KAIROS DOCUMENTS: FROM SOUTH AFRICAN CHALLENGE TO GLOBAL MOVEMENT History, theology and faith-inspired activism 1985-2015 The South African Kairos Document remains one of the most formative and influential documents of our time. Since 1985 it created a new dialogue between church, theology, politics and activism. This course explores the history that led to the KD, the historical context of its formation, examines the theology of the KD and its impact on faith, theology and politics and what is now called “a global kairos movement.”
BUTLER UNIVERSITY- SPRING SEMESTER 2015
RADICAL RECONCILIATION: BEYOND POLITICAL PIETISM AND CHRISTIAN QUIETISM
South Africa’s reconciliation project has been hailed as a model for other countries caught in situations of serious conflict on the African continent as well as elsewhere. Driven by the famous words from Archbishop Desmund Tutu, “There can be no reconciliation without forgiveness, and without forgiveness there is no future.” South Africa’s reconciliation process acquired some unique characteristics and dynamics. In this seminar, we will examine the historical context in which South Africa, in avoiding civil war, has deliberately chosen for political negotiations with the apartheid oppressors instead of following the historical precedent of the Nuremberg trials model, even though apartheid has been declared a “crime against humanity.” South Africa chose also for a Truth and Reconciliation Commission, instead of just a Truth Commission as most other countries in similar circumstances had. Using (and in addition to) the text by Allan Boesak and Curtiss Paul DeYoung, we explore reconciliation from a biblical point of view, the meaning of “radical reconciliation,” reconciliation and retribution; the differences and tensions between “political reconciliation” and “biblical reconciliation”; the meaning of “forgiveness,” “remorse,” “amnesty,” “reparation,” and “restitution” as political and spiritual concepts. We also explore the meaning of the African concept of “Ubuntu” and its role in the reconciliation process. We ask if reconciliation is possible without justice, and we discuss the relationship between “retributive justice,” “restorative justice,” “political justice,” and “social justice” within the context of South Africa’s reconciliation project. Finally, we pose the question of whether the South African model is worthy of emulation elsewhere in the world and what it might mean to speak of “radical reconciliation” between nations.
CHRISTIAN THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY- FALL SEMESTER 2014
