The Relevance of the Gospel in Post-Apartheid South Africa: A Dialogue with Albert Nolan

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.25159/2412-4265/16075

Keywords:

Albert Nolan, the Church, the Gospel, post-apartheid, poverty, South Africa

Abstract

Albert Nolan’s book, God in South Africa: The Challenge of the Gospel (first published in 1988), provides insights for both academic and general reading, making it an interesting book to read. Almost three decades have lapsed since the book was first published. Numerous Bible reading establishments (including theological institutions, seminaries and Bible colleges) have emerged, and new theological approaches to expounding biblical themes are coming to the fore. Post-apartheid South Africa has undergone various transformative phases, which the book did not address. A democratic dispensation was obtained in 1994, with Nelson Mandela becoming the first president to be elected by the majority of South African citizens. Post-apartheid South African societies have had high expectations at the dawn of this new dispensation. These expectations emerged from two fronts: (1) The praxis of justice and delivery of services by the ruling party and (2) the role of the Church and the function of the Gospel in developing and transforming societies. This study aimed to elucidate Albert Nolan’s book in detail and blend its contents with the lived realities obtained in the new dispensation in South Africa. The focus of the investigation was to set an agenda for the Church and the teaching of the Gospel to realign towards addressing socioeconomic particularities affecting the majority of South Africans daily. The study utilised Secondary Data Analysis (SDA) as a methodological approach.

Metrics

Metrics Loading ...

References

Addae-Korankye, A. 2014. “Causes of Poverty in Africa: A Review of Literature.” American International Journal of Social Sciences 3 (7): 147–153.

Almond, P. C. 1999. Adam and Eve in Seventeenth-Century Thought. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511585104 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511585104

Bailie, J. 2009. “The Impact of Liberation Theology on Methodism in South Africa with Reference to the Doctrine of Christian Perfection.” PhD Thesis, University of South Africa.

Battersby, J. and V. Watson. 2019. Urban Food Systems Governance and Poverty in Africa. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315191195 DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315191195

Bergsma, J. 2015. Bible Basics for Catholics: A New Picture of Salvation History. Revised Edition. South Bend: Ave Maria Press.

Blocher, H. 1997. Original Sin: Illuminating the Riddle. Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press.

Brondos, D. 2007. Fortress Introduction to Salvation and the Cross. Minneapolis: Fortress Press. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv19cwb85 DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv19cwb85

Campbell, G. 2004. “The Role of the Christian Church in South African Society with Scriptural Focus on the Widows and Orphans.” Masters Thesis, University of Zululand.

Crowley, P. G. 2008. “Theology in the Light of Human Suffering: A Note on ‘Taking the Crucified Down from the Cross.’” In Hope and Solidarity: Jon Sobrino’s Challenge to Christian Theology, 16–30, edited by S.J. Pope. Maryknoll: Orbis Books.

DeMinck, A. 2007. “The Origins of Truth and Reconciliation Commissions: South Africa, Sierra Leone, and Peru.” Sociology Honours Projects. Paper 8: 1–36. http://digitalcommons.macalester.edu/soci_honors/8

Diehl, J. A. 2011. “What is a ‘Gospel’? Recent Studies in the Gospel Genre.” Currents in Biblical Research 9 (2): 171–199. https://doi.org/10.1177/1476993X10361307 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/1476993X10361307

Dlamini, T. L. L. 1988. “The Role Swaziland Churches Should Play in the Liberation of South Africa.” Journal of Black Theology in South Africa May: 43–47.

Dube, B. and H. V. Molise. 2018. “The Church and its Contribution to the Struggle to Liberate the Free State Province.” The Journal of Contemporary History 43 (1): 160–177. https://doi.org/10.18820/24150509/JCH43.v1.8 DOI: https://doi.org/10.18820/24150509/JCH43.v1.8

Feldman, G., L. Kutscher, and T. Yay. 2020. “Omission and Commission in Judgment and Decision Making: Understanding and Linking Action-Inaction Effects Using the Concept of Normality.” Soc Personal Psychol Compass 2020 (e12557): 1–15. https://doi.org/10.1111/spc3.12557 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/spc3.12557

Horbury, W. 2005. “Gospel in Herodian Judaea.” In The Written Gospel, 7–30, edited by M. Bockmuehl and D.A. Hagner. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511614729.002 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511614729.002

Igba, J. T. and H. G. Stoker. 2018. “Salvation in Acts 16: Meaning and Missional Implication Derived from the Sociohistorical Method.” Verbum et Ecclesia 39 (1): a1895. https://doi.org/10.4102/ve.v39i1.1895 DOI: https://doi.org/10.4102/ve.v39i1.1895

Kankwanda, M. 2002. Poverty Eradication: Where Africa Stands. London: Economica.

Kanu, M. F. 2019. “Book Review: Poverty in South Africa.” Culture and Empathy 2 (2): 133–135. https://doi.org/10.32860/26356619/2019/2.2.0007 DOI: https://doi.org/10.32860/26356619/2019/2.2.0007

Keener, C. S. 2009. The Historical Jesus of the Gospels. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans.

Malinga, P. 2021. Foreword. In A Time Like No Other: Covid-19 in Women’s Voices, 4–5, edited by N. Hadebe, D. Gennrich, S. Rakoczy and N. Tom. The Circle of Concerned African Women Theologians – South Africa

McDonald, E. 2010. “A Crucified People.” The Furrow 61 (1): 15–20.

Molobi, M. V. S. 2014. “The Black Church and Family Empowerment in South Africa.” Studia Historiae Ecclesiasticae 40 (1): 195–211.

Morrison, G. J. 2010. “Thinking Otherwise: Theology, Inculturation and Climate Change.”AEJT 16:1–14.

Muchie, M. and V. Gumede. 2017. Regenerating Africa: Bringing African Solutions to African Problems. Pretoria: African Institute of South Africa. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctvh8r2t1 DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctvh8r2t1

Ndlovu-Gatsheni, S. J. 2013. “Why Decoloniality in the 21st Century?” The Thinker for Thought Leaders 48: 10–16.

Naidoo, M. (ed.) 2012. Between the Real and the Ideal: Ministerial formation in the South African Churches. Pretoria: Unisa Press.

Nell, I. A. 2014. “Teaching Leadership and Administration at a Faculty of Theology: Practical-Theological Reflections.” Scriptura 113 (1): 1–18. https://doi.org/10.7833/113-0-735 DOI: https://doi.org/10.7833/113-0-735

Oliver, W. H. 2018. “Faith, Righteousness and Salvation in Romans.” HTS Teologiese Studies/Theological Studies 74 (4): a5068. https://doi.org/10.4102/hts.v74i4.5068 DOI: https://doi.org/10.4102/hts.v74i4.5068

Parry, D. W. 1994. “Garden of Eden: Prototype of Sanctuary.” In Temples of the Ancient World: Ritual and Symbolism, 126–151, edited by W.P. Donald. Salt Lake City: Deseret Book.

Rasool, E. 2000. “Religion and Politics in South Africa.” University of Cape Town. Accessed October 9, 2023. www.humanities.uct. ac.za

Ross, A. P. 1985. Psalms. In The Bible Knowledge Commentary – Old Testament, 832. Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.

Saunders, C. (ed.) 2009. Documenting the Liberation Struggle in Southern Africa. Selected Papers from the Nordic Africa Documentation Project. Pretoria, South Africa, 26–27 November.

Scheffler, E. 2011. “Pleading Poverty (or Identifying with the Poor for Selfish Reasons): On the Ideology of Psalm 109.” Old Testament Essays 24 (1): 192–207.

Schmid, H. F. E. 2008. The Doctrinal Theology of the Evangelical Lutheran Church. Wipf and Stock Publishers.

Siker, J. 2019. Sin in the New Testament. Oxford: Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780190465735.001.0001 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780190465735.001.0001

Snyman, G. 2014. “Esther and African Biblical Hermeneutics: A Decolonial Inquiry.” Old Testament Essays 27 (3): 1035–1061.

Sobrino, J. 1987. Jesus in Latin America. Maryknoll: Orbis Books.

Sobrino, J. 1982. “A Crucified People’s Faith in the Son of God.” Concilium 153: 23–28.

Song, C-S. 1996. Jesus, The Crucified People. Minneapolis: Fortress Press.

Spranca, M., E. Minsk, and J. Baron. 1991. “Omission and Commission in Judgment and Choice.” Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 27 (1): 76–10. https://doi.org/10.1016/0022-1031(91)90011-T DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/0022-1031(91)90011-T

Stats South Africa 2014. Poverty Trends in South Africa: An Examination of Absolute Poverty Between 2006 and 2011. Pretoria: Statistics South Africa.

Steckel, C. J. 1981. “The Ministry as Profession and Calling.” Word and World 1 (4): 373–381.

Storey, P. 2012. “Burning the Flag from our Churches. Learning from the Church-State Struggle in South Africa.” In Between Capital and Cathedral. Essays on Church-State Relationship, n.p., edited by W. Bentley and D.A. Forster. Pretoria: Research Institute for Theology and Religion, UNISA.

Tesfai, Y. ed. 1994. The Scandal of a Crucified World: Perspectives on the Cross and Suffering. Maryknoll: Orbis Books.

Tom, N. 2021. “Death and Mourning During a Pandemic – the Passing of Alease Brown.” In Hadebe, N., D. Gennrich, S. Rakoczy, and N. Tom, (eds.), A Time Like No Other: Covid-19 in Women’s Voices, 31–38. The Circle of Concerned African Women Theologians – South Africa.

Tombs, D. 2023. The Crucifixion of Jesus: Torture, Sexual Abuse, and the Scandal of the Cross. London: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429289750 DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429289750

Von Kellenbach, K. 2013. The Mark of Cain: Guilt and Denial in the Post-war Lives of Nazi Perpetrators. Oxford: Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199937455.001.0001 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199937455.001.0001

Vorster, N. 2020. “Land Dispossession as Original Sin. Can Christian Original Sin Talk be Used as Diagnostic Tool within the Public Domain?” Scriptura 119 (2): 1–20. https://doi.org/10.7833/119-2-1763 DOI: https://doi.org/10.7833/119-2-1763

Wax, K. P. 2013. “The Intricate Relationship Between Politics and Religion in the Hebrew Bible: The Prophet Amos as a Case Study.” PhD Thesis, Stellenbosch University, Stellenbosch.

wa Thiong’o, N. 2009. Something Torn and New: An African Renaissance. New York: Basic Civitas Books.

Downloads

Published

2024-08-30

How to Cite

Masoga, Alpheus Magomme. “The Relevance of the Gospel in Post-Apartheid South Africa: A Dialogue With Albert Nolan”. Studia Historiae Ecclesiasticae, 17 pages. https://doi.org/10.25159/2412-4265/16075.

Issue

Section

Articles
Received 2024-02-19
Accepted 2024-07-25
Published 2024-08-30