apartheid

Re-imagining Church for 21st Century South Africa – a somewhat presumptuous title for an article. But I beg your indulgence in my presumption. What makes this article even more presumptuous is that based on some of my thought patterns over the past few years, I would not have imagined myself writing on the church in the 21st Century. My imagination of what church can be like had caused me to be somewhat disenchanted about what I saw church to be like.

Every year on this coming Sunday the parish of St. George’s Cathedral celebrates the life of two heroes of the struggle against apartheid, Steve Biko and Beyers Naudé. This year this coincides with the tenth anniversary of “9/11”, that terrifyingly dark day so deeply etched in our memories. I have been asked to preach in the Cathedral on Sunday so I share some of my preparatory thoughts with you. What do we as Christians say and do in a world of terror and war, violence and vengeance?

Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu on Thursday had harsh words for South Africa’s white population, as well as for Cabinet ministers who he said should lose their expensive cars as a gesture to show the poor that they cared.

“Our white fellow citizens have to accept the obvious: You all benefitted from apartheid. But that does not mean that all are responsible for apartheid.

Desmond Tutu has said that God calls us to be his partners in changing a "crazy" world of extreme economic inequality. The former archbishop made the remarks in the UK, while receiving an honourary doctorate from the University of Leicester on Friday (15 July).

He told his audience to "be as idealistic as you can ever be" after graduating. He urged them to "Dream God’s dream. Dream as you go out into a world that is so unequal. Dream of a different world."

Written by Jonathan Jansen

This is by far the best book written and published in 2011, and I would be very surprised if it did not win the Alan Paton award for non-fiction in 2012.

It is a story that challenges the dominant narrative of the anti-apartheid struggle - that of evil white against good black, of the wicked apartheid system against noble warriors, of clear-cut perpetrators against defenceless victims.

Written by Jonathan Jansen

The wrinkled old man addressing the captains of finance and insurance on the shiny upper floors of Alexander Forbes in Sandton was not supposed to be there.

Written by Andrew Suderman

As a young Christian man actively involved in the struggle against apartheid in South Africa, Mpho Putu knew that some of the protest songs that included themes of revenge killing posed challenges to what it means to be a faithful disciple of Jesus.

Written by Jonathan Jansen

What is the difference between the defacing of Archbishop Tutu's statue in East London (2008) and the tearing down of HF Verwoerd's statue in Meyerton (2011)?

Written by Des Morgan

I live in a deeply divided society.  I have not lived long enough in any other part of the world to know for certain whether this is a unique problem for South Africa.  What I do know is that on any one day in South Africa, newspaper reports alone make one acutely aware of the deep divisions in South African society, whether it be between one race group and another, or between one gender and another, or between one socio-economic group and another.

Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu has never shied away from speaking out against the inequalities, intolerance and human rights abuses he witnessed under apartheid. But he has been equally outspoken about the problems of post-apartheid South Africa.