This thesis is a study of how the prophetic voice of the South African Council of Churches
(SACC) has changed over time. The focus is on the relationship between the SACC and the
South African government of the day. The thesis analyses central texts from the National
Conferences of the SACC held from 1969 to 2004. The analysed texts are Minutes and
Resolutions, General Secretariesâ Reports, and the Presidentsâ Addresses.
The thesis asks how the prophetic voice has changed since 1990, which is chosen as the cutoff
year. This choice was not a matter of course. 1990 was the year when Mandela was
released and the liberation movements were unbanned; but 1994 could be seen as the more
obvious alternative. The author argues that the role of the SACC had already changed by
1990. The period between 1990 and 1994 is different from both the time before 1990 and the
post-1994 situation.
With the use of a method built on hermeneutical and discourse theoretical premises, a number
of orders of discourse are delimited. In the first reading the prophetic voice is analysed in
relation to intersectionality (with ethnicity, religious diversity, gender, and social class as suborders
of discourse), violence versus non-violence, HIV and AIDS, and the Zimbabwe issue.
A number of different discourses are discerned, some of them based on terminology borrowed
from the Kairos Document.
One paragraph treats the HIV and AIDS pandemic as a case study that deals with how the
prophetic voice has been articulated within the different orders and sub-orders of discourse.
Special attention is also given to the relationship between a prophetic ministry and a
moralising ministry (which also is a kind of prophetic ministry).
With inspiration from Walter Brueggemannâs theories about Mosaic and Davidic trajectories
in the Old Testament, the second reading deals with the relationship between âthe prophetic
voiceâ and âreconciliationâ as two nodal points in the material. Discourses that are discerned
here are the âDavidic Propheticâ, âMosaic propheticâ, âState Theologyâ, âChurch Theologyâ,
âProphetic Theologyâ, âDevelopmentâ, âLiberationâ, âNation-buildingâ, âCritical Solidarityâ,
and âCritical Engagementâ discourses.
With the sub-title of the thesis, the author argues that the SACC is searching for a renewed
Kairos (or focus). After the dismantling of apartheid, the question is whether or not this focus is found. In the final discussion, reconciliation (and unity) is put alongside justice,
development alongside liberation, and liberation alongside reconciliation.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:ufs/oai:etd.uovs.ac.za:etd-10192011-142138 |
| Date | 19 October 2011 |
| Creators | Göranzon, Anders Bengt Olof |
| Contributors | Prof PJ Strauss |
| Publisher | University of the Free State |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | en-uk |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://etd.uovs.ac.za//theses/available/etd-10192011-142138/restricted/ |
| Rights | unrestricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached hereto a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to University Free State or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report. |
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