Black theology in South Africa – A theology of human dignity and black identity

Timothy Van Aarde

doi:10.4102/hts.v72i1.3176

Abstract

Black theology in South Africa is still relevant 20 years after the apartheid regime ended. It is a theology that gave to Black South Africans human dignity and a black identity. Black theology in South Africa confronted the imbalances of power and abusive power structures through an affirmation of human dignity and the uniqueness of the identity of black people. The biblical narrative of the Exodus is a definitive narrative in American black theology and liberation theology in overcoming oppression understood as political victimisation. Black theology in South Africa is not primarily about power and economics but also about the rediscovery of human dignity and black identity and to a lesser extent about victimisation. A third generation of black theology in South Africa will gain impetus through a rediscovery of human dignity and identity as its core values instead of a Black American liberation theology of victimisation or a Marxist liberation theology of the eradication of all power or economic imbalances.

Highlights

The emerging post-Cold War and post-apartheid paradigm of black theology performs a unique role in reaffirming the human dignity of Africans and their black identity
The essence of the black theology that developed in South Africa was a struggle for human dignity, what it means to be human, and an identity which clearly set it apart from its American counterpart that focused on what it meant to be black
The rediscovery of an African identity through the first two waves started by Steve Biko and Allan Boesak gave to black theology in South Africa a unique identity separate from American black theology and liberation theology

Summary

Introduction

The emerging post-Cold War and post-apartheid paradigm of black theology performs a unique role in reaffirming the human dignity of Africans and their black identity. This article makes the contribution that human dignity, to which identity is to be added, can provide the impetus for such a third wave of black theology in South Africa.

Results

Conclusion