Abstract
This article makes a distinction between cultic spiritualties that are prevalent in South Africa and a womanist spirituality of liberation. The current trends related to celebrity lifestyles in post-1994 South Africa deeply suggest an erasure of our subversive memory rooted in our quest for liberation, infused with a culture of protest, the struggle for the affirmation of a black woman’s dignity and life. One of the biggest challenges we face in the rise of cultic worship in South Africa, this article will argue, is that spiritual malaise in a nation does not require argument and analyses albeit important, but a response that tames it with enhancing self-love and care and thus the development of the language and grammar of the soul – the rationality of the soul as propounded by Cone. The focus of this article will be on the ongoing Omotoso case as symbolic of these rapturous, pervasive life-killing forms of spirituality that a black womanist cannot be silent about. The article will show how celebrity culture traps our resources of spirituality we need to heal the nation that has been wounded but now continues with self-inflicted wounds two decades after its political liberation.
Highlights
This article was presented at the College of Human Sciences (CHS) Interdisciplinary Conference on Abuse of Religion and Gullibility of the Public in the Democratic South Africa, hosted by the University of South Africa (UNISA)
We could borrow words from the psalmist that capture the cry for life of many black, poor South Africans, and many women and children who died and those who are survivors of GBV post-1994 in South Africa: ‘where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth’2 which has today come to mean, ‘my help comes from the man of God’
If one looks at how these mainstream denominations are sleeping in the same http://www.hts.org.za bed with the ANC government after 25 years into democracy, what we see in these cults is arguable: a fetishised spirituality emanating from the rigidity of structural religion, the Constantine model of church, imperialistic, rigid order and a form of power that is anti-life
Summary
This article was presented at the College of Human Sciences (CHS) Interdisciplinary Conference on Abuse of Religion and Gullibility of the Public in the Democratic South Africa, hosted by the University of South Africa (UNISA). Consciousness which is foundational in the paradigm of womanism and BTL (Cone 1975; Kobo 2018a; Vellem 2015) is core if we are to understand the extent of black women’s struggle in these cultic practices of the old and new movements. If one looks at how these mainstream denominations are sleeping in the same http://www.hts.org.za bed with the ANC government after 25 years into democracy, what we see in these cults is arguable: a fetishised spirituality emanating from the rigidity of structural religion, the Constantine model of church, imperialistic, rigid order and a form of power that is anti-life. The most horrifying expression of empire and this rigid order will always be women, that is, the reason we are talking about triple and multiple jeopardies (Bennet 1986:170; EATWOT 1993:50–51; Kobo 2018a:1; Williams 1993:73) as black women’s bodies lie at the altar of racists, sexists and cults and spiritualities trapped in the dungeons that must be excavated for the liberation of black humanity as a whole
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
