Abstract
This article forms part of my research participation at the University of South Africa in the project Religion, health and well-being in Southern Africa: Practical theological perspectives. All the themes we are addressing in this project are public issues. Therefore the basic question in this project pertains to where and how religion, in this case Christian religion, is involved in public discourses and actions regarding problems in public life in South Africa. The specific research question in this article is: what effects do congregational projects by church members, directed to the poor, have on their experience of well-being? Congregational projects by church members directed to the poor are public actions by people with religious motivation addressing a public problem in South Africa. Therefore, these projects and their effects on the experience of well-being by the poor are religious actions in the public sphere. Firstly, I have conceptualised religion as well as the well-being of the poor in South Africa. The relationship between religion and well-being amongst the poor is then addressed. The conceptualisation has directed the formulation of half-structured interview questions in a qualitative empirical research in a sample from a population of pastors and their congregations who are practicing congregational projects directed at the poor in their vicinities. From the analysis of the contents of the interview, data categories have been formulated, which could then be phrased into a conceptual framework of the effects of these projects on the well-being of the poor. This research is an exercise in public practical theological research.
Highlights
This article forms part of my research participation at the University of South Africa in the project Religion, health and well-being in Southern Africa: Practical theological perspectives
All the themes we are addressing in this project are public issues
The specific research question in this article is: ‘What effects do congregational projects by church members, directed to the poor, have on their experience of well-being?’ Congregational projects by church members directed to the poor are public actions by people with religious motivation addressing a public problem in South Africa
Summary
This article forms part of my research participation at the University of South Africa in the project Religion, health and well-being in Southern Africa: Practical theological perspectives. The specific research question in this article is: ‘What effects do congregational projects by church members, directed to the poor, have on their experience of well-being?’ Congregational projects by church members directed to the poor are public actions by people with religious motivation addressing a public problem in South Africa. Julian Müller, a friend of mine for many years in whose honour this article is written, has a prominent profile as a practical theologian who regularly participates in discussions on religious views, especially with Afrikaans speaking church members, mainly in Beeld, an Afrikaans secular daily newspaper He constantly tries to find new language in a changed society and worldview to phrase the Christian belief of Afrikaans speaking Reformed people. I will show the relation between religion and the understanding of well-being by the poor, and lastly demonstrate, by means of qualitative empirical research, how religious actions in the public sphere have effects on the enhancement of the wellbeing of the poor in our country
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