Public Theology: The South African Experience
June 2-16, 2009
Across three great regions of the world--sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America, and southern and eastern Asia--two trends are rearranging the social and political landscapes. One of these is the struggle for democracy in civic life, politics and governance. There have been dramatic advances in recent years, but democracy in many lands is fragile, and there have been setbacks too. The other trend, which until recently was nearly invisible to most scholars and pundits, is Christianity's dynamic development in these regions. Two-thirds of the world's Christians now live outside of Europe and North America.
Given the huge scope and importance of these two trends, it is surprising that few have asked what they might have to do with each other. Three broad-ranging studies, coordinated by Timothy Shah, an American evangelical political scientist and now published at Oxford University Press, bring some answers.(1) All over the world, Shah and his international team of scholars has discovered, evangelical Christians who once were politically uninvolved are now engaging civic life and public affairs. Too often, however, evangelicals enter politics to address a crisis but lack the longer-term vision and objectives to sustain a principled role. Too often, once engaged, evangelicals have been co-opted by cronyism and influence peddling and have not sustained a consistent Christian political vision.
There are signs in some places of maturation and principled approaches, but evangelicals still lack thoughtful, principled, systematic approaches to politics and governance to guide and sustain them. One of the contemporary evangelical Christian movements' greatest needs, therefore, is to develop political theology and philosophy. As Young-gi Hong, the author of the Shah team's chapter on Korea put it, "evangelical democratic politics and social action need more developed and coherent theological foundations so that religious conviction supports freedom, justice, and peace, not political preconceptions or particularistic interests."(2)
In the United States, where democratic institutions are old and fairly stable, evangelicals' political engagement over the past three decades has been rather unstable. It is striking to see that in spite of great differences in political cultures, for example, between the U.S. and the nations of sub-Saharan Africa, most of the general conclusions of these studies also apply to American evangelicals. So evangelicals' need for a political theology and philosophy is truly universal.
In order to engage North American and African Christian scholars in some fresh Christian political thinking, the CCCU and the Nagel Institute are offering an interdisciplinary seminar in Johannesburg/Pretoria and Cape Town, South Africa.
A Seminar on Christian Political Thought
This common concern poses an ideal opportunity for engaging Christian scholars from both the global North and the South to help Christians sustain a principled presence in politics and governance. It would gather 12 African and 8 North American Christian scholars who work in theology, philosophy, political science, and related fields. They would meet in South Africa, one of the great democratic experiments of our time, where Christian thinkers have played powerful roles. The team would be guided by Prof. Nico Koopman, a distinguished South African theologian who directs the Beyers Naude Institute for Public Theology at the University of Stellenbosch.
As a result of their time of learning together, the team would produce
- a book of essays on the critical issues regarding Christianity and democracy emerging from their national contexts, and
- a practical guide with principles and mandates for Christian service in politics and governance.
The participants would include eight professors from CCCU institutions in the U.S. and Canada, plus twelve of their counterparts from around sub-Saharan Africa (some of whom might serve in universities or in various NGOs as well).
The issues would include some of the large public affairs questions of this era and beyond, which are relevant to both North America and Africa. These include
- wealth and poverty,
- peace and security,
- human rights and obligations,
- education,
- environmental stewardship, and
- governmental accountability and efficacy
The focus would be to develop Christian perspectives on the current research and debates about the nature and prospects of democracy. Participants would address a variety of related topics:
- the structures and systems of constitutional and electoral democracy,
- the more qualitative issues regarding how well systems work,
- the protection of formal rights,
- the promotion of the general welfare and democratic values, and
- the provision of freedom and space for non-governmental civil society.
The critical question would address the secular discussion regarding democracy: does Christianity have anything distinctive to say to it?
- Are Christianity and democracy perfectly compatible?
- Are there ongoing tensions?
- What does the Christian faith have to say about democratic process as well as structures?
- How might believers respond in times when processes have become subverted or structures have become oppressive?
- What does the faith have to offer when structures have melted down and states have failed?
- How do Christians address situations where the social fabric has been shredded by war or torn by enduring rivalries?
- Does democratic theory factor in spiritual forces and the transcendent sources of such concepts of justice, integrity, and human flourishing?
- How can the wisdom and care of the living God be brought to bear on these matters?
We expect that the conversation will be rich and searching, made all the more so by the cultural differences around the table and the thought-provoking situations at hand in South Africa.
(1) Terence O. Ranger, ed., Evangelical Christianity and Democracy in Africa (Oxford, 2008); David H. Lumsdaine, ed., Evangelical Christianity and Democracy in Asia (Oxford, 2008); and Paul Freston, ed., Evangelical Christianity and Democracy in Latin America (Oxford 2008).
(2) Young-gi Hong, "Evangelicals and the Democratization of South Korea Since 1987," in Lumsdaine, ed., Evangelical Christianity and Democracy in Asia, p .230.
Who should apply?
- Professors at CCCU member institutions in a variety of disciplines, such as theology, political science, philosophy, history, sociology, international relations, law, and area studies.
- African Christian professors and other intellectuals in a variety of disciplines, serving either in Africa or elsewhere.
