Some big changes coming! Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam

There are some big changes coming! Please see the short video below for more details. We would appreciate your prayers.

Talking to an AI chatbot about my research on Strong Artificial Intelligence

I had a fascinating conversation with the #Bing #AI #chatbot this evening.

In 2006 I defended my PhD at UNISA on an African intersubjective approach to self-validating consciousness in relation to some of the claims of Strong Artificial Intelligence.

This evening Bing found my work, summarized my thesis (relatively well), and ‘humbly’ conceded its limits.

Goodness, this is quite interesting, some of what I discussed in 2006 is now a reality! What do you think about AI, particularly in relation to the kind of work you do? Can you see some possibilities for using it in helpful and responsible ways, or not?

See the screenshots for more on this conversation, and you can find a copy of my 2006 PhD thesis here:

https://uir.unisa.ac.za/handle/10500/2361

Professorial Inaugural Lecture: On living more decently in an indecent world - The virtues and vices of a Public Theologian

On the 16th of August 2022 I was exceptionally grateful to deliver my Inaugural Lecture as a Full Professor at Stellenbosch University.

The tradition of the Professorial Inaugural Lecture is that once one is promoted to Full Professor you have to make a 'profession'. It is generally assumed that some years or decades of research and scholarship will mean that you have something of meaning and value to say.

I took that very seriously. Wrestled for some months with what to 'profess'. Of course there was the pressure that the lecture's text had to be finalised in order to be prepared for publication! This was actually quite good - it meant that I had to read, listen, discern, and write! In the end I tried to discern what might be appropriate, fitting, and just for me to profess as a white, male, professor of Public Theology and Ethics in Stellenbosch South Africa in 2022? As it happened, the date that the University set for the lecture coincided with the 10th Anniverary of the Marikana massacre (about which I had done research and written previously). The mine workers who were shot in that terrible event had built their campaign around decency - what they were advocating for was a 'decent wage' (not just a 'living wage'). They wanted to earn enough to be able to undo the evils of colonialism and apartheid for them and their families. They were asking to earn enough to be able to undo the dehumanization of migrant labour, of inadequate education, of a lack of health care, and of ongoing poverty. They expected, that in a decent society they should be able to earn a decent wage. Sadly, 47 persons died indecently during that week's protests.

So in the end, the title of my lecture was:

Living more decently in an indecent world? The virtues and vices of a public theologian.

You can download PDF copy of the published lecture here.

The event was attended by family, friends, my wonderful colleagues, and members of the Rectorate of Stellenbosch University. It was such a special evening! I am so grateful.

You can watch the lecture itself here (or see the embedded youtube video below which will start playing at the start of the lecture itself, skip back to the beginning to watch the whole evening with inputs from special colleagues and friends).

Forum Lecture - American Evangelicalism and African Christianities: A cautionary tale of Theo-political exceptionalism

I was very grateful to deliver the 'Stellenbosch Unviersity Forum Lecture' on the 26th of March 2022.

This is the second time that I have been asked to deliver this prestigious lecture. I was very grateful to do so.

The topic of my lecture was 'A critical consideration of the relationship between African Christianities and American Evangelicalism: A cautionary tale of theo-political exceptionalism?' It is based on an article that I had published in the South African Baptist Journal of Theology that you can read here. 

Thanks for your interest. While I feel, that by an large Christianity has made a positive contribution towards the care of persons in fields such as education, health care, political advocacy, and human rights, I do also think that it is important for us to name the ways in which religion in any form is harmful or dangerous.

I would love to hear your feedback or ideas on this topic!

The Soweto student Uprising, Desmond Tutu, and TEE College - some painful and hopeful history

Here is a bit of painful, and hopeful, history.

This is an extract from the minutes of the first TEE College meeting that took place on 18 June 1976. Desmond Tutu was elected as the first Chair of the board of the college. As you will see in these minutes, after opening the meeting, he was called away to Soweto to support the community after the horrific police brutality of what is now known as the ‘Soweto Student Uprising’.

TEE College was set up by the Eccumenical Churches to train women and men for ministry during a period when South Africa’s apartheid government would not allow black women and men to study theology at Universities.

In the years since 1976 TEE College has trained tens of thousands of persons for ministry and service via ‘extended’ learning (allowing persons to study while being employed, thus not taking scarce skills and limited resources away from the communities in which they were serving).

TEE College offers a Bachelor of Theology Degree, a Diploma in Theology, and numerous Higher Certificates in Theology and Ministry. We currently have over 3000 registered students.

I am very grateful to serve as the current Chairman of the Board of TEE College. It offers a wonderful service to the Churches and society, with a gifted and dedicated staff based at our new Campus in Brackenhurst.

See the Facebook page for more details: https://www.facebook.com/TEECollege

What is Public Theology? An introduction to Public Theology

I was recently asked to record an overview of my chapter ‘The nature of public theology’ from our new book, ‘African Public Theology’ (Agang, S; Hendriks, HJH; Forster, DA; Langham, 2020).

So, I decided to rework the video slightly and upload it here for anyone who has been looking for an introduction to public theology. This is intended to be an accessible presentation for newcomers, students, and persons who have some interest in the intersection between faith and public life.

You can find a copy of the book, ‘African Public Theology’ here: https://amzn.to/39nFgM5 Thanks for watching! As always, I would love to hear your comments, suggestions, ideas, feedback and questions!

Protestant evangelicalism and the merit trap?

Why is it that in many western countries where “life expectancy” and “material well-being” have increased, “life satisfaction” is decreasing? German sociologist Hartmut Rosa suggests one reason is our “social acceleration.” In his book, Resonance: A Sociology of Our Relationship to the World, he writes, “modern capitalist society, in order to culturally and structurally reproduce itself, to maintain its formative status quo, must forever be expanding, growing, and innovating, increasing production and consumption as well as options and opportunities for connection—in short: it must always be accelerating.”

One consequence is what Rosa identifies as the “three great crises of the present day: the environmental crisis, the crisis of democracy and the psychological crisis (as manifest, for example, in ever growing rates of burnout).”

Supporting Rosa, other research finds that socio-cultural unhappiness may be traced, ironically, back to the laudable values and beliefs of British, American, and European evangelicals.

In a 2020 article, Kyrkan och kampen för ett bättre samhälle [The Church and the Struggle for a Better Society], Swedish theologian Arne Rasmusson notes that dissenting nineteenth- and twentieth-century Protestants—including the Oberlin Colony, Quakers, Methodists, and Baptists—contributed to “the emergence and development of an independent civil society, democracy, religious freedom, and freedom of expression, the struggle against slavery, and the feminist movement.” As Marcia Pally argues (The New Evangelicals: Expanding the Vision of the Common Good), and as Rasmusson holds, this emerged from a mix of doctrinal convictions, political identity, and community structures, all of which supported dissent.

These communities did not submit themselves to religious and political authorities. They saw themselves as working towards a new religious, moral, and political order based on their conviction of God’s desire to save humanity from sin and its consequences. Each believer plays a part in this salvific work and must work out and live by moral principles in keeping with these religious convictions.

A second aspect of our story is found in The Quarterly Journal of Economics (February 2021). The article discusses the impact of an evangelical education and economic development program on poor Filipino households. Six months after the program ended, participants had “higher religiosity and income . . . and lower perceived relative economic status.” This suggests some correlation among certain forms of evangelicalism, economic development, and perceptions of dissatisfaction. Families who received both religious and economic training showed economic increases of up to 9% yet they perceived themselves as having dropped in economic status. Similarly, a 2017 research project in Germany found that, “relative to their Catholic counterparts, Protestants do appear to work longer hours” without, however, increases in wages. Protestants work harder but do not necessarily experience higher societal value or compensation.

These findings echo Max Weber’s argument in The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, where he argues that under Protestantism, people develop higher motives for work. Weber notes that the Protestant Reformation, particularly Calvinism, created distrust in the Catholic Church’s ability to mediate salvation through its rituals. Thus, unsure of their salvation, all persons now had to live spiritually disciplined lives (while previously, only priests, nuns, and monks had to; the salvation of others was mediated through the Church). Insecurity about salvation and the effort to assure it became the basis for virtues such a diligence, thrift, and self-control.

Moreover, previously it was only religious functionaries who did ‘holy’ work. However, the Reformation taught that God is at work everywhere and all persons participate in God’s work. God feeds everyone, and the farmer participates by laboring to grow food. People thus began to attach moral and religious significance to work. They work harder, longer, and see their labor as virtuous merit to be admired and respected.

As Rasmusson’s and Pally’s work show, such values were deeply engrained in Protestant theology, identity, and practice. However, among dissenting Protestants, work became more important for the spiritual imperative of liberation. Not only a means of honoring God through economic production, work became a political tool to combat structural injustice such as poverty. Hard work and economic return, understood as available to all, create the conditions for a more just society. Work becomes associated with virtue, and the merits of hard work are understood as in the interests of the common good.

As dissenting Protestants moved from the societal margins to positions of social and moral influence, so did their values. The Protestant Ethic and the virtues of hard work (with capitalist rewards) became a subtle yet powerful ‘civil’ religion. Pally argues in Commonwealth and Covenant: Economics, Politics, and Theologies of Relationality that the same beliefs that led dissenting Protestant movements to liberate themselves from political and religious authoritarianism are the foundations for much of contemporary western political values. She writes “belief constitutes conduct” which in turn “constitutes belief.”

Michael Connoly, in The Evangelical-Capitalist Resonance Machine, echoes: much of contemporary economics is built upon a historical intermingling of “religious and economic doctrines” that were birthed in dissenting Protestant Christianities.

This leads us to the final part of our story, two new books on merit by Daniel Markovits and Michael J. Sandel. Markovits opens by saying that those who believe in the virtues of merit hold that “advantage should be earned through ability and effort rather than inherited alongside caste . . . social and economic rewards should track achievement rather than breeding.” Many in modern democracies might agree. Markovits continues, “meritocracy is now a basic tenet of civil religion in all advanced societies.” It is a civil religion since it operates as a largely unquestioned set of values and beliefs.

Yet, as we see in South Africa, where I live, and in many other countries, meritocracy may create its own problems. One is that often, many do not have access to the training that would allow them to succeed in a meritocracy. Markovits writes, “middle-class [and poor] children lose out to rich children at school, and middle-class adults lose out to elite graduates at work.” According to Sandel, the notion that people can better their lives if they “work hard and play by the rules” is no longer true.

Meritocracy is leading to deep social discontent and unhappiness among the middle and working classes. Those who lose out in the merit-race—because they were not groomed for it by their parents or by an (expensive) elite education—resent the economic and social elites for their privileged status.

Second a shift has taken place from working for the common good (as well as for one’s own betterment) to working only or mostly for one’s own economic and social privileges. Third, Markovits writes, elites at the upper echelons of income and power must work ever harder to protect their meritocratic privilege and status. Fourth, elite status is increasingly becoming a matter of inherited wealth, such that the meritocracy is no longer based on merit. Some end up in elite positions unsuited to them and must work exceedingly hard to maintain themselves there: “[m]eritocracy entices an anxious and inauthentic elite into a pitiless, lifelong contest to secure income and status through its own excessive industry.”

In The Tyranny of Merit, Sandel argues that meritocracy traps generations of workers in unsatisfactory work. Lack of education for merit-based work leaves working class persons with few choices about their jobs and often with two or more jobs to make ends meet. Economic and social elites, with economically rewarding and prestigious positions, frequently suffer the breakdown of family relationships, friendships, and their physical and mental health owing to stressful and demanding work.

Moreover, Sandel suggests, meritocracy damages society in changing the “terms of social recognition and esteem.” Working class persons feel undervalued and underrecognized; elites frequently begin to believe that their work makes them better than others.

Meritocracy, lack of access to it, and overwork from it seem to have trapped societies in immoral, unjust social systems. It is little wonder that many countries face negative “life satisfaction” indices. Perhaps the time has come to reconsider some of the unquestioned beliefs and values that form the foundations of our contemporary discontent. This would not be the first time that we have had to do this for the sake of a better future.

[This article was written by Dion Forster and was first published on 'Counterpoint Knowledge' on 17 February 2021].

Compassion Fatigue during the Coronavirus pandemic

Considering CompassionRecently I have begun to worry that some of us are facing 'compassion fatigue'.

It is understandable, given the immensity of the suffering that so many face, and the constant barrage of information about illness, economics, tragedy, corruption and our inability to 'instantly solve' many of these important concerns.

As I listen to friends, observe reporting in the media, and gauge my own emotional state, I sense that many of us have become 'numb' to the hardship and tragedy that the coronavirus pandemic has brought. Some have chosen to withdraw - those of us who have privilege have the luxury to do so. Others have begun to believe falsehoods, some even spread them - history will not be kind us. Some simply cannot care anymore. That is not our truest nature, and we should never let ourselves fall into something that we are not meant to be.

Please let us always remember that ultimately this is about people. It is about precious people. It is also about sick people who long to be restored to health, it is about vulnerable people who are afraid that they may get sick and not have the resources to recover, it is about people who grieve the loss of loved ones, and long to find comfort and meaning in the midst of loss.

It is about us, and we are human. You matter. You bear the image of a God - a God who is loving and life giving. And so does every other person - even the one's we don't know, don't understand, or don't agree with.

A few years ago I wrote a chapter for a book that was entitled: 'Affect, Empathy, and Human Dignity? Considering Compassion at the Intersection of Theology and Science.' (simply click on the title to download a PDF copy)

(it comes from, 'Considering Compassion: Global Ethics, Human Dignity, and the Compassionate God' edited by L.J. Claassens & Frits de Lange (eds.). Eugene, OR: Pickwick Publications. pp. 3–16.

Maybe it can offer some encouragement, or perhaps an insight into this phenomenon called 'compassion fatigue'.

Please, let's not give up caring.

A 'virtual' launch for my 3 new books - African Public Theology; Freedom of Religion at Stake; Reconciliation, Forgiveness and Violence in Africa

The coronavirus pandemic has impacted the way in which all of us live and work.

As an academic, particularly as a researcher, I have had to rethink some aspects of my work. I feel it is important to be accountable for my research - normally after completing a book (as an author and editor) we would have a chance to launch it in person.

Sadly that is not possible at present. We will be doing ‘virtual’ book launches in due course. In the meantime, this video introduces 3 books (actually 4!) for which I was both an editor and an author.

The links to purchase the books are below.

Thanks for watching!

Freedom of Religion at Stake

• Wipf & Stock https://wipfandstock.com/freedom-of-r...
• Amazon https://www.amazon.com/Freedom-Religi...

Reconciliation Forgiveness and Violence in Africa

• Takealot (South Africa) https://www.takealot.com/reconciliati... (R200)
• Amazon https://www.amazon.com/Reconciliation...

African Public Theology

• CLF (South Africa) https://clf.co.za/product/african-pub... (R350)
• Amazon https://www.amazon.com/African-Public...
• Langham Publishers https://langhamliterature.org/african...

Impossibility of forgiveness

• Takealot https://www.takealot.com/the-im-possi... (R365)
• Wipf & Stock https://wipfandstock.com/the-im-possi...
• Amazon https://www.amazon.com/dp/1532697430/...

Thanks for watching!

As always, I would love to hear your comments, suggestions, ideas, feedback and questions!

Should we take our Churches ‘online’? What about ‘digital sacraments’, ‘digital liturgy’, and ‘virtual community’?

As we near the end of the 2nd week of strict ‘lockdown’ in South Africa in an attempt to curb the spread of the coronavirus, we have seen just about every possible social function going online! Virtual classes, virtual exercise sessions, virtual meetings - and of course, also virtual Churches! Or at least, Churches operating in digital spaces (Zoom, Facebook, YouTube, Microsoft Teams, Google Hangouts etc.)

Today I speak with an expert in this field, Dr. Nicolaas Matthee. Nicolaas is a Researcher and Instructional Designer who did Doctoral Research on ‘digital liturgies’. Nicolaas has reflected on what it means, theologically, to take our faith ‘online’, and there are some rather interesting, and surprising, findings! Perhaps, for me, the most remarkable one, is that it actually doesn’t make that much of a difference! Most people ‘make sense’ of the world, their lives, and so also their faith lives, in whatever way they can. So, if they can meet in person and it works, that is great. If that is not possible, they simply seek an alternative means, and if that is digital, that is great!

In this VLOG we talk about the implications of taking our Churches online. What does this mean during times like the Covid19 pandemic ‘lockdown’? What does it mean once we can return to some form of ‘new normal’ (perhaps meeting physical again)? Will we still maintain a digital presence in some form?

We also discuss some of the more tricky theological issues, such as liturgy and pragmatism, and the conflicts with ‘rigid’ belief systems. For example, we don’t mind going online, and perhaps even celebrating some sacraments (like Communion) online because we live with the hope that we will ‘return’ to what the Church has done for most of its history. But what if there was a reason (a pandemic, an ecological disaster) that meant we had to ‘stay online’ indefinitely? Would we still hold to beliefs in the ‘real presence’ of Christ in the bread and wine that is set aside by the Priest as Celebrant? Or would we change such beliefs?

Nicolaas, also gives us some insights into what will keep persons engaged in ‘online’ worship services, what kinds of liturgies ‘involve’ participants and so are more meaningful, and what some of the less desirable ways are of doing our ‘online communities’.

You can find out more about Nicolaas and his work here:

http://www.linkedin.com/in/nicolaas-matthee-599175a2

And, you can connect with him on Facebook here:

https://www.facebook.com/nicolas.matthee

You can download a copy of Nicolaas’ very interesting Doctoral study here:

Matthee, FJN, 2019. ‘Cyber Cemeteries as a Challenge to Traditional Reformed Thanatological Liturgical Praxis’. Pretoria: University of Pretoria. 

https://repository.up.ac.za/handle/2263/70670

Thumbnail credit to:

https://www.christianitytoday.com/pastors/2018/fall-state-of-church-ministry/embodied-church-in-digital-age.html

Thanks for watching! As always, I would love to hear your comments, suggestions, ideas, feedback and questions!

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Our social sinfulness - we need a new economic and political imagination

From Mail & GuardianWealth is an unkind master. It owns us, when we think we own it, and it haunts and taunts us, when we do not have it.

I find it painful, and perplexing, that in such a deeply religious country, we live with such an unjust and systemically violent system. It runs counter to our morals and values for justice, care, and dignity. I wish we had the courage, and the creativity, to re-imagine our social and individual economic lives.

We need economic systems that serve our common good, not systems that enslave us, robbing us of dignity and fullness of life. Rampant free market capitalism is like a fire let loose in a forest. Without proper boundaries, it is not useful and constructive. It does not warm our bodies, cook our food, or sterilize our water. Rather, when left unchecked it will devour everything in its path and leave a wasteland of destruction.

South Africa, indeed South Africans, we have work to do. If you are a person of faith, particularly if you are one of the 86% of South Africans who indicated that you are Christian in the last General Household Survey, then I want invite you to pray with me, to ask difficult questions, to seek for solutions. We may not yet know what the answers are, but at least we can name what is wrong, and commit ourselves to find ways, in our daily lives, to replace evil with good.

We need a new economic and political imagination. You can read the article 'Why South Africa is the world's most unequal society' here. And, here is a short video that I made some years ago about Stellenbosch, the city in which the University at which I teach, is located. It is regarded as the most unequal city in the world.

Why did it take 200 years for the Methodist Church of Southern African to appoint their first woman as Presiding Bishop? And what does it mean?

This week I had an article published in the online academic news service, The Conversation. The article considers why it took 200 years for the Methodist Church of Southern Africa to appoint their first woman Presiding Bishop. Moreover, in the same year that Bishop Purity Malinga was appointed as Presiding Bishop, four other women were appointed as regional (District) Bishops in the 6 nations of Southern Africa. Why did it take so long for a woman to be appointed to this position of leadership in the Church?

What does this mean for the future of Methodism, and indeed Christianity, in this region?

You can read the full article here: Methodist Church Southern Africa enters new era as women take up top positions 

Methodist Church Southern Africa enters new era as women take up top positions

Purity Malinga, the new Presiding Bishop of the Methodist Church of Southern Africa. Supplied by Dion Forster, Stellenbosch University

Reverend Purity Malinga has just become the 100th Presiding Bishop to be elected by the Methodist Church of Southern Africa. She is the first woman in the church’s 200-year history to be elected to this position. As Rev Jennifer Samdaan, a prominent female minister in the church, points out,

There had been 99 men before her. For her to be chosen to lead us is wonderful.

The Rev Madika Sibeko noted in isiXhosa: “zajiki’izinto” (things are changing). Indeed, things are changing in the Methodist church.

The Methodist church is South Africa’s largest “mainline” Christian denomination, with its roots in the 18th century Wesleyan revival. Methodism quickly spread throughout Europe, the Americas, Asia and to Africa. In part this was because of the zeal of missionary societies, but also because of the spread of the British empire.

The Methodist Church of Southern Africa became an independent church in 1889. It is the largest Protestant Christian denomination in South Africa and has a predominantly black African membership.

Having a woman elected as the presiding bishop is of great significance to the denomination and the region. In this role Bishop Malinga will be the church’s most senior leader, with responsibility to guide the regional bishops and the ministry and mission of the church in the six southern African countries. These are South Africa, Namibia, Lesotho, Mozambique, Eswatini and Botswana. Her personality and inclusive style of leadership are likely to bring some important changes to the culture and identity of southern African Methodism.

She previously served as the first (and only) woman bishop of a regional synod, the Natal Coastal District (until 2008). She is a widely respected minister who first qualified as a teacher before entering the ministry and completing her theological studies at Harvard University in the US.

 

The Methodist Church of Southern Africa has a history of challenging tradition, and being at the forefront of working for justice and the rights of oppressed people. Among the other notable southern Africans who were Methodists are Chief Albert Luthuli, Africa’s first Nobel laureate; Nelson Mandela, another Nobel laureate and the first democratically elected president of South Africa, as well as Robert Sobukwe, the respected Africanist. Another prominent Methodist is Graça Machel, the Mozambican and South African women’s rights campaigner.

Bishop Malinga’s induction heralds a new era in southern African Methodism, and indeed church leadership in the region. Her election as the first woman to the post coincided with three other women being elected as regional bishops in the six countries that the church serves. These women are Bishop Yvette Moses (Cape of Good Hope District), Bishop Faith Whitby (Central District, the largest district, covering parts of the Gauteng and North West provinces), and Bishop Charmaine Morgan (Namibia).

The history

Methodism first landed on South African shores in 1795 cloaked in the guise of colonialism and the empire. This date was just four years after the death of John Wesley, the founder of the movement. This makes the Methodist Church of Southern Africa one of the oldest Methodist or Wesleyan churches in the world.

The first record of a Methodist in the region was in the Christian Magazine and Evangelical Repository (1802). The article tells of a British soldier named John Irwin who had been stationed at the Cape of Good Hope from 1795 to protect colonial interests in the region. It records that he hired a small room and began to hold prayer meetings and services.

The formal mission of the church began in 1816 under the leadership of Rev Barnabas Shaw. The Methodists of the Cape were entwined in colonialism, as were most missionary movements that emanated from Britain at the time. Nevertheless, they sought to minister not just to the colonisers, but to the indigenous people living in the area and to slaves.

This got them into trouble with the British colonial authorities. An example was the refusal by the governor of the Cape, Lord Charles Somerset, to let Rev Shaw establish a congregation at the Cape.

So began a history of civil disobedience. Rev Shaw’s response to Somerset’s refusal was blistering:

Having received this answer I therefore left His Excellency and determined to commence preaching without it. My resolution is also fixed never again to ask any mere man’s permission to preach the glorious Gospel.

The Methodist Church continued to show great courage in addressing social, political and structural injustice.

The church also failed in many instances. And there was often a gap between the ordinary members and local congregations, and the more progressive aims of the denomination’s leadership.

New era

It’s fair to ask why it’s taken almost 200 years for women to be elected to leadership positions in the church.

The most obvious reason is that Christianity in general remains a patriarchal religion. The Methodist Church of Southern Africa is no different: men dominate the leadership and formal structures at almost every level.

The church first allowed women ordination 43 years ago. By 2016 only 17% of the clergy were women, only 4% of regional leaders (circuit superintendents) were women, and there were no women bishops.

Some ascribe this to religious patriarchy, and others to the dominance of patriarchy in African cultures of the region. There have been women in senior leadership roles in other regions of the world where Methodism is present, such as the United Kingdom and the United States. However, in many contexts, such as Africa and parts of Latin America, the denomination has been less progressive in recognising and appointing women to senior leadership.

In her address to the 130th annual conference of the Methodist Church of Southern Africa at which her election was confirmed, Rev Malinga echoed the words of Oliver Tambo, the late anti-apartheid activist and leader of the African National Congress in exile, who said:

No country can boast of being free unless its women are free.

Her election, and those of Moses, Morgan and Whitby, bring South Africa a step closer to reaching that true freedom.

Dion Forster, Head of Department, Systematic Theology and Ecclesiology, Professor in Ethics and Public Theology, Director of the Beyers Naudé Centre for Public Theology, Stellenbosch University

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.