scholarly journals The historical understanding of the Old Testament in South Africa: Colenso, Le Roux and beyond

2013 ◽  
Vol 34 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Hendrik L. Bosman
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
20Th Century ◽  
Old Testament ◽  
Historical Context ◽  
Historical Understanding ◽  
Scientific Methods ◽  
Social Scientific ◽  
Methodological Principles ◽  
Annales School

Isaiah Berlin quoted Archilochus to distinguish between two styles of academic reasoning that, to some extent, summarises the transition of historiography from Modernism to Postmodernism: �The fox knows many things but the hedgehog knows one big thing.� The modernistic master narratives of the first half of the 20th century (quests for the �centre of the Old Testament� etc.) were in obvious decline during the second half of the 20th century and, triggered by the Annales school of historiography social scientific methods, were incorporated into the study of ancient Israel. Historiography became less of an art that depended on an informed imagination and more like a science that presupposed empirical or social scientific research and a multidisciplinary approach to describe and explain the past. Against this backdrop, the historical understanding of the Old Testament in South Africa was discussed, starting with one of its oldest exponents, Bishop J.W. Colenso (disproving the chronological priority of the �E source�, rejecting the �truth proving� function of archaeology and interpreting biblical texts within the historical context of its writing), and concluding with the current chair of the Old Testament Society of South Africa, Prof J.H. le Roux (influenced by Old Testament scholars such as G. von Rad and E. Otto and historiographers such as E. Troeltsch and R.G. Collingwood). The methodological principles of historiography suggested by Troeltsch (criticism, analogy and correlation) were adapted to describe and explain some trends in South African Old Testament historiography that go beyond a superficial division between maximalists and minimalists.

scholarly journals Resente Matteusnavorsing in Suid-Afrika

1994 ◽  
Vol 50 (1/2) ◽  
Author(s):  
H. J.B. Combrink
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Literary Criticism ◽  
South African ◽  
Large Degree ◽  
Sermon On The Mount ◽  
The New Testament ◽  
Recent Developments ◽  
African Context ◽  
Social Scientific ◽  
Specific Contribution

Recent Matthean-research in South Africa This article deals with recent developments in Matthean research, mostly by members of the New Testament Society of South Africa. Initially, research on Matthew was influenced to a large degree by discourse analysis. Literary criticism and narratology also made an impact on this research, as well as speech-act theory, pragmatics and rhetoric. Social-scientific criticism also played a role, and the Sermon on the Mount has also been read as littérature engagée. Recently, the specific contribution of Matthew to the subjects of Theology and Ethics has also received attention. A growing sensitivity to the South African and the broader African context is also currently being seen..

scholarly journals South African Presbyterian women in leadership in ministry (1973–2018)

2019 ◽  
Vol 75 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Graham A. Duncan
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
20Th Century ◽  
Southern Africa ◽  
Women In Leadership ◽  
Primary Sources ◽  
Historical Overview ◽  
Presbyterian Church ◽  
General Acceptance ◽  
Ordination Of Women

The issue of women in the ministry has been a vexed one historically. In many denominations, the ordination of women has been represented by some form of struggle, which culminated in the first ordinations of women during the second half of the 20th century. This article investigates the process towards the ordination of women in two Southern African Presbyterian denominations – the Bantu Presbyterian Church of South Africa (renamed the ‘Reformed Presbyterian Church in Southern Africa’ in 1979) and the Presbyterian Church of South Africa (renamed the ‘Presbyterian Church of Southern Africa’ in 1958), prior to their union in 1999 to form the Uniting Presbyterian Church in Southern Africa. This article focusses on women in leadership in ministry, not exclusively on women ordained to the ministry of ruling or teaching elder (minister). It begins with an historical overview and proceeds to an investigation of developments in the two relevant denominations. The terms ‘leadership’ and ‘ministry’ are used separately and together and are considered to be synonymous. The article uses primary sources from the records of both denominations considered and suggests that the process was gradual and progressive as the worth of women in leadership was recognised following the general acceptance of the biblical and theological arguments.

“Experience that Generates Experience”: The Influence of the Comedy in three South African Writings

2021 ◽  
pp. 131-142
Author(s):  
Marco Medugno
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Comparative Analysis ◽  
Creative Writing ◽  
South African ◽  
Historical Context ◽  
Divine Comedy ◽  
The South ◽  
Literary Context ◽  
Divine Justice

This article aims to explore the intertextual relationships between Dante’s Divine Comedy and three pieces of creative writing: Chariklia Martalas’ “A Mad Flight into Inferno Once Again”, Thalén Rogers’ “The Loadstone” and Helena van Urk’s “The Storm”. By employing a comparative analysis, I argue that, even though decontextualised, the Comedy still represents a fruitful aesthetic source for representing particularly war-torn and violent contexts such as South Africa during apartheid and colonialism. I explore how the authors, through intertextual references and parodic rewriting, both re-configure the poem and challenge some of the Comedy’s moral assumptions and the idea of (divine) justice. I aim to show how Dantean Hell, far from being an otherworldly realm, is in fact transfigured and adapted to effectively represent (and make sense of) a historical context. In other words, through an intertextual analysis, this analysis tries to understand why and how the Comedy resonates with the South African socio-political (and literary) context.

PALESTINE, APARTHEID, AND THE RIGHTS DISCOURSE

2004 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 68-80 ◽  
Author(s):  
Raef Zreik
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Historical Context ◽  
The South ◽  
Occupied Territories ◽  
Rights Discourse ◽  
Apartheid Regime ◽  
Main Components

Since the fall of the apartheid regime in South Africa, the oft-made analogy between the South African and Israeli cases has been extended to suggest the applicability to the Palestinian quest for justice through the rights discourse, arguably the most effective mobilizing tool in the anti-apartheid struggle. This essay explores the suitability of the rights approach by examining the South Africa––Israel analogy itself and the relevance of the anti-apartheid model to the three main components of the Palestinian situation: the refugees, the Palestinians of the occupied territories, and the Palestinian citizens of Israel. It concludes that while the rights discourse has many advantages, it cannot by its very nature——the focus on law at the expense of historical context——address the complexity of the Palestinian problem.

scholarly journals The centenary of Assemblies of God in South Africa: Historical reflections on theological education and ministry formation

2018 ◽  
Vol 74 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kelebogile T. Resane
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
20Th Century ◽  
Church Planting ◽  
Historical Development ◽  
Theological Education ◽  
Assemblies Of God ◽  
Pentecostal Movement ◽  
The Bible ◽  
Ministry Formation

The Assemblies of God (AOG) celebrates its centenary in 2017. The paper aims to show the historical development of theological education and ministerial training and formation in this denomination. It starts by showing how internationally AOG embraced the Bible Institute movement as a way of evangelism, church planting and growth from the early decades of the 20th century after the birth of the Pentecostal Movement. Then there is a South African scenario, lamenting the de-emphasis of the importance of theological education, though there was emphasis on evangelism and missional endeavours on the grassroots. The research unfolds the development of institutions from 1949 to the present. All in all, 10 institutions are identified and briefly explained, some of them with their demise. The article concludes by historical reflections on what was taught and identifies the gaps by suggesting that the Pentecostal curriculum should be relevant to the context of Africa by embracing inclusivity: Hidden Curriculum, Gender Studies, Inculturation and Liberation ideals and renaissance of pneumatology.

scholarly journals MARIKANA, A PAST NEVER TRULY ESCAPED: A CRITIQUE ON THE COMMODIFICATION OF THE LEGAL SYSTEM AND THE LAW AS AN INSTRUMENT OF JUSTICE IN POST-APARTHEID SOUTH AFRICA

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vaughn Rajah
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Legal System ◽  
Historical Context ◽  
African Society ◽  
The Rule Of Law ◽  
South African Society ◽  
South Africans ◽  
Black South Africans ◽  
History Of

This article demonstrates that the Marikana tragedy was not a departure from the norm, but a continuation of state and corporate behaviour that has oppressed black South Africans for hundreds of years. This will be done through an analysis of the historically discriminatory socio-economic patterns of South African society, and how they subjugate the poor by limiting their access to legal and physical protection. These trends portray a history of commodification of the legal system. I discuss a notable documentary on the massacre, Miners Shot Down, and examine its depiction of the causes and effects of the events. The film provides no mention of the historical context of the killings, nor does it comment on many of the factors contributing to the massacre. Despite this, it succeeded in bringing the events to the attention of the broader public. I analyse the notions of justice, the rule of law and their application in South Africa as well as norms in the nation’s legal culture. Additionally, I examine the Farlam Commission, and how its procedures and conclusions hindered the course of justice in the context of our democracy. Ultimately, I demonstrate how the Marikana massacre was not a change in dynamic, but a reminder of a past we have never truly escaped.

Violences in the South African Student Movement

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Buhle Khanyile
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Lived Experiences ◽  
Historical Context ◽  
Student Movement ◽  
Student Experiences ◽  
African Student ◽  
Qualitative Exploration ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Current Experience

This essay draws attention to the complexities of understanding violence as a phenomenon and experience that almost always involves multiple parties, and contestations about violence itself and its use. It does so as both a theoretical and qualitative exploration of the concept and its lived experiences. The essay begins by puzzling over the intelligibility of violence and its definitional issues. Drawing on disciplinary approaches to violence (e.g., biological, sociological and political) as well as violence as spectacle, symbolic, embodied, systemic or implicit, it shows how violence has been and is mobilized to bring attention to sociopolitical and economic challenges currently and historically. Next it examines student experiences of violence during the recent student movement events in South Africa, and locates this event within the historical context of South Africa’s past and current experience of violence. Ultimately, the essay attempts to offer a way of thinking about violence less as an aberration to our peaceful existence but rather argues that violence might shape our very existence. It concludes by offering “existential violence” as a concept to help think through the relationship between existence and violence in a more nuanced way.

Albinia Catherine de la Mare 1932–2001

2007 ◽  
Author(s):  
JONATHAN J. G. ALEXANDER
Keyword(s):  
20Th Century ◽  
Historical Context ◽  
15Th Century ◽  
Methodological Principles

Albinia de la Mare was one of the outstanding palaeographers of the 20th century. Just as E. A. Lowe in his Codices Latini Antiquiores mapped the earliest surviving Latin manuscripts, and Bernhard Bischoff classified by date and origin the Carolingian manuscripts, she undertook the task of tracing the careers of the hundreds of scribes writing the newly introduced humanistic script in Italy in the 15th century. The tasks were different in many specific ways, but the methodological principles were largely the same. They consisted in training the memory to recognise the characteristics of script, what palaeographers call the ductus, and combining that expertise with a thorough knowledge of the texts which were being transcribed, of the patrons for whom the manuscripts were written, and of the broader cultural and historical context.

Theatre as Inclusive Arts-based Research: A Key to Political Art in the Post-democracy?

2021 ◽  
pp. 65-86
Author(s):  
Petro Janse van Vuuren ◽  
Bjørn Rasmussen
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Social Life ◽  
Historical Context ◽  
Political Art ◽  
Arts Based Research ◽  
Inclusive Practice ◽  
The Arts ◽  
Applied Theatre ◽  
Artistic Research

In this chapter we investigate different approaches to art as research (arts-based) in relation to applied theatre practice and research from a cultural democratic perspective. In particular, we discuss theatre as “inclusive” practice and research and how this relates to different traditions of arts-based research. Based on literature analyses and experiences from Centres of Applied Theatre Research in South Africa and Norway, we unveil some different and dominant traditions of arts-based research that are currently voiced and familiar in Norway and South Africa. We explore four notions of exclusiveness within European notions of “artistic research”: The alternative epistemology, Knowing for the sake of the arts only, The limited artistic context, and Only qualified artists do artistic research. Seen from a different cultural angle, the South African, we find that tendencies of exclusiveness are challenged by different notions of inclusiveness: The role of the arts and its embeddedness in social life, Inter disciplinarity, The extended political and historical context, Embracing intersectionality. As answers to potential accusations of applied theatre art running errands for the liberalist post-democracy, this chapter discusses inclusive arts-based research as a form of cultural praxis that may negotiate paradoxes of post-democracy

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