2016/02/04 by Timothy Van Aarde · 18 citations
Social Sciences · Arts and Humanities · #African cultural and philosophical studies #South African History and Culture #Christian Theology and Mission #Dignity #Black theology #Liberation theology #Identity (music) #Oppression #Sociology #Gender studies #Power (physics) #Theology #Black Power #Narrative #Politics #Political science #Philosophy #Law #Aesthetics
paper · pdf · doi:10.4102/hts.v72i1.3176
published in HTS Teologiese Studies / Theological Studies 72(1) (AOSIS)
openalex publication_date 2016/02/04 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/05/21
Black theology in South Africa is still relevant 20 years after the apartheid regime ended. It is a theology that gave to Black South Africans human dignity and a black identity. Black theology in South Africa confronted the imbalances of power and abusive power structures through an affirmation of human dignity and the uniqueness of the identity of black people. The biblical narrative of the Exodus is a definitive narrative in American black theology and liberation theology in overcoming oppression understood as political victimisation. Black theology in South Africa is not primarily about power and economics but also about the rediscovery of human dignity and black identity and to a lesser extent about victimisation. A third generation of black theology in South Africa will gain impetus through a rediscovery of human dignity and identity as its core values instead of a Black American liberation theology of victimisation or a Marxist liberation theology of the eradication of all power or economic imbalances.