Intercultural Theological Education: Towards a New Future for Faculties of Theology at Higher Education Institutions in South Africa

Dames, Gordon Ernest

doi:10.7833/110-0-113

Cited by 6 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 10 publications

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“…A large part of the failure to change things can be ascribed to a lack of understanding of how or even what to change. The displacement of Black churches from their traditional centrality in the Black community heightens the critical need of scholarship in practical theology for both African-American folk religion as well as South Africa's multiracial people (Andrews 2002(Andrews :1465Dames 2012). The new democratic era in South Africa forcefully brought to the fore Western cultural distortions in both its public and private worlds.…”

Section: A Static Religious Praxismentioning

confidence: 96%

Knowing, believing, living in Africa: A practical theology perspective of the past, present and future

Dames

2013

HTS Teologiese Studies / Theological Studies

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The new democratic era in South Africa brought Western cultural influences forcefully into public and private living domains. This dichotomy deformed African cultures in many ways (Bujo & Muya). Local communities were previously 'public people' living and worshipping in transformative hermeneutical communities. This scenario has changed and local communities are steadily being driven into private spaces. The task of practical theology is to question what the undergirding epistemology and beliefs for this shift are and to reinterpret it in the light of the gospel. The impact of Western culture on African traditional villages is telling in so far as traditional African values and practices are being lost at the expense of Western ideology, technology, media, et cetera (Bujo & Muya). We argue that the former dominant monodisciplinary approach of practical theology contributed to a growing private individualist worldview. Practical theology has since developed into an interdisciplinary approach. This newfound reciprocity in the social sciences led to constructive change in church and society (Dingemans). Practical theology in Africa has to deal with an individualised, pluralistic world and tendencies of discontinuity, uncertainty, violence and destruction. In South Africa, practical theology is called upon to redress the dichotomies and defaults of Western and African cultures, respectively.This article seeks to focus on two questions: (1) how the gospel and culture, particularly in multicultural contexts, interact within the framework of practical theology and (2) how practical theology could help the church to create a new culture to serve as a bridge between multicultural praxes. By considering these questions, we shall, firstly, introduce the problem; secondly, present culture as a reciprocal agency; thirdly, propose a new culture of knowing, believing and living; fourthly, present a contemporary contextual framework and, fifthly, propose the transformation of practical theology and conclude the article. Culture as a reciprocal transformational agencyChristianity is confronted with challenges worldwide as it faces new cultures in its attempt to develop its identity (Hastings 2007:viii). Robinson (2006) avers: [W]e are truly living between [modern and postmodern] paradigms and that is not a comfortable place to be. The experience of living between paradigms is not a new one for the church. (p. 12) Mwambazambi (2011) adds his voice to this argument in the following way:The impact of globalisation on the religious lives of the people of Africa challenges African churches to contextualise the Gospel with a trans-formational hermeneutic in engendering an affirmative new African

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Section: A Static Religious Praxismentioning

confidence: 96%

Knowing, believing, living in Africa: A practical theology perspective of the past, present and future

Dames

2013

HTS Teologiese Studies / Theological Studies

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“…However, even though South Africa is a multi-racial democratic country which embraces its diversity, there are incidents of racism, xenophobia, and economic imbalances (South African History Online, 2019). While modern South Africa has been called naturally multicultural, people still struggle with meaningful dialogue and communities (Dames, 2012).…”

Section: The South African Contextmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Role of Intercultural Education in a Bachelor of Education Program at Nelson Mandela University in South Africa

2022

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People of diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds are now more than ever interacting with one another in work and social situations, mainly remotely during the midst of the pandemic. Intercultural education can prepare student teachers with the tools they need to interact effectively in a variety of intercultural situations with their colleagues, their principles and their students. In Bachelor of Education programs, providing student teachers with the skills, knowledge, and attitudes to be able to interact with individuals of different backgrounds and bring out the best in their students is essential. The aim of this narrative study was to understand the role of intercultural education in a Bachelor of Education program and to understand how and if intercultural education principles were implemented. Five student teachers were interviewed to determine how they perceived the role of intercultural education in the Bachelor of Education Program and what their understanding of this concept was. The themes that emerged from the findings were intercultural education was perceived as: (1) Awareness of the diversity of the students' backgrounds and (2) Engaging in practical activities and (3) Principles of intercultural education were embedded in some course modules but were not practical, (4) Challenges and (5) Suggestions. Overall, it was found that principles of intercultural education were implemented in the Bachelor of Education program to an extent, but the student teachers felt there was room for more focused activities specifically related to intercultural education.

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“…Whether adequate and substantial thinking has taken place on intercultural theological education is doubtful. It is worth taking note of the national and international reflection in this regard (see Dames 2010;Esterline & Kalu 2006;Fernandez 2014). Conditions that do not inhibit students, but respect their agency, are to be created and nurtured.…”

Section: Ecology Of Student Life: Striving To Be 'At Home'mentioning

confidence: 99%

Theology and the (post-)apartheid university: Mapping discourses, interrogating transformation

Venter¹

2016

THE

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This article examines the specific position of Theology at South African universities, following the recent developments on campuses that catapulted the urgency for greater commitment to radical transformation in higher education to public attention. A large corpus of material is generated on theological education as such, but the major question is rarely thematised as the transformation of Theology at public universities in (post-)apartheid South Africa. This article addresses the nature of the challenge by following a distinct approach. Ten major discourses in the wider reflection on theological education are identified and interpreted as avenues to achieve three aims: to convey the unique challenge for Theology, to give historical texture to issues conventionally addressed a-politically in Theology and to forward an interpretation of ‘transformation’ for Theology that emphasises its multi-layered nature

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Intercultural Theological Education: Towards a New Future for Faculties of Theology at Higher Education Institutions in South Africa

Abstract: Abstract

Cited by 6 publications

References 10 publications

Knowing, believing, living in Africa: A practical theology perspective of the past, present and future

Knowing, believing, living in Africa: A practical theology perspective of the past, present and future

The Role of Intercultural Education in a Bachelor of Education Program at Nelson Mandela University in South Africa

Theology and the (post-)apartheid university: Mapping discourses, interrogating transformation

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