Comparative Analysis of the State of Religious Pluralism between Intertestamental Palestine and Post-Apartheid South Africa

Vusimuzi Goodman Nkuna

doi:10.38159/ehass.20212123

Abstract

Religious pluralism has characterized societies since time immemorial and has been one of the sources of conflict in many societies. This article compares how religious pluralism was handled in intertestamental Palestine and the manner it is managed in post-apartheid South Africa. The study used academic literature which applied the Apocrypha to describe the religious context of Palestine between 336 BC and 63 BC. The themes that emerged from this analysis were then used to source academic literature that describes the religious context of South Africa from 1994 to 2021. This process led to the synthesis of the similarities and differences of the two contexts. The findings latently reveal the contribution of the Apocrypha to theological reflection while simultaneously showing that the Roman Empire’s violent attempts to undermine religious pluralism in intertestamental Palestine bred counterviolence. The paper further reveals that post-apartheid South Africa’s use of legal instruments to promote religious pluralism seems to contribute to the optimization of religious freedom and peaceful co-existence. These findings are likely to contribute to the discourse of religious pluralism, interfaith dialogue, and intercultural communications. Keywords: Hellenism, Apocrypha, Religious Pluralism, Democracy

Highlights

This article presents a comparative analysis of the religious contexts of Palestine from 336 BC to 63 BC and that of post-apartheid South Africa from 1994 to 2021
This article compares how religious pluralism was handled in intertestamental Palestine and the manner it is managed in post-apartheid South Africa
The findings latently reveal the contribution of the Apocrypha to theological reflection while simultaneously showing that the Roman Empire’s violent attempts to undermine religious pluralism in intertestamental Palestine bred counterviolence

Summary

Introduction

This article presents a comparative analysis of the religious contexts of Palestine from 336 BC to 63 BC and that of post-apartheid South Africa from 1994 to 2021. In presenting the comparative analysis, the paper initially discusses the religious environment of Judaism under Hellenism. It outlines the influence of Hellenism on religion in Palestine, extrapolates how various religious convictions influenced their respective adherents’ political ideology and how the Jews used religion as a resource in their daily affairs. Findings under these themes are contrasted with the religious context of democratic South Africa, namely recognition of religious pluralism, the institutionalization of religious pluralism, perpetual diversity within Christianity, and priestly strife in some populous African

Methods

Findings

Conclusion