Abstract
This article investigates and reflects on the religious and spiritual aspects inherent in the narratives of adolescent male orphans, affected by HIV and AIDS, poverty and fatherlessness, and more specifically on aspects which tell us about how these boys understand and experience the presence of God within their specific situations. In coming to such an understanding, this article focuses specifically on the various names attributed to God by the coresearchers and investigates the prominence through social construction behind these names and how it influences the coresearchers� experience of God amidst their unique circumstances. With the use of the perspectives of a post-foundational notion of practical theology and narrative therapy and research, these names and their accompanied significance are deconstructed. The aim of the deconstruction process is to unveil dominant discourses that both inform the use of specific references to God and assist the coresearchers in finding meaning in the use of these names. The larger study employed research methods from the qualitative and case study research design, and included interdisciplinary work based on the post-foundational notion of transversality. Disciplines included in the dialogue were pastoral therapy, critical psychology and social work. This article�s reflections can be useful in all the above-mentioned disciplines and gives insight into understanding the significance behind the phenomenon of naming a deity in one�s personal and public language, and the influence such spiritual affirmations have in the psychosocial sphere of the holistic persona.Intradisciplinary and/or interdisciplinary implications: The larger study (from which this article originates) is an interdisciplinary study, as to conform to the principles of a postfoundational notion of practical theology and as such supports the assumptions underlying this theoretical framework.Keywords: Names for God; Postfoundationalism; Practical Theology; Co-Researchers; HIV and Aids; Poverty; Father Absence
Highlights
Background to the researchThis article originates from the broader study titled, The spiritual and psychosocial gender specific stories of adolescent orphans affected by HIV and AIDS, in the absence of a Father Figure
This study was conducted within the epistemological and methodological frameworks of qualitative postmodern and post-foundational research based on the models of the narrative approach and the seven movements of a post-foundational1 notion of practical theology
1.Postfoundationalism is described by van Huyssteen (1999:3) as a refiguration of the notion of rationality
Summary
Background to the researchThis article originates from the broader study titled, The spiritual and psychosocial gender specific stories of adolescent orphans affected by HIV and AIDS, in the absence of a Father Figure (see Loubser 2010). A post-foundational notion of practical theology enables a researcher to be open and sensitive to the context, as to be unbiased in listening to specific cues in discourses This will enable the theologian to be sensitive and descriptive in the deconstruction of problematic discourses, as well as in its development of alternative discourses or narratives (cf Müller 2005:86). Scholars should become mindful of their epistemic duty (which extends the boundaries of and boundedness to their specific disciplines, communities, groups, cultures etc.) to participate in reflective and effective interdisciplinary dialogue, so as to discover shared resources (cf Müller 2005:76–77; Van Huyssteen 1999) These newly discovered shared resources are expressed through the notion of transversality that encourages diverse and authentic dialogue around contentious discourses. Please refer to the following articles for an in-depth description of the methodology and epistemology used in this study as well as the findings: Loubser and Muller (2011), Meyer (2013a), Meyer (2013b), Meyer (2014)
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