This paper seeks to consider the themes of justice, faith and knowledge using the South African context as its backdrop. South Africa provides acontext fraught with a multiplicity of challenges, many of which were inherited from the exceptional injustices which characterised the apartheid era, dating back to the days of British and Dutch colonisation. Since..
Read moreDoing theology with children in a South African context: Children as collaborators in intergenerational ministry
The vision of Child Theology Africa is to advance a child-friendly continent by doing theology with, for, about and through African children. In this article we would like to explore the voice, role and position of the child in church and society, as important and integral to authentic intergenerational church praxis. This is based on..
Read moreChildren as theological hermeneutic: Is there a new epistemological break emerging? – Nico Botha
Children are the great omission in theology. The objective of the article is to show that there is a growing realisation of this reality. More than that, there are attempts afoot to salvage the situation by factoring children more and more into theological writing, not in an objectified manner, but as serious agents of theology..
Read moreTheology disrupted: Doing theology with children in African contexts
The thrust of this article is an attempt to respond to the question whether we can read and interpret the bible in Africa from the child theology vantage point. The author’s answer is in the affirmative in two ways: Firstly, it is that the majority of children in Africa are facing abuses of unprecedented proportions...
Read more‘Children must be seen and heard’ – Doing postcolonial theology with children in a (southern) African Reformed church
Taking theology to the African children needs to start with a serious engagement of the colonial experience that African Christianity, communities and families were subjected to – mostly in subdued silence. The often heard platitude of the stereotypical ‘friendly’ African children, who is so ‘open to the gospel’, needs to be deconstructed in terms of..
Read moreTheology disrupted by the challenge of refugee children
This article focuses on the plight of refugee children and families and takes the form of a dialogue between an academic theologian and a community activist who works for an organisation assisting refugees in Tshwane. This article is structured according to a sixdimensional ‘pastoral cycle’ that explores agency, contextual understanding, ecclesial scrutiny, interpreting the tradition,..
Read moreRethinking sin and evil through the life of a child sex slave
This article rethinks (original) sin and evil through the life of a child called Engela who has been ‘sold’ into sex slavery. Focus is placed on the high value with which children should be regarded, especially children who have been sold as sex slaves. During this argument the emphasis is placed on ecclesiastical evolutionary perspectives..
Read moreProviding mentoring for orphans and vulnerable children in internally displaced person camps: The case of northern Nigeria
The challenge of orphans and vulnerable children (OVC) has become central to the response of many organisations (UN, UNHCR, AONN, UNAIDS, UNFPA, UNICEF, etc.) today. The number of OVC throughout northern Nigeria is growing as a result of the Boko Haram pandemic. Mostly, this is caused by the death of parents who have been killed..
Read moreUnsettling Theology: Sunday school children reading the text of the Bible in the age of recolonisation
During Women’s month in South Africa (August), a group of Sunday school children from the rural congregation of the Uniting Reformed Church in Southern Africa (URCSA), Middelburg- Nasaret, got together to read the narratives of the resurrection of the daughter of Jairus and the healing of the woman suffering from a blood disease. The exercise..
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