Intepretation

Enacting a PUBLIC THEOLOGY Clive Pearson (Ed.) Enacting a Public Theology Published by AFRICAN SUN MeDIA under the SUN MeDIA imprint All rights reserved Copyright © 2019 AFRICAN SUN MeDIA and the Stellenbosch University, Beyer Naudè Centre Stellenbosch University and the publisher have made every effort to obtain permission for and acknowledge the use of copyrighted material. Refer all enquiries to the publisher. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any electronic, photographic or mechanical means, including photocopying and recording on record, tape or laser disk, on microfilm, via the Internet, by e-mail, or by any other information storage and retrieval system, without prior written permission by the publisher. Views reflected in this publication are not necessarily those of the publisher. First edition 2019 ISBN 978-1-928314-67-7 ISBN 978-1-928314-68-4 (e-book) https://doi.org/10.18820/9781928314684 Set in Palatino Linotype Reguluar 10/12 Cover design, typesetting and production by AFRICAN SUN MeDIA SUN MeDIA is a imprint of AFRICAN SUN MeDIA. Academic and prescribed works are published under this imprint in print and electronic formats. This publication can be ordered from: [email protected] Takealot: bit.ly/2monsfl Google Books: bit.ly/2k1Uilm africansunmedia.store.it.si (e-books) Amazon Kindle: amzn.to/2ktL.pkL Visit africansunmedia.co.za for more information. TABLE OF CONTENT LIST OF ACRONYMS . III FOREWORD . V Dion Forster SIGNING THE TIMES: AN INTRODUCTION . VII Clive Pearson 1. Reconciliation without Repentance: The Politics and Theology of Postponement of Aboriginal Peoples’ Justice in Australia ................ 01 Geoff Broughton & Brooke Prentis 2. To Witness a Time of Crisis: A Cross-Textual Reading of the Book of Lamentation and Testimonies from the 2014 Gaza Conflict ....... 15 Katherine Rainger 3. Public Theology and the Market State .................................. 29 Peter Walker 4. Twilight of Compassion: Narcissistic Society and Ecclesial Vocation .... 41 Stephen Pickard 5. Homemaking as a Transformative Practice ............................. 53 Seforosa Carroll 6. This Body Speaks: Rights and Recognition in Giorgio Agamben and Rowan Williams ..................................................... 65 Ryan Green 7. Confronting the Stigma of Naming Jesus as a Victim of Sexual Violence ... 71 David Tombs 8. Acting Justly in the Anthropocene: Considering the Case for a Christian Social Ethic ................................................ 87 Clive Pearson 9. Caring for God’s Creation: An Islamic Obligation ....................... 99 Mehmet Ozalp 10. Recognition without Dignity: The Politics and Theology of Postponement of Aboriginal Peoples’ Justice in Australia ................ 115 Geoff Broughton & Brooke Prentis CONTRIBUTORS LIST . 132 i LIST OF ACRONYMS ARIA Australian Recording Industry Association CANCC Coalition of Low-lying Atoll Nations On Climate Change GNPT Global Network for Public Theology HREOC Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commision IPCC Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ISRA Islamic Sciences and Research Academy of Australia NAIDOC National Aborigines and Islanders Day Observance Committee PaCT Public and Theology Research Centre RCIADIC Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody WWSO We Will Speak Out iii FOREWORD One of the gifts of the Global Network for Public Theology (GNPT) is the formation of collaborative scholarly relationships and friendships among partner institutions. These partnerships and friendships enrich global public theological scholarship, while providing opportunities for theologians from diverse and varied contexts to engage with one another’s work and revisit their own contributions in the light of differing perspectives. The Beyers Naudé Centre for Public Theology at Stellenbosch University, South Africa, was privileged to host the 2016 triennial consultation on the theme of Democracy and Social Justice in ‘glocal’ contexts. The term ‘glocal’ refers to the dialectic tension between ‘global’ and ‘local’ realities and how these inform and shape our identities, experiences and lived realities. This was the first time that the consultation had been held on the African continent since its founding in Princeton in 2007. We were particularly pleased to have a large contingent of African delegates participating in the proceedings. It was equally encouraging to have such a large delegation of participants from the Oceania region, which has a vibrant and active group of GNPT member institutions. Of course, the second GNPT consultation had been held in the twin cities of Canberra and Sydney in 2010, after which it moved to Chester in the United Kingdom in 2013. The regular rhythm of the GNPT consultation is to alternate between hemispheres. The GNPT is meeting in Bamberg, Germany, in 2019. It stands to reason that there is something of an affinity between the GNPT participants from the Southern Hemisphere. Many of our countries, and churches, in the Southern African and Oceanic regions are grappling with what it means to ‘come home’ to ourselves, our indigenous cultures and our post-colonial histories. As will be seen in this collection of essays, the particulars of our histories and geographies have some political and theological implications in common as we outgrow colonial practices and beliefs. Of course, there are also numerous differences in our histories and current lived realities. These differences help us to take a critical view of our regional theological and political commitments in the face of a plurality of values and aspirations. For the first time we are able to include a series of essays from public theologians in Oceania. This volume exemplifies the complexities, and the promise, of doing public theology in ‘glocal’ contexts. In recent years we have had the honour of working with scholars from Europe, the Americas, Asia, Africa and also with colleagues from Brazil on volumes of essays in Public Theology. The Beyers Naudé Centre for Public Theology is honoured to include this book in our collection of publications. We are particularly grateful to Clive Pearson, one of the founders of the GNPT and the editor of this volume, for his initiative and hard work in this regard. Our hope is that this collection of essays will invite readers from Africa, and elsewhere in the world, to learn new ways of thinking about the contexts and concerns of theologians in the Oceania region, while also inviting the reader to reflect critically upon theology and public life in their own context. Dion Forster Director of the Beyers Naudé Centre for Public Theology Stellenbosch University, August 2019 v SIGNING THE TIMES An Introduction Clive Pearson The theme for the triennial conference of the Global Network for Public Theology held at Stellenbosch during October 2016 was dedicated to the interrelated themes of democracy and social justice. For those gathering in South Africa, the immediate background was that of Fallism. The public space had become contested. For those coming from Australia, being in this particular space was a learning event that required some orientation in order to discern what were “the signs of the times” in this place that was not our own. This invocation of signs is, of course, a familiar rhetorical device in the construction of a public theology. Its employment is a way of focusing attention on issues and grievances that require address. The public domain, a civil society, the common good – however these claims are to be understood – has, in some ways, been compromised. That there should be an act of discerning required is in itself a sign of how these concerns emerge: they have not always been present. They come to the surface with a sense of urgency and rupture. It is not necessarily self-evident why they should attract theological attention and, specifically, a particular form of theology that should concern itself with the wellbeing of a given society. This reference to the signs of the times is more complex than might first be imagined. For those who were hosting the Stellenbosch proceedings, Fallism had become a present-day expression of dissent and activism. Its origins lay back in a deepening “critique of the ideals of the rainbow nation, Ubuntu, reconciliation and forgiveness” upon which post-apartheid democracy had been established in South Africa.1 According to Lwandile Fikeni, the heart of Fallism was vested in “an insistence on moving beyond the boundaries of ‘civil’ discourse towards attacking the symbols of white supremacy through disruptive acts of rage”.2 The temper of Fallism was thus marked with signs and symbols of outrage and anger.3 The most provocative expression of this had been the decision taken by Chumani Maxwele in 2015 to hurl 1 Headley, S & Sandiswa L. Kobe, “Christian Activism and the Fallists: What about Reconciliation?”, HTS Teologiese Studies/Theological Studies, 73/3(2017):1-11 [https://doi.org/10.4102/hts.v73i3.4722]. 2 Lwandile Fikeni, “Lwandile Fikeni’s Ruth First Speech on Rage in the Rainbow Nation is Indispensable”, Mail & Guardian, 16 August 2016, Online at: http://bit.ly/2OruFr2 [Accessed 20 November 2018]. 3 Jakub Urbaniak, “Theologians and Anger in the Age of Fallism: Towards a Revolution of African Love”, Black Theology: An International Journal, 15:2 (2017) [https://doi.org/10.1080/14769948.2017.131364]. vii faeces onto the statue of Cecil Rhodes that stood in the grounds of the University of Cape Town.4 That one act was multivalent in meaning.

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