Crossbearers as the messianic generation: towards a black radical Christology

Abstract

South Africa is in crisis, and theologians have been grappling with the theological significance of this state of affairs. In the realm of black theology, many have expressed concern around the discursive malaise this theological tradition is currently experiencing. On the other hand, theologians are still coming to terms with the epistemological break that Fallism introduced into popular discourse in the country. Some theologians have responded to the movement, but no theologian has articulated a theological contribution from the movement itself. The following study is an attempt to articulate a theological expression of Fallism while not falling into the excesses of the philosophical framework. Through the black Christology of Takatso Mofokeng, I seek to articulate a Fallist response to the central question of his Christological framework, “how can faith in Jesus Christ empower black people who are involved in the struggle for their liberation?” (Mofokeng, 1983, p. x) To answer this question, I stage a critical encounter between black theology and radical theology. This theoretical encounter is staged in the following manner. First, I make the case for the discursive contact between black theology and radical theology. Second, I do a thematic survey of the motif of identity in Mofokeng’s Christology. Third, I explore an alternative hermeneutical orientation that can help address the limitations of the motif of identity in Mofokeng’s Christology through John D. Caputo’s radical theology. Specifically, I explore his hermeneutics of the call. I then bring this to a head by articulating a Christian Fallism and its corollary circumfessional orientation. In short, Christian Fallism is my post-1994 answer to the central question in Mofokeng’s Christology. This answer is inflected with the critical intuitions of Fallism. An inflection which serves as a theoretical extension to the Black Consciousness philosophical framework that Mofokeng had to work with. Fallism extends this by also drawing from black radical feminism, and Pan-Africanism with specific attention to the historical conditions of South Africa today. The corollary circumfessional orientation that I bring into the discourse is a measure that is meant to guard against the logics of community that both black theology and Fallism run afoul of.