The Pennsylvania State University The Graduate School College of Behavioral Sciences and Education AN EXPLORATION OF THE SPIRITUAL DEVELOPMENT OF BURKINABÉ CHRISTIAN AND MISSIONARY ALLIANCE PASTORS: A MIXED METHODS STUDY IN ADULT EDUCATION A Dissertation in Adult Education by Andrew Jon Knisely © 2011 Andrew Jon Knisely Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Education May 2011 ii The dissertation of Andrew Jon Knisely was reviewed and approved* by the following: Elizabeth J. Tisdell Professor of Adult Education Dissertation Adviser Chair of Committee Patricia A. Cranton Professor of Adult Education Melody M. Thompson Associate Professor of Adult Education Martha A. Strickland Assistant Professor of Education Gary Kuhne Associate Professor of Education In Charge of Graduate Program in Adult Education *Signatures are on file in the Graduate School. iii ABSTRACT The purpose of this study was to explore the spiritual development of Burkinabé Alliance pastors, who serve with the Burkina Alliance Church in Burkina Faso, West Africa, and to explore how this development relates to their religious practice as adult educators. The complimentary theoretical frameworks of sociocultural theory and contextual theology provide the lens through which this exploration is understood. These frameworks attempt to understand the context of an adult learner and its influence on the developmental process. This study utilized a sequential exploratory mixed method research design, which involved a mixture of qualitative and quantitative inquiry. Using the qualitative data collected in February 2009 and February 2010, a quantitative survey was developed. 303 pastors participated in the survey in September, 2010. The first set of findings asserts that Burkinabé pastors contextualize their worldview based on three aspects of the traditional African worldview: réligion traditionelle africaine (also referred to animism); the African oral narrative tradition; and the communal nature of reality. The second set of findings indicates that Burkinabé Alliance pastors develop spiritually through five domains of theological contextualization: a spiritual maturity characterized by growth, the primacy of a personal relationship with Christ, supernatural encounters with what are perceived to be demonic spirits, a negotiation of economic poverty, and a variety of spiritual experiences including dreams, visions, synchronicities, and the practice of the spiritual disciplines. The third set of findings indicates that Burkinabé Alliance pastors wonder if they will develop spiritually through continuing education. Each set of findings reveals varying quantitative differences between the Julaphone and Francophone Burkinabé Alliance pastors, which appear to be due to cultural and educational differences. The study ends by considering the implications for theory, practice, and future research. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................. 1 BACKGROUND TO THE PROBLEM ............................................................................................................................... 1 Burkina Faso ........................................................................................................................................................ 2 Theological Grounding ........................................................................................................................................ 3 Spiritual Development in the Ongoing Education of Pastors .............................................................................. 5 PURPOSE AND RESEARCH QUESTIONS ....................................................................................................................... 7 THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK ...................................................................................................................................... 8 Sociocultural Theory ............................................................................................................................................ 9 Contextual Theology .......................................................................................................................................... 11 METHODOLOGY OVERVIEW AND DESIGN ................................................................................................................ 12 SIGNIFICANCE .......................................................................................................................................................... 15 ASSUMPTIONS, LIMITATIONS AND STRENGTHS OF THE STUDY ................................................................................ 18 Assumptions ....................................................................................................................................................... 18 Limitations and Strengths of the Study ............................................................................................................... 18 DEFINITION OF TERMS ............................................................................................................................................. 20 CHAPTER SUMMARY ................................................................................................................................................ 22 CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW ............................................................................................... 23 THEORETICAL FRAMEWORKS .................................................................................................................................. 23 Sociocultural Theoretical Framework ............................................................................................................... 24 Vygotsky, sociocultural theory, and adult education. ..................................................................................................... 24 Africentric and race based theories in adult education. ................................................................................................... 29 Sociocultural theory, cultural relevance, and adult education. ........................................................................................ 30 Overlapping sociocultural learning theory discourses. .................................................................................................... 32 Contextual Theological Framework................................................................................................................... 33 Evangelical...................................................................................................................................................................... 34 Biblical. ........................................................................................................................................................................... 34 Systematic, Biblical, and contextual theology. ............................................................................................................... 35 Contextual theological model. ........................................................................................................................................ 39 TRADITIONAL AFRICAN CULTURAL WORLDVIEW ................................................................................................... 43 African Spirit World ........................................................................................................................................... 43 African Origins .................................................................................................................................................. 44 African Concept of Community .......................................................................................................................... 46 AFRICAN CONTEXTUAL THEOLOGY ........................................................................................................................ 47 Decolonization ................................................................................................................................................... 47 Ontology ............................................................................................................................................................. 49 Demonization, Sorcery, and the Maribu ............................................................................................................ 51 Origins and Time ............................................................................................................................................... 52 Community ......................................................................................................................................................... 52 SPIRITUALITY IN ADULT EDUCATION ...................................................................................................................... 53 Understanding Spirituality and Adult Development .......................................................................................... 54 Learning from spiritual experience. ................................................................................................................................ 55 Spiritual development. 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