Campus Location

Abilene Campus (Residential)

Date of Award

5-2014

Document Type

Thesis

Department

Graduate School of Theology

Degree Name

Doctor of Ministry

Committee Chair or Primary Advisor

Curt Niccum

Second Committee Member or Secondary Advisor

John Barton

Third Committee Member or Committee Reader

Christopher Flanders

Abstract

This doctor of ministry thesis presents the process and findings of a curriculum development project resulting in a pastor-training manual to be used in South Sudan. The project involved the staff and board members of Sudan Evangelical Alliance Partners and Christian Relief Partners in a series of sessions in the fall of 2013, bringing together various sources for theological reflection and practical in-field use. The team utilized the reconciliation theology of Ephesians 2, Miroslav Volf's theology of embrace, examples of political and social reconciliation from the African continent, and their own experience and leadership in educational settings. The sessions were designed so as to generate material that would be included as teaching modules in the evolving curriculum. A qualitative evaluation of the project involving data triangulation revealed several key insights: 1) Genuine forgiveness and lasting reconciliation comes at the cost of acknowledging truth and embracing justice. To "forgive and forget" is not helpful if justice has not been done. 2) For communal reconciliation to be lasting, the community has to be inclusive and embrace notions of equality and tolerance. 3) The church is a new community where diversity is celebrated as a gift from God and uniformity is not a prerequisite for unity. This new vision of the inherent dignity of the human person is only possible because of the cross of Christ.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.

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