Bachelor of Arts in Theology

Permanent URI for this collectionhttp://192.168.4.170:4000/handle/20.500.12342/182

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    An Encounter of Jesus With the Samaritan Woman as A Model for Mission Today: John 4:4-42
    (Tangaza University College, 2005) Pattath, Joseph
    Jesus is the one sent by the Father to reveal the Father to humanity and to share with us his life. In Christ, God allows himself to be represented: "the messenger is a fully accredited representative of the one who has sent him" (Jn 14:9-10). In the encyclical Evangelii Nuntiandi Pope Paul VI tells that Jesus Christ is the model of evangelization. Jesus is going to another culture to invite the people into the Kingdom of God (in 4:4-42). Jesus' words and deeds directed people to this Kingdom. And this same Jesus, the first missionary sent by God the Father had told his disciples "to learn from me" (Mt 11:29), and to do what he had done; "this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many" (Mk 14:24). So, in this dimension Jesus is the best example for missionary work, Jesus said, "for I have set you an example" On 13:15). The New Testament contains four distinct Gospel portraits of the life, ministry, death and resurrection of Jesus. All four Gospels attempt to bring the good news of the story of Jesus to the needs of a particular community. Each Gospel deals with the meaning of Jesus' identity and mission in its own way. The forniative issue for the Gospel of John seems to have been the question: who is Jesus? The Gospel narrative is an attempt to provide fresh answers to this question. It seeks to move the reader away from overly confident assumptions, false certitudes, and complacency about Jesus' identity. It offers each reader of the gospel the opportunity to discover Jesus for himself or herself. This purpose, to lead the reader to his or her own experience of Jesus, accounts for the distinctive literary style of John. The use of the extensive dialogues between Jesus and other characters would help to open the story to the reader's own experience. For John the dialogue is a means of Jesus' revelation of himself. Women play significant role in the Gospel of John. This significance is evident both in the number of stories on which woman appear and in the theological importance of those stories. Women are Jesus' main conversation partners in three stories that reveal Jesus' identity (4:4-42; 7:53-8:11; 11:1-44). And the role of the mother of Jesus is also given an important place at the beginning of Jesus' ministry in Cana (2:1-11). The first chapter of my essay is a study on the origin of the Samaritans, their religious status and the relationship between Samaritans and Jews. Then, my concern is to bring out how were the Samarians treated in the synoptics. We also will uncover the understanding of Samaritans about themselves. And my attempt, in this chapter, is to show how much importance is given to understand the identity of Jesus, using different symbols. The second chapter is dedicated to the detailed exegetical analysis of Jesus' encounter with the Samaritan woman in John 4:4-42. The whole chapter deals with the dialogue of Jesus and the Samaritan woman. I set the conversation under different stages and show how did the conversation influenced her conversion. The Samaritan woman's perception of 'who Jesus is' has grown from 'a Jew', through sir' or 'Lord', to 'a Prophet', to 'a Messiah' or Christ' and at last the Samaritans' recognition of Jesus as 'the Savior of the world'. The third chapter is an endeavor to bring forth the climax of the encounter between Jesus and the Samaritan woman. I see this encounter scene as a excellent model for our missionary work in this modern world. This dialogue —analysis is an attempt to enter into the process of the divine human encounter and its forth coming fruits. Since both Jesus and the Samaritan woman play very important role bringing conversion and faith in God the Father, they can be seen as model for our missionary activities among our own people and among the non-Christians.
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    The Parable Of The Good Samaritan: An Exegesis Of Luke 10:25-37— Its Theological Messages And Some Pastoral Applications In An African Context
    (Tangaza University College, 2003) Alinye, Bernard
    Africa is indeed in a horrible mess. Many of its countries are involved in either civil war or war with their neighbours. The population increases in number, while on the other hand the economy stagnates, or in some countries it even decreases. The extreme poverty of most Africans and the quick spread of the HIV/AIDS pandemic in Africa seem to be one of the consequences of this dramatic situation. Moreover, as with any other society in the world we, Africans, are formed of a variety of influences that shape our way of thinking, acting and feeling. In other words we are fruits of a culture. Africa is indeed made up of different cultures. In spite of this diversity there are some common elements such as the gender issue in sub-Saharan Africa. Some of the African traditions transgress the rights of women. Being a son of this troubled society, it has always been my preoccupation to seek means and ways of freeing my brothers and sisters from this yoke which crushes them. My choice of this parable can be explained by the fact that the story of the Good Samaritan contains theological messages which are very relevant for all humankind and indeed for Africans today. Which are these theological messages? And how can these theological messages be assimilated by Christians in Africa? These are the main questions of this essay which [will try to answer in the following pages. This essay will be divided into three chapters. In the first chapter our attention will be centred on the socio-religious background of the parable of the Good Samaritan, which is important for us in order to grasp the different behaviour of the main characters of the parable. Our second chapter will be the exegetical analysis of Luke 10:25-37. We will first of all highlight the introductory questions related to the exegesis of the parable. Then in doing our exegesis, our attention will be focussed on the meaning of the actions of the different characters of this story, with a special accent on some key concepts such as: neighbour, love and compassion. The exegesis of the above text is very important because it will help us to draw the theological messages of the parable. Finally, in the last chapter we shall explicitly deal with different theological messages drawn from the parable and some possible pastoral applications in an African context.
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    The parable of the Good Samaritan and its application today
    (Tangaza University College, 2000-02-16) kileo, Nicholas
    Parables are one of the ways, which our Lord Jesus Christ used to teach his disciples. This was the method by which Jesus, depicted the vivid examples which were found in the daily lives of his contemporaries. Though the very parables were used by Our Lord Jesus Christ can be dated almost more than two thousand years ago, they still found their relevance and application today in our situations and society, especially in carrying Christ's mission. Jesus fulfilled the mission of his Father by teaching through the words and actions. That is, he was himself the life living example. One of the parables Jesus used was the parable of the Good Samaritan which is the center of our discussion. The exemplary story of the Good Samantan ranks as one of the most beautiful and compelling of all synoptic parables. It illustrates the teaching of Jesus on love of God and Neighbour; for there is nothing more central in Jesus' teaching than love, which is necessary for eternal life.[Lk 10: 28]" Not only that, but also, as Mary Warnock comments; -the image of the Good Samaritan is not wholly divorced from the image of the caring government which will provide the necessity to meet the needs of the unfortunate: Perhaps we have a big concern to ask ourselves that,who are the most unfortunates of our day today encounters! The parable of the Good Samaritan is a hard lesson to hear but all the same it carries a supreme importance. The overwhelming extremes in our society especially that of conformity to the traditions and laws, which are actually highly man-made and are not meant to care for the unfortunates in the society, must be seriously questioned. The story does not just end like that, but with the commission of "Go and Do it". This is a commission, to emulate the Samaritan who teaches how to love God and our fellow neighbour who are in need. Our task in this work, aims at discussing the parable of the Good Samaritan and its application into our lives today. The parable which he used when he was teaching his disciples This parable as we shall see and read, is centered on the commandment of love. The love of God and our neighbor as a way of attaining eternal life. That is a call for everybody. The work is divided into three chapters, with their respective subtopics. In chapter one we are going to see what the parable is all about. In this we will define and elucidate the very terminology and answer a question what is a parable. It will be together with offering various definitions as they have been propounded by vanous theologians. As we shall see, especially from the various definitions, the central point of the explanations about parable, is the teachmg of Jesus by examples and stories. The stones which were vivid and concrete to the people. As a matter of fact, we shall also see that. Jesus himself learnt the art of using the parables in the Old Testament. In the second chapter, I intend to bring the parable into the relevant situation. The parable of the Good Samaritan speaking to us today. Speak to us and visit our situations. The point is to see if, it should find its place in today's life situations. Thus, as we will be discussing the situation and relevance of the parable, we will be trying to answer the question, who are the wounded men and women today in our society? And again, do we have the similar situation or rather incidences and cases which can be equated with the ones in the parable of the Good Samaritan? After exploring this in detail we will automatically admit that the parables of the Lord are still alive and fresh particularly the parable of the Good Samaritan. For the characters and the message of the parable will be solely seen in our context or rather in our situation. The third chapter, which is the final one, is going to contextualise the work or rather the parable. That is putting it into practical application today. This one is going to be in the line of the mission of the Lord. Again we will see our mission situations. After hearing the message, we should ask ourselves, -then what can we do with it?" Are we just to pocket our Bibles and the preaching?". What we are to put into practice, is the example of the Samaritan which we are going to learn in the parable. The Samaritan shows the example of loving God and neighbour, by attending our sisters and brothers in need. This will be the call again of putting the message derived from the parable of the Good Samaritan into practice and application.