Abstract
This article engages with Andries van Aarde’s 2001 work on the historical Jesus, Fatherless in Galilee: Jesus as Child of God. It poses the question whether Van Aarde succeeds in overcoming the shortcomings of Western, Euro-centric, male dominated scholarship and making a different kind of conversation with non-Western Christians possible. The article explores the new ways in which Van Aarde speaks of the historical Jesus and interrogates the consequences of his main thesis, namely that to understand the historical Jesus properly, one needs to understand the most determining fact of Jesus’ life, specifically his fatherlessness. The article finds that Van Aarde’s fatherless Jesus opens up heretofore unexplored possibilities for the ongoing discussion with liberation theologies, in particular Black liberation theology. However, it raises the question whether Van Aarde does justice to his own new insights by interacting with Western theological scholarship alone. The fatherless Jesus and the Black Messiah meet in South Africa, where the cause of the fatherless Jesus has been so shamefully betrayed and where the divine favour of the Black Messiah needs to be gloriously embraced.
Highlights
This article engages with Andries van Aarde’s 2001 work on the historical Jesus, Fatherless in Galilee: Jesus as Child of God
The book is a careful study of the latest quests in the search for the historical Jesus, the long endeavour since the groundbreaking work of Albert Schweitzer and explains Van Aarde’s own quest to discover who God is, how Jesus is related to God, how much we can know about Jesus and, besides a series of important questions, to discover above all ‘what is at stake when one says that [the] study of the life of Jesus is important’ (Van Aarde 2001:1)
Andries van Aarde’s fatherless Jesus, the revolutionary who redefined the codes, systems and politics of holiness, broke down the barriers and undermined hierarchical structures to raise up those subjected to and denied by them; the subversive who restored the dignity of the downtrodden and shone God’s divine favour upon those considered unworthy throws new light on the historical Jesus, but in my view opens up heretofore unexplored possibilities for the ongoing discussion with liberation theologies and with black liberation theology in particular
Summary
The divine favour of the unworthy: When the Fatherless Son meets the Black Messiah. Affiliation: 1International Institute for the Study of Race, Reconciliation and Social Justice, University of the Free State, South Africa. Boesak Theologian in Residence at the International Institute for the Study of Race, Reconciliation and Social Justice at Free State University and Extraordinary Professor of Theology at Stellenbosch University, South Africa. How to cite this article: Boesak, A.A., 2011, ‘The divine favour of the unworthy: When the Fatherless Son meets the Black Messiah’, HTS Teologiese Studies/ Theological Studies 67(1), Art. The article finds that Van Aarde’s fatherless Jesus opens up heretofore unexplored possibilities for the ongoing discussion with liberation theologies, in particular Black liberation theology. It raises the question whether Van Aarde does justice to his own new insights by interacting with Western theological scholarship alone. The fatherless Jesus and the Black Messiah meet in South Africa, where the cause of the fatherless Jesus has been so shamefully betrayed and where the divine favour of the Black Messiah needs to be gloriously embraced
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
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.
