Undergraduate Projects/Long Essays

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    Art and Symbols as A Communication of Faith in The History of Ethiopian Orthodox Church
    (Tangaza University College, 2005) Medhin, Samson Gebray
    With time, the term "art" has become to mean more than drawing and painting. To our understanding it has come to encompass a variety of expressive fields such as drama, theatre, music and much more. This fairly modern type of inclusion has made it quite a challenge to easily define art. "Culture", as one would expect, simply adds to the complexity. It is with this understanding and inborn knowledge of the unique, complex artistic nature of Ethiopia, that it is not easy to give a single definition as to what Ethiopian Art and Ethiopian Culture is. Instead in this long essay I have tried to outline what I think are the most important components of Christian Art in the History of Ethiopian Orthodox Church and it communication aspect in delivering the faith to the young Generation of Ethiopia. To do this, in the first chapter I am going to stress on the Historical back ground of the Orthodox Church in Ethiopia and the origin of Ethiopia Art. I am going to show how Ethiopian Art developed together with the first Christian evangelization. As many historian tells us that One of the most important events in Ethiopian art history occurred around 330 A.D., when Ezana, the Aksumite ruler of the highlands of northeastern Africa, accepted Christianity. This occurred not long after the emperor Constantine declared Christianity a legal religion of the Roman Empire. By 500 CA., the most sacred of Christian texts the Gospels had been translated into Ethiopia, and the foundations of a Christian artistic tradition, setting the course of artistic development in the region, had been firmly established. Pre- Christian Askurnite rulers celebrated their victories by setting up monumental statues to the gods of heaven and earth. However, Ethiopia's Christian rulers celebrated their majesty by building churches and endowing monasteries. The city of Askum became symbolically the New Jerusalem, and the cathedral there was dedicated to St. Mary of Zion. Therefore, all this points and other similar ideas will be developed in the first chapter. In the second chapter I will try to explain in a more specific way same of Ethiopian Christina arts like painting, architectures, church music and Christian symbols and their communication aspect in transmitting the faith to the next generation. I will try to find out also those Ethiopian artists who manage to communicate effectively the Gospel value and traditional worship though their great artistic mind. When I speak of Ethiopian art mostly I refer to Ethiopian Orthodox Church because the Church was one of the most significant pillars of Ethiopian society. It developed the only significant fixed constructions monasteries and churches of any importance for many years. So, in a sense, the fixed icons of Ethiopian society were those provided either by the church, or by the ancient stel (obelisks) of the Aksumite ruins. Therefore, the second chapter is more on the value and communication aspect of those Christian arts in the church. The third chapter is more on a pastoral concern of those Christian arts to day in Ethiopia and young generation. I will try to give the current situation of that traditional cultural heritage and the problem of young generations. In the last part of the chapter I will mention the effort of church in keeping those cultural heritages and how the church is communicating its faith to the young generation with arts and symbols. I will also portray some of the things that the church didn't do in reaching the need young people and communicate effectively to them through its great historical arts and symbols. Therefore the aim of this long essay is to help the young generations of Ethiopian to see and give values to their Christian cultural heritage and help them to know how those Christian arts communicate faith and pass the message of the good news. To help them to have respect, admiration, love and knowledge of their orthodox church, not to consider the church as out of fashion, which is the model of strong faith and rich tradition and As a student of theology and communication my aim is also to show to those young people and church leader how the church was communicating its faith through out its past history starting from 4'h c even during the challenging time and during attack from Muslims. So that, the church may open it eyes and learn from the past and know how to communicate its traditional faith and Christian values to the very challenging present generation with out changing its identity.
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    Inculturation as Means of Communication for Evangelization
    (Tangaza University College, 2006) Aazine, Nibetol Nicholas
    The Church down through her line of history has often encouraged the effective use of Mass Media to facilitate the spread of the Good News, Nevertheless, on the other hand, she has not ceased to emphasis Inculturation as another perfect model of communication in doing evangelization. Today, the most highlighted models or channels of communication used are radio, TV., Internet, newspaper, magazine, and phones. Very little emphasis is made in the use of Inculturation. Modern channels of communication would be voted by anyone as the best and fastest way of doing Evangelisation but the little defect one can quickly point out is the fact that it does not really touch the core of the human person. It only stays hanging but does not touch the real lives of the people. Needless to add that this piece of work is not in condemnation of modern models used in spreading the Good News. This paper is to point out this other effective model or channel, which has been abandon in the closet for some time now. Inculturation may sound arcane but believe it or not it one of the effective means through which Evangelisation is done. As it is often emphasized these days, evangelization is not virtually by preaching with word of mouth, listening to the radio, watching TV., but also preaching with one's life. Inculturation comes as means by which this aspect of the Good News is communicated. Inculturation actually reaches or touches the core of people's life visa vis the Gospel. This means of doing evangelization could only make sense to us if we all join in or accept it effectiveness. We all need to bring the Gospel message into our lives through our daily activities, cultures, and language so as to find a new Christ communicated to us. As already mentioned, other means of communication are not to be under estimated but to find a true Christ born and living with us. We need also to give a stronger look at inculturation, which is a more practical means of communicating a Christ who is fiilly alive among us. It is good to see the importance of these modern tools, which have so successfully wave their way through the modern mode of living, affecting and influencing our Christian lives. It is also the aspiration of everyone now to acquaint oneself with these modern means of communication. However, we should not loose sight of how to assimilate all these into the lives of people so that the Gospel message might make sense in the lives of the people. The church may be accused of being slow in pushing forward this way (Inculturation) of doing evangelization, perhaps because of the risk of loosing the message in another sense. The few areas this means has been employed effectively, tremendous impact has been made in the lives of the people. Inculturation is slowly booming and a very old word in the churches history. Much has been written about it but very little has been done about it. Believe it or not it is one of the best ways and of course the best means of communication for everyone for the gospel values to be understood properly among the people, it must find place among them. This means that the gospel values must be rooted in the lives and culture of the people.
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    Group Media as Means of Communication for Evangelization a Case Study of Maasai People of Arusha -Tanzania
    (Tangaza University College, 2006-01) Mosha Ngimonyi, Josaphat
    Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. Mt. 28:19-20. Christ commanded the Apostles and their successors to teach the entire nation. This is the mandate given to the church that means to all of us who are baptized. It is our responsibility to make sure that the word of God is heard to all people without neglect any group of people. This is our mission; the mission of the church. In our world of science and technology this great mission of the Church can only be successful by using different means of communication. Christ showed himself to be the perfect communicator. He was using proverbs, parables and many examples according to the Jews culture to make his message understood to them. His Apostles too, follow his example. They used the means of social communication which were available at their time. Why the missionary did not succeed to penetrate and preach the Gospel to Maasai of Arusha with all that good things they have done to them? This had been my key question for long time; since I was growing up. This is the question which moved me to choose this topic for further investigations, research and analysis of the whole issue. After long reflection and observation of the above problem, I came up with this Hypothesis "Group Media as a means for Evangelization of Maasai people." My purpose is to carry out research and investigation to see whether Group Media can be used for evangelization of Maasai of Arusha. The first part of my research will deal with the origin of Maasai, where they are and where they are from?, their culture, social structure, political organization and their religious thought and practice. The second part will examine on how communication can be a means or a barrier for Evangelization. I will show the means of communication used by these missionaries then I will show the reason for their success or their failure in evangelizing the Maasai of Arusha. Then through church's various documents, I will show its stand on using the means of social communication for evangelization. In my third chapter, I will show how group Media can be used for Integral Evangelization. I will give the meaning of Group media and discuss some of Group media found in Maasai of Arusha. I will show the connection between group media and SCCs. In pastoral recommendation, I will give some suggestions on how evangelization of such area can be improved. In my general conclusion, I will state whether I found my hypothesis to be true or wrong. Generally, I will show what I have archived throughout my research.
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    Effective Communication of Vincentian Christology in Modern Kenya.
    (Tangaza University College, 2005) Musolo Ochola, John
    In the 16 th century, France witnessed the great saint of the poor, Vincent de Paul, who is said to "have done works of six saints in his life." Vincent lived during one of the most spiritually and apostolically fertile periods in European history. As a visible part of the counter-reformation ferment: Vincent joined with a number of other remarkable personalities in France who changed the religious face of the country in a space of one generation. The seed that he planted in caring for the poor centuries ago still grows in the third millennium through the work of Vincentians. In fact, that is what this paper is all about: how the work of Vincentians in Kenya today would be well mirrored to Vincent's understanding of Christ's mission. Vincent's vision of Christ was that he is the missionary of the Father, who empties himself of his condition as the Son of God in order to free his people from bondage, both corporeal and spiritual. Vincent saw the fullness of Christ's mission in the Lucan narrative 4:16-30, which is also called the "Gospel in miniature" because it foreshadows both the ministry and the fate of Jesus through out the gospel. He even took the words of Jesus "...he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor..." as the motto of his life and of the Congregation of the Mission he founded. Questions that abound in my mind include: How is this charism fulfilled through the ministry and lives of the Vincentians in Kenya today? And what can we do to truly live and propagate the same spirit of this holy man? It is now 25 years since the Vincentians first came to Kenya. After spending some time in the Congregation and having observed and reflected on the works of Vincentians, I thought it appropriate to know the charism deeply and see how it could or should affect the lives of Kenyans deeply divided along economical and social lines. Chapter one deals with the arrangement of this paper and the motivation behind it. Chapter two describes the Kenyan situation. In this chapter I make a brief historical analysis of the imbalance that we witness in Kenyan society today. I then explore the real state of affairs today and how a proper teaching to people of values espoused by Vincent can help bring about equality. Chapter three continues in the same vein, presenting the •r Christ of Vincent and calling all of us Kenyans to take a second look at what that understanding can do and what it did in the unbalanced society of France. Chapter four discusses how the media can be effectively used by Vincentians in their bid to work with and for the poor. It takes into consideration the major impact the media has today in Kenya and how it is a vital tool in highlighting the inequalities that abound all around us.
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    Communicating Christ Momboli To The Lomwe People of Malawi
    (Tangaza University College, 2005) Madalitso Bafuta, Ludovic
    The very year I joined Tangaza College 2001, I was challenged by the assertion my teacher of Christ°logy made. I quote: "the cultural and life experience of the people express what kind of saviour they need".' Immediately I reacted and said to myself, "surely this is my vocation in this college to find out the kind of saviour the Lomwe people of Malawi need." It is by knowing the type of saviour the people need that we can preach to them effectively. In trying to give an answer to this problem, I had an opportunity to link the two fields of theology and communication. Thanks to the Tangaza program of studies, which made it possible, some students should be able to specialise in communication, whether it be print or electronic media. Although some people are not yet convinced of the value of this combination of studies, I feel that communication and theology go hand in hand. This is one of the points the essay is trying to put forward, especially the second and third chapters, as I attempt to find out the source and solutions to the already existing problem.
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    Mission Through Communication
    (Tangaza University College, 1999-02) Mohr, Verna
    Saint Paul used to preach in many places and one of them, was the Areopagus which represented the cultural centre of the learned people. Saint Paul went to the Areopagus and preached the Gospel in the language that was appropriate and understandable to all. In our days, this Areopagus can be used to represent the different sectors in which the Gospel has to be preached. The Areopagus that is very strong today is the means of social communication, which is influencing the whole society. This has become a challenge for the missionary, who, instead of fighting against it, is encouraged to use it for the benefit of the mission and of the people. First, when we went to the mission during the long holidays, we noticed that the missionaries working in that area, that is Wamba in the Diocese of Marsabit, after many years working with the Samburu People still use Swahili as the main language to communicate with them instead of using Samburu language. Hence, we started wondering about the effectiveness of the missionary work among the Samburu People as much as how Evangelization could take roots through a language that is not considered part of that people. Second, going through the courses of Public Speaking and Homiletics and seeing the importance of a well done speech in order to get a message across. Much more, we think, is needed in order to achieve a better result in our missions. Lastly, looking around, we can see that the Mass Media has brought to us many forms on how to reach out to the people starting from the young up to the old in order to sell many ideologies as well as to have certain control over a nation. From this we found ourselves challenged as our means of communicating to the people still remains far behind of catching up as they lack a much broader variety. In order to understand the relation between mission and communication, we did a thorough research on both aspects. By presenting this essay in an organized manner, we followed the methodology: See, Judge and Act. This is the methodology that will be utilized for the three chapters developed in this essay. We will begin the first chapter by seeing the facts about mission and communication. Next we will examine the meaning of mission and communication in the secular and religious sphere. Finally, we will deal with the historical background. In these three parts of the first chapter we want to see how mission and communication are understood and how they are developed through history. Judging mission through communication, we present the vision of the church on mission and communication in the second chapter. We will start with the Vatican Council II documents and then deal with the Code of Canon Law, presenting the norms, views and exhortations on mission and communication. Lastly, but not least, action, we add some suggestions that could be taken into consideration for improving mission through communication in the third chapter. In order to approach this theory we will discuss the vision of the Consolata Missionaries on how they are dealing with mission through communication. At the end of the essay there is a conclusion about the findings and highlights we encountered while writing this essay.