Brandford Bervell, John K. E. Edumadze, Dickson Okoree Mireku
et al.
The increasing reliance on digital tools for religious studies has led to growing interest in understanding factors influencing Christian students’ adoption of e-Sword electronic Bible. However, research on this topic remains limited, particularly among Christian students in tertiary education. This study explores the determinants of undergraduate students’ behavioural intention and use behaviour of e-Sword. Using a correlational survey approach, this study employed Partial Least Squares-Structural Equation Modelling to analyse data collected through a de-facto census survey from 1943 Christian undergraduate students. Findings showed that behavioural intention and facilitating conditions significantly influenced use behaviour of e-Sword. Effort expectancy positively affected both performance expectancy and social influence towards e-Sword use intentions. Facilitating conditions were identified as a key determinant of effort expectancy. Furthermore, performance expectancy and social influence significantly influenced behavioural intentions. Finally, importance-performance map analysis revealed that facilitating conditions was the most important predictor of behavioural intentions towards e-Sword. These findings provide valuable insights into the factors shaping the adoption of e-Sword among Christian undergraduate students.
Alfred Korankye, Emmanuel Twumasi-Ankrah, Isaac Boaheng
The translation of the Bible message from the original language to a receptor language has been challenging due to the lack of equivalent words in the receptor language to convey the exact meaning of the original language. This can sometimes distort the original meaning and create ambiguity in the receptor community. In some Akan dialects such as Asante-Twi, Akuapim-Twi, and Bono-Twi, the translation of Genesis 1:1-3 presents recognizable translational challenges when compared with the Masoretic Text. For instance, all the selected Akan dialects translated the Hebrew word bereshit, “In the beginning,” as independent in relation to other parts of the first sentence. However, this paper argued that rendering bereshit, with no indication of the temporal dependent relationship function of the clause within the sentence thus without any circumstantial sense, limits the meaning of the sentence and is inconsistent with the source text. Employing grammatical and syntactical analysis, the paper identified some translational inconsistencies in the selected Akan mother-tongue Bibles and accordingly proposed alternative renderings for readers.
Angela Chiwendu Nweke, Ademola Ferdinand Omosekejimi, Obioma Deborah Okoli
This study examines the information-seeking behavior of the clergy using parish pastors in the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) in Agbarho community in Delta State as a case study. The study seeks to identify the information needs, the sources of information, the purpose of the use of information, and the challenges to information seeking among RCCG parish pastors in Agbarho. A descriptive survey research design was adopted for the study. The total population for the study comprises 44 parish pastors of the RCCG in two Zones of RCCG Delta Province 4 in Agbarho Community. The entire population was used as a sample using the total enumeration sampling technique. The instrument used for data collection was a structured questionnaire. The data collected for this study were analyzed using simple percentage/frequency counts. The study found that RCCG pastors in Agbarho need and use the information for several issues such as sermon preparation, personal and church growth, church administration, evangelism, conflict resolution, meetings/programs, and personal/members’ welfare among others. They get the information they need from formal sources such as the Bible, books including all RCCG publications such as Open Heavens and Sunday school manuals, magazines (RCCG Bulletins), etc. Also, RCCG pastors in Agbarho community, Delta State, Nigeria also gets information from informal sources such as senior pastors, colleagues, friends in the ministry, church members, and family among others. In their effort to seek information, RCCG pastors in Agbarho community, Delta State, Nigeria faces some challenges such as limited financial resources, lack of access to ICT facilities, language barriers, information overload, time factor, and poor awareness of information sources. The study recommends that the RCCG authorities in conjunction with other churches and community leaders should establish and equip a library in every community where they are present as a way of advancing their Christian Social Responsibilities (CSR) as this will allow their pastors to have access to free and timely information among others.
Bibliography. Library science. Information resources
2 Kings 5:1–27 describes the healing of a foreigner, Naaman the Syrian, a high officer of the King of Damascus, by Elisha, a prophet in Israel. Naaman the Syrian suffers from a kind of skin disease called “leprosy” in the Bible. He thinks that, being rich and powerful, he is in possession of the means to get healed. He has to change his mind and his behaviour, though. He is healed when he agrees to listen to an Israelian maidservant, a slave, to the prophet Elisha, and to his own servants. When he bathes in the Jordan, he symbolically enters the Promised Land because he is healed and, at the same time, he acknowledges that Yhwh is the only Lord of the universe.
Universities’ teaching and learning strategies aim to prepare students for life and the workplace by creating a culture of innovation to solve real-life problems, so that they can participate constructively in society and lead fulfilling professional and personal lives. In order to reach this goal, teaching and learning must have at least three paradigms, namely pedagogical, cognitive and pragmatic or instrumentalist. A pragmatic paradigm presupposes practical, experiential teaching and learning. This paper explores interactive means within the pragmatic paradigm that can be included in the pastoral modules of theology education. The epistemology is from a practical theological perspective.
Contribution: The contribution of this article is that experiential role-play activities can have a positive impact in the pedagogy of pastoral care and counselling. The insight of this article links with the developmental goals for effective theological education in South Africa.
The article examines the effect of cooking food in kitchens on the health of women, as women and children are at a greater risk to indoor air pollution (IAP). It is important to study the cooking practices and prevalent behaviours among African women to understand the magnitude of the danger they face. The study suggests that a decline in the combustion of solid fuels and the use of clean energy can improve health among women and children, as well as sustainability goals. Proverbs 17:22 says, ‘A joyful heart is the health of the body, but a depressed spirit dries up the bones’. Bible verse Numbers 35:33–34 indicates, ‘You shall not pollute the land in which you live’. The cooking fuel analysis framework among rural women in Africa will guide forward the governments’ sustainability policies for communities to ensure healthy lives and promote well-being of women and children.
Contribution: The article conducts a comprehensive analysis of the literature on African cooking practices. A combined search string is made with keywords. Thematic content analysis is conducted with NVivo (produced by QSR International). The article covers two themes, namely improved well-being and suggesting policies to combat climate change and its impacts. Policies and schemes at grassroots levels and better economic conditions in African countries can help to overcome challenges and change health-damaging cooking behaviours. The new advanced sustainability analysis framework has the potential to influence modern kitchen fuels and increase the adoption of new technologies in African villages.
The meaning of the neologism Ἑλληνιστὰι in the New Testament (Acts 6:1; 9:29; 11:20), although only three times, is not as simple as one might think. The Indonesian Bible (TB, BIMK) defines its first two usages as linguistic differences (“Greek-speaking Jews”). The third usage is not even clear whether it is the category of descent (“Greeks”) or religious (“non-Jewish people”). There is a tendency for Ἑλληνιστὰι to be translated non-uniformly, but there is also a uniformity. In the context of this word study, the first step is to determine Ἕλληνες as the root and origin of Ἑλληνιστὰι. Since the semantic meaning of Ἕλληνες includes Greeks by descent and Greeks culturally, the second step is to examine the consistency of the differentiation of Graeci and gentiles in the Vulgate for both Greekishness. The fact that Ἑλληνιστὰι translations are so varied makes the final step necessary, namely to reinterpret the word in its context. As a result, neologism is needed for Indonesian vocabulary: “Helenis” (or Hellenist) for cultural Ἕλληνες and “Yahudi Helenis” (or Hellenized Jews) for Ἑλληνιστὰι.
Friedrich Schleiermacher’s (1768–1834) theological essay on the doctrine of election – in which he claims to stand squarely within the Reformed tradition – was an attempt to aid church unification in the 19th century Prussian church of which he was a member and a minister. In this essay Schleiermacher resists a narrow focus on individual election and particularly on how election was worked out in the direction of double predestination. The gift of God’s electing grace is worked out historically and is therefore Christological and communal. He argues that God’s will is neither twofold nor divisible – into two parts, concerning the elect and the reprobate – but one, indivisible, unconditional decree governed by the logic of electing grace. This article explores Schleiermacher’s doctrine of election as part of a 250th commemoration of Schleiermacher’s birth, and suggests how Schleiermacher’s essay on election may contribute to theological interpretations and portrayals of the doctrine of election today.
The contemporary debate regarding the neo-allegorical Song of Songs interpretation focuses more on its legitimacy than how it is done. If allegorical interpretation promotes uncontrollable subjective interpretation, this would especially surface when different religious traditions are involved. Moreover, if allegorical interpretation is done to avoid dealing with explicit sexuality in the Song, comparing texts from three diverse religious traditions on the more erotic parts of the Song has the potential to provide insight not only in the method of allegory but also in the contextuality and subjectivity of interpretation as such. The paper discusses examples from the Targum, the Calvinistic Dutch Statenbijbel and Luther’s lectures on Canticles.
https://doi.org/10.17159/2312-3621/2018/v31n3a19
Viewed from a Western historical-philosophical perspective, there seem to be at least three broad philosophical orientations on the basis of which Christian educators could approach their pedagogical task. The first is to approach it from a modernist (foundationalist, rationalist) perspective in terms of which the principles and guidelines gleaned from the Bible are cast into a coherent and all-embracing theory that is deterministically applied to ensure certain pedagogical outcomes. The second is just the opposite, namely to operate post-foundationalistically on the basis of a loose collection of Biblical principles and values, and hence to expect the child or young person to muddle through in the postmodern maze in which they are growing up nowadays. The third, referred to in this article as a post-post-foundationalist orientation, an orientation that arguably also can respond appropriately to post-modern conditions, allows the educator to effectively steer through between these two extremes.
Opsomming
Opvoeding vanuit ‘n post-post-foundationalistiese perspektief, en vir post-post-foundationalistiese toestande.
Daar is, gesien vanuit Westerse histories-filosofiese perspektief, ten minste drie breë filosofiese oriëntasies op grondslag waarvan die Christenopvoeder sy or haar pedagogiese taak kan uitvoer. Die eerste is om vanuit ’n modernistiese (foundationalistiese, rasionalistiese) perspektief die beginsels en riglyne wat uit die Skrif verkry word te giet in ’n samehangende en alomvattende teorie wat deterministies toegepas kan word ten einde sekere uitkomste met die opvoedingshandeling te verseker. Die tweede is presies die teenoorgestelde hiervan, naamlik om post-foundationalisties op te voed aan die hand van ’n losse versameling Bybelse beginsels en waardes, en in werklikheid te verwag dat die kind of die jongmens maar deur die hedendaagse postmoderne doolhof moet voortstrompel. Die derde oriëntasie, waarna in hierdie artikel verwys word as post-post-foundationalisties en wat dalk ook gepas is vir die huidige postmoderne omstandighede, laat die opvoeder toe om effektief tussen hierdie twee uiterstes deur te stuur.
https://doi.org/10.19108/KOERS.80.1.2211
<p>Christian eco-theologians have generally preferred a form of panentheism that plays up divine immanence at the expense of divine transcendence. Yet while their respec-tive theological models have contributed to a more earthly theology, eco-theological panentheists tend to identify God with aspects of creation that are presumably ‘more like’ God. The latter is problematic in light of their own claim that God is radically present in and to all that is. Drawing on the theology of Kathryn Tanner, this article argues in favour of a different route for maximizing God’s immanence, namely by strengthening rather than weakening divine transcendence.</p><p> </p><p>doi: 10.7833/111-1-21</p>