Healing Of Nations Research Articles

Hybridisation as a Normal Process of Life: A Contribution to the “Ukuthwasa” Conversation within the Methodist Church of Southern Africa

The Methodist Church of Southern Africa (MCSA) is currently engaged in a conversation on ukuthwasa (initiation into an ancestral calling). The conversation has sparked different reactions within the Church. Some are uncomfortable engaging in this conversation as it is seen as an unnecessary and unChristian conversation to have within the Church. There are also some who have gone through the ukuthwasa and feel that the conversation is long overdue within the MCSA. Furthermore, some believe in sangomas and are happy about this conversation. While this conversation is taking place within the MCSA, it is shrouded in suspicion and fear. There is fear that it might lead to the conversion of the Church to African traditional religion, which many feel is the opposite of Christianity. This paper is intended as a contribution to this conversation by using secondary or desk research as a methodology. Firstly, the paper defines the African worldview in which ukuthwasa is embedded. Secondly, it explores the meaning of hybridisation. Thirdly, it indicates areas within the Christian faith where hybridisation has become part of worship and belief. Finally, the paper concludes by recommending openness in this conversation as a likely solution that could lead to the Methodist vision of a “Christ healed Africa for the healing of nations.”

Exploring the Tension between Christianity and African Traditional Religion in the Methodist Church of Southern Africa

In the 19th century, missionaries from England brought Methodism to Southern Africa. Like all other missionaries who brought Christianity to Africa, they brought not only the Gospel, but also their culture and language. This article seeks to acknowledge the strides made by the Methodist Church of Southern Africa (MCSA) regarding implanting Methodism in African soil. Thus, the article further explores the tension that persists in the MCSA between Christianity and African Traditional Religion (ATR). It argues that this tension opens opportunities for the MCSA to explore. The article uses secondary or desk research as a methodology to investigate this topic. The research showed that there is a tension that exists between Christianity and ATR, which affords the MCSA an opportunity to explore what it means to be African and Methodist in the MCSA; to dissect the causes of this tension; and to interrogate these causes for what it means for the MCSA. The article concludes that the tension under study has resulted from the MCSA taking its time to put its resolutions in black and white in the form of liturgy, policy, or guidelines. Thus, a recommendation is made for more dialogue and openness concerning areas where the MCSA could venture towards achieving its vision of “A Christ Healed Africa for the Healing of Nations”. Finally, the article argues that in order to heal Africa, the book of order and the Gospel preached in the MCSA should speak and make sense to Methodists of African descent.

The Healing of Nations

Based on the apparent transgenerational traumas experienced by clients of two psychoanalysts working in the Balkans region over a four-year period, from 2012 to 2016, this article presents an understanding of recovery from war trauma at the national and cultural levels in terms of individual grief models. As examples of unresolved transgenerational grief, the experiences of the Jasenovac children in concentration camps in Croatia during the Second World War are cited. The presented models can be applied to promote healing, and the need for monuments to aid the mourning process is emphasized.

The Healing of Nations: The Promise and Limits of Political Forgiveness and International Governance of War-Torn Territories: Rule and Reconstruction

The Healing of Nations: The Promise and Limits of Political Forgiveness. By Mark R. Amstutz. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield, 2005, 296p. 29.95 paper.International Governance of War-Torn Territories: Rule and Reconstruction. By Richard Caplan. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005, 304p. $99.00 cloth.In the late 1990s, the World Bank conducted a far-reaching research program on the causes of civil war. Were civil wars inspired mainly by genuine unresolved political grievances, or were they precipitated by predatory groups (including governments) seeking to profit monetarily from violence and instability? Among the bank's myriad findings, many of them hotly disputed, came one assertion around which there was almost universal consensus: that the single factor that made future conflict likely was past conflict concluded within the previous five years. This finding, based on exhaustive empirical research, has two profound consequences for thinkers and practitioners engaged in formulating and assessing the transition from war to peace. On the one hand, it shows that the risks and costs of failure are high. Failure to foster political reconciliation, to tackle the root causes of conflict, to rebuild shattered economies and (among other things) provide a secure environment is more likely to lead to the outbreak of war and oppression than any other factor. On the other hand, the World Bank findings show that—contra some skeptics who argue that third parties have no part to play and that political conflicts are best resolved violently—long-term success need not be a chimera: Build peace effectively for over five years and the chances of future conflict decrease dramatically. There are clear lessons for Iraq here—civil war need not be inevitable, but to avoid it requires getting a wide variety of things right that are currently going wrong.

The Healing of Nations: The Promise and Limits of Political Forgiveness. By Mark R. Amstutz. Lanham, Md.: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2005. 281 pp. $27.95 paper

The Healing of Nations: The Promise and Limits of Political Forgiveness. By Mark R. Amstutz. Lanham, Md.: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2005. 281 pp. $27.95 paper

The healing of nations: the promise and limits of political forgiveness

The healing of nations: the promise and limits of political forgiveness

Wink, W 1998 - When the powers fall: Reconciliation and the healing of nations.

HTS Teologiese Studies/Theological Studies is an acclaimed journal with broad coverage that promotes multidisciplinary, religious, and biblical aspects of studies in the international theological arena. The journal’s publication criteria are based on high ethical standards and the rigor of the methodology and conclusions reported.

The Healing of First Nations: Dominance or Health?

The historical development of health issues in the Aboriginal community and the implications for First Nations program delivery and health educators is explored from a First Nations perspective. The health education of First Nations people has historically occurred in a field of contradictions and competing interests. In the re-negotiation of the field it is incumbent on Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal health educators to understand the historical emergence of health issues in the context of relationships between colonial forces and Aboriginal people. The re-negotiation of these relationships to restore Aboriginal peoples to correct relationships with the land, each other, and the colonizer may be understood as part of the work of healing. The devolution of federal health programming to First Nations and provincial organizations provides opportunities for new approaches. As adult educators providing these services we must ask ourselves: Are we participating in dominance or health education? Résumé Cet article retrace, du point de vue des peuples des Premières Nations, l'évolution des soins de santé dans l'histoire autochtone, ainsi que sa portée sur la formation des intervenants et la nature des programmes actuels. Le contexte historique de l'éducation aux soins de santé est caractérisé par la confusion et l'affrontement d'intérêts divergents. Il est important pour les intervenants autochtones et non-autochtones de comprendre l'émergence de leur discipline dans le contexte de la négociation entre peuples aborigènes et forces colonisatrices. En renégociant cette relation, les peuples aborigènes pourront retrouver un équilibre avec la nature et avec leurs semblables, et reconnaître le rôle du colonisateur dans le processus de guérison. Le transfert des programmes fédéraux vers les administrations autochtones et provinciales permet d'entrevoir un changement favorable. Dans ce contexte, les éducateurs d'adultes doivent déterminer a quel principe ils se vouent: à l'éducation aux soins de santé, ou au maintien de la relation de domination?

Book Review: For the Healing of the Nations: Impressions of Christianity around the World.

Book Review: For the Healing of the Nations: Impressions of Christianity around the World.

The Royal Botanic Garden, Calcutta

THE Royal Botanic Garden, Calcutta, situated on the bank of the River Hoogly only a few miles from Calcutta at Sibpur, offers a remarkable parallel to the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, which is situated on the bank of the Thames and is only a few miles from London. Both the gardens are of high scientific interest as well as of great aesthetic beauty. Both of them serve as a source of inspiration, education and research for their many visitors. To quote Sir Arthur Hill's words: “May they find in them both spiritual rest and refreshment and also that tree whose leaves were for the healing of nations”.

Book Review: A Crusade of Compassion for the Healing of the Nations

Book Review: A Crusade of Compassion for the Healing of the Nations