Research Publications (Religion & Theology)
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Item Disability and digital ecclesiology: Towards an accessible online church(AOSIS, 2024) Amanyendzi, Seyram BrigitteEven though the digital church has been in existence for some time, it was mainly a transmission of onsite church services and programmes in the online space. The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic and its demands for a global shutdown to mitigate and contain the disease moved almost all social activities including church services to the online space. It is evident that persons with disability experience extreme exclusion from the church’s theology, praxes, and ethos. Unfortunately, this phenomenon is replicated in the virtual space. Research proves that persons with disability were not considered in the migration of churches to the virtual space; hence, digital accessibility is minimal or non-existent during and after the COVID-19 era.Item 'Preface',Religious Human Rights in Global Perspective: Religious Perspectives(2023) Tutu, Desmond MI am pleased to be able to offer a preface to this volume on religious rights. I will want to speak really from the perspective of the Christian faith, which is the one that I know best, and hope that my comments would apply mutatis mutandis to other religious faiths as well. This will also serve to protect me from arrogance and triumphalism as I rehearse the pathological aspects of Christianity. I hope I will then be able to speak with a salutary modesty.Item Disability and digital ecclesiology: Towards an accessible online church(Aosis, 2024) Seyram B. AmenyedziEven though the digital church has been in existence for some time, it was mainly a transmission of onsite church services and programmes in the online space. The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic and its demands for a global shutdown to mitigate and contain the disease moved almost all social activities including church services to the online space. It is evident that persons with disability experience extreme exclusion from the church’s theology, praxes, and ethos. Unfortunately, this phenomenon is replicated in the virtual space. Research proves that persons with disability were not considered in the migration of churches to the virtual space; hence, digital accessibility is minimal or non-existent during and after the COVID-19 era. Contribution: This article explores the various transformational stages of both the church and media while further exploring possible ways by which the virtual church may grant accessibility to persons with disability.Item Black theologies of liberation: how should black lives matter theologically?(The Ecumenical Review, 2022) Nadar, Sarojini; Solomons, DemaineThis article introduces this thematic issue of The Ecumenical Review, which originates from a colloquium hosted at the University of the Western Cape on Black theologies. Our aim is to propose a set of theological frames through which to consider the 11 articles presented here, as well as the study of Black theology in general. We propose that Black theologies of liberation can be understood within three theological frameworks: a theology of resistance that encompasses both the social and epistemic, a theology of existence that focuses on Black consciousness and identity, and a theology of solidarity that fully embraces African feminist and queer theological perspectives. What the contributors to this issue on Black theology succeed in doing is ushering in new ways of thinking about the subject. Not only do they open new frontiers for theorizing and conceptualizing the gospel in light of Black experiences, but they also challenge the exclusionary nature of the old frontiers, calling to attention how even liberation discourses can sometimes reinscribe hegemony.Item African studies keywords: Queer(Cambridge University Press, 2023) Otu, Kwame E.; van Klinken, Adriaan�Queer� is a relatively recent and somewhat controversial term in African studies. Yet it is proving to be productive, not only for understanding African subjectivities of sexuality and gender, but also for situating Africa�s position in the larger economy of knowledge. Otu and van Klinken explore the productive tensions between �queer� and �Africa,� and aim to read Africa as queer and to read queer from Africa. Thus, rather than imagining Africa and queer as polar opposites, the authors seek to harness the critical, productive, and creative affinities between these two terms that are vital for the project of decolonizing and queering queer Africa.Item Expanding the boundaries through African women�s theologies(Wiley, 2022) Headley, Selena D.The development and key features of African women�s theologies, primarily through the Circle of Concerned African Women Theologians, has entered the mainstream of theological education, which could provide insights for Black theology. In the landscape of theological education, which has been dominated by western-centric approaches, Black theology and the quest for liberation have made some inroads in challenging dominant discourses. However, aspirations for a liberative Afrocentric curriculum and pedagogy are yet to be realized. This paper will briefly survey the development of Black theology, primarily in the South African context, where theology was dominated by universal Western claims to theological education and repressive anti-Black theology. Second, the development of African women�s theologies, primarily through the work of the Circle of Concerned African Women Theologians, will be explored with particular features which created inroads in theological education despite its marginal position.Item Identity formation at the dawn of liturgical inculturation in the Ethiopian Episcopal Church(AOSIS, 2023) Kama, Phumezile; Klaasen, John S.This article reflects on the impact of the inculturation of liturgy in the Ethiopian Episcopal Church (EEC) on identity formation within the context of African Christianity. In the EEC, the quest for African Christian identity formation is essential in understanding the role of black culture at the advent of the inculturation of liturgy. Inculturation can be viewed as the meeting and interaction of the Christian gospel and local cultures where neither the liturgy nor the cultures are superior than the other. Thus, it is vital to understand the inculturation of liturgy and its implications for African Christian identity in the EEC. There is a need for an official guiding principle or doctrinal and theological position on use of language and instruments associated with ancestor veneration at all levels of the EEC.Item Black health, ethics, and global ecology(Taylor and Francis Group, 2022) Conradie, Ernst M.The reflections offered here come from someone the South African government classified as white or as European under apartheid, who continues to be classified in that manner under affirmative action, and who has worked at a historically black university, the University of the Western Cape, since 1993. I teach systematic theology and ethics in a religion and theology department, and I focus on Christian ecotheology. I welcome theologian J�rgen Moltmann�s reversal of interlocutors in calling for Latin American liberation theology for the First World, black theology for white people, and feminist theology for men.Item (Con)texturing ideologies of modesty, authority, and childbearing in 1 Timothy 2:8�15(Taylor and Francis Group, 2022) Jodamus, JohnathanFeminist and gender critical biblical scholarship hasshown how texts ideologically function as products of their ancient social and cultural norms. In my dissertation work on Pauline texts, through isolating the ideological component of socio-rhetorical-interpretation, I demonstrated how these texts are �ideologically textured�within their ancient social context. In this article, I bring a combination of approaches from ideological criticism and theoretical insights from feminist criticism to bear on both the biblical text of 1 Timothy 2:8�15 and contemporary interpretations of this text. The latter is exemplified by the conservative Christian blogger, �The Transformed Wife.�Beginning with an examination of how both Paul and the blogger establish authority amongst believing communities, I then interrogate three areas of focus within their ideological purview: modesty, authority,and childbearing.Item Nigerian Pentecostal megachurches and development: A diaconal analysis of the redeemed Christian church of God(MDPI, 2023) Adedibu, Babatunde AderemiThe Nigerian social, public, political and religious landscapes have changed significantly over time with the emergence and proliferation of Pentecostal megachurches. The majority of these churches are structured and characterized with a peculiar missional focus, ritual, religious and ecclesiastical distinctiveness. Many of these Pentecostal megachurches have been criticized for their economic motivations, exploitation and commercialization of the Christian faith. However, Nigerian megachurches are �Progressive Pentecostals� on the basis of their sustained commitment to diaconal services towards the development of their communities. Divergent views have emerged over time in relation to the nexus between religion and development. This study argues that religion is one of the motors of development in Africa; this challenges the Western secular framework of development. Hence, the study examines development from below, using the diaconal services of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), a Pentecostal megachurch that illustrates the importance of faith-based organizations� roles in development.Item Intersection of personhood and culture: A narrative approach of pastoral care to gender-based violence(Klaasen, J. (2018). Intersection of personhood and culture: A narrative approach of pastoral care to gender-based violence. Scriptura ,117 (1), 1-11. https://doi.org/10.7833/117-1-1348, 2018) Klaasen, JohnWhat contribution does a narrative approach make to effective care for those affected by gender-based violence? Notwithstanding the contributions of feminist theologians who take experience and identity seriously (Ackermann and Ruether), open-ended narrative includes lived experience, embodied communication, and the identity of the victim as formative community as an effective approach of care. Experience as lived experience or actual reality is not what is interpreted by the dominance of those in the centre, but it is primarily the experience of the vulnerable at the margins. The post-structuralist critique of the structuralist approach to communication and difference and the other within a fluid community will be considered within the narrative approach of care. This article will also address the intersection between gender and culture. I will use Ackermann and Ruether�s feminist lens as theological frameworkItem Rulers or servants? A re-reading of psalm 8 concerning the place of humankind in the age of the anthropocene(Stellenbosch University, 2022) Bosman, TianaWith the Age of the Anthropocene and the clear signs of ecological destruction that have resulted from this rule of humans over the creation of God, it is essential that biblical scholars revisit the texts, both in the Old and the New Testament, that have so often been used to justify the superior position of humans over creation. Within communities of faith and also within academic circles, the well-known Psalm 8 has often been used to underscore the role of mankind as rulers over creation. Coming from the field of biblical studies, I endeavour to do a re-reading of this Psalm that highlights the importance of an attitude of awe and humility rather than superiority. This will be done through in-depth exegesis of the psalm and will aim to offer a translation that accentuates a life-affirming attitude towards creation while still staying true to the text.Item A journal for biblical, theological and / or contextual hermeneutics?(Stellenbosch University, 2020) Conradie, Ernst M.This contribution reflects on the current sub-title of the journal Scriptura, namely �Journal for Biblical, Theological and Hermeneutics�. It showsthat this has been a core interest of the journal over a period of forty years. It also discusses the methodological tensions between these three forms / aspects of hermeneutics � to the point where one may wonder whether the �and� in the subtitle could be understood as �or�. It does not propose a way forward but commends Scriptura for offering the space to explore such tensions further in the South African context.Item What diagnosis? Which remedy? Critical reflections on the diagnostic overview of South Africa�s national planning commission(Stellenbosch University, 2019) Conradie, Ernst MThis contribution offers some critical reflections on the Diagnostic Overview produced by the South African National Planning Commission. The argument is structured in the form of catena and commentary with main sections devoted to the assumption of the need for economic growth, factors inhibiting economic growth, the category of unemployability, and the impact of inequalities. It is suggested that Christian discourse on sin, understood as a form of social diagnostics, can contribute to an in-depth diagnosis by uncovering the root causes of the problem from an ultimate perspective.Item Ethno-Regionalism, politics and the role of religion in Zambia: Changing Ecumenical landscapes in a Christian nation, 2015-2018(Brill, 2019) Sakupapa, Teddy ChalweThis contribution explores the interaction between religion and politics in a religiously plural and ethnically multidimensional Zambian context. Given the political salience of both religion and ethnicity in Zambian politics, this research locates an understudied aspect in the discourse on religion and politics in Zambia, namely the multiple relations between religion, ethnicity and politics. It specifically offers a historical-theological analysis of the implications that the political mobilisation of religion has for ecumenism in Zambia since Edgar Chagwa Lungu became the country�s president (2015-2018). Underlining the church-dividing potential of non-theological (doctrinal) factors, the article argues that the �political mobilisation of religion� and the �pentecostalisation of Christianity� in Zambia are reshaping the country�s ecumenical landscapes. Accordingly, this contribution posits the significance of ecumenical consciousness among churches and argues for a contextual ecumenical ecclesiology.Item Beyond a �Political Priest�: Exploring Desmond Tutu as a �Freedom-Fighter Mystic�(Black Theology An International Journal, 2021) Nadar, SarojiniThe purpose of this essay is to critically review the remarkably unique account of Desmond Tutu�s life presented by Michael Battle in his book �Desmond Tutu: A Spiritual Biography of South Africa�s Confessor.� The central contention of this essay is that Michael Battle shifts the paradigm of biographical research about Desmond Tutu beyond the popular trope of �political priest� to that of �freedom fighter-mystic.� Through a careful filtering of Tutu�s life via the three stages of mysticism � purgation, illumination and union, Battle makes a convincing case that Tutu�s political actions for justice were not in spite of his deep spirituality, but because of it. This ethnographic spiritual biography troubles the binaries between the sacred and the secular, between spiritual contemplation and social action, and between God�s justice and social justice, thereby inviting readers to the warm embrace of a more authentic spirituality.Item Beyond a �political priest�: exploring Desmond Tutu as a �freedom-fighter mystic�(Black Theology, 2021) Nadar, SarojiniThe purpose of this essay is to critically review the remarkably unique account of Desmond Tutu�s life presented by Michael Battle in his book �Desmond Tutu: A Spiritual Biography of South Africa�s Confessor.� The central contention of this essay is that Michael Battle shifts the paradigm of biographical research about Desmond Tutu beyond the popular trope of �political priest� to that of �freedom fighter-mystic.� Through a careful filtering of Tutu�s life via the three stages of mysticism � purgation, illumination and union, Battle makes a convincing case that Tutu�s political actions for justice were not in spite of his deep spirituality, but because of it. This ethnographic spiritual biography troubles the binaries between the sacred and the secular, between spiritual contemplation and social action, and between God�s justice and social justice, thereby inviting readers to the warm embrace of a more authentic spiritualityItem African Pentecostal churches and racialized xenophobia: International migrants as agents of transformational development?(SAGE, 2022) Hankela, Elina; Swart, Ignatius; Nishimwe, ClementineScholarship on Pentecostal potential and practice forms a significant part of the debate on religion and development, not least when the focus is on sub-Saharan Africa. Yet in this debate African Pentecostal migrant communities have scarcely been represented. The article focuses on two such communities in South Africa, arguing that they may be regarded as developmental agents in the context of racialized xenophobia, even if they do not portray themselves as such. The argument is based on ethnographic fieldwork and shaped through employing the concept of transformational development that centers on restoring relationships. The article concludes that the two communities � living in a context affected by racialized xenophobia � contribute meaningfully towards restoring relationships between people and God, one�s relationship with oneself, relationships within the church community as well as relationships between the church community and the neighborhood.Item The Seventh-Day Adventist church and the quest for transformational development in contemporary Nigeria perspectives from an empirical study(Southern African Missiological Society, 2022) Efuntade, Olugbenga Adetokunbo; Swart, IgnatiusThis article discusses the findings of an empirical study that investigated the attitudes of different sections of the membership of the Seventh-day Adventist (SDA) Church to the socio-economic and political struggles in Nigeria. The study sought to explore how this denomination�s theology and missional orientation have limited its role in the holistic development of Nigerians. The article argues that the proclamation of the SDA Church�s unique message and its involvement in transformational development should not be mutually exclusive.Item Young people � citizens in times of climate change? A childist approach to human responsibility(AOSIS, 2021) Sporre, KarinThe matters of climate change are presently of concern existentially and ethically to the children and the youth. Worldwide school strikes in 2018�2019 and the Fridays for Future movement demonstrate how the young citizens assume socio-political responsibility. However, what possibilities do children and young people actually have to influence global discourse? Are adequate thought structures in place for them to be taken seriously in matters of concern to them? Given that children and youth engage with the issues of climate change, with a concern for their own future and that of our planet, the aim of this article was to take a child-centred ethical perspective and to theoretically explore conditions for intentional inclusion of children and their ethical concerns. In such a critical exploration, aspects of identity politics and intersectionality are reviewed. Empirical results from an interview study with children aged between 10 to 12 years are presented demonstrating that climate changes are of existential and ethical importance to them. Thereafter, a �childist� perspective is introduced and discussed. The interviews were carried out during 2019 in eight schools in South Africa and Sweden. The children were individually interviewed with a method allowing for open responses. The schools in both countries were located in areas where a lack of water had been experienced. In this article, a theoretical framework is developed based on the ethical recognition of a commonly shared human responsibility and using the concept of �empowered inclusion�. It recognises children in their own right and identifies vulnerability and interdependence as being foundational to human existence.