Unstructural Analysis of the Bible Reinforcing Unstructural Analysis of African Contexts in (South) Africa (original) (raw)
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Black Theology and the struggle for economic justice in the democratic South Africa
2015
The study asserts that it is the requisite ethical and intellectual duty of the church to speak against the current economic injustices which exclude the majority of black people who constituted the majority of the poor, marginalized and landless in South Africa, a situation which in soteriology and Christology, contradicts the mission of Christ as expressed in (Luke 4:18-19). This study therefore concludes by asserting that, numerous criteria to facilitate economic justice is relevant in South Africa in order to promote economic justice and the wellbeing of majority of South Africans, who remain poor, marginalised and disillusioned. The alternative envisaged include, but are not limited to some of the following: fair and equitable distribution of land, and or land rights usage for and by individuals, the development of macroeconomic policies which balance humanistic economic principles with social justice and human rights cultures, as well as the promotion of sustainable ecologies. 1.2 Introduction This research into Black Theology grapples with the struggle for economic justice in the democratic South Africa. It reflects on the history of the struggle for economic justice 3 from the era of colonialism 4 , imperialism 5 , apartheid 6 and in neoliberal 7 3 The definition of economic justice utilised in this study is informed by the Accra Confession, the Economic Justice for All produced by the SACBC in response to GEAR, and writings of Black intellectuals and critical scholars who are in solidarity with the poor and oppressed races. Economic justice is a matter of faith. The Accra Confession states that "economic justice is essential to the integrity of our faith in God and our discipleship as Christians… therefore, we reject the current world economic order imposed by global neoliberal capitalism and any other economic system, including absolute planned economies, which defy God's covenant by excluding the poor, the vulnerable and the whole of creation from the fullness of life". (2008:1) (http://www.oikotree.org/wp-content/uploads/accra-confession.pdf) (10 Oct 2014) 4 Maldonado-Torres argues that "Colonialism denotes a political and economic relation in which the sovereignty of a nation or a people rests on the power of another nation, which makes such nation or a people rests on the power of another nation, which makes such nation an empire" (2007:234). We must be reminded that colonialism was not only a political and economic imposition, but also a cultural and religious imposition. The problem of colonialism is still prevalent though not in legal juridical terms but through its legacy in postcolonial society thus limiting prospects for genuine transformation and land restitution in post-apartheid and post-colonial Africa. 5 Imperialism the military, political, cultural and economic domination of another country by Western imperialist countries reduced countries in the Southern Hemisphere to catastrophic socioeconomic crises particularly in Africa to poverty, hunger, chronic diseases and extreme socio-political crisis is still prevalent though not militarily but though the exploitation of African minerals, resources and her economies. In South African context the sad and cruel history of imperialism led to the loss of the land, minerals and undermining African religion and culture through this unjust system of death. 6 Apartheid is a structural sin, a heresy and intrinsic evil based on racism as an "ideology of racial domination that incorporates beliefs in cultural or inherent biological inferiority of a particular ethnos" (Boesak 1984:111). It is a distorted and skewed system founded on false biblical premises that had negative effects on blacks physically, psychologically, politically and with terrible economic consequences. Apartheid is understood in this study as the great grandchild of colonialism and imperialism, which led to the problem of racial domination, land conquest, economic injustice. It legalised racial segregation and entrench systemic violence against blacks and gave a biblical justification of segregation of races.
Editorial: Christianity and the Transformation of Tradition in South Africa
Journal of Theology for Southern Africa, 2011
Christianity has a plural and ambiguous history in South Africa. It came with the first settlers and served as a mark to distinguish them from indigenous Africans. It came with missionaries empowered by colonialist ideology operating with a sense of call to spread the Gospel. But as Africans heard the message transplanted or translated, they appropriated it to their own situation, freely transforming the terms in which Christianity had been understood by Europeans.
Christianity and the Transformation of Tradition in South Africa
Christianity has a plural and ambiguous history in South Africa. It came with the first settlers and served as a mark to distinguish them from indigenous Africans. It came with missionaries empowered by colonialist ideology operating with a sense of call to spread the Gospel. But as Africans heard the message transplanted or translated, they appropriated it to their own situation, freely transforming the terms in which Christianity had been understood by Europeans.
The Relevance of Black Theology in Post Aparthied South Africa
Black theology became popular in South Africa in the late 1960s and early 1970s as a result of the contradictions of White oppression that spanned over three centuries. The height of White oppression of Blacks and other races in that country was the formal legalization of apartheid in 1948. The Black theology movement played a significant role in the collapse of apartheid and the introduction of democracy in 1994.
The relevance of Black theology in post-apartheid South Africa
2013
Black theology became popular in South Africa in the late 1960s and early 1970s as a result of the contradictions of White oppression that spanned over three centuries. The height of white oppression of Blacks and other races in that country was the formal legalization of apartheid in 1948. The Black theology movement played a significant role in the collapse of apartheid and the introduction of democracy in 1994. Following the demise of apartheid, scholars like Charles Villa-Vicencio, Valpy Fitzgerald, and Jesse Mugambi have argued that Black theology is no longer relevant in South Africa. They contend that it should be replaced with the theology of reconstruction. The predominant question from the foregoing is whether Black theology is still relevant in the transformation of South Africa or not. This paper proposes that Black theology is still relevant in the sense that most of the problems that stimulated its emergence —racialism, poverty, and cultural imperialism still exist in ...
2017
Madipoane Masenya and Hulisani Ramantswana (2012:598-637) have argued that 18 years into the democratic dispensation, South African Old Testament scholarship is still trapped in Eurocentric methods of interpreting the biblical text, deliberately avoiding any meaningful dialogue with the African context. Accordingly, this article examines the role of African Biblical Hermeneutics in the current South African context. In the first section we will engage with Christo Lombaard’s assertion that African Biblical Hermeneutics has not succeeded in its endeavor because it does not use exegesis in its methodological approach. We will also dialogue with another Western Biblical scholar, Gerrie Snyman, who uses the concept of whiteness to engage with his Western Afrikaner context. We will then move on to discuss the three poles of African Biblical Hermeneutics, before focusing on two trends and patterns in African Biblical Hermeneutics, namely, Black biblical hermeneutics and African Feminist h...
A reconstructive motif in South African Black Theology
Studia Historiae Ecclesiasticae, 2010
In this article, Black Theology as a strand of continent-wide African theology is seen through the eyes of African Black Theologians other than South Africans. The article is based on the premise that, whereas up to 1994 Black Theology in South Africa was distinct from other strands of African theology (especially in its emphasis on the urgency of liberation from White racism and its attendant suffering and exploitation), that dividing line is now blurred: Black Theologians in South Africa are moving closer to other theologians from the rest of the continent (Motlhabi 1994). In particular, their present concerns with gospel and culture, a phenomenon that did not previously receive much attention, comes to much the same as joining other African theologians in seeking a theology of reconstruction. Certainly, African theologians in the twenty-first century have all united to address the common challenges that the continent is grappling with. These concerns include HIV and AIDS, xenophobia, gender injustice, tribalism, poverty, moral regeneration, corruption, re-emerging forms of dictatorships, and global warming among others. As to methodology, the article starts by tracing the historical background of South African Black Theology and proceeds to survey some of its past concerns as articulated by its proponents. It then addresses some of the current concerns of theology in twenty-first century Africa, a trajectory that points to a reconstructive as opposed to an Exodus motif.
Religion and Social Development in Post-Apartheid South Africa: Perspectives for Critical Engagement
2010
From back cover: This excellent book provides new impetus to the academic debate around the assessment criteria of the impact of the broad religious sphere on social development in contemporary South Africa. The volume is exemplary in its interdisciplinary approach and for advancing a new theoretical framework that combines hermeneutical and empirical methods. Indeed, the book sets new standards in the fields of practical theology and sociology of religion. Prof Wilhelm Gräb, Professor of Practical Theology & Director of the Institute of Sociology of Religion and Community Development, Humboldt University, Berlin This book may easily stand out in future as seminal in the way that it promoted the social development debate of the church and its organisational structures from an interdisciplinary focus. The book will not only impact on how the church and religious structures should reach out to address social development themes such as poverty. It will, in turn, facilitate understanding by other disciplines of the role of the church and FBOs, which will encourage them to engage the church and religious structures more meaningfully in pursuing the social development agenda. Prof Antoinette Lombard, Professor of Social Work & Head of the Department of Social Work and Criminology, University of Pretoria This publication makes a significant contribution to the debate about the role of the faith-based sector in social development in post-apartheid South Africa. Its initial positive hypothesis is supported by original interdisciplinary research that paints a realistic picture of organised religion in contemporary South Africa; it also sets new standards for empirical and socially based religious and theological research. As such, it presents an appropriate intellectual response to the social agenda of the “New South Africa”. Dr Ian Nell, Senior Lecturer in Practical Theology, Department of Practical Theology and Missiology & Director of the Unit for Religion and Development Research, Stellenbosch University This book provides valuable theoretical and practical perspectives for critical engagement in the field of development in post-apartheid South Africa. It provides much-needed insight into the contribution of the religious sector while, at the same time, challenging this sector to embrace a more holistic view of development. With its combination of experienced and novice “voices”, the text is a vigorous and commendable example of interdisciplinary collaboration. Prof Jaco Dreyer, Professor of Practical Theology, Department of Practical Theology, University of South Africa
Studia Historiae Ecclesiasticae
The All Africa Conference of Churches (AACC) has made significant contributions to the theological discourse of development in Africa. Two gatherings, Lome (1987) and Harare (1992), stand out in the history of the AACC as defining moments in the theological discourse on the regression of development in Africa since the achievement of independence of the first African states from colonial rule. The purpose of this article is to investigate the contributions of these two gatherings and to assess the role of personhood and personal responsibility for development in South Africa as one of the last African countries to achieve democratic rule. Development attempts by the religious, and specifically Christian institutions such as the Ecumenical Federation of Southern Africa (EFSA) and the World Council of Churches, are correlated with dominant development theories to demonstrate the overlapping of development approaches. Some of the weaknesses of these approaches are pointed out. The cons...