dc.description.abstract |
Gabriel Molehe Setiloane engaged and challenged the Western theological discourse on
the structure and function of divinity. Most of his published dialogues pushed for the
importance of an African theological discourse. Some of Setiloane’s sensitive, but also
critical, expressions made by include statements such as, Motho ke Modimo (“a human
being is God/divine”). According to Setiloane there is a need to have a comprehensive
understanding of divinity in African Theology encompassing all − the living and the
dead. In this regard, Setiloane attempted to develop what he called the “African Divinity
discourse” encompassing areas of life such as ethics and morality in secular contexts,
family life, and civil authority, “riches and poverties” and the land question, crime,
leadership styles, the functioning of the corporate sector in terms of ubuntu and biocentric
ethics. For more than 30 years, Setiloane dialogued critically with the then
proponents of Black Theology and Liberation Theology, holding the firm view that
African Divinity derives from African culture and Black and Liberation Theology from a
form of Western Christianity. His main points are that (i) for African people, African
Divinity is primary to their life and death experience; and (ii) if one has to confront the
fact that many African people are Christian, they bring a much more elevated and
encompassing understanding of divinity to Christianity, ultimately enriching it. For
Setiloane, Black and Liberation Theology − as is currently acknowledged − were
contextual phenomena, necessitated by the contingent challenges of having to advance
the dignity of oppressed African people on the basis of race and the struggle for political
freedom in the context of an oppressive political and ideological regime. According to
Gabriel Setiloane, such movements were necessary at the time, but the question of
African Divinity transcends them. This article aims to re-open a dialogue with a voice
that has been sidetracked by the past and current (South) African theological systems and
structures. Published and unpublished works of Setiloane will be included in this
dialogue as well as recorded formal interviews and informal conversations. The author
was privileged to have been entrusted with unpublished articles by the late Professor
Setiloane. These unpublished articles are in the process of being published under the title
African Perspectives, as instructed by the late Professor Setiloane. |
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