scholarly journals A travel journal of pastoral involvement in a South African multi-faith community

2006 ◽  
Vol 62 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jan-Albert Van den Berg ◽  
Arnold Smit
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Faith Community ◽  
Faith Communities ◽  
New Horizons ◽  
Travel Journal

In the article the process of navigating through multi-faith communities is described as often being complicated by well-travelled routes that offer no new prospects. Usually these routes merely lead to a further erosion of existing problem areas. The consequences of large transformations in South Africa have led to the discovery that those who were able to place themselves theologically with ease are now seekers with an unknown destination who experience their existence as pilgrimage. From a narrative hermeneutical practical stance the authors developed an experimental theology within which continuous dialogue between text and contexts is presupposed. Certain markers, amongst others “Listening to each other’s stories”; “Confirming each other in the conversation(s”); “A new structure for conversation(s)”; and “Questioning the own position” are indicated for the journey through multi-faith communities, leading to the finding and creating of new horizons of understanding.

scholarly journals Truth and reconciliation in South Africa: Hindu experiences and concerns

2004 ◽  
Vol 60 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
P.G.J. Meiring
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Truth And Reconciliation Commission ◽  
Faith Communities ◽  
The South ◽  
Reconciliation Commission ◽  
Truth And Reconciliation ◽  
Hindu Community ◽  
The Way

The author who served on the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), focuses on the Hindu experience in South Africa during the apartheid years. At a special TRC Hearing for Faith Communities (East London, 17-19 November 1997) two submissions by local Hindu leaders were tabled. Taking his cues from those submissions, the author discusses four issues: the way the Hindu community suffered during these years, the way in which some members of the Hindu community supported the system of apartheid, the role of Hindus in the struggle against apartheid, and finally the contribution of the Hindu community towards reconciliation in South Africa. In conclusion some notes on how Hindus and Christians may work together in th

scholarly journals Faith community as a centre of liberationist praxis in the city

2014 ◽  
Vol 70 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Elina Hankela
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Liberation Theology ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
New South ◽  
Building Blocks ◽  
Faith Community ◽  
Faith Communities ◽  
Prophetic Voice ◽  
The World ◽  
The City

Theologians speak of the silence of churches’ prophetic voice in the ‘new’ South Africa, whilst the country features amongst the socio-economically most unequal countries in the world, and the urban areas in particular continue to be characterised by segregation. In this context I ask: where is liberation theology? I spell out my reading of some of the recent voices in the liberationist discourse. In dialogue with these scholars I, firstly, argue for the faith community to be made a conscious centre of liberationist debates and praxis. Secondly, I do this by suggesting two theoretical building blocks (i.e. critical deconstruction and radical friendship) for local faith communities that wish to grow in a liberationist fashion.

scholarly journals Die invloedsverlies van die kerk as geloofsgemeenskap op Christen adolessente se besluite rondom seksualiteit

2013 ◽  
Vol 47 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mathys J. Bornman
Keyword(s):  
South African ◽  
Participant Observation ◽  
Faith Community ◽  
Faith Communities ◽  
Developmental Phase ◽  
Sexually Active ◽  
Sources Of Information ◽  
Community Of Faith ◽  
Sexual Activities ◽  
The Church

Baie Suid-Afrikaanse adolessente is seksueel aktief, ten spyte van wat hulle geloofsgemeenskap se lering oor seksuele aktiwiteite is. Daar kan nie ’n onderskeid gemaak word tussen die seksuele aktiwiteite van adolessente wat aan ’n geloofsgemeenskap behoort en adolessente wat nie aan ’n geloofsgemeenskap behoort nie. Hierdie studie argumenteer dat die rede vir hierdie tendens die verlies aan invloed is wat die geloofsgemeenskap op die besluitnemingsraamwerk van adolessente het met betrekking tot seksuele aktiwiteite. Deur die gebruik van deelnemerobservasie-navorsing as metodologie het adolessente deelnemers aan hierdie studie die inligtingsbronne wat adolessente oor seksuele aktiwiteite gebruik, geïdentifiseer asook die boodskappe wat hierdie bronne deurgee. Na aanleiding van hierdie data, binne die konteks van reeds bestaande literatuur, word die afleiding gemaak dat die kerk, as ’n geloofsgemeenskap, nie meer ’n invloed het op adolessente se seksuele aktiwiteite en hulle besluite daarrondom nie. Hierdie bevindings word binne die konteks van adolessensie as ontwikkelingsfase asook die ontwikkeling van moraliteit geplaas.The loss of influence of the faith community on Christian adolescents regarding decisions of sexual activities. Many South African adolescents are sexually active, regardless of what their faith communities teach on sexual activity. No distinction can be made between the sexual activities of adolescents who belong to a faith community and adolescents without one. This study argues that this trend prevails because the faith community no longer has an influence on the decision-making framework of adolescents. By using participant observation research as methodology the adolescent participants in this study identified the sources of information about sexual activities that are used by adolescents and also the messages from these sources. Following this argument, within the context of existing literature, the argument is that the church, as community of faith, has no longer an influence on adolescents’ sexual activities and their decisions regarding sex. These findings are placed within the context of adolescence as a developmental phase and the development of morality during this phase.

scholarly journals As we were or seeking what we ought to be? A practical theological rethinking of the communio sanctorum in the light of COVID-19

2021 ◽  
Vol 42 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Alfred R. Brunsdon
Keyword(s):  
South African ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Faith Community ◽  
Faith Communities ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Dutch Reformed ◽  
Church Members ◽  
Congregational Studies ◽  
North West ◽  
Practical Theological

The focus of this article is on a 69 year old Dutch Reformed congregation in Lichtenburg (North West province), South Africa. It reflects on the congregation’s understanding of the communio sanctorum, the practice of which was halted due to COVID-19. Initial responses to the crisis suggested a deep longing for the communio sanctorum and a yearning among inactive church members to reconnect to the faith community. This created an expectation of a large-scale return to public worship once social distancing measures were relaxed. Also that the leadership would pursue opportunities to reconnect inactive church members to the faith community post-COVID. It however transpired that the congregation was merely trying to restore its pre-COVID-19 homeostasis. A brief historical probe of the communio sanctorum is compared with results of a small-scale empirical enquiry into congregants’ perceptions of the communio sanctorum from an insider-perspective. The article argues that the congregation may have missed an opportunity to re-imagine the communio sanctorum due to a reductionist view. It concludes by alluding to a need for a reframing of COVID-19 as a kairos moment with a view on a reorientation towards the meaning of the communio sanctorum.Intradisciplinary and/or interdisciplinary implications: By engaging church’s historical and empirical insights from an insider perspective of a South African congregation within a practical theological framework, the research challenges reductionist views of the communio sanctorum held by faith communities. The resultant view, that the communio sanctorum has both inward and missional meaning, has implications for post-COVID congregational studies and congregational praxeology.

scholarly journals Mixed and Mixing Systems Worldwide: A Preface

2017 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Seán Patrick Donlan
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
The Philippines ◽  
Daily Lives ◽  
New Horizons ◽  
South Africans ◽  
The Third ◽  
The World ◽  
Hebrew University ◽  
Selection Of

 This issue of the Potchefstroom Electronic Law Journal (South Africa) sees the publication of a selection of articles derived from the Third International Congress of the World Society of Mixed Jurisdiction Jurists (WSMJJ). That Congress was held at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel in the summer of 2011. It reflected a thriving Society consolidating its core scholarship on classical mixed jurisdictions (Israel, Louisiana, the Philippines, Puerto Rico, Quebec, Scotland, and South Africa) while reaching to new horizons (including Cyprus, Hong Kong and Macau, Malta, Nepal, etc). This publication reflects in microcosm the complexity of contemporary scholarship on mixed and plural legal systems. This complexity is, of course, well-understood by South African jurists whose system is derived both from the dominant European traditions as well as from African customary systems, including both those that make up part of the official law of the state as well as those non-state norms that continue to be important in the daily lives of many South Africans.

scholarly journals Faith communities, social exclusion, homelessness and disability: Transforming the margins in the City of Tshwane

2015 ◽  
Vol 71 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Thinandavha D. Mashau ◽  
Leomile Mangoedi
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Social Exclusion ◽  
Social Economic ◽  
Homeless People ◽  
Bible Study ◽  
Faith Community ◽  
Faith Communities ◽  
Religious Perspective ◽  
Religious Dimensions ◽  
The City

Social exclusion is a reality in South Africa today. Its faces are diverse and varied; social exclusion can be defined in terms of social, economic, political and religious dimensions. This diversity also applies to the context of homelessness in the City of Tshwane. The research on which this article is based sought to explore the issue of social exclusion from a religious perspective; it looked closely at how social exclusion manifests from a religious perspective in the context of homelessness and disability in the City of Tshwane. The thrust of this article is captured in the following question: how do homeless people and persons with disability experience social exclusion from faith communities? What do they say about the role that faith communities should play in addressing their marginalisation? These questions were answered by doing Contextual Bible Study of Acts 3:1–10 with the homeless in the City of Tshwane, thereby allowing them space for their voices to be heard as to how the faith community should respond to their plight. It became clear in this research that faith communities should always act as transforming agents to those in the margins.

The Relationship Between Christian Metanarratives and Authoritative Scriptures in South African Society

2019 ◽  
Vol 26 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 72-83
Author(s):  
Marius J. Nel
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Faith Community ◽  
Dutch Reformed ◽  
Complex Relationship ◽  
African Society ◽  
South African Society ◽  
Reformed Church ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Dutch Reformed Church

Abstract In studying the interaction between the three monotheistic religions in South Africa it is important to note that each of them functions as a metanarrative in that they all attempt to provide a more-or-less coherent perspective on reality. The different, but also overlapping, metanarratives of Islam, Judaism and Christianity furthermore each has a complex relationship with their respective authoritative Scriptures, communities of faith, contemporary societies and each other. It is therefore necessary to investigate the manner in which each religion’s metanarrative functions within the spheres of the academy, faith community and broader society. This contribution describes one of the projects of the envisioned Centre for the Interpretation of Authoritative Scriptures (CIAS) that is in the process of being established at Stellenbosch University. The focus of this project will be on the relationship between the metanarrative contained in the Christian canon, a specific faith community (the Dutch Reformed Church) within South African society in the period 2009–2019.

scholarly journals Prophetic dialogue: The quest for religious leaders seeking reconciliation in the aftermath of the transition in South Africa?

2017 ◽  
Vol 38 (3) ◽  
pp. 51-66
Author(s):  
Christo H. Thesnaar
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Faith Communities ◽  
Religious Leaders ◽  
South African Context ◽  
National Unity ◽  
African Context ◽  
A Priority

The TRC re-enactment consultation18 afforded the opportunity to reflect on the leadership of religious leaders during the apartheid era, and in the years that followed. This chapter is particularly interested in the prophetic leadership provided by religious leaders during apartheid, and 20 years following the transition by engaging with some normative thoughts on prophetic dialogue. The findings on the leadership provided during the post-TRC are reflected upon in terms of reconciliation through the hermeneutical lens of the Belgian scholar Valarie Rosoux. Hereby, this chapter seeked to contribute to reconciliation and national unity in the current South African context with some strategic conclusions to ensure that the process of reconciliation becomes a priority for all faith communities across the nation.

scholarly journals Truth and Reconciliation in South Africa: the role of the faith communities

2005 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 146-173 ◽  
Author(s):  
P G J Meiring
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Nation Building ◽  
Democratic Society ◽  
Truth And Reconciliation Commission ◽  
Faith Communities ◽  
Reconciliation Commission ◽  
Truth And Reconciliation ◽  
The Past

Ten years after the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission commenced with its work (1995), the author – using the statements made by representatives of the different faith communities in South Africa – analyses the role the communities played in the past: as agents of oppression, as victims of apartheid, as opponents of apartheid, as well as their role in the country’s transition to a new democratic society. Finally, the contribution of the faith communities in the process of reconciliation and nation building is discussed.

Reframing Xenophobia in South Africa as Colour-Blind: The Limits of the Afro Phobia Thesis

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 433-444
Author(s):  
Amanuel Isak Tewolde
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Analytical Framework ◽  
Conflict Theory ◽  
Black African ◽  
South Africans ◽  
Theoretical Perspectives ◽  
Online Newspaper ◽  
Close Proximity ◽  
Realistic Conflict Theory

Many scholars and South African politicians characterize the widespread anti-foreigner sentiment and violence in South Africa as dislike against migrants and refugees of African origin which they named ‘Afro-phobia’. Drawing on online newspaper reports and academic sources, this paper rejects the Afro-phobia thesis and argues that other non-African migrants such as Asians (Pakistanis, Indians, Bangladeshis and Chinese) are also on the receiving end of xenophobia in post-apartheid South Africa. I contend that any ‘outsider’ (White, Asian or Black African) who lives and trades in South African townships and informal settlements is scapegoated and attacked. I term this phenomenon ‘colour-blind xenophobia’. By proposing this analytical framework and integrating two theoretical perspectives — proximity-based ‘Realistic Conflict Theory (RCT)’ and Neocosmos’ exclusivist citizenship model — I contend that xenophobia in South Africa targets those who are in close proximity to disadvantaged Black South Africans and who are deemed outsiders (e.g., Asian, African even White residents and traders) and reject arguments that describe xenophobia in South Africa as targeting Black African refugees and migrants.

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