On Re-Membering Reconciliation and the Black Theological Impulse Embedded in the Kairos Document
The debates about reconciliation in post-apartheid South Africa tend to vacillate between paradigms set as dualisms: justice versus peace, equality versus unity, and repentance versus forgiveness. Inspired by Black theological impulses, the Kairos Document (1985) makes a choice in each of these case...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Interlibrary Loan: | Interlibrary Loan for the Fachinformationsdienste (Specialized Information Services in Germany) |
| Published: |
2022
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| In: |
The ecumenical review
Year: 2022, Volume: 74, Issue: 4, Pages: 515-526 |
| IxTheo Classification: | FD Contextual theology KAJ Church history 1914-; recent history KBN Sub-Saharan Africa NCA Ethics |
| Further subjects: | B
Apartheid
B Black Liberation Theology B Reconciliation B South Africa B Prophetic theology B Racism B Kairos Document |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | The debates about reconciliation in post-apartheid South Africa tend to vacillate between paradigms set as dualisms: justice versus peace, equality versus unity, and repentance versus forgiveness. Inspired by Black theological impulses, the Kairos Document (1985) makes a choice in each of these cases: the prerequisite for peace is justice, for unity is equality, and for forgiveness is repentance. Contained within the Kairos Document is the impulse for what it refers to as “prophetic theology” as opposed to “state” and “church” theologies. In this context, the ideals of peace, unity, and forgiveness remain important ideals in post-apartheid South Africa, and while the freedoms of the Black democratic state have been achieved, justice, peace, and unity remain ideals that need to be fought for, hence the continued need for Black liberation theology. This contribution makes a case for retrieving the Black theological impulse embedded in the Kairos Document for navigating the complex and contested terrain of reconciliation in post-apartheid South Africa. Through re-membering the Kairos Document, Christians are challenged to reflect on reconciliation not just as a social problem but as something included in God’s work of reconciliation in Christ, a reconciliation that reflects faith in God’s word, mapping a future out of our painful past. |
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| ISSN: | 1758-6623 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: The ecumenical review
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1111/erev.12729 |