The fall of the Berlin Wall three decades ago: Repercussions for Christian education in Hungary and South Africa

Johannes L Van Der Walt,Sarolta Nagy

doi:10.4102/ids.v53i1.2460

Abstract

The study reported in this article centred on the question of whether one could speak of a rebirth of Christian education in South Africa and Hungary respectively after the Fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. Although the two countries are geographically far removed from each other, on two different continents and with different backgrounds, histories and social contexts, developments regarding Christian education in both were deeply affected by the Fall of the Wall in 1989, and the subsequent collapse of the Soviet Union. While one could conditionally speak of a rebirth of Christian education in Hungary, the same cannot be said of the situation in South Africa where religion and religious education were relegated away from the public school to the private sphere of the parental home and religious institutions. This might have contributed to the current deplorable state of morality in the country.

Highlights

Introduction and problem statementThis article is the product of investigations into the socio-political and religious-educational events in two countries that are geographically quite distanced from each other
During discussions between us as researchers about the state of Christian education in our two countries, we came to the conclusion that the Fall of the Berlin Wall and the subsequent collapse of the Union of Socialist Soviet Republics (USSR) three decades ago had had a significant impact on the status of religious education in the two countries, and that we had to account for what has transpired in this period of time
A more basic question cropped up: Why attempt to compare the situation regarding Christian education in Hungary in Central-Eastern Europe with that of South Africa at the southernmost tip of the African continent? One answer to this question can be found in an observation by the former United States of America president, Barack Obama (2018), in his Nelson Mandela Annual Lecture in 2018, namely that after the Fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of the USSR, ‘it seemed as if the forces of progress were on the march, that they were inexorable’

Summary

Introduction

Introduction and problem statementThis article is the product of investigations into the socio-political and religious-educational events in two countries that are geographically quite distanced from each other. Our investigations began revolving around the question: How and to what extent has the collapse of the Berlin Wall and of the USSR in 1989 affected the state of Christian education in Hungary and South Africa respectively?. One answer to this question can be found in an observation by the former United States of America president, Barack Obama (2018), in his Nelson Mandela Annual Lecture in 2018, namely that after the Fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of the USSR, ‘it seemed as if the forces of progress were on the march, that they were inexorable’. A respect for human rights and the rule of law, enumerated in a Declaration by the United Nations, became the guiding norm for the majority of nations, even where the reality fell far short of the ideal. (n.p.)

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