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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 11 November 2008
Alfredo Fierro was probably going too far when he characterised modern political theology as ‘operating under the sign of Marx’. Nevertheless, ever since Gustavo Gutierrez dropped the bombshell of ‘Liberation Theology’ on the playground of western theologians, it is clear that Marxism cannot be ignored in any relevant twentieth-century explication of the Christian faith. Gutierrez focused in particular upon two aspects of Marx's thought: the action of man in human history, and the transformation of the world in the interests of the oppressed. These are perhaps also the most important aspects of Marxism for an understanding of recent developments in South African theology today.
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5 Steve Biko's definition of Black Consciousness was reprinted in I Write What I Like. A Selection of his Writings, edited with a personal memoir by Aelred Stubbs (London, 1978). See also Hirschmann, David, ‘The Black Consciousness Movement in South Africa’, in The Journal of Modern African Studies (Cambridge), 28, 1, 03 1990, pp. 1–22.Google Scholar
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10 Mokgethi Motlhabi, ‘Introduction’, in ibid. p. xiii.
11 See Tutu, Desmond, The Voice of One Crying in the Wilderness (London, 1982),Google Scholar and Hope and Suffering (Braamfontein, 1983);Google Scholar and Boesak, Allan, The Finger of God (Johannesburg, 1979),Google ScholarWalking on Thorns (Geneva, 1983),Google Scholar and Black and Reformed (Johannesburg, 1985).Google Scholar
12 Setiloane, Gabriel, African Theology: an introduction (Johannesburg, 1986).Google Scholar
13 Bonganjalo Goba's and Mokgethi Motlhabi's papers appeared from time to time in Journal of Theology for Southern Africa (Rondebosch).
14 For a good survey, see de Klerk, W. A., The Puritans in Africa: a story of Afrikanerdom (London,1975),Google Scholar and de Gruchy, John, The Church Struggle in South Africa (Grand Rapids, 1986 edn.).Google Scholar
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16 John de Gruchy, ‘Theologies in Conflict: the South African debate’, in ibid. pp. 85–97.
17 Mosala, Itumeleng, ‘African Independent Churches: a study in socio-theological protests’, in Villa-Vicencio and de Gruchy (eds.), op. cit. p. 103.Google Scholar
18 Maimela, Simon, ‘Current Themes and Emphasis in Black Theology’, in Mosala and Tihagale (eds.), op. cit. p. 105.Google Scholar
19 Boesak, Farewell to Innocence, p. 142. This theme is developed by Goba, Bonganjalo, An Agenda for Black Theology (Braamfontein, 1988), and by Frank Chikane, ‘Doing Theology in a Situation of Conflict’, in Villa-Vicencio and de Gruchy (eds.), op. cit. pp. 98–102.Google Scholar
20 Mofokeng, Takatso, ‘The Evolution of the Black Struggle and the Role of Black Theology’, in Mosala and Tlhagale (eds.), op. cit. pp. 113–28.Google Scholar
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22 Itumeleng Mosala, ‘The Relevance of African Independent Churches and their Challenge to Black Theology’, in ibid. p. 97.
23 Ibid. p. 98.
24 Mosala, Itumeleng, ‘African Independent Churches’, in Villa-Vicencio and de Gruchy (eds.), op. cit. p. 110. Mosala goes so far as to claim that culture is not ethnic but based on class. If this is accepted, the whole idea of culture as used in African theology would presumably have to be redefined.Google Scholar
25 Ibid. p. 108.
26 Mofokengs, ibid. p. 123.
27 See Itumeleng Mosala, ‘The Use of the Bible in Black Theology’, in ibid. pp. 175–200, and ‘Social Scientific Approaches to the Bible: one step forward, two steps backward’, in Journal of Theology for Southern Africa, 55, 1986, pp. 15–30.Google Scholar
28 Cf. Boesak, Farewell to Innocence.
29 See Challenge to the Church: the Kairos Document (Institute for Contextual Theology, Braamfontein, 09 1985).Google Scholar
30 Boesak, Allan and Brews, Alan, ‘The Black Struggle for Liberation: a reluctant road to revolution’, in Villa-Vicencio, Charles (ed), Theology and Violence: the South African debate (Braamfontein, 1987), pp. 51ff.Google Scholar
31 Frank Chikane, ‘Where the Debate Ends’, in ibid. pp. 301–8. See also his address to the Catholic Institute for International Relations, ‘The Churches and the South African Crisis’, Londons, July 1988.
32 For an exhaustive discussion of the Marxist interpretation of religion, see Thrower, James, Marxist–Leninist Scientific Atheism (Berlin, 1983).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
33 Hebblethwaite, Peter, The Christian–Marxist Dialogue and Beyond (London, 1977), p. 102.Google Scholar
