faty
Get Complete Project Material File(s) Now! »
The gap
As noted above, there exist very few published works about the PCSA in Zimbabwe and of these; the socio-political and economic impact of the PCSA has not been investigated. It is patent that there has been an enlightened study on Calvinism in general in Southern Africa. Calvinism’s involvement in economics and politics in Zimbabwe is virgin ground to trade on. Worse still there exist a gap in terms of how; PCSA teachings impacted the developments of Zimbabwean Christianity. It became apparent that there is need to find out the influence of Presbyterianism in the developments of Zimbabwe. The thesis intended to make a historical analysis on the influence of the PCSA on socio-politics and economics in Zimbabwe. The history of the PCSA in Zimbabwe is yet to be recorded. This study resorted to taping the data from the surviving witnesses to gather the most needed information about the life and work of the PCSA in Zimbabwe. Oral traditions were used as the research methodology to bridge the mentioned gap in this thesis. Questions were raised to guide the interviews and the next chapter will explore the methodology. For this study, oral traditional consultations were valued as sources of new awareness about the past PCSA and as new informative viewpoints on it. Interviews enriched this work, providing information about everyday life and insights into the involvement of the local people – Zimbabweans, what is sometimes termed « ordinary people » that are simply unavailable from more traditional sources. Oral history opened new views of the past, with the voices of the interviewees helping shape this research.
Importance of history
This section analyses the history of the PCSA in Zimbabwe, paying attention to the importance of researching the influence of the denomination to the Zimbabwean socio politics and economics. This is solely through God’s providence, that is, God permits things to happen as they do in his grace and foreknowledge. God intervenes where he so wishes and divine participation is part of the ordinary stuff of history (Bebbington 1990:43). The divine participation is for a purpose, to give history its proper place and meaning. The history of the PCSA is a story about its past that is significant and true. It is the view of those in the PCSA who are the shapers of its history and yet also the victims of history (Bebbington 1990:168). The PCSA, coming from a reformed tradition, could not avoid imparting the reformed principle of transforming the community wherever it is in operation. Studying the history of the PCSA as such would enable amassing such vital information to understand the players in the Zimbabwean development and place them rightly in any national endeavours. The history of the PCSA is an account of what its members did and the consequence of their actions, the socio-political and economic influences necessitated, in Zimbabwe with PCSA bearings. People shape history but they are victims of what they shape (Bebbington 1990:168). Thus, the PCSA like any other people shaped history in a way which helped them to have confidence in themselves and to have hopes for a better future. In shaping history, people must remember that God is guiding history forward and at the appropriate time God will bring history to its end or its final goal. John Calvin called this belief predestination9. From the discussion above, history outlines two things, of importance, which are, what the historian writes about the past and the historical process, that is, the actual experiences of people (Marwick, 2001: xvi, 334), and what they did and what they suffered in their actual life. The two are closely knitted together. What the historian writes about the past corresponds to the historical process; otherwise, it would not be history. For that reason, this researcher depended much on the written documents about the PCSA, so that he could confirm his facts as much as possible, thus, the importance of using oral sources in the study of history to cross check the facts gathered.
Chapter 1: General Introduction
1.0 Staging
1.1 Motivation
1.2 Study Goal
1.3 Literature Review
1.4 The Gap
1.5 Limitations
1.6 Study Design
1.7 Delimitation
1.8 Conclusion
Chapter 2: Further exploration of Methodology
2.0 Introduction
2.1 Nature of history
2.2 Methods of Data Collection
2.3 Sources of history
2.4 Significance of Oral Tradition
2.5 Value of Oral History in the study of the PCSA in Zimbabwe
2.6 Combined Approach
2.7 Conclusion
Chapter 3: A Reformed understanding of socio-political and economical teachings within the PCSA in Zimbabwe
3.0 Introduction
3.1 The PCSA and the State of Zimbabwean
3.2. Effects of Reformed Theology on the Socio-Politics and Economic context of Zimbabwe
3.3 Conclusion
Chapter 4: Presbyterianism and Socio-Politics and Economics of Zimbabwe
4.0 Introduction
4.1 A historical survey of the period
4.2 Politics of the land
4.3 Race relations
4.4 War
4.5 Federation
4.6 Conclusion
Chapter 5: Specific involvement and influence of the PCSA on the Socio–Political and Economic context of Zimbabwe
5.0 Introduction
5.1 The Sacred land
5.2 Gukurahundi 1983 – 1987
5.3 The Economic Structural Adjustment Program (ESAP)
5.4 Declines in Health Services
5.5 Declines in Educational Services
5.6 The Democratic Republic of Congo War
5.7 Conclusion
Chapter 6: Analysis and Concluding Summary
6.0 Introduction
6.1 Main Findings
6.2 Reform tradition and socio-politics and economics of Zimbabwe
6.3 The PCSA’s Socio-Political and Economic influence in Zimbabwe
6.4 Summary
6.5 Future prospects of the PCSA’s socio-political and economic teachings and practicesin Zimbabwe
6.6 Research gaps and recommendations for future researches
6.7 Conclusion
