Abstract
The arrival of a salvationist, authoritative religiosity through Western Christianity in South Africa, in the company of a capitalist modernity, did not only dismantle and subvert the African indigenous dispensation of religiosity. It also sought to destroy it completely and arguably continues to do so in subtle forms in the 21st century, by attacking the imagination and consciousness of black Africans. This article argues that African religiosity as expressed in African Initiated Churches (AICs) is the site of the spirituality of liberation. Employing the notion of mokhukhu – a shack – the article places the sanity of black Africans, the spirituality of liberation, black African agency and consciousness within the narrative of African religiosity. It concludes by offering African religiosity as a resource for an alternative civilisation and an important agenda in the current debates of the World Communion of Reformed Churches.
Highlights
This article originated from an address presented by me at the University of Stellenbosch in 2013, at a conference that was held under the auspices of the South African Missiological Society (SAMS)
The article first presents an overview of liberation spirituality from the point of view of a struggle against a salvationist, authoritative religiosity that was transplanted to South African soil
Much as the African Initiated Churches (AICs) and African religiosity offers resources for the spirituality of liberation for black Africans, the Gospel itself requires to be salvaged from the ascendancy of a particular form of civilisation that has been obstinately portrayed as the only truthful mediation of life in the 21st century
Summary
The article first presents an overview of liberation spirituality from the point of view of a struggle against a salvationist, authoritative religiosity that was transplanted to South African soil. As a site of the spirituality of liberation it is argued that African religiosity offers resources for cultural liberation, African history, black African agency and moral consciousness.
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