https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12852/3168 2026-04-06T14:02:04Z 2026-04-06T14:02:04Z Dingayan, Luna L. https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12852/3784 2026-04-06T02:00:28Z 2001-05-01T00:00:00Z

Christology of struggle: Understanding the Christ in the context of struggle Dingayan, Luna L. This study is an attempt to respond to the question of Jesus to his disciples at the beginning of his ministry, "Who do you say I am?" (cf. Mk.8:29; Mt.l6:15; Lk. 9:20). Like Peter and the other disciples, the writer affirms the faith that Jesus, indeed, is the Christ, the Son of the Living God. But who is Christ today? And where is the Christ be found? This study tries to show that the Christ is the Christ of struggle. And that Christ is found where people are struggling to be truly free and have fullness of life. God in Christ identifies with the struggles of people. With this as a perspective and guiding principle, the writer tries to re-read the Christologies of the Church Fathers, the Sixteenth Century Reformers, of Feminist Theology in contemporary times as well as the Asian and Philippine contribution to Christological thinking. By locating these Christologies in their own respective historical contexts, this study discovers that people's understanding of the Christ is shaped by their own life experiences as they struggle with the issues, problems and difficulties they encounter in life. Life is a struggle. And it gives a great amount of hope for people to realize that Christ is right there at the very center of struggle, at the very center of life itself. Abstract only

2001-05-01T00:00:00Z Mutia, Lucio B. https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12852/3778 2026-03-31T09:00:33Z 1999-01-01T00:00:00Z

The experiences of the poor farmers in Bais and Guihulngan: An analysis utilizing the pastoral care perspective Mutia, Lucio B. This study investigates and analyzes the experiences of the poor farmers in Bais and Guihulngan, Negros Oriental, utilizing an analysis from the pastoral care perspective with emphasis on the following points: 1. The specific experiences of the poor farmers in church pastoral ministry and how these experiences impel them to initiate changes in their poverty stricken life. Specifically, the study focused on the precipitative factors and forces which were responsible for aggressively pushing farmers to opt for a better life. 2. The degree to which the experiences of helplessness and empowerment influence the poor farmers to adopt alternative solutions to their problems. 3. The concerns of the church ministry of the poor that best assists them to have a better life. The research utilized the descriptive/evaluative method using pastoral and structural analysis approach. The subjects were farmers coming both from Bais and Guihulngan, Negros Oriental. To facilitate the data for the study, personal interviews, questionnaires were administered. The analysis and evaluation of the data made use of the average mean and percentage distribution. The investigation revealed that the experiences of the poor farmers with regards to the church pastoral ministry fall within the activities of Basic Christian Communities which includes health missions, organizing, food production and distribution of medicines. The respondents are most familiar with the Community-Based Health Programs (CBHP) of the church followed by the Basic Christian Communities (BCC), of which the primary activities are sharing of faith, sharing of witness, and sharing of service. It is significant that 61 percent of the respondents registered all these experiences within the ambit of the Church activities. Yet, these experiences were not decisive factors towards pushing for an aggressive option for a better life. The significant factors that served as the precipitators of radical change for better life were the experiences of hardships, pain and suffering. The investigation revealed that the church is not one of the leading institutions that work for the welfare of the poor farmers. She did not have a forceful nor tenacious influence to journey with the anawim of the Lord. Instead, the clinical experiences of a crisis-laden daily life serve as the hard "living human documents” from which farmers learned. These experienced realities propelled farmers to resolutely validate their humanness. They exposed the basic causes of their suffering and proclaimed them to the world of the unpoor through marches and rallies. With regards to the second point, the sense of defenselessness and helplessness was virtually evident among the poor farmers. Even when the poor farmers were harassed by the military and suspected as subversives, even when their houses were burnt down, their villages hamletted, even when some of them were tortured, the farmers of Bais and Guihulngan still hoped for a brighter future. Their sense of helplessness motivated them to unite and form a farmers’ organization--the very instrument that could empower and give them hope as they walked “through the valley of the shadow of death." They are opting for a change from within the root of the system - a radical transfiguration through the peaceful means, in the parliament of the streets. With regards to the last point of the investigation, it was found out that the Church was not the primary initiator in pushing for a radical change in the farmers’ lives. Although through praxis, the farmers' movement for radical change was guided by the ethics of love and peace based on justice. This was seen in their militant yet peaceful campaigns. In oder to serve as a formidable force for change the Church should have an alternative model of pastoral care. Fundamentally, it must reckon with the historical and biblical model of pastoral care-giving which is both individual and structural; in other words, wholistic. A model which is concretely responsive to and can fulfill the humanization needs of the poor farmers from pain and suffering. It must be a liberating pastoral care that promotes consciousness of the human person as the image of God. It has to have a commitment of educating people to metamorphose, claim and affirm the poor farmers’ rightful place in this world created by a just and living God. The following basic criteria are important to have a progressive pastoral care in Church, as well in Church-related institutions: a) Development of the personal, pastoral and professional competence of ministers in order that they maybe more aware of exactly how social conditions and structures affect the lives of others and of oneself. b) Prepare Church people to participate in proclaiming the reality of divine liberation by understanding and “reading the Bible with Third World Eyes”. This requires a new understanding of Sunday school, auxiliaries, and all areas of the teaching ministry of the church. c) Christian education that focuses on understanding God through Jesus Christ who is the liberator, redeemer, or savior. This means that the theme of liberation/salvation must permeate the entire church curriculum. Apart from liberation, there is no gospel. d) Forcefully re-directing, claiming and affirming (keeping the poor farmers in mind) that the origin of pastoral care exists in theophany rather than in technology. Its conception exists in theology rather than in behavioral sciences. e) Emphasize the utmost respect for the "wholeness" and “holiness” of human persons, including the integrity of creation, that humankind was created “in wholeness with the creation of God." f) Underscore the individuals' eminence over all things, and not material things over the individual. A sense of importance is a powerful force that an individual may use to confront today’s realities as well as that of the future. g) Balance the concern for individuals and structures (spiritual, economic, and political). This can serve as a good check against going to the extremes. This means an education that can analyze the present struggle of living in the light of what people envision the future to be. Finally, the Church is challenged to be faithful to the living God who decisively sided with the deprived, the poor and the oppressed, the God who cared for individuals as well as societies. Abstract only

1999-01-01T00:00:00Z Law, Choon Sii https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12852/3609 2026-01-08T09:00:30Z 2015-01-01T00:00:00Z

A critical re-examination on Jesus' encounter with the Canaanite/Syrophoenician woman (Matthew 15:21-28; Mark 7:24-30) Law, Choon Sii This thesis attempts to resolve a difficult incident in New Testament studies: Jesus' encounter with the Canaanite/Syrophoenician woman as recorded in Matthew 15:21 -28 and Mark 7:24-30. There are two difficult questions posed by this incident. The first question ("Why was Jesus unkind in rejecting the woman's request?") relates to why Jesus refused to heal her daughter initially: the second question (Why did Jesus change his mind subsequently?) revolves around the seemingly erratic response of Jesus in subsequently changing his mind by healing the daughter after hearing the appeal of the woman. This thesis adopts the historical approach. Firstly, chapter 2 and chapter 3 comprise the literature review and our evaluation on these two difficult questions. In the process and as a result, we identify two major views, namely "salvation-history reading" and "feminist reading", need further exploration. In chapter 4, we argue that Jesus was indeed faithful to what he said in Matthew 15:24: “() C，k dneaTci入rp' ei [in dq* t6 TTp(’)(3aTa t6 duo入⑴入(’)Ta oI’kod ’lapar^V’ （1 was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel). We examine ten passages covering Jesus' ministry where those he reached out to have often been assumed to be Gentiles (Mark 3:7-12; Matthew 4:23-25/Luke 6:17-19; Matthew 8:28-34/Mark 5:1-20/Luke 8:26-30; Mark 7:31- 37: Matthew 15:29-31:, Matthew 15:32-39/Mark 8:1-10: Mark 8:22-26; Matthew 17:14- 21/Mark 9:14-29/Luke 9:37-43a; John 4:46-54 and Matthew 8:5-13/Luke 7:1-10). And we come to a conclusion that Jesus was indeed faithful to his messianic mission to the house of Israel. In other words, the ethnicity of the woman's daughter was not the reason of Jesus' unkindness, and Jesus did not change his mind as a result of the woman's reply, and thus crossing over the ethnic boundary. Jesus remained faithful to salvation-history and that his ministry was to the Jews. As such, Jesus rejected the initial request of the woman to heal her daughter. In chapter 5, we argue that Jesus remained faithful to his messianic mission to the house of Israel. Which does not exclude women. For all his healing ministry, he had never rejected any request from a woman (Matthew 8:14-15/Mark 1:29-31/Luke 4:38-39; Matthew 9:18-19. 23-26/Mark 5:21-24a. 35-43/Luke 8:40-42. 49-56; Matthew 9:20- 22/Mark 5:24b-34/Luke 8:42b-48; Luke 7:11-17; Luke 13:10-17: and John 11:1-44). In fact. Jesus reached out to whoever that had needs. In other words, gender issue was not the reason of Jesus unkindness. Jesus did not change his mind as a result of the woman's reply and subsequently crossing over the gender boundary. In chapter 6 and chapter 7, we focus our study on these two passages with these two fundamental questions respectively. For the first question ("Why was Jesus unkind in rejecting the woman's request”), we argue that Jesus did not respond to the woman's request initially because he remained faithful to the messianic mission and the order of salvation-history, that is, salvation is to the Jews first. For the second question (Why did Jesus change his mind subsequently?), we argue that while Jesus remained faithful to his messianic mission, the woman seized the opportunity to pursue her request the comment by Jesus to the woman as a parable: is not fair to take the children's food and throw it to the dogs (Matthew 15:26)" Let the children be fed first, for it is not fair to take the children's food and throw it to the dogs "(Mark 7:27). Intended to be an imitation that the "dogs" can enter into the house of Israel. The woman replied brilliantly by saying that "even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters' table" (Matthew 15:27) “even the dogs under the table eat the children's crumbs" (Mark 7:28). In other words, the woman insisted that the dogs were willing to enter into the house and so became the dogs of the masters, and thus they could legitimately eat the crumbs that the children dropped from the table. Therefore, Jesus subsequently changed his mind in healing the woman's daughter is due to her positive response to the invitation issued by Jesus in the parable. Chapter 8 is the conclusion. The reason for "Why was Jesus unkind in rejecting the woman's request?" is due to his faithfulness to his messianic mission only to the house of Israel. As to the reason. "Why did Jesus change his mind subsequently?" it is because the woman was willing to enter into the house of Israel, and so the healing can be extended to her daughter. In the whole process of the incident, Jesus remained faithful to his messianic mission. Lastly, in chapter 9, we study and evaluate some Asian contextual interpretations of this account. While we appreciate the concerns of these Asian scholars for the contexts and the plights of many, this account is not appropriate as a direct response to those current issues raised. However, we can still draw some lessons for the Malaysian churches today. In sum, according to the incident of Jesus' encounter with the Canaanite/Syrophoenician woman, this thesis argues that Jesus remained faithful to his messianic mission to the Jews according to salvation-history. Abstract only

2015-01-01T00:00:00Z Dela Cruz, Teresita L. https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12852/3516 2025-08-18T04:00:23Z 2003-03-01T00:00:00Z

The implications of intentionality towards creative transformation in church teaching Dela Cruz, Teresita L. This study on the implications of intentionality for creative transformation in church teaching is a qualitative study. It is an attempt to explain and identify the related meanings of intentionality, as well as look for variations of the concept of intentionality from the two groups (conversation and non-conversation groups) involved, using a dialogical and relational approach to teaching. This exploratory study strives to anchor on Biersdorf and Campbell’s concept of intentionality, the Biblico-theological bases of teaching, and Thomas Groome’s "shared praxis" approach to Christian education and nurture. Involved in this study are teachers of the Cotabato Annual Conference of the United Church of Christ in the Philippines, ages 25-60, Christian educators and lay workers as respondents of interviews and survey questioners. All are involved in the nurture and educational ministry of the church, particularly; Sunday School, Bible Studies, confirmation and neighborhood activities. Four methods were used to gather data, namely; participant-observation, library research, interview and survey through questionnaires developed by the researcher. Responses gathered were analyzed quantitatively and qualitatively. The responses from the survey were quantitatively analyzed. Responses from interviews and study-reflection process were qualitatively analyzed according to the quality of responses and they were categorized under answer categories. Findings showed that personal experience, personal-related activities, church and community orientation were found to greatly affect and influence the approaches and processes in the practice of teaching. A redirection on the teaching and assessment of approaches, methods, processes and skills, particularly on teaching for creative transformation needs to be addressed. Finally, researchers must be motivated to pursue studies on the same topic exploring different approaches, processes and models. Abstract only

2003-03-01T00:00:00Z