler. Meşhûr olmayan görüşleri yorumlayarak, bunları meşhûr görüşlere dahil eder ve risâlenin yaklaşık 4’te 3’lük kısmını bu yaklaşımlara ayırır. Risâlenin son aşamasında kendi mezhebi olan Mâtürîdî görüşünün, Selefin “Ne cebir ne de tefvîz yalnızca bu iki yaklaşım arasında bir durum vardır.” şeklindeki görüşüyle paralellik arz ettiğini söyler. Esîrî Mehmed Efendi’den (öl. 1092/1681) esinlenen Karsî, irâdî fiilin “iki kudret”, “iki meşîet” ve “bir tekvîn”in toplamıyla hâsıl olduğunu ve ilk dört tanesinin yakın sebep, tekvînin ise müessir olduğunu savunur. Karsî, hem insanın fâilliğini ispat etmek hem de Allah’ın yaratma sıfatını korumak amacıyla fiilin anlamları ve hâl teorisinden hareket eder. Aslında ilâhî sıfatlar ve ontolojik meselelerin anlaşılmasında kullanılan hâl kavramı, Mâtürîdî kelâmcısı Sadrüşşerîʿa es-Sânî (öl. 747/1346) tarafından fiiller konusuna da uygulanarak bir eylem doktrini geliştirilmiş ve bu doktrin halef müteahhirûn Mâtürîdî kelâmcılar tarafından kabul görmüş ve kullanılmıştır. Karsî, Sadrüşşerîʿa’ya referansla fiile ait anlamlar ve bu anlamların varlık modlarından hareket ederek meseleyi temellendirmeye çalışır. O, fiil denildiğinde bundan iki anlamın anlaşıldığını; bunlardan birisinin masdarî anlam diğerinin ise bu masdarî anlamla hâsıl olan şey olduğunu ortaya koyar. Fiilin masdar manası fiilin “şey olmayan ciheti”ni ve fiilin masdarla hâsıl olan manası ise “şey olan ciheti”ni teşkil etmektedir. Böylece fiilin “şey” ve “mevcût” olmayan yönünün, yaratmaya konu olmaması sebebiyle bu, insanın gerçek fâil oluşunun hareket noktası olmuştur. Benzer şekilde Karsî, irâde, kast ve ihtiyâr-ı cüzʾî anlamındaki meşîetin, insandaki varlığının tabi olma yoluyla gerçekleştiğini ve hâl kabilinden olması sebebiyle yaratılmamış olduğunu savunur. Buradan hareket eden Karsî; bir taraftan fiilin mevcût ve şey olmayan yönüyle beri taraftan meşîet, irâde ve kastın yaratmaya konu olmaması sebebiyle hem insanın fiillerindeki irâde özgürlüğünü hem de Allah’ın mutlak yaratıcılığını korumuş olmaktadır.
Betty Friedan’s groundbreaking book, The Feminine Mystique (1963), in which she examines the ennui afflicting many housewives, provides a helpful and provocative framework for understanding the phenomenon of clergy burnout. Mid-twentieth century North American society had told women that being a homemaker was fulfilling, and if they did not think so, then the problem lay with them. Friedan argued that the problem lay with a patriarchal society that sold a one-size-fits-all understanding of womanhood. In other words, the problem lay not with the discontent women but with patriarchy. Contemporary parish ministry suffers from similar issues. Patriarchy has contributed to a paradigm for parish ministry in the twenty-first century that significantly increases the likelihood of burnout. This paper examines the usual strategies for addressing clergy burnout and demonstrates that, while they have merit, they neglect key church dynamics. A feminist approach to the issue, particularly one drawing from feminist ecclesiology, provides a corrective by attending to those neglected dynamics. The paper concludes by suggesting changes among clergy and congregations that can help to decrease burnout.
Practical Theology is located in a fragile, vulnerable space between various disciplines, where it is exposed to multiple different narratives. The author proposes a postfoundational, narrative approach to Practical Theology that favours the local over the global and the specific over generalisations. Africa is taken as the defining context for the understanding and development of a specific postfoundational Practical Theology. People and their stories are central, and this requires a coconstruction of meaning with “co-researchers”. The author’s “Seven Movements”, as published in other articles, is used with an Ubuntu research project as a case study. The “Seven Movements” facilitate the telling and retelling of unheard stories, particularly stories of the marginalised and vulnerable. This way of doing Practical Theology takes the experiences of “co-researchers” seriously and conducts research wíth people rather than on them. The researcher’s focus is concrete, local, and contextual, but also extends beyond the local by engaging in transdisciplinary conversation and developing interpretations that point beyond the local.
Christianity, Practical religion. The Christian life
To argue that the concept of natural law can be regarded, with certain conditions, as a credible and useful tool in the Reformed paradigm, as Vorster did, may at first seems to be in conflict with the Reformation’s emphasis on sola scriptura and sola gratia. Vorster, however, argues very convincingly that the general revelation of God and creational gifts can be a source for bioethics within the reformed tradition. He does this by relying on Calvin and Bavinck’s appreciative theologies and in reaction to Barth and Welker’s critique to the notion of natural law. In this article I will further Vorster’s argument by identifying some critical points in his argument, analyse the critique on these points and broaden the discussion by incorporating an eschatological perspective and the anthropology of the Protestant philosopher, Paul Ricoeur. The aim is, as Vorster states in his conclusion, to provide Christian ethics with opportunities and means to formulate applicable and relevant moral codes that can be utilised in the bio- and eco-ethical debates of today.
Practical Theology, Practical religion. The Christian life
Catholic Social Teaching needs to acknowledge the promise of the “hypostatic union” as a theological analogue in the Church’s theology of reconciliation. From the doctrine of the hypostatic union, humans can recognize that God encounters humans and beckons them on towards full reconciliation without destroying what defines them as humans. Rather, God unites them with himself. That “mode of being” should be Christians’ critical contribution to the public as inspired from their distinctive ethics. This theology of restorative justice must be relational, full of dependence, kenosis and “paradox.” The presence of “paradox” in this theology is not necessarily a moral failure, because tension arising from competing wills will always be with us. It is not regrettable, so long as they do not wander off the telos (God’s reign in the world).
In 2 Corinthians 5:1-10, Paul uses different methods to explain his view on life after death. He uses the metaphors of a tent, a building, clothing and being at home with God. It is clear that Paul accepted that the future with God is certain and that he will receive a building from God in heaven even though he may die. There is life with God even before the final resurrection. A life of bliss is assured for those who believe in God.
The belief of resurrection after death has been explained clearly in the Quran, but the problem is if the Quranic eschatological expressions are literal or symbolical. Although the Muslim theologians say that these expressions should be accepted as literal, Muslim philosophers say that they are symbolic. This is one of the discussion subjects that Ghazali explained incoherence of the philosophers. There are equivalences in the phenomenical world of the Quranic eschatological expressions. The Quran explains the resurrection with the objects that exist in the human knowledge and experiences. That means all of the Quranic eschatological expressions are symbolic and these symbolic expressions refer to the actualities beyond these objects
This article investigates the possible gender agenda of Susanna. Gender is one of the most debated issues in the study of the story. A frequently asked question is: “does Susanna reinforce or undermine patriarchy?” Most scholars, mainly feminists, are pessimistic and suspicious about the subversive programme of Susanna. This study addresses the above concern using the Greimassian approach to narratives, as refined by Everaert-Desmedt. The approach comprises three levels of analysis: the figurative, the narrative and the thematic. Results from preliminary analysis appear to highlight “Jewishness” as the main concern here. True Jewishness seems to depend exclusively on the commitment to the Law, regardless of gender. A woman such as Susanna, committed to the Law even to the cost of her life, is a true Jew (??????? ??????). Men like the elders, opposing the Law, are corrupt and corrupting strangers (?????? ??????). Accordingly, Susanna undermines rather than reinforces patriarchy.
Christianity, Practical religion. The Christian life
The book “Commitment, conscience or compromise: the changing financial basis and evolving role of Christian health services in developing countries” is an excellent research document converted into a book by the researchers Peter and Jean Rookes. The authors had years of experience, working in a developing world Christian health care services context and prior to this in academics and health service management. This varied and long experience brings a wealth of perspectives and wisdom into this well researched document.
Public aspects of medicine, Practical religion. The Christian life
The Christological doctrine de
fi
ned during the Chalcedon Council (451) was
the point of reference to consolidate the Christian doctrine in the
fi
fth century.
It also became the foundation of the evangelizing mission led by the Church in
the following centuries. In the context of the new challenges and interpretation
a question, whether the Chalcedon doctrine needs to be reinterpreted, arises.
This article tries to show the relevance of the Christological dogma which was
de
fi
ned by the Chalcedon Council. The attention is paid to this dogma rooted in
the Church Tradition and also to its soteriological and anthropological meaning.
The soteriological perspective, which was given the utmost importance during
the Chalcedon Council and similarly during other councils held in the
fi
rst
millennium, proves the doctrinal relevance of the dogma and furthermore makes
it more meaningful. From the hermeneutic point of view this article presents the
need of referring to the principle of theological apophatism in order to interpret
the dogma correctly.