Violence in post-apartheid South Africa and the role of church and theology

Abstract

South Africa is known as one of the most violent countries in the world. Since the seventeenth century, violence has been part of our history. Violence also played a significant role during the years of apartheid and the revolutionary struggle against apartheid. It was widely expected that violence would decrease in a post-apartheid democratic South Africa, but on the contrary, violence has increased in most cases. Even the TRC did not succeed in its goal to achieve reconciliation. In this paper it is argued that theology and the church have a great and significant role to play. Churches and church leaders who supported revolutionary violence against the apartheid system on Biblical “grounds”, should confess their unbiblical hermeneutical approach and reject the option of violence. The church also has a calling in the education of young people, the pastoral care of criminals and victims, in proclaiming the true Gospel to the government and in creating an ethos of human rights

The doctrine of providence in the <i>Institutes</i> of Calvin – still relevant?

“…Coetzee, 2004), poverty and unemployment, but also in many other parts of the world, people are struggling to find answers to the phenomenon of suffering. There are no easy answers, but the answer we find in the doctrine of providence as it is expounded by Calvin, is much more satisfactory and comforting than all other answers given, because Calvin gives the answer of faith both in the Fatherhood and sovereignty of God.…”