scholarly journals Black theology in South Africa – A theology of human dignity and black identity

2016 ◽  
Vol 72 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Timothy Van Aarde
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Liberation Theology ◽  
Human Dignity ◽  
Black People ◽  
Black Identity ◽  
Black Theology ◽  
Power Structures ◽  
American Black ◽  
Economic Imbalances ◽  
Apartheid Regime

Black theology in South Africa is still relevant 20 years after the apartheid regime ended. It is a theology that gave to Black South Africans human dignity and a black identity. Black theology in South Africa confronted the imbalances of power and abusive power structures through an affirmation of human dignity and the uniqueness of the identity of black people. The biblical narrative of the Exodus is a definitive narrative in American black theology and liberation theology in overcoming oppression understood as political victimisation. Black theology in South Africa is not primarily about power and economics but also about the rediscovery of human dignity and black identity and to a lesser extent about victimisation. A third generation of black theology in South Africa will gain impetus through a rediscovery of human dignity and identity as its core values instead of a Black American liberation theology of victimisation or a Marxist liberation theology of the eradication of all power or economic imbalances.

scholarly journals Moltmann’s theology in dialogue with liberation theologians revives the role of Black Theology in democratic South Africa

2021 ◽  
Vol 77 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kelebogile T. Resane
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Human Rights ◽  
Liberation Theology ◽  
Black Theology ◽  
Theological Method ◽  
God Concept ◽  
Human Rights Abuses ◽  
Economic Imbalances ◽  
Theological Understanding

The theme for Liberation Theology has always been about concerns for the marginalised masses and socio-political liberation for the economically disadvantaged. Its mandate is to seek to guide towards the discovery of being human without references to historical divisions between the haves and have-nots created by socio-economic imbalances promoted by political regimes. Moltmann’s content of theology, its revision, its innovation rather than the theological method has marked his restless imagination. His method of exploration in doing theology has brought him into dialogue with philosophers and theologians of different persuasions. In this study, he is evaluated in his dialogue with the liberation theologians. The focus is on Moltmann’s theological approach to ecumenism, built around the Kingdom of God concept, and ecclesiastical analysis and political theology. These three areas are the transitional arguments on how Moltmann enters into dialogue with the liberation theologians. The argument moves on to point how Liberation Theology has exerted itself as Black Theology in South Africa during the apartheid time. Black Theology is a theology of liberation because of its resistance and endeavours of eradication of all forms of oppressive systems. The two injustices (socio-cultural misnomers) in the democratic South Africa are discussed as a calling for Black Theology’s voice. These are corruption and human rights abuses. Black Theology brings religion into the secular world as a way of aborting all forms of discrimination based on race, sex and economic class.Contribution: Black Theology is invited to revisit Moltmann’s ecumenical, ecclesiastical and political theological understanding, as a way of reviving itself back to the centre stage of prophetic role within the corrupt and human rights and dignity abuse society.

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 The colonial matrix of power: Image ontology and the question of blackness

2021 ◽  
Vol 77 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Itumeleng D. Mothoagae
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
South Africa ◽  
United States Of America ◽  
Black People ◽  
World Order ◽  
The United States ◽  
Global South ◽  
Black Theology ◽  
The Social ◽  
The World

The question of blackness has always featured the intersectionality of race, gender, sexuality and class. Blackness as an ontological speciality has been engaged from both the social and epistemic locations of the damnés (in Fanonian terms). It has thus sought to respond to the performance of power within the world order that is structured within the colonial matrix of power, which has ontologically, epistemologically, spatially and existentially rendered blackness accessible to whiteness, while whiteness remains inaccessible to blackness. The article locates the question of blackness from the perspective of the Global South in the context of South Africa. Though there are elements of progress in terms of the conditions of certain Black people, it would be short-sighted to argue that such conditions in themselves indicate that the struggles of blackness are over. The essay seeks to address a critique by Anderson (1995) against Black theology in the context of the United States of America (US). The argument is that the question of blackness cannot and should not be provincialised. To understand how the colonial matrix of power is performed, it should start with the local and be linked with the global to engage critically the colonial matrix of power that is performed within a system of coloniality. Decoloniality is employed in this article as an analytical tool.Contribution: The article contributes to the discourse on blackness within Black theology scholarship. It aims to contribute to the continual debates on the excavating and levelling of the epistemological voices that have been suppressed through colonial epistemological universalisation of knowledge from the perspective of the damnés.

HOSPITALIDADE E ANTROPOLOGIA NA áFRICA DO SUL CONTEMPORá‚NEA

2015 ◽  
Vol 12 (19) ◽  
Author(s):  
ANTONáDIA BORGES
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
South Africa ◽  
Black People ◽  
Palabras Clave ◽  
Apartheid Regime

Na áfrica do Sul contemporá¢nea, a circulação de pessoas negras entre muitas casas é não raramente entendida como um traço atávico, ao qual não se deve dar maior atenção. Um paradoxo, no entanto, se estabelece, a despeito dos efeitos do colonialismo e sobretudo do regime do apartheid. Sobre a mobilidade, as ciências sociais, e mais especialmente a antropologia, construá­ram análises, mesmo que com fins heurá­sticos, que versavam sobre agrupamentos isolados. Em nossa experiência de pesquisa, no entanto, a circulação de pessoas ”“ vivas e mortas ”“ entre as diversas casas não obedece a um fluxo meramente imposto pelos governos autoritários e pelo capital. Andar, acolher e ser recebido constituem experiências fundantes da construção de si; sendo o seu oposto a intolerá¢ncia e a segregação. Palavras-chave: áfrica do Sul. Etnografia. Hospitalidade.  HOSPITALITY AND ANTHROPOLOGY IN CONTEMPORARY SOUTH AFRICA Abstract: In contemporary South Africa the movement of black people within many homes is not rarely understood as an atavistic trait, to which should not be given more attention. However, despite the non-negligible effects of colonialism and especially the apartheid regime on mobility, social sciences, and more particularly anthropology, have built analyses with heuristic purposes that focused on isolated groups. In our ethnographic experience, the moving of people - living and dead - among the various homes has not been led only by a flow imposed by authoritarian governments and the capital. Wandering, hosting and being a guest are foundational experiences of person transformation, being intolerance and segregation its opposite.Keywords: South Africa. Ethnography. Hospitality.  HOSPITALIDAD Y ANTROPOLOGáA EN áFRICA DEL SUR CONTEMPORáNEA.Resumen: En áfrica del Sur contemporánea, la circulación de personas negras entre muchas casa no es raramente comprendido como un rasgo atávico, que no se debe dar atención. Sin embargo, un paradojo se establece, a pesar de los efectos del colonialismo y sobretodo del régimen del apartheid sobre la movilidad, las ciencias sociales, y más especialmente la antropologá­a, fueron construidos análisis, aunque con fines heurá­sticos, que versaban sobre agrupamientos alejados. Investigamos que la circulación de personas vivas o muertas, entre las diversas casas, no obedecen a un flujo impuesto por los gobiernos autoritarios y por el capital. Caminar, recibir y ser recibido constituye experiencias de la construcción de si, considerando la existencia de su opuesto a intolerancia y a la segregación. Palabras clave: áfrica del Sur. Etnografia. Hospitalidad.  

scholarly journals Twenty-fifth Anniversary of Church Unity between former DRMC and DRCA, 1994

2019 ◽  
Vol 45 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Selaelo Thias Kgatla
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Civil War ◽  
Black People ◽  
Social Economic ◽  
Dutch Reformed ◽  
Reformed Church ◽  
Church Unity ◽  
Religious Dimensions ◽  
Mission Church ◽  
Apartheid Regime

T Church unity between the former Dutch Reformed Mission Church (DRMC) and the Dutch Reformed Church in Africa (DRCA) took place in 1994 under particularly difficult circumstances. South Africa was on the brink of civil war, as the oppressed majority of the country was pressurising the apartheid regime to surrender to their legitimate demands for a democratic dispensation. The regime was relentless and violently resisted any change that would franchise black people. The struggle involved political, social, economic and religious dimensions and many people lost their lives as a result. It was under these circumstances that the DRMC and the DRCA forged ahead with church unity. The most enabling means for survival in the struggle for unity of the two churches was their faith in God as expressed in the Belhar Confession. This article explores the circumstances under which church unification was forged between the two Reformed churches and their eventual unity in 1994, as well as the concrete steps they took in their ritual of unification.

scholarly journals The idolatry of white supremacy in church and society? Some reflections on Black Theology of Liberation in present-day South Africa in memoriam of Vuyani Vellem

2020 ◽  
Vol 76 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Rothney S. Tshaka
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Black People ◽  
White Supremacy ◽  
Black Theology ◽  
Social Sciences And Humanities ◽  
Church And Society ◽  
History Of ◽  
Black Life ◽  
Scholarly Contribution ◽  
Theology Of Liberation

In remembering Vuyani Vellem, this paper delves into his scholarship, a scholarship that admittedly exudes his activism in academia, church and society. Choosing intentionally the marginalised as the primary interlocutors in discourse, Vellem demonstrates that he is situated in the arena of those who are otherwise seen as the wretched of the earth, insisting that Black Theology of Liberation must engage in a praxis that centres the lived experiences of black people and creates for itself legacies that would attest to Black Theology of Liberation as a formidable hermeneutic that recognises the sanctity of black life in a context of the prevalence of white supremacy. It notes however that a history of colonisation and subjugation has wrecked the humanity of black people, and as a result, a contract with black people becomes essential on this path towards the total emancipation of black people in South Africa and the world.Contribution: The scholarly contribution of this article is its focus on the systematic and practical reflection, within a paradigm in which the intersection of religious studies, social sciences and humanities generate an interdisciplinary contested discourse.

scholarly journals Sort etik med transkontekstuel inspiration

2018 ◽  
Vol 76 (3) ◽  
pp. 21-39
Author(s):  
Carsten Elmelund Petersen
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Liberation Theology ◽  
Black People ◽  
Martin Luther ◽  
Malcolm X ◽  
Black Consciousness ◽  
Black Liberation ◽  
Black Liberation Theology ◽  
Martin Luther King

Allan Boesak developed a black liberation theology in SouthAfrica in the time of apartheid. He was studying the thinking of four afro-americans in USA, Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, Albert Cleage,and James Cone. Boesak does not argue that his ethics is universal, becausethe validity of his black ethics is only in the contexts where thereis oppression. Black ethics is contextual, Boesak says. But this articleargues that according to Boesak, ethics has validity in all the contextswhere there is oppression. The liberation ethic is, therefore, transcontextual.Another foundational element in Boesaks ethics is “the Black”:It is the black consciousness that gives black people a sense of belongingwhen they are oppressed. The Black consciousness is transcontextual.He uses the inspiration from USA, which is his original context, intothe South Africa apartheid situation, the application context.

scholarly journals Black theology versus black spirituality and black faith: The centrality of spirituality and faith in black theology of liberation in the South African context

2021 ◽  
Vol 77 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Olehile A. Buffel
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
South Africa ◽  
Liberation Theology ◽  
United States Of America ◽  
The United States ◽  
Black Theology ◽  
Spiritual Journey ◽  
Black Liberation ◽  
The Poor ◽  
Theology Of Liberation

Black theology, which is linked to black power in the context of the United States of America and black consciousness in the context of South Africa is often regarded as having nothing to do with spirituality, faith and salvation. It is often regarded by critics as radical, militant and political. In some circles its theological character is questioned. Advocates of liberation theology, past and present are accused of mixing religion with politics. The article traces the history of black theology, as part of liberation theology, which started in the 1960s in three contexts, namely Latin America, United States of America and South Africa. The article argues that spirituality, faith and salvation are central to black theology of liberation. The critical theological reflection that black theology of liberation is all about happens in the context of the spiritual journey of the poor believer and oppressed.Contribution: The contribution that this article makes is to serve as a corrective discourse that rebuts the mistaken accusation that black liberation theology has nothing to do with spirituality and faith. The article makes a direct link between spirituality and faith on the one hand and on the other hand liberating Christian praxis of the poor in their spiritual journey, in the context of South Africans as they struggle to liberate themselves amid poverty, service delivery struggles and COVID-19 and its implications.

scholarly journals Prophetic Theology in Black Theology, with special reference to the Kairos document

2010 ◽  
Vol 66 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Vuyani S. Vellem
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Liberation Theology ◽  
Black Theology ◽  
Community Based ◽  
The Poor ◽  
Prophetic Vision ◽  
Political Praxis ◽  
Alternative Community ◽  
Best Responses ◽  
Theology Of Liberation

The ‘Protest’ and ‘Confessing’ Models in the streams of Black Theology of liberation provide a creative link between the Prophetic Theology in the Kairos document (KD) and the Black Theology of liberation. Launched in a distinct moment of history – an ‘opportune moment’ – the KD propagated the best responses among some and the worst among others as a rapturous critique of State and Church theologies. In this article, I argued that the KD, which remains a version of liberation theology par excellence, offers a methodology that is still appropriate to our democratisation processes in South Africa. The KD is the product of a theology that did not only expand the contours of traditional theology, but also understood confession as a political praxis. Thus, the interest of the poor should still mitigate forth-telling in our democratic vision in dialogue inspired by the alluring prophetic vision of an alternative community based on the principles of the reign of God.

scholarly journals DEMOCRACY AND POLITICAL GOVERNANCE IN SOUTH AFRICA: TWO DECADES AFTER APARTHEID

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mpfariseni Budeli
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Human Rights ◽  
Black People ◽  
South Africans ◽  
The Road ◽  
The Government ◽  
On The Road ◽  
Apartheid Regime ◽  
Democratic Elections ◽  
Political Governance

South Africa was under the apartheid rule for around fifty years. Apartheid was formally established by the National Party when it came to power in 1948. In terms of the apartheid policy, the government belonged to the White people who enjoyed all human rights and were entitled to rule the country to the detriment of the Black people despite the latter constituting the overwhelming majority of the population. The apartheid regime eventually came to an end in the early 1990s. Following the ending of the dictatorial regime, a new Constitution was adopted and the first democratic elections were held in South Africa. [T]his paper reflects on the road that South Africans have gone from Apartheid to democracy and good political governance, on what they have achieved as well as the challenges and prospects for democratic governance in the country. Keywords: South Africa; apartheid; Constitution; governance; democracy and human rights.

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