Masters Degrees (Systematic Theology and Ecclesiology)

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Browsing Masters Degrees (Systematic Theology and Ecclesiology) by Subject "Cancer"

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    Is ovarian cancer the end of womanhood? : a feminist theological engagement
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2018-03) Minnaar, Tayla Amy; Forster, Dion Angus; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Theology. Dept. of Systematic Theology and Ecclesiology.
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This thesis is a study of the contemporary notions of the body that may seem to challenge concepts of womanhood among women who are diagnosed with ovarian cancer who, as a result, may not be able to bear children. The research engages with certain social, biblical and political ideas of what it means to be a woman, and how these social perspectives impact and influence women's identities as a whole, especially when one's body no longer performs the way it did before. These notions will be viewed through a theological lens. Social notions of motherhood influence the ideology of womanhood socially, emotionally and psychologically, which implicates how women understand their own femininity, sexuality and their bodies. The aim of this project?? is to reconstruct the social and Christian assumption that women are created for the purpose of childbirth and mothering. The intention of this research is to critically engage with the complex ideologies and concepts of motherhood and womanhood, how theology plays a role in both reinforcing and/or addressing this ideology and to criticise theological and social engagement between body theology and ideas of motherhood. This will be done by using a qualitative research method since it will engage with existing secondary research on women with ovarian cancer. This research will be a descriptive and a critical analysis of the social and political nature of society and media and how it plays a role in the self –identity of women and their femininity. In addition, feminist theologians including Lisa Isherwood and Gayle Letherby have contributed significantly as secondary sources to widen the critical theological engagement and discussion on body theology and womanhood. In chapter 2, the research will describe key medical procedures before and after women are diagnosed with ovarian cancer, to illustrate the emotional, psychological and physical trauma women experience from ovarian cancer. Chapter 2 introduces social notions and implications of sexuality, body theology, motherhood, and womanhood. These notions are then critically engaged within Chapter 3, where the intersectionality of these social issues is interlinked through the health condition of ovarian cancer. Chapter 4 of the research communicates the theological complexity of ideologies of motherhood and engages with both voluntary and involuntary childlessness. In addition, chapter 4 suggests the need for church engagement with the social construction of motherhood and draws on a West African conference in Nigeria as a primary source. The study is then concluded by summarising the research findings of ideologies of womanhood, childbirth, and motherhood and problematizing this critical social construction through a theological engagement with body theology. It suggests further research should be done in future to help develop a richer research project.