According to Mouton (2001:56), the research process and the kind of tools one uses in conducting research are crucial. This is why Kothari (2004:8) maintains that research methodology is the “science of studying how research is conducted”. It is concerned with “underlying philosophical logic and the knowledge that inform the research, as well as various research activities, such as data collection and data organization” (Ridley, 2009:33). Perhaps this might be the reason why Louw (1998a:2) noted that the nature of the research question and the data determine the methodological approach, while the ‘how’ question of the research refers specifically to research techniques.
This is qualitative research located within the interpretive paradigm, hence pragmatism and hermeneutics were used to analyse the relationship between the concept of mission as prophetic dialogue, identity and inter-religious encounters between Muslims and Christians in Northern Nigeria. The research further is non-empirical: I relied on the existing literature because there is sufficient data on prophetic dialogue, PROCMURA, identity and inter-religious encounters. Therefore, literature and other documents found in the Stellenbosch University library and accessed online through the Internet were utilised. Materials used were both published books and unpublished documents. Additionally, the literature on PROCMURA, which includes both local and international books and articles, journals and academic papers, was scrutinised.
The researcher maintains the use of qualitative research for three reasons: Firstly, qualitative research, according to Louw (1998b: 7), “implies an emphasis of processes and meanings that cannot be measured in terms of quantity, number, intensity or frequency (it is more ideographical)”. The documents in qualitative research are socially structured, hence according to Leedy and Jeanne (2010:7), this kind of research ensures a close link between the researcher and that which is studied. Furthermore, it was value- oriented research; hence the “variables” were not controlled, because they had the freedom and natural development of accomplishment and exemplification that the researcher wished to capture.
Secondly, following Henning, Wilhelm and Smith (2004:3), the use of the qualitative research approach entails looking at what happens, how it happens and why it happens in the way it happens. Its focus is not
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only on the actions of humankind, such as their speech and writing, but also on “how they represent their feelings and thoughts in these actions”.
Thirdly, I preferred to use the qualitative approach because, according to Maykut and Morehouse (1994:2-3) it generally examines “people’s worlds and actions in narrative or descriptive ways more closely representing the situation as experienced by the participants”.
In view of the above argument, my choice of the interpretive paradigm is appropriate, as it has various dimensions. Cavell (1979:191ff) introduces traditional epistemology by acknowledging two forms of interpretive understanding – phenomenological interpretation and conceptual interpretation. Phenomenological interpretation is based on empirical facts, while conceptual understanding is based on the meaning of a concept made up by claims relating to the reasons that led to the understanding of various concepts through scepticism, using consciousness and the senses. The interpretive paradigm is appropriate for this research because it has to do with “what is happening that were observed in the episodes, situation and contexts” (Cavell, 1979:191ff). It also deals with the identification of the issues within the episodes, contexts and situations in order to draw on theories from the arts and sciences to help in understanding the issues. Hence, “thoughtfulness,” “theoretical interpretation,” and “wise judgement” are required (Osmer, 2008:83).
Osmer’s hermeneutic is followed closely all the way through the entire dissertation as a guide for the research, which thus follows the four tasks of Osmer’s (2008:4) hermeneutical spiral. Hermeneutics was engaged for this research hence, according to Caputo (1987:177) it provides clarity on the “mystery beneath, the ongoing historical, epochal process by which things emerge from concealment into un- concealment”. Hermeneutics was used as a method for conceptual analysis in understanding how mission as prophetic dialogue and Kritzinger’s seven-praxis cycle in PROCMURA can provide nuances for enhancing religious and mutual coexistence between Christians and Muslims in Northern Nigeria.
Although Osmer (2008) provides models that are mostly used in practical theology and are introduced primarily for the purpose of “equipping the congregational leaders to engage in practical theological interpretation of episodes, situations and contexts that confront them in ministry”, they have also been found to be very helpful in this missiological research. Consequently, the context, interpretation, pragmatist and hermeneutic perspectives are outlined. In his theory, Osmer calls these models four tasks: descriptive-empirical, interpretive, normative and pragmatic.
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The first task is what Osmer (2008:31ff) describes as the descriptive-empirical task: it pursues the question, “What is going on in a particular social context or field of experience?” (Chapter 1 of this dissertation provides the description of what was going on as background to the entire research).The second task is the interpretive task (Osmer, 2008:79ff). Research findings are not self-interpreting. Thus, the interpretive task of practical theology seeks to place such findings in an explanatory framework, providing an answer to the question, “Why are these things going on?” Chapters 2 and 3 of this dissertation explore the social, political and religious contextual factors that influence inter-religious encounters.
The third task described by Osmer (2008:129ff) is the normative task. Practical theology does more than investigate and interpret contemporary form of religious praxis. It seeks to assess such praxis normatively from the perspective of Christian theology and ethics, with a view to reform when this is needed. The normative task thus pursues the question, “What form ought current religious praxis to take in this particular social context?” Chapter 4 of this dissertation, an evaluation of PROCMURA’s activities in Northern Nigeria and Africa, will be considered here. Osmer further asserts that, in the new model of practical theology, explicit attention is given to forming norms that can be used to assess, guide and reform contemporary praxis. The final task in Osmer (2008:175ff) is what he calls the pragmatic task. The primary focus of this task is matters of “how to”, although it is informed by the “why to” gained from the description, interpretive and normative reflection in addressing mission as prophetic dialogue, understanding identity and religious encounters between Christians and Muslims in Northern Nigeria, and the theological implications of mission. Chapter 5 of this dissertation also uses Kritzinger (2008:769-773; 2013:39-40), who proposes a seven-praxis cycle of mission as encounterology. Pragmatism is helpful in this research because of its communal and practical approach.
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These four tasks that form Osmer’s (2008:11) hermeneutical spiral are illustrated diagrammatically in Figure 1.
Figure 1: Osmer's (2008:11) Hermeneutical Spiral
Therefore, as a possible theological evaluation of ideas and responses to Christian-Muslim encounters in the context of identity struggles and inter-religious encounters, the threefold paradigm of Beans and Schroeder (2004:36, 61) and Bosch (2011:445-448)helped me to address the research questions. The first paradigm is mission as saving souls and extending the church. Bevans and Schroeder (2004:49) call this kind of theology “Type a Theology”. It is “developed around the insight that true humanity is achieved in submission to an order that is beyond human making but accessible to humanity through God’s gracious revelation” (Bevans and Schroeder, 2004:49). The emphasis here is that mission is an effort to save souls and extend the church in which, without the “structures of the church, the reign of God on earth, men and women cannot avail themselves of the means of salvation” (Ibid. 2004:49).
The second paradigm has to do with mission as discovery of the truth. This type of theology is called Type B, and is characterised by a search for “Truth”, a truth that is accessible to humanity through paying attention to human experience and human reason. Bevans and Schroeder (2004:61) maintain that mission is carried out as a search for God’s grace that is hidden within people’s cultural, religious and historical contexts. “It is an invitation to discover the Truth because in Truth lies human salvation”, (Ibid. 2004:61)
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and it is already realised and presented in human experience and human culture. The last paradigm is mission as commitment to liberation and transformation. This is the Type C theology. Bevans and Schroeder (2004:71) allege that this type of theology focuses on the commitment of Christians toward the liberation and transformation of humanity, and indeed of the entire globe. Christians are to proclaim Christ as the true liberator and transformer of culture. Perhaps this reveals that the church is the community of liberated humanity.