Abstract
Practical theology in the 21st century is faced with increasing diversity that requires a new pedagogy to address multicultural challenges. Multiculturalism serves as a subversive agency for monocultural and ‘silent minority’ landscapes. It might also contribute to the development of an identity pedagogue for the three public spaces of theology, specifically in South Africa, where this new democracy seeks a new culture of humanity and has to deal with the dichotomy of a multicultural society and a resistant monocultural ‘laager’ mentality of minority races. Despite the promising start to its democracy, South Africa has many social challenges and practical theology has a role to play by reflecting on how we understand and embody the relationship between faith, culture and public life. To this end, this article seeks to reflect critically on spirituality, leadership and social transformation praxis in search of meaning-forming multicultural praxes.
Highlights
The postcolonial era offers unique opportunities for Christianity to interact with diverse cultures in the world, not as a missionizing force or a conquering ideology
South Africans are in dire need of interrelationships across colour- and cultural boundaries to foster human dignity
We should be mindful that the colonisation process is ‘both social and political as well as cultural and discursive’ (Pui-lan 2005:2). It is essential for dialogue between the three publics, namely the church, society and academia in theology (Tracy 1981:14ff.)
Summary
The postcolonial era offers unique opportunities for Christianity to interact with diverse cultures in the world, not as a missionizing force or a conquering ideology. We should be mindful that the colonisation process is ‘both social and political as well as cultural and discursive’ (Pui-lan 2005:2) It is essential for dialogue between the three publics, namely the church, society and academia in theology (Tracy 1981:14ff.). The transversality between the latter and Douglas’s (2007:1–14) theory of the three social contexts, namely, the market, the hierarchy, and the enclave is crucial – as it relates to human or leadership behaviour, tendencies and values. Some of these challenges will be highlighted
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