Revolutionizing Theological Imagination

2021 ◽  
Vol 15 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 22-47
Author(s):  
Andrew C. Stout
Keyword(s):  
South African ◽  
Black Theology ◽  
Reformed Theology ◽  
Reformed Tradition ◽  
Racial Issues

Abstract The Reformed tradition helped provide the rationale for Southern slavery and for South African apartheid. If Reformed theology is going to speak to the racial issues of our day, it must come to terms with the tradition of Black theology. Some Reformed evangelical theologians have begun to engage with the insights of Black theologians, but they have done so very selectively. Reformed Evangelicals need to learn from the theological imaginations of such Black theologians as James Cone and Allan Boesak. By doing so, they can undermine the tradition’s racist legacy and unleash its liberative potential.

Federalism and Reformed Scholasticism

2021 ◽  
pp. 182-198
Author(s):  
Willem van Vlastuin
Keyword(s):  
Instrumental Function ◽  
Reformed Theology ◽  
Specific Context ◽  
Reformed Tradition

Jonathan Edwards’s understanding of the covenant is treated in this chapter. It is made clear that Edwards developed this theology in the broader context of reformed theology and in his own specific context. In his reflections on the covenant, Edwards concluded that one must draw a distinction between the covenant of redemption and the covenant of grace if one is to understand Arminianism and Antinomianism. Drawing this distinction also allows one to interpret God’s works in history. In his understanding of the covenant of grace, Edwards developed a stricter view of the covenant. In comparison with the reformed tradition and the puritan tradition of Westminster, he minimized the instrumental function that the covenant has, because he interpreted it as a marriage between Christ and his believers. The emphasis on the indwelling of the Spirit in the covenanted believers caused him to reject the preaching of law to believers. Ultimately he also rejected the Half-Way Covenant.

scholarly journals Reformed identity revisited: Proposals in the spirit of Ecclesia Semper Reformanda est

2020 ◽  
Vol 54 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nico Vorster
Keyword(s):  
Historical Narrative ◽  
Original Sin ◽  
Fundamental Aspect ◽  
Reformed Theology ◽  
Reformed Tradition ◽  
Human Uniqueness ◽  
Existential Perspective

This article commences by reflecting on the evolving nature of traditions. In order to pass the continual test of plausibility and authenticity, traditions need to be flexible enough to incorporate new insights into its core intellectual matrix. Implausible elements need to be re-articulated or dispensed with. This rationale is subsequently applied to the reformed tradition who considers the necessity to continually reform itself (Ecclesia Semper Reformanda est) as a fundamental aspect of the tradition. Recently, various tenets of the reformed faith have come under scrutiny. These include the reformed faith’s understanding of God’s relation to creation; its view of human uniqueness; its understanding of original sin and the transmission of sin; and its supposed sola Scriptura approach to ethics. This article addresses these critiques by proposing that reformed theology incorporates the notion of creation as a gift in its thinking; that it dispenses with attempts to provide a historical narrative on the origin and transmission of sin and rather approach the theme from an existential perspective; and that it works towards an ethics that is scripturally based but ecclesiastically shaped.

scholarly journals Allan Boesak, Black Theology and Apartheid: A theological-historical approach

2018 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Eugene Fortein
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Lived Experience ◽  
South African ◽  
Historical Perspective ◽  
Black Theology ◽  
Reciprocal Relationship ◽  
South African Context ◽  
Historical Approach ◽  
African Context ◽  
American Black

In this article I will give specific attention to the reciprocal relationship between Black Theology and Allan Boesak based on his lived experience of apartheid from a theological-historical perspective. It is my presupposition that Boesak’s experience of apartheid made him prone to the influence of Black Theology and that he in turn adapted American Black Theology so that it could be made applicable to the South African context. Black Theology unlocked an entire new theological paradigm for Boesak which enabled him to speak prophetically to the challenges and injustices that occurred under apartheid in South Africa. Attention will be given to the emergence of Black Theology in South Africa, how Boesak was challenged by it and how Black Theology, through Boesak, impacted the theological landscape.

scholarly journals Black Consciousness, Black Nationalism and Black Theology: Is there a possibility for theology of dialogue?

2021 ◽  
Vol 77 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kelebogile T. Resane
Keyword(s):  
South African ◽  
Black Nationalism ◽  
Black Theology ◽  
African National Congress ◽  
Ethnic Cleansing ◽  
Black Consciousness ◽  
National Assembly ◽  
Peasant Society ◽  
The New Testament ◽  
The Rich

This article gives some historical development of Black Consciousness, Black Nationalism and Black Theology during the colonial and apartheid eras. The three worked symbiotically to address the racial injustices of the past. Each tenet is historically explained and ideologically defined. Black Consciousness and Black Nationalism are still prevalent in the South African sociopolitical landscape. This is expressed through the current political parties that are the minorities in the National Assembly. However, the ruling party, African National Congress (ANC), as a ‘broader church’ also possesses some constituents and adherents who are the Black Consciousness and Nationalistic aspirants. South Africa is developing into a peasant society regardless of capitalistic embraces of development. Poverty and equality are visible in societal structures. Those who were formerly equality aspirants are now in sociopolitical and economic circles and had forgotten their aspirations of justice and equality. Corruption, maladministration, bad governance, etc., are the menaces that cause imbalances and create a wider gap between the rich and the poor.Contribution: Black Theology is invited to lead dialogical deliberations to assess and ascertain how to bring justice into the volatile situation where people’s security and safety is uncertain and warped ideologies such as ethnic cleansing are promoted. Black Theology should resort to the theological mandate of speaking for the poor and oppressed and promote the sense of the New Testament spirit of communality.

scholarly journals The Reformed tradition as public theology

2013 ◽  
Vol 69 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Vuyani S. Vellem
Keyword(s):  
South African ◽  
21St Century ◽  
Public Theology ◽  
Reformed Tradition ◽  
Black African ◽  
The Public ◽  
African Perspective

This article is a South African perspective of a Black African reflection on the publicity of Reformed faith. Whilst the notion of public theology is fairly new, the article argues, it is important to define the ‘public’ of the type of public theology to which Reformed faith and tradition could be linked. As a confessional tradition, Reformed faith is intrinsically public, the article demonstrates. The publicity of this tradition is however ambivalent and tainted. I attempt to show this by discussing two important tenets of the Reformed Tradition: sola scriptura and sola fide, within the festering wounds of Black African colonialism, apartheid and the hegemony of the neoliberal paradigm in the 21st century.

“To Always Work Somewhat Faster”

Karl Barth ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 100-120
Author(s):  
Christiane Tietz
Keyword(s):  
Economic Situation ◽  
Reformed Theology ◽  
Reformed Tradition ◽  
Academic Challenges ◽  
Christian Religion

Barth’s first commentary on the Epistle to the Romans led to the invitation to become honorary professor for Reformed theology in Göttingen. Barth began his teaching by giving exegetic lectures and lectures on the Reformed tradition to become acquainted with its great texts. He found teaching burdensome and frequently complained to Swiss friends about his inability to master the academic challenges. His lectures on “Instruction in the Christian Religion” became his first attempt to delineate his own dogmatics. Barth quickly developed a good rapport with his students, but the relationships to his colleagues proved to be difficult. He travelled frequently to give lectures throughout Germany, and many interested in his theology visited him in Göttingen. Barth was moved by the tense economic situation in Germany, but troubled by German nationalism.

The questions for post-apartheid South African missiology in the context of the Fourth Industrial Revolution

2020 ◽  
Vol 76 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Eugene Baron
Keyword(s):  
South African ◽  
20Th Century ◽  
Industrial Revolution ◽  
Postcolonial Studies ◽  
Black Theology ◽  
Late 20Th Century ◽  
African Theology ◽  
Fourth Industrial Revolution ◽  
Socratic Questioning ◽  
The World

South African missiology has seen a shift in its praxis since the late 20th century. David J. Bosch made a crucial contribution in this regard. The shift includes mission as a contextualised praxis and agency. In mission studies, agency has become necessary in postcolonial mission, primarily because of the loss of identity of the oppressed in colonised countries. Through contextual theologies of liberation, African theology, Black Theology of Liberation and postcolonial studies, theologians were able to reflect on the human dignity of the colonised. However, there are still significant efforts needed in this quest, and therefore, the praxis cycle used in missiology is useful to also assess effects on the oppressed and marginalised through the emerging context of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR). In the task of doing mission in the world differently, the questions that missiologists ask are important. The emergence of the 4IR aims to merge the biological with the technological and will bring more challenges to mission work in Africa. This will bring upon us the responsibility to reflect on the notion of human agency, the theologies espoused in such a time and missiologists’ contextual lenses and strategies employed. These should have to be carefully considered especially in a post-apartheid context. The researcher will, therefore, use the commonly used praxis cycle in missiological research to explore through a Socratic (questioning) approach what the implications will be for missiologists and mission agents in the quest of transforming church and the post-apartheid society.Contribution: Though there has emerged a few theological contributions from missiology, there has not been a missiological contribution on the 4IR. The author therefore uses one of the theological methods in the discipline to put on the table the imperative questions that those doing missiological research should pose in the context of the 4IR.

scholarly journals Probleme rondom die Bybel in die gereformeerde teologie: besinning vanuit ’n Christelike filosofie

2008 ◽  
Vol 42 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
B. J. Van der Walt
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Church Leaders ◽  
Reformed Theology ◽  
Philosophical Approach ◽  
Philosophical Perspective ◽  
Reformed Tradition ◽  
The Bible ◽  
God's Word ◽  
The Moment ◽  
The Way

Problems with the Bible in reformed theology: reflections from a Christian philosophical perspective The motivation for undertaking this investigation is the present tension in the reformed theology and in the reformed churches in South Africa. In spite of the fact that the reformed tradition confesses the authority of the Bible, theologians and church leaders are at the moment divided on how to view and interpret the Scriptures. They disagree about the message of God’s Word in the case of topical issues, for instance whether women should be allowed in ecclesiastical offices or on what the Bible has to say about homosexuality. The author is of the opinion that these tensions in the same church are caused, not only by different methods of interpreting the Bible but, at a much deeper level, also by the way in which one views the Bible according to different worldviews. In trying to resolve these problems and the resulting conflict of opinion, a Christian philosophical approach will be taken instead of the current theological efforts.

Prayer and Ethics: Reflections on Calvin and Barth

1989 ◽  
Vol 82 (2) ◽  
pp. 169-184
Author(s):  
John Kelsay
Keyword(s):  
Spiritual Exercises ◽  
Reformed Theology ◽  
Reformed Tradition ◽  
Vision Of God ◽  
The Way

Because the title of this article is ambiguous, I will begin by sharpening the issue of the justification of prayer. The point, in the first place, is to see how Calvin and Barth, as Reformed theologians, answer the question, “Why pray?” A second interest emerges in the discussion: prayer provides a case for illustrating the significant differences in the reasoning of Calvin and Barth on matters of ethics. In particular, the case of prayer indicates the way that Calvin's ruledeontology allows an important (albeit circumscribed) role for teleological appeals in the justification of prayer. Barth's act-deonotological theory consistently eschews such appeals. And this fact leads to a third interest of the paper: what are the strengths and weaknesses of the Reformed tradition for discussions of “spirituality” and ethics? If “spirituality” entails, as some would argue, a notion of “spiritual exercises” aimed at the cultivation of certain dispositions/virtues requisite to the vision of God, can Reformed theology have a “spirituality”? I argue that it can, but only if it is possible to preserve the teleological dimensions of Calvin's justification for acts such as prayer, which (as he would have it) is the “chief exercise of faith.”

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document