Re-imagining African Reformed praxis in thological education : a missiological dialogue with the Northern Theological Seminary (NTS)

Abstract

In 2008, in the aftermath of a devastating explosion of violence against “foreigners” in the “New South Africa”, as missiologists, we started research on the responses of churches to this violence, in particular the Uniting Reformed Church in Southern Africa (URCSA). This research was embedded in the broader question of how our emerging missionary theologies from Africa colluded to entrench exclusivist social identities to contribute to this crisis. Some of our work was published in Theologia Viatorum (Journal of Theology and Religion in Africa) and Missionalia (Southern African Journal of Missiology) in 2009-2011. In this ongoing project, in a context of accelerated migration in a post-colonial Southern Africa, we reflect on how colonial identities from the metropolitan centres continue to shape the responses from church and theological education centres, specifically in Southern Africa. We tentatively and critically suggest signs of hope. In this contribution we revisit the notion of “African Reformed Praxis” by the Northern Theological Seminary of the URCSA as a key contribution towards re-imagining post-colonial social identities beyond that of the black African other as a basis for a Southern African missionary identity and theological education. Our perspectives are informed by an ongoing reflection on the legacy and conti-nued relevance of a particular emerging missionary theology from Africa, ie the South African Black Theology in a post-colonial context.