Browsing by Author "Van der Merwe, I. J."

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    The ecclesiological significance of the ‘African kraal’ metaphor in a context of urban poverty in Zimbabwe
    (Pieter de Waal Neethling Trust, 2017) Banda, Collium; Van der Merwe, I. J.
    The essay considers how the communal and empowering nature of the African kraal can be a metaphor of a liberating and empowering church in a context of urban poverty in Zimbabwe. Africans generally experience urban centres as foreign and hostile places where they ideally only live temporarily during seasons of urban employment. In Zimbabwe, poverty alleviation strategies that pay attention to the unique context of urban centres are few. This heightens the African experience of urban centres as foreign places. Urban churches often struggle to respond to urban poverty meaningfully. The African kraal, although a rural oriented metaphor, can direct the church in the city to meaningfully respond to urban poverty.
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    A geographical profile of the South African population as a basis for epidemiological cancer research
    (Health & Medical Publishing Group, 1988) Van der Merwe, I. J.
    Because people do not necessarily become ill proportionally, particular subgroups of the population are more susceptible to certain types of disease than others. It is also essential to take spatial distribution and accessibility of the population into account when considering the optimal location of medical facilities. A geographical profile of the heterogeneous population of South Africa with regard to demographic and socioeconomic composition and urbanisation patterns is therefore presented. Analysis of the composition of the population by tabulating and mapping population census results reveals a complexity which arises from the diversity between the developed white profile and the developing black and coloured communities with their escalating numbers, relative youth and socio-economic backlog. Examination of the maps shows up an unbalanced spatial urbanisation profile with overconcentration in the five metropolitan core areas. Although such a population framework usually fits best to cancer epidemiology, most other diseases could benefit from such an approach.
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    "Die Here is in sy heilige tempel" – oor die teenwoordigheid van God in die erediens
    (Dept. of Systematic Theology and Ecclesiology, Stellenbosch University, 2002-04) Van der Merwe, I. J.
    The question on how God’s presence in the worship of the church can be discerned is once again on the theological table because of two contextual influences, namely postmodernism and the image-oriented culture in which we live. The author suggests a way of thinking about the presence of God which honours postmodernism’s criticism of traditional metaphysics on the one hand, and contemporary culture’s call for experiencing God’s presence through more than one sense (the auditory) alone. He contends that the presence of God in worship is something different from the omnipresence of God; that it is perceived in faith and that it interrupts the faithful’s everyday life by addressing him or her on the self-sacrificing love of Christ for the world in need. God is then present in worship as He is in everyday life, which is in the face of need, and his presence can be more appropriately depicted as a confrontation reelle than a praesentia realis.