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This book deals with contested and topical matters. Biblical hermeneutics has always been contested – how to read and understand Biblical passages. Things become even more contested when such passages are read inter-culturally; they become even more contested when the words are about contested personal and social issues, like Jesus’ words on forgiveness in Matthew 18. Empirical studies like this show how deeply contested such readings truly are in the context of South African churches, with their painful histories of division and conflict. Future academic work will, therefore, benefit from the creative and careful methodological approach developed in this study. However, this book offers...
How can freedom of religion protect the dignity of every human being and safeguard the well-being of creation? This question arises when considering the competing claims among faith traditions, states, and persons. Freedom of religion or belief is a basic human right, and yet it is sometimes used to undermine other human rights. This volume seeks to unpack and wrestle with some of these challenges. In order to do so scholars were invited from different contexts in Africa and Europe to write about freedom of religion from various angles. How should faith traditions in a minority position be protected against majority claims and what is the responsibility of the religious communities in this t...
This book gives an insight into current theological debates in the Methodist Church, with particular reference to Methodism in Southern Africa. There are a number of things that make this book valuable and unique. First, there is the variety of authors and topics. Second the variety of topics reflects key points in our social, cultural, economic and political context. Third, there is a need for up-to-date books that relate African perspectives on contemporary theological concerns. Fourth, the book does not aim to offer normative perspectives. Rather, it invites readers to become thinking Christians in our own contexts. While Christian readers of all denominations will be challenged and enric...
Africa needs leaders and Christians from every walk of life to rediscover their identity and purpose in all spheres of society. African Public Theology sounds a clarion call to accomplish this vital task. God created all humans equally, intending for us to live in community and take responsibility for the world around us – a mandate we need to act on. Through faithful application of Scripture to contexts common in the continent today, contributors from across Africa join as one to present a vision for the Africa that God intended. No simplistic solutions are offered – instead African Public Theology challenges every reader to think through the application of biblical principles in their own community, place of work and sphere of influence. If we heed the principles and lessons that God’s word has for society, culture and public life, then countries across Africa can have hope of a future that is free from corruption and self-promotion and is instead characterized by collective stewardship and servant-hearted leadership.
God wants to use you – in the marketplace! Most people will spend between sixty and seventy percent of their lives at work. This is an incredible investment of time, energy and creativity and God has a very particular desire for that huge portion of your life. God cares about every part of your life, not just the parts that are spent in church and on church related activities. In Transform Your Work Life Graham Power and Dion Forster share some testimony and teaching on what God has done with them, and what God wants to do with and through Christians in the marketplace. Your work life is one of the most accessible and significant mission fields in the world. Graham and Dion offer some truly practical, sometimes challenging, hopefully inspiring insights into the tools and processes that you can use to transform your ordinary day into an extraordinary calling, and by doing so transform your work life.
Biography of Dion Forster, currently Senior Lecturer at University of Stellenbosch, previously EXPOSED - Shining a light on corruption at EXPOSED - Shining a light on corruption and EXPOSED - Shining a light on corruption at EXPOSED - Shining a light on corruption.
Public theologies reflect on the contextuality of the Christian religion. Much of this contextuality is dependent on place: place as the culture and the society in which religions are situated, place as the position from where a theologian speaks, place as the biographical contingencies that shape people's lives. Moreover, public theologies ask for the contribution of Christian ethics to society, thereby shaping the social, cultural, and religious space to which they belong. The contributions in this volume analyse the categories of space and place in order to deepen the understanding of contextuality, thereby taking up some of the challenges presented by the so-called "spatial turn". Dr Thomas Wabel is Professor of Protestant Theology (Systematic Theology) at the University of Bamberg. Dr Katharina Eberlein-Braun is Assistant Professor of Protestant Theology (Systematic Theology) at the University of Bamberg. Torben Stamer is vicar of the Protestant Church of Northern Germany in Ludwigslust.
This book is the first in-depth study of the lived experiences of queer Christian clergy in an African context. Using a queer lived religion framing, it draws on ethnographic research to analyse how six LGBTQ clergy understand and practice their vocation in the Methodist Church of Southern Africa (MCSA). Seemingly marginalised in a denomination which maintains that marriage is only between one man and one woman, this book explores why LGBTQ clergy are motivated to live out their calling in the Church and how they make sense of their positions within it. In doing so, it looks beyond an analysis of a Church based on its official and doctrinal institutional positions on queer people and sexualities and, instead, uncovers the taken-for-granted ways that gender and sex are inscribed in ‘the way we do things around here’. This book is relevant to students and researchers in gender and sexuality studies, African religious studies, and sociology of religion.
This celebratory volume tells the story of the late Russel Hayman Botman who died suddenly early in his second term as Rector and Vice-Chancellor of Stellenbosch University. Botman?s story is told from his earliest childhood years until his last day as rector. The nature of tributes and celebratory volumes is that it can never be exhaustive. It tells a rich story from limited perspectives. It, however, serves as invitation, stimulus and inspiration to others connected to Botman to also tell their stories about his story.ÿ