Transforming Theological Knowledge: Essays on theology and the university after apartheid

Francois Tolmie, Rian Venter

Description

A number of outstanding public intellectuals such as Jonathan Jansen, Crain Soudien and Lis Lange have been invited to present papers to clarify the conceptual challenge and what this might entail for theology. Well-known theologians such as Conrad Wethmar, Allan Boesak and Martin Prozesky reflect on the nature of theology and religion at universities amidst social exigencies. Two international theologians – Harold Attridge from the prestigious Yale Divinity School and Bram van de Beek from the Free University of Amsterdam – share their experiences of institutions that exemplify excellence and ecumenical openness.

Sujets

• Littérature Sud-Africaine
• Littérature sud-africaine
• Transformation
• Knowledge
• Theology
• Imperative
• Religious studies
• Systematic theology
• Practical theology
• University

Informations

• Publié par: UJ Press
• Date de parution: 01 décembre 2013
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781920382261
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 2 Mo

Extrait

addressed. During the apartheid era, theology faculties played inuential roles at

to reect seriously about the need for transformation at the fundamental level, that is,

and Martin Prozesky reect on the nature of theology and religion at universities amidst

Free State, Bloemfontein, South Africa. Prof. Francois Tolmie, professor of New Testament and dean of the Faculty of Theology at the same university.

RIAN VENTER & FRANC T OIS TOL R MIE (EDS. A ) NSFORMING T H E O L O G I C A L KNOWLEDGE

Essays on heologyand he universiy ateraparheid

Rian Venter & Francois Tolmie (Eds.)

TRANSFORMING T H E O L O G I C A L KNOWLEDGE

Rian Venter & Francois Tolmie (Eds.)

Transforming Theological Knowledge

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First edition 2012 ISBN 978-1-920382-25-4 (Print) ISBN 978-1-920382-26-1 (e-book) DOI: https://doi.org/10.18820/9781920382261

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................................................

CAN THE THEOLOGICAL LEOPARD CHANGE ITS SPOTS? ON THE TRANSFORMATïON OF UNïVERSïTY KNOWLEDGE.............................................. Jonathan D. Jansen

THE CHALLENGE OF THINKING: THE UNARTICULATED TRANSFORMATIONAL IMPERATIVE? .................................................................................... Crain Soudien

KNOWLEDGE, CURRïCULUM AND TRANSFORMATïON..................................................... Lis Lange

THEOLOGY, THE POST-APARTHEïD UNïVERSïTY AND EPïSTEMOLOGïCAL TRANSFORMATION: INTIMATING THE SHAPE OF THE CHALLENGE ................................ Rian Venter

THEOLOGY AND THE UNIVERSITY: HISTORICAL AND CONTEMPORARY PERSPECTIVES .......................................................................................... Conrad Wethmar

THEOLOGY AT A PUBLIC UNIVERSITY .................................................................................. Bram van de Beek

THEOLOGICAL AND RELIGIOUS STUDIES IN NORTH AMERICA ........................................ Harold W. Attridge

THEOLOGICAL FORMATION IN SOUTH AFRICA: CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES ............................................................................................................ Allan A. Boesak

“TO LOVE GOD, THE POOR AND LEARNïNG”: TOWARDS AN ETHïC OF THEOLOGïCAL KNOWLEDGE................................................................................................ Rian Venter

STUDYING RELIGION IN SOUTH AFRICAN UNIVERSITIES: METHODS AND CHALLENGES .............................................................................................. Martin Prozesky

PRACTICAL THEOLOGY AT A PUBLIC UNIVERSITY: THE ROAD TRAVELLED AND THE ROAD AHEAD AT THE UNIVERSITY OF THE FREE STATE ..................................... Kobus Schoeman, Martin Laubscher, Joseph Pali, Jan-Albert van den Berg

DOïNG SYSTEMATïC THEOLOGY ïN THE POST-APARTHEïD CONDïTïON........................ Rian Venter

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INTRODUCTION

1. Background Higher education, like the rest of the South African society, has not escaped the deep transformations since the advent of a constitutional democracy. New demographics, such as student and faculty proIles, are some of the visible changes. More complex challenges on the level of curriculum and knowledge have not received sustained attention, and could be considered an incomplete task. The rector of the University of the Free State, Prof. Jonathan Jansen, challenged the Faculty of Theology to engage transformation at this fundamental level – the epistemological. The Irst reaction by the Faculty was understandably one of uncertainty as to what this might entail. This volume of essays attests to the Faculty’s journey to greater conceptual clarity.

A short historical note on the process of transformation at the Faculty may help to understand the background to these articles. For a period of six months in 2012, the Faculty of Theology explored the notion of epistemological transformation. At an initial meeting, Rian Venter presented a paper which intimates the potential form this transformation might imply for theology at the University of the Free State. This was followed by a number of presentations by scholars invited to address speciIcally identiIed themes. An attempt was made to listen to outstanding intellectuals and to voices from a variety of backgrounds. The papers by Crain Soudien, Lis Lange, Allan Boesak, Bram van de Beek, Harold Attridge, Conrad Wethmar and Martin Prozesky were part of this exploration. The initial phase of the process was concluded by a joint meeting of all Faculty members, during which heads of department presented papers suggesting what epistemological transformation might mean for the various theological disciplinary groups. The meeting was attended by Prof. Jansen, who responded extensively to the discussions. His paper in this volume is a systematic reworking of his crucial contribution to the on-going discourse. The articles on Practical and Systematic Theology are representative of this meeting.

ït is important to emphasise that the Faculty is acutely aware that transformation is complex and open-ended. These essays convey only an initial moment of this process which is still underway. Not all the questions have been addressed, and the great task of implementing change has only started. However, the purpose of publishing these essays is both modest and ambitious: modest, because the volume does not pretend to oer exhaustive conceptual clarity; ambitious, because suîcient perspectives have been generated which might motivate and guide transformation.

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Introduction

2. Overview In a seminal contribution “Can the theological leopard change its spots?”,Jonathan Jansen oers clear and challenging guidelines as to what is at stake with transformation and how this could take place. He points out that knowledge should not be viewed as a topic, but as “the embodiment of values, beliefs, and commitments; it is a reection of history, traditions and practices; it is a projection of ideologies and politics”. What is required is “a knowledge that is broader, more inclusive, more generous and more embracing”. Lamenting the manner in which transformation has been approached, he is of the opinion that deep conversations about the nature, purposes and politics of transformation have been neglected. His discussion of unsatisfactory approaches to transformation is particularly helpful. For instance, it is not a mere change of topic, because the very bedrock of knowledge – beliefs, values, and attitudes – is not challenged. Transformation is more than corrective content; it is about the ‘baggage’, the ‘ideological moorings’. Finally, Jansen believes that change cannot happen “with the natives alone”, advocating that academics from outside bring new ideas and perspectives.

Crain Soudien, who has vast experience of transformation in higher education, places the notion of ‘transcendence’ central in his contribution, “The challenge of thinking”. At a university, this implies the insistent self-questioning and enlargement, that is, the inclusion of a greater number of intellectual options. He stresses the need to historicise, to question how disciplines have come into being during the colonial period, “how they are established as sites for coming to ‘know’ the other”, and how they “are conIgured in exclusionary ways”. The reproduction of domination should be resisted, and new identity possibilities be imagined in a post-racial manner.

The manner in which transformation of higher education has been approached since 1994 is also critiqued byLis Lange in her article entitled “Knowledge, curriculum and transformation”. The debate about the National QualiIcations Framework, with its focus on modules, credits and levels did not challenge the internal workings of curriculum and its knowledge underpinnings. Like Soudien, she highlights the importance of the intellectual history of disciplines. For transformation, the following questions should be addressed: Where does the knowledge come from? What relations of power does it represent? What kinds of questions are explored? A particular contribution of Lange is her insistence on the relationship between pedagogy and transformation. At stake is a democratisation of knowledge, which encourages students to produce knowledge themselves and critique contrasting knowledge. Apart from this changed pedagogical relationship, transformation entails a review of the governance of knowledge, as well as an acceptance of the openness of knowledge, that is, welcoming complexity, contradiction and uncertainty.

ïn a wide-ranging contribution, “Theology, the post-apartheid university and epistemological transformation”,Rian Venterexpresses appreciation for framing the challenge for theological education in terms of epistemological transformation, and identiIes no less than fourteen possible questions which should be addressed in order to gauge the full implications of this approach. To put it briey, the challenge is one of knowledge and power, of plurality and otherness, and of restorative intellectual justice. The article enters into conversation with a broad scope of theologians who Ind it diîcult to address related questions. Venter argues

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Introduction

for a distinct theological response which values transcendence and catholicity. Theologising the challenge would entail exploring primary Christian symbols, such as the trinity, the kenosis of Christ, and the various metaphors for salvation, for their transformative potential.

Conrad Wethmar,theologian who has published extensively on theological education, a reects in his contribution, “Theology and the university”, on the relationship between theology and the university, and the possibility, desirability and form of such a co-existence. He points out that the notion of the university is not an immutable given factor, and describes the ideals from the medieval to the modern period. Assuming faith and church to be the pre- conditions for the existence of theology, Wethmar quite uniquely explains the implications of the classical characteristics of the church for theology; for example, the catholicity of the church requires a theology with ecumenical openness. ïn a Inal section, he argues for the location of theology in a university context, and insists that it is possible to accommodate both confessionality and ecumenicity in the practice of theology.

Former Dean of the Faculty of Theology at the Free University in Amsterdam,Bram van de Beekacknowledges that theology tends to become sectarian and exclusionist, and stresses that all religions should be accommodated at a public university. Central in his article, “Theology at a public university”, is the notion of ‘Illed neutrality’, which refers to the critical assessment of religions in terms of their own internal standards. This, however, does not exclude openness for mutual questioning of other religions. Because theology’s subject matter deals with the Ultimate, Van de Beek resists the suggestion that theology be located in the humanities at a university. Theology’s independence is for him a marker of the limits of the human intellectual enterprise.

To learn from other contexts how theology, church and higher education could be conIgured, the Faculty invitedHarold Attridge, Dean of the prestigious Yale University Divinity School, to share experiences and insights. ïn his article, “Theological and religious studies in North America”, he identiIes two extreme positions on a spectrum – from independent schools of theology to denominationally based seminaries. A number of insights emerge from Attridge’s description of practices in the United States of America. There is not a single normative conIguration in existence. Often a distinction between theological faculties and religious departments is found, and the relationship could be one of competition and/or co- operation. An array of partnership arrangements with churches is of vital importance. Some of the most prestigious university-based divinity schools in the United States of America are ecumenical and non-denominational.

ïn his contribution, “Theological formation in South Africa”, well-known activist and theologian,Allan Boesak, situates theological education in the concrete social dynamics of South Africa. Arrangements still in place at faculties of theology are the result of agreements of the past, and these are still favouring the Reformed tradition. The transformation project is also embraced with reluctance. He suggests that transformation should probe the meaning of diversity, and that hermeneutics should be central to the entire endeavour. In a provocative section, he raises the question “What matters for theology”? He highlights Africa as respected partner in theological discourse, diversity as invitation for embrace, and the need for religious solidarity.

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Introduction

In his article on “An ethic of theological knowledge”,Rian Venterthe position of theorises theology at a public university in terms of knowledge, virtue-ethics, phronesis and the other. He explicitly interprets the challenge in terms of the relationship between knowledge and otherness, which calls for an examination of the ethical dimension of knowledge construction. The neglected reality of character in decision-making is retrieved, and the Aristotelian notion ofphronesis– that is, thinking well for the sake of good communal life – is recommended as possible practice for contemporary theology.Phronesisis reinterpreted in terms of otherness; this allows virtuous thinking to be directed towards communal life and social well-being. ïn a concluding theological section, Venter argues for divine ultimacy as the very condition for knowledge, virtue,phronesisand embracement of otherness.

Any reection on theology at a public university renders the attention to religion as a human phenomenon inevitable. Well-known scholar of religion,Martin Prozesky, argues in his article entitled “Studying religion in South African universities” for a broad understanding of religion which covers as subject matter not only adherence to, but also rejection of religion. Such an approach to religion warrants a multi- and interdisciplinary study. For the future study of religion, Prozesky in identifying some gaps in the knowledge of religion points to ethics as an area of scholarly neglect. He advocates the need for a critical ethics which explores “the veriIed harm owing from or even present” in religion. ïf these concerns were addressed, it could result in what he labels “an epistemology of creativity”.

The contribution by the group of Practical Theologians –Kobus Schoeman, Martin Laubscher, Joseph Paliand Jan-Albert van den Berg – testiIes to the changes which some theological disciplines have already experienced. A clear shift has taken place from a narrow diaconiological to a more hermeneutically oriented approach. The focus moved from church to public, from scripture to experience, and from deduction to induction. The article argues for a turn to Africa, suggesting an internalisation of African experience and identiIcation with African struggles of the colonial and apartheid past. As part of concrete transformation envisioned by the Department, the authors identify “greater appreciation for and celebration of diversity and complexity”.

To address detractors of transformation who often regard ‘transformation’ as too vague a notion to be employed fruitfully,Rian Venterin his Inal article entitled “Doing systematic theology in the post-apartheid condition” refers to the ‘grammar’ of epistemological transformation, that is, a task with a speciIc referent: racial discrimination which was legitimised by the intellectual resources in the past. In other words, transformation is the pursuit of intellectual justice. Historically, Christian theology is confronted by a three- fold exclusion: other religions, other Christian denominations, and other voices, that is of women, race and class. Venter proposes a critical Systematic Theology which is informed by a transformed habit of mind: one which prioritises the God-question, and notions such as relationality, alterity, and hospitality. Such an orientation may implicate teaching and learning, research and even other academic practices such as international networking.

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Introduction

3. Perspectives It is not possible to distil the surplus of meaning conveyed by the various articles in a few propositions. The very nature of the transformation process is complex, and it should be acknowledged as such. Recurring and prominent motifs could, however, be identiIed which may also function as guidelines for faculties of theology pursuing transformation. The following perspectives can be mentioned:

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The transformation process at institutions of higher learning in South Africa has not been completed and the manner in which it has been approached is not beyond legitimate critique. Deeper probing into the dynamics of the curriculum is still an incomplete task.

► The very nature ofknowledgeshould be interrogated. An antenna for its ideological character, its relationship to power should be in place, and an appreciation for its openness and ethical quality. No transformation could take place without an explicit account of the politics of knowledge.

► ArtiIcial, shallow and inadequate attempts at transformation should be unmasked. AspeciIc grammarfunctions in the discourse of epistemological transformation. At stake are inclusion, justice and otherness, as well as ideological moorings at the deepest levels of knowledge production. This is no abstract negotiation, but is Irmly grounded in a speciIc history of social pathology – apartheid.

► Thegenealogies of disciplines and their complicity to colonialism and apartheid deserve intensive scrutiny, especially how they functioned to perform and legitimise exclusion.

► Pedagogicalstrategiesplay a critical role in the democratisation of knowledge and the formation of students, and warrant creative attention.

► The relationship betweentheology and universityremains contested. Not only should theology carefully take note of the shifting ideal of the university, but also construe fresh arguments for its location at such an institution and its precise home within its organisational structure.

► The life of thechurchremains a primary condition for the exercise of theology. Changing times necessitate not only new interpretations of attributes such as catholicity, but also correspondingly a new understanding of the nature of theology. Mono-ecclesial governance of theology at a university is a remnant of the past; only those institutions that are relatively free from ecclesial control and an ecumenical openness will thrive.

► Theology should develop a sensitive antenna for whatreally matters. Prioritising a theological agenda and attending to social exigencies go hand in hand.

► Each religious tradition should examine its own traditional resources to create theologies of transformationwould project tradition-speciIc visions of which human ourishing.

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