View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Unisa Institutional Repository COMMUNAL PASTORAL COUNSELLING: CULTURALLY GIFTED CARE-GIVING IN TIMES OF FAMILY PAIN—A VHAVENDA PERSPECTIVE BY DEMBE REUBEN PHASWANA Submitted in accordance with the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF THEOLOGY in the subject PRACTICAL THEOLOGY at the UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH AFRICA PROMOTER: DR. M E HESTENES NOVEMBER 2008 ……………… a DECLARATION I Dembe Reuben Phaswana, student number: 0421 588 – 5 declare that COMMUNAL PASTORAL COUNSELLING: CULTURALLY GIFTED CARE-GIVING IN TIMES OF FAMILY PAIN—A VHAVENDA PERSPECTIVE is my own work and that all other sources that I have used or quoted have been indicated and acknowledged by means of complete references. __________________________ _____________________ DR PHASWANA _____________ DATE ______________ b ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This thesis is the illustration of communal endeavour. Without the communal involvement I wouldn’t have started and submitted this thesis. I thank God All Mighty, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. He is big, and I am small. It reminds me of a trip of an elephant and mouse crossing the bridge. After crossing the bridge the mouse commented, “Did you hear how we shake that bridge?” The elephant agreed that they did shake the bridge, while the real shaking was done by the elephant. In this project God is the one that did the real shaking. “Soli Deo Gloria!” My thanks go to my promoter Dr. M.E. Hestenes. He gave me encouragement from the first day. As I keep on writing and rewriting he was reading and rereading with encouraging comments. The UNISA Library staff members were too kind for me. I was far from the library but I could find the books I need. I thank them. I thank the Reformed church Fundudzi for the Family Enrichment Conferences (FEC). They taught me to minister communal care. They also welcomed my application to study. Reformed church Nzhelele also understood and accepted that I am in a study programme. Reformed church Tshiawelo hosted me when I was on study leave. I thank families of Tseisi M. Simon, Rev. Ramantswana Hulisani, Rev. Rabali Thiofhi and Heidelberg Theological Seminary students. I acknowledge the encouragement which fellow ministers in the reformed synod Soutpansberg made. The late Reverends Netshitangani ET and Mugeri MS encouraged me many times to study. c My family sacrificed for this study as they suffered pain of my absence due to this study. Some did not understand why I am doing this at this age. I want to thank my wife Mukondeleli for the wonderful contribution she made for this study to be a success. I thank my children for giving their whole life for this study. They are: Unarine, Pfulufhedziso, Muhuliseni, Ampfarisaho. I say, “A ni ntshileli, Vhakwevho!” This is your sweat! d ABSTRACT The thesis argues that there is a need for Christian communal pastoral care and counselling practice beyond the individualistic Western pastoral care and counselling practices. The communal pastoral care model advocated by the author uses culturally gifted care-givers who follow spontaneous caring models. Several of the major books concerning communal pastoral care and counselling were reviewed. The author concludes that the church has been impoverished by ignoring the cultural gifts of the majority of members and the mutual communal care of the community. Pain and its healing in this thesis are understood in a culturally sensitive manner. Pastoral care must be done in context, in this case in the Vhavenda context. Hence the thesis looks systematically at the way in which the Vhavenda understand and heal pain from their cosmological perspective. The thesis engages in empirical research among the Vhavenda people using qualitative interview. The author selected five small communities to test for their understanding of pain and healing. He developed his own interview schedule. Themes encountered in interpreting the research results include pain as part of life. The thesis develops two sub-models of a Vhavenda-Christian culturally gifted model of communal care arguing the need of their incorporation into Christian communal care. They are “Kha ri vangulane” model which pictures pain as a thorn which people help to remove from a person; and the “khoro” or “dzulo” gathering which is family or community care-giving. A case study has illustrated how they are used. Finally, the author argues that the Bible is full of communal pictures which resonate well with the African people. Hence it is fairly easy to correlate the Vhavenda sense of community with the body of Christ model of Christian community as found in the Bible. The conclusion is that members of the Christian community need to e reincorporate their culturally gifted care resources and integrate them with the biblical care. KEY WORDS AND PHRASES Communal pastoral care and counselling, culturally gifted care-giving, Vhavenda cosmology, Vhavenda communal care giving, Vhavenda family care giving, pastoral model, cultural gathering, pain, suffering, Christian communal pastoral care, healing f TABLE OF CONTENTS TITLE PAGE ....................................................................... ...................... a DECLARATION …………………… ....................................................... b AKNOWLEDGEMENT ………………. .................................................. c ABSTRACT …. ........................................................................................... e KEY WORDS ............................................................................................... f TABLE OF CONTENTS ............................................................................ i CHAPTER 1 ............................................................................................... 1 INTRODUCTION 1.1 ORIENTATION …………………………………………………… 1 1.1.1 Africans are people in real pain …………………………………… 1 1.1.2 Communal actions can heal pain …………………………………… 3 1.1.3 God’s care is omnipresent in communal care ………………………….… 5 1.2 THE RESEARCH PROBLEM …………………………………… 7 1.3 PRACTICAL THEOLOGY, MUTUAL / COMMUNAL CARE AND EMPIRICAL METHOD …………………………………………… 8 1.3.1 Practical Theology …………………………………………………… 8 i 1.3.2 Theory and praxis complements each other ……………………………. 9 1.3.3 The correlation model ………………………………................... 11 1.4 COMMUNAL CARE AS MUTUAL CARE, PASTORAL CARE AND, COUSELLING AND PASTORAL THERAPY …………………... 13 1.5 CULTURAL MATERIALS AS EXTRA-BIBLICAL MATERIALS IN COMMUNAL PASTORAL CARE …………………………………… 18 1.5.1 Culture as an extra-biblical material in pastoral care ……..………...… 19 1.5.2 The Reformed tradition and culture ……………………………….… 21 1.6 PRACTICAL THEOLOGY AND ITS RELATIONSHIP TO EMPIRICAL METHOD ………………………………………………………… 26 1.7 COMMENTS OF THE SAMPLE POPULATION TO BE INTERVIEWED ……………………………………………………… 27 1.8 THE DEFINITION OF KEY CONCEPTS…………………………. 28 1.9 CHAPTER HEADINGS FOR THE FUTURE CHAPTERS ….…… 29 ii CHAPTER 2 ………………………………………………………………. 31 COMMUNAL PASTORAL CARE LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 INTRODUCTION ……………………………………...... 31 2.2 WESTERN LITERATURE …………………………………………… 34 2.2.1 “A Caring Church: A Guide for Lay Pastoral Care”………………….… 34 2.2.1.1 Lay pastoral care and counselling is imperative …………………...…… 35 2.2.1.2 Community involvement in care is pastoral care …………..…………... 37 2.2.1.3 Training of lay pastoral care-givers ………………..…………………… 38 2.2.1.4 Conclusion ……………………………………………………………… 40 2.2.2 “The Pastoral Care in Context: An Introduction to Pastoral Care” …..... 40 2.2.2.1 The times and things are changing ………………………….…………. 40 2.2.2.2 Three supplementing paradigms in pastoral care ………………………. 43 2.2.2.3 The communal contextual paradigm in pastoral theology ……………... 44 2.2.2.4 Conclusion ……………………………………………..………….……. 45 2.3 AFRICAN LITERATURE ………………………….………………….. 46 2.3.1 Orientation …………………………………………………………..….. 46 2.3.2 “Pastoral Care to the Sick in Africa” ………………………….…..…… 47 2.3.2.1 Introduction …………………………………………………………..... 47 2.3.2.2 Jesus Christ as the first ancestor ……………………………………….. 48 2.3.2.3 African culture and pastoral care ………………………………………. 49 2.3.2.4 A Christian diviner …….…………………………………..…..……….. 50 2.3.2.5 Christian African pastoral care and counselling …………….………… 52 iii 2.3.2.6 Conclusion ……………………………………………………………… 54 2.3.3 “Pastoral Counselling In Inter-Cultural Perspective” …………………... 55 2.3.3.1 Introduction ………………………………………………………….…. 55 2.3.3.2 There has been pastoral counselling in other cultures ………………….. 55 2.3.3.3 Human life: Ghanaian and traditional Christianity dialogue ………..…. 58 2.3.3.4 Conclusion ………………………………………………………...……. 60 2.3.4 “Pastoral Counselling in South Africa with Special Reference to the Zulu” 61 2.3.4.1 Introduction ……………………………………………………….…… 61 2.3.4.2 Pastoral care and counselling should be contextualised …………..…… 61 2.3.4.3 Pastoral care and counselling is holistic …………………………….…. 62 2.3.4.4 Pastoral care and counselling can be enriched by looking at how communities care for themselves …………………….………………………….…… 62 2.3.4.5 Conclusion …………………………………………………………….. 64 2.3.5 “Community Healing and the Role of Pastoral Care of the Ill and Suffering in Africa” …………………………………………………………………… 65 2.3.5.1 Introduction ……………………………………………………………… 65 2.3.5.2 Pastoral Communal Care versus African Communal Care ……………... 65 2.3.5.3 Pastoral Healing, Community and African Community and Christian Faith Community ……………………………………………………………….. 66 2.3.5.4 Evaluation ………………………………………………………………… 67 2.3.5.5 Conclusion ……………………………………………………………….. 69 2.4 EVALUATION OF THE LITERATURE REVIEW .……………….…. 69 2.4.1 Evaluation