MTHMS15/101/2012
DEPARTMENT OF CHRISTIAN SPIRITUALITY,
CHURCH HISTORY AND MISSIOLOGY
Discipline: Missiology
To all students enrolled for the
Structured MTh programme
Tutorial letter 101/2012
Please read carefully
47
MTHMS15/101
DIS523L/101 DIS522K/101
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Entering Master’s studies – A qualitative change 3
1. Our approach: Contextualisation 3
2. Two structured M Th programmes 6
3. The study process 6
4. The three study units 9
5. Deadlines and short term goals 14
6. What is research? 14
7. Choosing a dissertation topic and a supervisor 16
8. The parable of the volunteer gardeners 17
9. Selecting and polishing your tools 20
10. Managing your data 21
11. Formal features of academic writing 23
12. What makes a study missiological? 25
13. What is a good dissertation? 26
14. Checklist for submission of dissertation 26
15. Conclusion 27
List of references cited 28
Appendix 1 Instruction words 29
Appendix 2 Contract of Agreement 31
Appendix 3 Library Instructions 33
Appendix 4 List of other relevant tutorial letters 35
Appendix 5 Work sheets 36
List of recommended books 46
List of electronic reserves articles 48
47
MTHMS15/101
DIS523L/101 DIS522K/101
TO ALL STUDENTS ENROLLED FOR THE STRUCTURED MTH PROGRAMME
Dear Student
Welcome to the community of research students in the Discipline of Missiology at Unisa! We hope that this tutorial letter will be a helpful reference as you proceed through the structured M Th programme. If you have any unanswered questions or areas of uncertainty after reading this letter, please let us know so that we can answer your query but also improve this letter for future students.
Right at the outset, we would like to introduce ourselves to you. As from the beginning of 2010 there are seven of us (three permanent staff and four on contract appointment) who are responsible for the structured MTh programme in missiology at Unisa. The permanent staff are Prof NA Botha, Prof JNJ (Klippies) Kritzinger and Prof Annalet van Schalkwyk, whereas the contract staff are Prof (emeritus) Willem Saayman, Prof (extraordinarius) Johannes Reimer, Dr Christof Sauer as an associate, and Prof (extraordinarius) Jesse Mugambi from Kenya. Prof Saayman was, until his early retirement, the head of our department. Prof Reimer, on the other hand, lives and works in Germany and is our department’s external professor for the growing number of German students doing our structured M Th degree. Here are our telephone and fax numbers, as well as our e-mail addresses, if you need to contact us:
NAME / TEL. NO. / FAX NO. / E-MAILProf NA Botha / (012) 429-4533 / (012) 429 4619 /
Prof JNJ Kritzinger / (012) 429-4759 / do /
Prof A van Schalkwyk / (012) 429-4685 / do /
Prof WA Saayman (on contract) / (012) 429-4477 / do /
Prof J Reimer (on contract)
Dr Christof Sauer / (0949)-2261-3024524
(021) -5587744 / -
- /
Prof Jesse Mugambi (on contract) / (09254)-608 810 / (09254)-722-753-227 /
Entering Masters level studies – A qualitative change
You have made many transitions to get this far. You went from primary to secondary school, and from secondary school to college/seminary/university. Now you are making another very important transition: from undergraduate to postgraduate studies. Some of you may already have done an Honours degree, and will therefore have some perception of what postgraduate studies are about. But even for you this transition will be so different from the transitions you have made before, that we wish to discuss it a bit more fully.
Being admitted into our Master's programme does not signify simply another year in your career as student. It signifies primarily a qualitative change, a transition into a new way of being a student of Missiology. Actually, you are now beginning to do missiology in earnest. Previously we were interested in your mastery of the contents of a limited number of set books and recommended literature, your understanding of the points of view the authors presented, and your ability to reproduce those views in your own words. From now on we will be interested in the first place in your ability to enter into a debate with as large a number of authors as possible, your ability to present their views fairly and concisely, your ability to formulate your own arguments in agreement or disagreement with these authors, and – above all – your ability to become a missiological researcher who can generate and formulate new knowledge. From now on we will not be satisfied if you have simply reproduced the views of others; we will be expecting, first and foremost, an expression of your own evaluation of their views and creative new ways of formulating your own. In terms of the content of your study material, this is the qualitative transition we have referred to.
SECTION 1: Our approach – Contextualisation
47
MTHMS15/101
DIS523L/101 DIS522K/101
The fundamental missiological approach of our department is that of contextualisation, as we explained in our Honours course (MSG422E) on Mission praxis. This does not mean that we merely acknowledge the influence of context (upbringing, class, gender, etc.) on people’s views, but that we consciously integrate context analysis into theology. We do this by encouraging students to think in terms of the – “pastoral cycle” formulated by Holland & Henriot (1983) and developed by Cochrane et al. (1990), which sees a circular relationship between the four dimensions of insertion, analysis, reflection, and planning (see figure 1).
We can explain this further by saying that according to a contextual approach, there is no universally valid theology. An authentic theology arises from the particular context within which it is done. Contextual theologians emphasise that Jesus has many faces and needs to become uniquely incarnated in every human situation.
In a contextual approach to theology a constant interplay between text and context is suggested. For Protestants, the Bible is the textual source of knowledge about salvation history, whereas for Orthodox and Catholics the Bible is seen as the fountainhead of an ongoing Christian tradition that is entrusted to the church as the guardian of the truth. Over against this textual source, there is the context or real life situation. In a contextual approach, text and context have to be integrated and studied together. There should be a constant to and fro (= dialectical) movement between these two poles. Contextual theology exposes the fallacy that theology has to do with timeless truths that can be expounded objectively.
Contextual theology also emphasises the constant interaction between action and reflection. Theological insights should both arise from and culminate in deeds. Missiological reflection can never take the place of active participation in God’s mission, while missional action should in turn stimulate missiological reflection. The study and the practice of mission are vitally important to each other and should never be separated. The term praxis, as used in a contextual missiology, is not a synonym of practice, but refers to this totality of action and reflection, which are seen as having a dialectical (mutually dependent) relationship to each other. This use of the term praxis is derived from the philosophy of Aristotle (and later Karl Marx), as this was developed (among others) by the Brazilian educator Paulo Freire. The Marxian influence on this terminology should not, however, make us dismiss the contextual approach as a Communist plot. The notion of the inseparable relationship between thinking (or believing) and acting is deeply rooted in the prophetic biblical tradition, as can be seen in verses like Isaiah 58:1-12; Jeremiah 22:16; Amos 5:21-24; Matthew 7:21-23; James 2:14-17 and many others.
In order to clarify the relationship between the four terms (text-context, action-reflection), it may be helpful to adapt the diagram of the pastoral cycle (which we could also call the cycle of missionary praxis) as follows (figure 2):
47
MTHMS15/101
DIS523L/101 DIS522K/101
According to a contextual approach to theology, the first step in doing theology is that of insertion. In other words, practical involvement in Christian praxis for the sake of the kingdom of God. The second step is that of context analysis, which involves the conscious use of analytical tools to unlock the underlying dynamics (often hidden from view in a naive approach to reality) that are at work in a particular situation or context. The third step is that of theological reflection on the situation (which includes the church) which consists of a re-reading of the Bible and the Christian tradition in response to the questions raised by insertion and social analysis. This dimension of doing theology is sometimes regarded as the only “real” theology, but a contextual approach argues that it is only one dimension of a fourfold process of theologising, which can easily become distorted if it is not studied in relation to the other three dimensions of this circular process. The fourth step is that of planning for action, which completes the circle since it leads back to insertion. This final element underlines the view of contextual theology that theology should not be abstract theories that are of no earthly use to the people of God, but instead give them direction and courage as they worship and struggle to be faithful to the gospel in daily life.
The clockwise movement around the circle (as indicated by the curved arrows), which reveals the “inner logic” of this approach to theology, does not imply a chronological sequence between these elements. There isn’t a one-way movement from insertion to analysis to reflection, to planning, in a “mechanical” fashion. There is a constant interaction between all four the elements, as indicated by the straight arrows. The four dimensions can not only be seen as four stages of a process but also as four aspects of a system.
Please note the words in bold. In the action-reflection dialectic, the two “blocks” at the bottom of the diagram represent action and the two “blocks” at the top represent reflection. Likewise, the two “blocks” on the right represent text and the two on the left represent context in the text-context dialectic.
This adaptation of the pastoral cycle expands it to become a cycle of mission praxis, which enables one to study mission activities in a critical way, in other words, to do missiology. The notion of praxis, understood as Christian action aimed at transformation, either of individuals or of whole societies, is most appropriate for understanding mission and missiology. We therefore want to encourage you to use it in your missiological reflections and in your research design.
SECTION 2: THREE STRUCTURED M TH PROGRAMMES
47
MTHMS15/101
DIS523L/101 DIS522K/101
Unisa presently offers three structured MTh programmes under the heading of Missiology: a) The general MTh in Missiology programme; b) The MTh in Missiology, with specialisation in Urban Ministry; and c) The Women, Gender and Religion (focus: Missiology) programme. The structural features of the three programmes are identical, but throughout this tutorial letter we will indicate where there are differences in content between them. The information on the general MTh programme will be the main narrative, and the other two programmes will be explained in occasional blocks bearing the headings WGR and UM.
WOMEN, GENDER AND RELIGIONThe Women, Gender and Religion (WGR) M Th programme is an interdisciplinary MTh course presented by a group (“cluster”) of lecturers from different theology departments in the College of Human Sciences. The first half of the programme is offered jointly by various lecturers of the cluster, but the second half is offered specifically by the department in which the student is registered. Full details of the programme appear in Section 3. It is very important to state that the WGR programme is not reserved for women. It is open to anyone who wishes to study the position of women in mission or (more broadly) the role of gender in mission, primarily in the African context. It may interest you to know that a number of men are enrolled for this programme. For those who are not aware of the terminology used here, gender refers to more than sexual (biological) differences between men and women. It refers to the social roles and statuses assigned to women and men in society, in accordance with the values of particular cultures, religions and classes. In other words, this course does not look at the relationships between men and women in a static way, as based on fixed “natural” or “God-given” laws, but as social constructs that are learnt from one’s culture and that are therefore changeable in the light of Christian faith and Christian mission.
URBAN MINISTRY
The structured MTh in Urban Ministry is offered in collaboration with the Institute for Urban Ministry (IUM), which is based in Pretoria. The three course work modules introduce you to the specific application of the praxis cycle to urban ministry. To enrol for this programme, you need to contact IUM, since the programme requires of you to attend their annual Summer School in January and their annual Winter School in July. These events will put you in contact with the wide network of urban mission practitioners and researchers that IUM has built up over the past 12 years, thereby enhancing the relevance and quality of your urban ministry research.
SECTION 3: THE STUDY PROCESS
The general structured MTh in Missiology consists of three modules of course work and a dissertation of limited scope. The logic of the programme is that the three modules lead you step by step towards the writing of the dissertation. One could portray the three study units as concentric circles:
· The first module (MThMS15), “Recent developments in Missiology”, is the widest circle since it deals with broad issues of missiological method;
· The second module (MThMS26), “To be determined between supervisor and student”, focuses on the specific missiological field of study in which you wish to work. Therefore your supervisor will prescribe a tailor-made reading list in the field of your research;
· The third module (MPCHS91), “Master proposal”, will guide you in the writing of the research proposal for your dissertation of limited scope.