Reading Judges 12:2 in dialogue with Maimela

Abstract

The affirmation that human beings are created in the image of God was once regarded as the inspiration for the struggle against racial oppression, social class exploitation and gender domination; but it has since become a most abused theological statement, devoid of any practical significance. Theoretically, it is used to give credence to the notion that South Africa is a Christian country; but in practice the theological spokespersons of the oppressors appropriate the affirmation exclusively to the members of their groups; on the other hand, the theological spokespersons of the oppressed continue to believe in it for as long as they remain at the receiving end of oppression. So we are desperately in need of a common anthropology, in which we celebrate the unity in diversity of the equal human worth of all human beings.