Abstract
Corruption and corrupt practices in the public and private sector have become endemic to South African society, requiring the cooperation and participation of all citizens to uproot its evils. Classical Pentecostals are historically notoriously absent in confronting societal issues, and they represent as much as a third of the South African population. As a primitivist-restorationist movement, early Pentecostals followed the early Christian church in differentiating themselves from its social, cultural and political Umwelt, acting like the proverbial ostrich that hides its head in the sand to ignore any threat of danger. Why should and how can Pentecostals be involved in confronting corruption? It is argued that Pentecostals should reconsider their widespread lack of involvement in societal issues for historical, hermeneutical and evangelical reasons. By way of a comparative literature analysis, these reasons are discussed, and then, the principles of prophetic politics are developed in broad lines to make some suggestions for their application in South African society.
Highlights
The problematics that corruption holds in for South Africa cannot be addressed effectively by a one-dimensional and mono-disciplinary study or by only one agency
Pentecostalism in its primitivistrestorationist urge to follow the early church as its model separated and differentiated itself from its social, cultural and political Umwelt, interpreting the call to holiness in terms of withdrawal from society as far as possible
It is argued that Pentecostals should reconsider their involvement in societal issues, including corruption, for several reasons
Summary
The problematics that corruption holds in for South Africa cannot be addressed effectively by a one-dimensional and mono-disciplinary study or by only one agency. What is relevant for the discussion is the effects of their restorationist and primitivist urge, one of which was that they separated themselves from the social, cultural and political polis in order to live ‘sanctified’ lives by withdrawing from involvement in the important issues that define contemporary South Africa, including corruption, state plundering, nepotism, abuse of power, embezzlement and various forms of misappropriation, influence-peddling, prevarication, insider trading and abuse of the public purse (see Olivier de Sardan 1999:25–52, especially 27). Other ways of prophetic politics successfully employed by Pentecostals include their involvement in schools to sharpen students’ moral ability, raising public awareness on the dire problem of corruption and its effects on the South African society, influencing personal morality, nurturing civic responsibility, raising ethical awareness (Vorster 2012:145) and advocating for peace and justice (Yong 2010:248). Https://theologiaviatorum.org the government and other state agencies to confront it openly in a transparent manner
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