Faculty of Arts and Design
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Item Christian communication, forms, secularity, and dimensions of language in a multifaceted cultural setting(Durban University of Technology, 2021) Adebayo, Rufus; Zulu, SylviaChristian communication and the various dimensions of language are profoundly connected and interchangeably used in a multifaceted cultural setting. Christian churches in South Africa, similar to any other African countries, profess their philosophies, passions, and beliefs to multi-cultural congregations through the use of sacred languages and communication. This study posits that the uprising of Pentecostal churches has paved the way for nonspiritual dialectic languages and has also greatly lessened spiritual communication. As a result, the study highlights the relationship between language and religious communication among Pentecostal churches in a culturally diverse environment. This study employs a qualitative approach, through the gathering and categorisation of information between 20 churches located in Durban, South Africa to recognise Christian communication and the influence of secular linguistic features and their relationships with spirituality. This study has found that there are different forms and secular dimensions of language which differ from spiritual language and Christian communication. The study reveals that as modern Christian churches emerge, a revolutionised communication has evolved as compared to the language of orthodox churches. The study recommends that the use of language for religious communication and discourse should necessitate expounding spiritual values and courses of action.Item Commoditisation, materialism, and Pentecostal Christian Churches(University of KwaZulu-Natal, 2019-12-30) Adebayo, Rufus OlufemiCommoditisation, materialism and religious exchange have been receiving increasing attention in contemporary Pentecostal Christian churches, noting that some believers advocate that there is a price to pay in Christianity. This may be a reflection of social development, a new form, but it appears to be an old form of the practice of both secular and spiritual. In this empirical study, commoditisation and materialism are noted as factors that play a relational role and outline the changes in the understanding of religious exchange and the economic transaction of monetary. Understanding of spiritual form of payment, pricing in the traditional marketing (tangible price in this regard) and the shift towards a transactional exchange for divine intervention in form of miracle, healing, and provision are examined from being major sources of inner spiritual dilemmas to being principal sources of the desire and inspiration underpinning materialism and commoditisation in various Pentecostal churches today. This paper argues that the virtual neglect of some significant characteristics of marketing such as the exchange process, and pricing from the religious perspective might affect the church as a non-profit organisation. The study reveals that Pentecostal churches can embrace contradictory concepts of commoditisation, materialism, and spiritualism; and emanate to the social shift as a non-profit sector, but the positive potential inherent to Christianity should be reconciled. Based on current literature trends, the results add that there is a secular exchange of spirituality for materialism as illustrated in the story of Naaman (2 Kings 5:1-19), thereby problematizing the current South African religious context. The researcher hopes to add to the understanding of the religious exchange, commoditisation, and materialism relationship.