Showing papers by "Protestant Theological University published in 2010"

God Image and Happiness in Chronic Pain Patients: The Mediating Role of Disease Interpretation

Abstract: Objective. The present study explored the role of the emotional experience of God (i.e., positive and negative God images) in the happiness of chronic pain (CP) patients. Framed in the transactional model of stress, we tested a model in which God images would influence happiness partially through its influence on disease interpretation as a mediating mechanism. We expected God images to have both a direct and an indirect (through the interpretation of disease) effect on happiness. Design. A cross-sectional questionnaire design was adopted in order to measure demographics, pain condition, God images, disease interpretation, and happiness. One hundred thirty-six CP patients, all members of a national patients' association, completed the questionnaires. Results. Correlational analyses showed meaningful associations among God images, disease interpretation, and happiness. Path analyses from a structural equation modeling approach indicated that positive God images seemed to influence happiness, both directly and indirectly through the pathway of positive interpretation of the disease. Ancillary analyses showed that the negative influence of angry God images on happiness disappeared after controlling for pain severity. Conclusion. The results indicated that one's emotional experience of God has an influence on happiness in CP patients, both directly and indirectly through the pathway of positive disease interpretation. These findings can be framed within the transactional theory of stress and can stimulate further pain research investigating the possible effects of religion in the adaptation to CP.

The Role of Religious Ritual in Social Capital Formation for Poverty Alleviation and Social Development. Theoretical and Methodological Points of Departure of a South African Exploration

Abstract: The article is a presentation of a South African research project in which researchers in the fields of ritual-liturgical studies and social development are collaborating to explore the role of religious ritual in the kinds of social capital formation that have a direct significance and implication for alleviating poverty and promoting social development at grassroots level. Focusing on Christian congregations in poor socio-economic contexts in the Western Cape and KwaZulu-Natal, the aim of the research is to understand social capital formation through the lens of religious ritual. The research project builds on the hypothesis that social capital has a role to play in the related goals of poverty alleviation and social development, something which it seeks to conceptualise and explore in greater detail. Within this framework the discussion explores and contextualises the conceptual link between social capital and the practice of religious ritual in present-day South African society by drawing on existing research and theoretical debates, both nationally and internationally. This enables the authors to present some additional notes on the key theoretical, conceptual and methodological points of departure of the undertaken project. These are followed by a number of concluding observations about the modes of investigation and action steps through which the research topic is currently being further developed.

Flows of worship in the network society: liminality as heuristic concept in Practical Theology beyond action theory

Abstract: In this article it is demonstrated why and how liminality has developed into a key concept in Practical Theology, in particular in Liturgical Studies. Liminality began its voyage at the beginning of the 20th century as indication of the phase “betwixt and between” distinguished social and spatial stages in rites of passage (Van Gennep, 1960). Among its defining qualities were autonomy and in-stability. In the sixties it developed into a more permanent state, in which “communitas” could come into being as a marginal form of human interrelatedness (Turner, 1995). In the network society of the 21st century liminality has accomplished its journey by moving to the centre of society, pushing structured human interrelatedness to the “margin”, or more precisely to the local, regional, national or categorical (religious, gender, sexual preference, etc.) domain (Castells, 2000a; 2004; 2000b). Hu-man society is built around a centre of the stability of the unstable. This also holds for Christian faith and for liturgy. Christian ritual is performed across (worldwide) networks and in independent groups and churches by anyone who chooses to do so. There is no liturgical elite anymore; it is principally a popular move-ment characterised by “plural authority structures”. The acade-mic heuristic power of liminality is finally demonstrated in two liturgical cases.

The Background of ‘A Common Word’

Abstract: This article sketches the contents of the open letter of 138 Muslim Scholars to Christians. In addition it provides a reflection of the common ground the authors construct between the faith of Muslims and Christians. Maybe this common ground lies, more than either Christians and Muslims may be aware, in their joint roots in Judaism. The present article concludes with some reflections on the presupposition that it is fertile to start a dialogue on the basis of a (supposed) common ground.

Detecting God in practices: Theology in an empirical–theological research project

Abstract: What is the nature of reality in theological research and how can this ‘theological’ reality be known? Can we empirically research God’s performance in reality? This article tries to find some common ground on this contested issue by presenting a debate between three Dutch practical theologians: Van der Ven, Immink, and Ganzevoort. Their positions on the theological dimension of empirical reality are traced, followed by some thoughts on critical realism and on a ‘cataphysic’ approach to empirical theological research, inspired by the theologian Alister McGrath and the philosopher of science Roy Bhaskar. This results in three concluding remarks. Firstly, realisme and social constructionism are not excluding options. Social constructions presuppose the existence of reality. Secondly, a stratified model of reality, perceiving the nature of reality as emergent, layered, and complex, points in the direction of multidisciplinary discourses and helps to avoid forms of reductionism. Thirdly, prioritizing the ontology of a stratified reality that reflects revelation, creates a common ground for the debate on the nature of theological reality.