Abstract
The image of God has been vandalised by racism in South Africa, which it is argued is a sin. It is an ecclesiological responsibility to address the vandalised image of God in South Africa. The author will argue from the human relationship as a build-up to the Theanthropocosmic principle. This principle denotes the relationship between God (theos) the human being (anthropos) and the physical-organic environment (cosmos). For addressing this responsibility, the grounds of internal racism are exposed using a philosophical interpretation. According to the author, there is a correlation between sin and racism. The latter is viewed as multidimensional from a Theanthropocosmic perspective.The theoretical framework will be within hamartiology and soteriology. The philosophical interpretation will be utilised to broaden the understanding of the theological problem of the vandalised image of God.
Highlights
Between 2010 and 2020 there has been the tendency of racial conflicts and racist utterances, from social media to formal debates, in institutions of higher learning in South Africa
The vandalisation of the image of God was indicated by the incident in which cleaners at the University of the Free State were forced by four white students to eat food that was believed to have been urinated on (Ntombana & Bubulu 2017)
Hodgson (1976) postulates: It [racism] represents a primal manifestation of idolatry, for it entails the apotheosis of one’s race and negation of the others; its logic is genocide, its practice is segregation. It demonstrates the inherent deceptiveness of all sin because ‘race’ is a fantastic concept that calls attention to merely superficial differences between ethnic groups. (p. 197). This postulation is supported by Goba (1980) in his address to the consultation on racism organised by the South African Council of Churches where he points out: From a theological point of view, racism is a form of sin, for it denies the essential oneness of God’s people
Summary
Between 2010 and 2020 there has been the tendency of racial conflicts and racist utterances, from social media to formal debates, in institutions of higher learning in South Africa. The argument put forth in this article is that racism is a sin that needs to be addressed from all areas of life in democratic South Africa.
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