Allan Boesak Research Articles

“Black, Queer, and Christian”

“Black, Queer, and Christian”

The anti-apartheid movement at Grand Valley State College in West Michigan

The history of the anti-apartheid movement at Michigan’s public universities tends to focus on MSU in Lansing, UM in Ann Arbor, and WMU in Kalamazoo. The anti-apartheid movement outside of these and a few less-well-known cases remains largely unknown. Drawing on a small selection of archival documents, this essay explores the history of the anti-apartheid movement at Grand Valley State College in West Michigan, a region presently most well known for its conservative politics. This surprising microhistory includes contributions from two important South Africans, Allan Boesak and Ben Khoapa, dedicated organizing by students on campus, and a series of articles published in the student newspaper, The Lanthorn.

The Christology behind The Black Messiah

Abstract Allan Boesak developed his ethics of the Black Messiah in the 1970s while he wrote his dissertation in Kampen, The Netherlands. These ethics said no to slavery, colonialism, apartheid, racism, and poverty as a consequence of oppression. Behind these ethics lies the Christological problem. Jesus Christ is truly God and truly human being, which is the universal Christian creed. What is the relationship between the universal confession to Jesus Christ as true God and true human being and the contextual confession to the Black Messiah? The Black Messiah is black for the black people for identification. Is the true humanity universal and the color contextual? The article gives a possible solution. Keywords: Allan Boesak, Black Theology, Black Ethics, Black Messiah, Black Christ, Christology

Revolutionizing Theological Imagination

Abstract The Reformed tradition helped provide the rationale for Southern slavery and for South African apartheid. If Reformed theology is going to speak to the racial issues of our day, it must come to terms with the tradition of Black theology. Some Reformed evangelical theologians have begun to engage with the insights of Black theologians, but they have done so very selectively. Reformed Evangelicals need to learn from the theological imaginations of such Black theologians as James Cone and Allan Boesak. By doing so, they can undermine the tradition’s racist legacy and unleash its liberative potential.

Allan Boesak

This article attempts to exhibit the theology of prophetic resistance presented by Allan Boesak during the church struggle against apartheid and how it influenced the theological landscape. Firstly, the methodology applied in this article is to place Boesak against the backdrop of the significant historical events of the 1960s and 1970s. The purpose of this is to illustrate both the growing resistance of the oppressed black people and the unjust rule of apartheid against which Boesak will assert himself. The article goes on to focus on the theological contribution of Boesak between 1976 and 1990. The author will investigate specific events during the 1980s to showcase Boesak’s involvement within the Dutch Reformed Mission Church and beyond.

Solidarity and the incarnation

This paper will discuss how the doctrine of the incarnation informs practices of solidarity in the public and political spheres through the work of two South African activists and theologians, Rev Dr Allan Boesak and Dr Denise Ackermann. I will begin with explicating Ackermann’s task of theology, its ground in praxis and human experience, which will lead to a discussion of stories and theology. As we begin to listen to the stories of those around us, we find we need an account of human agency and the particular stories we are told of the incarnation through the Eucharist . Defining solidarity will be the next task, which will begin with Boesak’s discussion of “critical solidarity”, or solidarity between powerful parties. We will then continue to construct our definition of solidarity through Boesak’s model of black solidarity as explicated in his dissertation, Farewell to Innocence. Finally, I will synthesize a theology of solidarity in conclusion to this conversation.

Allan Boesak, Black Theology and Apartheid: A theological-historical approach

In this article I will give specific attention to the reciprocal relationship between Black Theology and Allan Boesak based on his lived experience of apartheid from a theological-historical perspective. It is my presupposition that Boesak’s experience of apartheid made him prone to the influence of Black Theology and that he in turn adapted American Black Theology so that it could be made applicable to the South African context. Black Theology unlocked an entire new theological paradigm for Boesak which enabled him to speak prophetically to the challenges and injustices that occurred under apartheid in South Africa. Attention will be given to the emergence of Black Theology in South Africa, how Boesak was challenged by it and how Black Theology, through Boesak, impacted the theological landscape.

Sort etik med transkontekstuel inspiration

Allan Boesak developed a black liberation theology in SouthAfrica in the time of apartheid. He was studying the thinking of four afro-americans in USA, Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, Albert Cleage,and James Cone. Boesak does not argue that his ethics is universal, becausethe validity of his black ethics is only in the contexts where thereis oppression. Black ethics is contextual, Boesak says. But this articleargues that according to Boesak, ethics has validity in all the contextswhere there is oppression. The liberation ethic is, therefore, transcontextual.Another foundational element in Boesaks ethics is “the Black”:It is the black consciousness that gives black people a sense of belongingwhen they are oppressed. The Black consciousness is transcontextual.He uses the inspiration from USA, which is his original context, intothe South Africa apartheid situation, the application context.

The unsettling Story about Allan Boesak’s Involvement in the Struggle against Apartheid

The poststructuralist assertion is that all meaning and knowledge are discursively construed through language and other signifying practices. In order to decipher the story of Boesak, the author made use of the notions of poststructuralists, namely Foucault, Spivey, Milne, and so forth. The media has been the major authority that delimited, designated, named and established Boesak as an object of the discourse. The media constitutes Allan Boesak and simultaneously constitutes the dominant, prevailing discourse regarding his life and work. The legacy of Boesak is, therefore, portrayed as constituted socially and is consequently inherently unstable. The following subsections are being discussed in the article, namely: the role of the media in construing Boesak; the formation of Boesak as the object of the discourse; Boesak’s early involvement; Boesak’s engagement with church and society during 1982–1990; and Boesak our leader, we are not throwing a friend to the wolves.

Reading Revelation from the top or the underside

I dedicate this article to Allan Boesak on the occasion of his 70th birthday in appreciation of his fearless struggle against racism, but also in gratitude for his many other writings in which he consistently promoted the cause of oppressed, vilified and abused groups in society in a truly compassionate and inspiring manner. This article also wishes to give recognition to his singular contribution to the study of Revelation, reflected in the many references to his commentary in scholarly works (cf. part 3 below).

The Making of Allan Aubrey Boesak: Theologian and Political Activist

Although no conventional biography of Allan Boesak has been published, either by himself or others, we have enough data and information in various places. This is especially true since the 2009 publication of his Running with Horses . In this essay, we attempt an appraisal of the contribution of Allan Boesak to politics and theology by focusing on key milestones and reflections in his life. We take our cue from Boesak’s own self-definition of being a theologian and a political activist. While this article is not a thorough-going theological, the roots and sources of his theology and politics will be explored.

Women Flying with God: Allan Boesak’s Contribution to the Liberation of Women of Faith in South Africa

In 2005 Allan Boesak published a book entitled Die Vlug van Gods Verbeelding (“The Flight of God’s Imagination”1). It contains six Bible studies on women in the Bible, who are Hagar, Tamar, Rizpah, the Syrophoenician woman, the Samaritan woman as well as Martha and Mary, the sisters of Lazarus. This article argues that women of faith in South Africa have, throughout the ages, in religious literature been stylised according to six depictions, and that Boesak has, in the said book, undermined these enslaving depictions skilfully. The six historical presentations deconstructed by Boesak through the Bible studies are the following: 1) Women are worthy only in their usefulness to church and family without agency of their own; 2) A good woman is submissive on all levels, privately and publicly; 3) Women should sacrifice themselves to the mission of the church, without acknowledgment that they themselves are victims of patriarchy; 4) A good white woman is one that is loyal to the nation and to her husband while black women are to reject their cultures; 5) Women’s piety is restricted to dealing with their personal sins, while they are not to express their piety in public; 6) Women are forbidden by the Bible to participate in ordained religion. After references to these discourses in Christian literature of the past 200 years, the contents of Boesak’s Bible studies will be analysed to determine how—and how far—he has moved from these traditional views of women of faith. Finally the research findings will be summarised in a conclusion.

Revival and Unity of Reformed Churches: How to deal with this Challenge? Allan Boesak on Reformed Churches and Theology

This article reflects on the need for revival and unity in Reformed churches. It explores issues which prevent this from happening and offers suggestions as to how some of these challenges can be addressed. In attempting to do the latter it draws from the work of the World Communion of Reformed Churches. The article also especially recognises the work and contributions of Dr Allan Boesak as a Reformed theologian and scholar.

Christian activism and the fallists: What about reconciliation?

This article aims to understand what role Steve Biko and the Black Consciousness Movement, and the Soweto Uprising, played in Christian activism between the early 1970s and late 1980s. The question is: did the Black Consciousness Movement and the Soweto Uprising influence Christian activists to engage differently with notions such as reconciliation during the struggle against apartheid? The article revisits the actions and thinking of Christian activists before 1994 to understand some of their views on reconciliation, but most importantly, to understand their interactions, engagement with the Black Consciousness Movement and the Soweto Uprising. The article focuses on some of the church leaders and liberation theologians who were inspired and encouraged by Black Consciousness movements, including Allan Boesak and Desmond Tutu. To revisit their thinking and actions, in the heart of the struggle against apartheid, may help us understand current struggles on reconciliation, particularly in connection with the new generation of activists known as the Fallists. We may discover that the new generation is opening ‘old or new’ debates around reconciliation in South Africa.

CONTEMPLATING ALLAN BOESAK’S FASCINATION WITH PREACHING “TRUTH TO POWER”

Preaching can rightly be called “foolishness”, an outdated form of communication and a feeble form of art. In democratic South Africa, preaching is certainly not assigned a place among the ranks of professions conveying “development”. Allan Boesak, however, has not been swayed by the excommunication of preaching since the dawn of democracy. In this article, I will contemplate Boesak’s fascination with preaching “Truth to power”. Boesak, as a son of liberation and Black theology, is known for aspiring to a new world through the biblical witness. In essence, preaching the biblical truths to power. Therefore, when academics contemplate the state of preaching and express concern with regards to how power operates in our society and faith communities, Boesak certainly has a contribution to make. I briefly examine how power operates in the South African society. Boesak’s publications and sermons are contemplated in the hope of uncovering his fascination with preaching truth to power. I conclude with some thoughts on how Boesak preaches truth to power for both the dismal state of preaching and how power operates in South Africa.

Women flying with god: Allan Boesak's contribution to the liberation of women of faith in South Africa

In 2005 Allan Boesak published a book entitled Die Vlug van Gods Verbeelding (“The Flight of God’s Imagination”1). It contains six Bible studies on women in the Bible, who are Hagar, Tamar, Rizpah, the Syrophoenician woman, the Samaritan woman as well as Martha and Mary, the sisters of Lazarus. This article argues that women of faith in South Africa have, throughout the ages, in religious literature been stylised according to six depictions, and that Boesak has, in the said book, undermined these enslaving depictions skilfully. The six historical presentations deconstructed by Boesak through the Bible studies are the following: 1) Women are worthy only in their usefulness to church and family without agency of their own; 2) A good woman is submissive on all levels, privately and publicly; 3) Women should sacrifice themselves to the mission of the church, without acknowledgment that they themselves are victims of patriarchy; 4) A good white woman is one that is loyal to the nation and to her husband while black women are to reject their cultures; 5) Women’s piety is restricted to dealing with their personal sins, while they are not to express their piety in public; 6) Women are forbidden by the Bible to participate in ordained religion. After references to these discourses in Christian literature of the past 200 years, the contents of Boesak’s Bible studies will be analysed to determine how—and how far—he has moved from these traditional views of women of faith. Finally the research findings will be summarised in a conclusion.

Revival and unity of reformed churches: how to deal with this challenge? Allan Boesak on reformed churches and theology

This paper was originally presented at a conference at the Chongshin University in Seoul, South Korea.

The making of Allan Aubrey Boesak : theologian and political activist

An earlier version of this article was published in the Allan Boesak Festschrift published by Sun Press in 2016. Permission to republish has been obtained.

Allan Boesak: innocence and the struggle for humanity

As a Black theologian and political activist, deeply committed to the cause of freedom, reconciliation and justice in South Africa, Allan Boesak has embraced the philosophy of Black consciousness as a legitimate moral-political foundation for the development of national unity. Boesak is of the view that post-apartheid South Africa is still deeply plagued by a racist legacy of moral-political “innocence”. I explore the validity of Boesak’s position from the perspective of his fundamental claim that the philosophy of Black Consciousness represents a legitimate framework for addressing the legacy of “innocence”, construed by him as an epistemic condition that refuses to engage with the historical “truth” of race thinking.

AMERICAN AND SOUTH AFRICAN SODIO-HISTORICAL LIBERATION THEOLOGY RECIPROCATIVE INFLUENCES

The paper meanders through American and South African liberation theology. Underlining the thoughts and influences of charismatic leaders like Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, James Cone, and Allan Boesak are the historical sociology of two distinct religious spaces, South Africa and the United States of America. Each region had an influence on the other, sometimes both implicitly and deliberately, but most times inadvertently. Christianity was joined by Islam in both regions in establishing a praxis. But more so in America where James Cone suggests his liberation theology to have been a direct response to the Nation of Islam's Malcolm X. In the end, it was the synthesis and influences of a number of religious ideas including Mohandas Gandhi's Hinduism / Jainism, Islam, Christianity, Nation of Islam and Garveyism that were used in whatever form necessary to socialize a liberating praxis or rational study.