Browsing by Author "Pascal, Pienaar"

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    The missionary women in the Huguenot Seminary : a case study in vocational formation through education
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2023-03) Pascal, Pienaar; Muller, Retief; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Theology. Dept. of Systematic Theology and Ecclesiology.
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This dissertation is written with the goal of examining the influences and motivations behind the decisions made by some of the 19th-century women at the Huguenot Seminary in Wellington, South Africa to follow a missionary vocation. The Huguenot Seminary and the environment which it created had a substantial impact on the vocational formation of the women who attended the institution. However, when one examines the primary accounts of these women, for the most part only spiritual motivations for becoming missionaries are given. In the light of this, this study seeks to “uncover” the largely overlooked history of the Seminary as well as the South African missionary women who studied there. An investigation into these women’s vocational development is needed to construct a more nuanced and comprehensive image of the influences which motivated them. These include spiritual factors, but are, in fact, comprised of an amalgamation of factors both secular and religious. In order to achieve this, this dissertation firstly, after having presented the history of the Huguenot Seminary and the development of missionary interest at the institution, employs a framework to categorise the various identified influencing factors extrapolated from various primary sources, for easier further examination. The study then engages with Social Cognitive Career Theory and Calling Theory. Through this, new perspectives on the various identified influencing factors are brought to the fore. An examination of the spiritual and theological influences on missionary vocational development at the Huguenot Seminary is then presented, as well as an investigation into the way in which these influences coexisted and intertwined with the previously discussed secular impacting elements of the women’s decisions to become missionaries. Finally, the dissertation examines all the preceding information and outcomes of the study from a critical standpoint. Within this critical reflection, identifiable areas of caution with regards to the research as well as proposals for avenues of future research, are presented.