"I was afraid--so I hid your talent in the ground.": the formation of an ethos of responsibility in a secular environment, according to Matthew 25:14-30
- Authors: De Beer, Frederick Jacobus
- Date: 2010-04-12T07:46:11Z
- Subjects: Bible. N.T. Matthew XXV, 14-30 , Self-actualization (Psychology) , Responsibility
- Type: Thesis
- Identifier: uj:6767 , http://hdl.handle.net/10210/3178
- Description: M.A. , Matthew 25:14-30 is often used by Christian speakers to motivate people and challenge them to personal growth and development in a secular environment. Jesus uses economics to articulate the parable but although the Parable of the Talents involves money, and might profoundly have an impact upon how people see and do economics, it is about far more than just money (Dipboye, 1995:507). Traditionally, Matthew 25:14-30 is interpreted from an eschatological perspective and the subsequent responsibility towards the gifts received and the Kingdom of God. The parable is understood to converse living in an active and responsible manner, while awaiting the end of time. This implies doing good by using the gifts and opportunities that God gives, as also indicated in the parable of the wicked and faithful slaves found in Matthew 24:45-5 (Senior, 1998:279). The unfaithful servant and his subsequent punishment are mostly interpreted as a warning to Christians who neglects their talents. Interpretations of the Parable of the Talents are traditionally more inclined towards a spiritual exercise with a subsequent eschatological accountability. Senior (1998:279) for instance says: “Matthew’s story is not simply an exhortation to develop one’s talents in the manner of a self-development program - an interpretation often attached to this story (even the English word “talent” derives from this parable). However, there is an inclination to interpret the parable allegorically as well in its present form (Harrington, 1991:353). These allegorical alternatives includes physical and natural gifts and abilities, faculties of mind, and of body, position, influence, money, education, and every earthly advantage and blessing (Lenski, 1049:973). Christians are part of a secular environment, where natural and physical abilities are requirements for being productive and competitive. Christians cannot exclude and barricade themselves from a secular environment or be treated differently or exclusively. While Christians concentrate on their spiritual growth and development, physical abilities and talents are also to be multiplied and can be constituted as personal growth and development. However, this is not just a spiritual process, but also implies human efforts and self-responsibilities, as illustrated by Bruner’s (1990:557) observation: “Shouldn’t the servant have been more modest or Christ-centered and have said something like, “Look what you did through me,” instead of “Look I made…?” Southgate et al. (1999:53) underlines the fact that Christians have a tendency to pray and expect Divine intervention centred upon the action of God, hence any genuine hope of transformation must be grounded in something more than human resources alone.
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A psycho-educational model to facilitate the mental health of individuals within macro communities
- Authors: Van der Merwe, Jakobus Potgieter
- Date: 2012-08-14
- Subjects: Spirituality , Responsibility , Individuality , Christians - Mental health
- Type: Thesis
- Identifier: uj:9239 , http://hdl.handle.net/10210/5687
- Description: D.Phil. , Communities in a society consist of individual members of the communities. Only when the individuals in communities are thriving can the communities contribute to the health of society. This study focuses on the members of macro communities. A macro congregation was used as an example of a macro community. An unhealthy imbalance between individual growth, self-assertion, and a healthy self-esteem, on the one hand, and functioning as part of a larger community, on the other hand is indicative of massification that has a detrimental effect on the wellbeing— spiritually, psychologically, socially and potentially even physically—of the individual. Little or no research has been done about the role of the spiritual disciplines in personal wholeness, specifically as far as members of macro communities are concerned. The following question can therefore be asked: "What can be done to accompany members of a macro community to understand the importance to be self-responsible to implement the disciplines of spirituality?" The purpose of this study is to develop a model for accompaniment of members of macro communities to promote wholeness. A theory generative, qualitative, explorative, descriptive and contextual research design was used to conduct this study. The fieldwork was done by having semistructured interviews with members of macro communities. The results obtained were analysed and categorised. The findings from all data were contextualised and a literature control was carried out. In this way findings were validated. The results obtained from the analysed data reflect the fact that members of macro communities are preoccupied with the mass gathering of the community during the Sunday service. Members of macro communities often associate strongly with the macro community, its leaders, dogma, philosophy and culture, but fail to grow as individuals. Members of macro communities are in desperate need of exercising selfresponsibility for spirituality. A lot can be done to facilitate self-responsibility for spirituality. The central concept of facilitation of self-responsibility for spirituality can be defined as the facilitator creating a safe space in order to assist, intervene, empower and motivate a community member to bring about self-awareness, selfacceptance and the making of a conscious effort in order to bring about selfdiscipline to practice spiritual disciplines and private spirituality in order to grow towards wholeness. A model was developed as framework of reference to facilitate self-responsibility for spirituality. The interrelated divisions were identified for the model of facilitation of self-responsibility for spirituality namely initiation, facilitation and mobilisation. The unique factor about the model of facilitating self-responsibility for spirituality is that members of macro communities are facilitated to live in a way that they will not be victims of massification. The aim is to assist them in living with a new inner functioning. This new inner functioning is available through the self-discipline of practicing the spiritual disciplines. That would bring about the healthy condition of an inner locus of control and a healthy relationship with the macro community, promoting hope, positive beliefs and personal growth. Members of macro communities can exercise self-responsibility for spirituality through self-awareness, self-acceptance and the making of a conscious effort. This thesis therefore proposes a model of facilitating self-responsibility for spirituality on which guidelines can be operationalised. This will assist members of macro communities to exercise self-responsibility for spirituality in order to continue in the lifelong process of growing towards wholeness.
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Aspekte van die ontwikkeling van verantwoordelikheid by adolessente
- Authors: Fourie, Cornelius Machiel
- Date: 2014-11-20
- Subjects: Adolescence , Responsibility , Education , Moral education
- Type: Thesis
- Identifier: uj:13012 , http://hdl.handle.net/10210/12898
- Description: D.Ed. (Psychology Of Education) , In this thesis an effort was made to propose a concept of the development of responsibility during adolescence. The intention, more specifically, was to describe the development of some aspects of responsibility in adolescents who have Afrikaans as mother tongue. The motivation for doing the research was: Firstly, it is an accepted fact that adolescents and youths receive less guidance today from home, church, and community than they did in the past, while guidance to reach adulthood also means guidance to accept responsibility. Secondly, to develop a sense of responsibility, and to fully accept responsibility, are seen as the ultimate aims of education. Thirdly, the different aspects of a sense of responsibility, and the influence of the community and the educational setting on the development of these aspects of responsibility, have not been established yet...
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Enhancing accountability in local government : an assessment of the enforcing mechanisms
- Authors: Hussein, Mustafa Kennedy
- Date: 2012-08-20
- Subjects: Local government - South Africa - Evaluation. , Municipal government - South Africa. , Responsibility
- Type: Thesis
- Identifier: uj:2770 , http://hdl.handle.net/10210/6210
- Description: M.A. , The interest in this mini-dissertation is on enhancing accountability in the local government system of the Republic of South Africa. Specifically, the focus is on the assessment of the enforcing mechanisms among councillors and senior officials in municipalities. Local government refers to that sphere of government closest to its constituents and involved in the provision of a wide range of services that affect the lives of its inhabitants residing in its area of jurisdiction (Zybrands, 1998:193). Section 151 (1) of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa Act 108 of 1996 (the Constitution) provides that the local sphere of government consists of municipalities, which must be established for the whole territory of the Republic. In section 3 of the Local Government: Municipal Systems Bill, 1999 it is stated that the municipalities constitute the local sphere of government despite their separate legal personality. The rising public expectations and the growing demand for the provision of social services by municipalities demands acceptable working standards by councillors and municipal officials in the municipalities. The municipalities are directly in touch with the public and perform a variety of functions that affect the lives of the citizens. The councillors and municipal administrators have substantial authority and power that have to be exercised in line with democratic principles that include accountability. Section 152 (1) (a) of the Constitution states that local government should provide a democratic and accountable government for local communities. The councillors and municipal officials are subject to accountability and they are required to demonstrate a sense of responsibility when carrying out their functions and account. for their decisions and activities in public (Gildenhuys, 1997:17). However, the Constitution does not specifically state the mechanisms and how councillors are accountable to their citizens and what citizens can do to exact accountability from them (Craythorne, 1997: 198). Inadequate mechanisms to ensure accountability constrain the achievement of the local government objects. The lack of accountability among councillors and officials is a major factor that contributes to the financial and administrative crisis in most municipalities. The Researcher observed growing concerns on the issues of accountability among councillors and municipal officials. Hence an exploratory study on the issue based on qualitative research methodology was undertaken. The method of work comprised a literaturereview, unstructured interviews conducted with senior municipal officials and field visits to municipalities. The accountability systems examined include the legal, political, bureaucratic and professional accountability systems. The major mechanisms designed to enhance accountability in municipalities that are analysed include bodies such as the office of the Auditor-General, the Public Protector and the courts; elections; structures such as the municipal council and its committees; the code of conduct; leadership; training and development; performance appraisals and the reward systems among others. The assessment of the mechanisms highlights the major challenges in the enforcement of accountability in municipalities, which include the lack of adjudicative powers among the bodies; financial and human resource constraints; the apathetic community; non-compliance with the code of conduct; the lack of exemplary behaviour and adequate skills among the councillors and officials and uncoordinated local government training and development programs among others. The major conclusion drawn from the research study is that a multi-dimensional approach is required to ensure effective accountability systems in municipalities. The recommendations include the enforcement of the legal instruments, codes of conduct and regulations; the impartial prosecution of violators; implementing effective policies on training and personnel management; educating citizens and encouraging associations and all stakeholders to play a catalytic role in enforcing accountability in municipalities. It is important that municipalities apply effective mechanisms for the promotion of accountable behaviour, as the lack of it undermines the democratic principles and efficient and effective operations in municipalities.
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Lokus van kontrole as 'n aspek van persoonlike verantwoordelikheid by die serebraalverlamde kind
- Authors: De Jager, Jacob Johannes
- Date: 2014-02-26
- Subjects: Control (Psychology) , Responsibility , Cerebral palsied children - Education. , Educational psychology. , Cerebral palsied children - Research - South Africa. , Educational psychology
- Type: Thesis
- Identifier: uj:4204 , http://hdl.handle.net/10210/9556
- Description: D.Ed , Please refer to full text to view abst
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The paradox of responsibility in Derrida
- Authors: Bopape, Kala Samuel
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: Derrida, Jacques , Responsibility
- Language: English
- Type: Masters (Thesis)
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10210/279154 , uj:29973
- Description: M.A. (Philosophy) , Abstract: This dissertation explores the concept of responsibility in Derrida‟s The Gift of Death and elsewhere. Derrida‟s argument is that for a person to respond to one form of responsibility he must betray another. My aim in the dissertation is to explore this paradox and its implications for our relation to the other human being and to the community. I try to show that absolute and general responsibility can coexist, more, that they are complementary to each other.
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Verpligtingsbesef van betrokkenes by 'n onderwyskollege in Lebowa
- Authors: Schoeman, Elizabeth Magdalena
- Date: 2014-08-18
- Subjects: Training of teachers - South Africa - Lebowa - Evaluation , Blacks - Education (Higher) - South Africa - Lebowa - Psychological aspects , Training of Black teachers - South Africa - Lebowa - Aims and objectives , Responsibility
- Type: Thesis
- Identifier: uj:12082 , http://hdl.handle.net/10210/11829
- Description: M.Ed. (Educational Psychology) , The purposes of this study were to determine the sense of obligation of a group of Northern Sotho speaking student teachers, their lecturers and some parents of the area, which factors affect their sense of obligation positively or negatively, and how pupils and students can be educated towards a mature sense of obligation. An empirical study was conducted and 1500 questionnaires were distributed among students and lecturers at Mamokgalake Chuene College of Education and also among parents in the vicinity. Only 450 questionnaires were returned. Factors such as culture, maturity, time perspective and the influence of parents and educators, which are related to a sense of obligation, were discussed.
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‘I will not share my partner’ : the ‘care of the self’ in an HIV prevention campaign
- Authors: Segopolo, Irene M. , Tomaselli, Keyan G.
- Date: 2017
- Subjects: Risk , Responsibility , Sexuality
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10210/227188 , uj:22987 , Citation: Segopolo, I.M. & Tomaselli, K.G. 2017. ‘I will not share my partner’ : the ‘care of the self’ in an HIV prevention campaign.
- Description: Abstract: This article presents a textual examination and reception analysis of an HIV/AIDS poster used by the University of KwaZulu-Natal students during 2006–09. It examines how discourses construct self-responsibility for sexual health among female students. Discourse analysis, language and visual strategies are applied to reveal gender stereotypes. The article argues that an alternative discourse of femininity is used centring on female power bordering on active participation through the use of the discursive self ‘I’ in order to promote self-surveillance and individual agency.
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