Black theology : challenge to mission

Abstract

This thesis proposes that Christian mission in South Africa should be understood in terms of liberation. To achieve this aim, the author listens attentively to Black Theology, and then responds from a position of solidarity to the double challenge which it poses: a negation of traditional mission and an affirmation of liberating mission. Since black theologians grapple with the concrete implications of their blackness, a white theologian needs to make a consciously white =esponse in order to do justice to it. Since Black Theology emerged out of the Black Consciousness movement and developed in dialogue with it, the study begins with an examination of the theory and praxis of the Black Consciousness movement. Then follows an overview of the two phases of Black Theology in South Africa, in which the emphasis is placed on the organisations and events which embodied this approach, rather than on individual theologians. In the systematic analysis of Black Theology, attention is first given to the element of negation. In this section the five inte=related dimensions of South African Christianity which cause black suffering are examined. Then an analysis is made of the element of affirmation: the liberating action proposed by black theologians for the eradication of suffering and the attainment of new human beings in a new South Africa. Since Black Theology has an holistic understanding of mission, attention is given to personal, ecclesial and societal dimensions. The final section is a white response to this double challenge. First, it develops the notion of liberating mission and conversian in the white community. Secondly it establishes a number of fundamental criteria for liberating mission. This final part draws conclusions from the analysis done in the earlier parts, and asks critical questions about some aspects of Black Theology. In this way the basis is laid for white involvement in liberating mission and for ongoing interaction with Black Theology.