Welcoming Africa's Children – Theological and Ministry Perspectives

Welcoming Africa’s children – Theological and ministry perspectives Welcoming Africa’s children – Theological and ministry perspectives EDITED BY JAN GROBBELAAR GERT BREED Head Office AOSIS (Pty) Ltd, Postnet Suite #110 Private Bag X19 Durbanville 7551 South Africa Tel: +27 21 975 2602 Fax: +27 21 975 4635 Email: [email protected] Website: http://www.aosis.co.za © Jan Grobbelaar & Gert Breed 2016. Licensee: AOSIS (Pty) Ltd The moral rights of the authors have been asserted. First Edition published in 2016 Impression: 1 Listed in OAPEN (http://www.oapen.org), DOAB (http://www. doabooks.org/) and indexed by Google Scholar. Some rights reserved. This is an open access publication. Except where otherwise noted, this work is distributed under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International license (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0), a copy of which is available at https:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/. It is permitted to reuse, share and adapt this work, subject to the following terms: Attribution - appropriate credit is given to the original work, the copyright holder and creator, and any changes made to the work are properly indicated. Non-Commercial - the work, or any adaptation of the work, may not be used, distributed or reproduced in any format, by any means, for commercial purposes. Share-Alike - the work, or any adaptation of the work is distributed under the same license terms as the original, with a URL link provided to the license. Enquiries outside the terms of the Creative Commons license should be sent to the Rights Department, AOSIS, at the above address or to [email protected] Published in South Africa by AOSIS (Pty) Ltd, 15 Oxford Street, Durbanville, Cape Town, 7550. Book Title: Welcoming Africa’s children – Theological and ministry perspectives ISBN: 978-1-928396-07-9 (pdf) ISBN: 978-1-928396-08-6 (e-book) DOI: http://www.dx.doi.org/10.4102/aosis.2016.waccs13 How to cite this work Grobbelaar, J. & Breed, G. (eds.), 2016, Welcoming Africa’s children – Theological and ministry perspectives, AOSIS, Cape Town. Printed and bound by PRINT ON DEMAND, South Africa Cover artwork by Cecile de Villiers The publisher accepts no responsibility for any statement made or opinion expressed in this publication. Consequently, the publishers and copyright holder will not be liable for any loss or damage sustained by any reader as a result of his or her action upon any statement or opinion in this work. Links by third party websites are provided by AOSIS in good faith and for information only. AOSIS disclaims any responsibility for the materials contained in any third party website referenced in this work. Every effort has been made to protect the interest of copyright holders. Should any infringement have occurred inadvertently, the publisher apologises and undertakes to amend the omission in the event of a reprint. Religious Studies Domain Editorial Board at AOSIS Chief Editor: Scholarly Books Andries van Aarde, Post Retirement Professor in the Dean’s Office, Faculty of Theology, University of Pretoria, South Africa Board Members Warren Carter, Professor of New Testament, Brite Divinity School, Fort Worth, United States Christian Danz, Dekan der Evangelisch-Theologischen Fakultät der Universität Wien and Ordentlicher Universitätsprofessor für Systematische Theologie und Religionswissenschaft, University of Vienna, Austria Pieter G.R. de Villiers, Associate Editor, Extraordinary Professor in Biblical Spirituality, Faculty of Theology, University of the Free State, South Africa Musa W. Dube, Department of Theology & Religious Studies, Faculty of Humanities, University of Botswana, Botswana David D. Grafton, Professor of Islamic Studies and Christian-Muslim Relations, Duncan Black Macdonald Center for the Study of Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations, Hartford Seminary, Hartford, Connecticut, United States Jens Herzer, Theologische Fakultät der Universität Leipzig, Germany Jeanne Hoeft, Dean of Students and Associate Professor of Pastoral Theology and Pastoral Care, Saint Paul School of Theology, United States Dirk J. Human, Associate Editor, Deputy Dean and Professor of Old Testament Studies, Faculty of Theology, University of Pretoria, South Africa D. Andrew Kille, Former Chair of the SBL Psychology and Bible Section, and Editor of the Bible Workbench, San Jose, United States William R.G. Loader, Emeritus Professor Murdoch University, Perth, Western Australia Isabel A. Phiri, Associate General Secretary for Public Witness and Diakonia, World Council of Churches, Geneva, Switzerland Marcel Sarot, Emeritus, Professor of Fundamental Theology, Tilburg School of Catholic Theology, Tilburg University, the Netherlands Corneliu C. Simut, Professor of Historical and Dogmatic Theology, Emanuel University, Oradea, Bihor, Romania Rothney S. Tshaka, Professor and Head of Department of Philosophy, Practical and Systematic Theology, University of South Africa, Pretoria, South Africa Elaine M. Wainwright, Emeritus Professor School of Theology, University of Auckland, New Zealand; Executive Leader, Mission and Ministry, McAuley Centre, Australia Gerald West, Associate Editor, School of Religion, Philosophy and Classics in the College of Humanities, University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa Peer review declaration The publisher (AOSIS) and the editorial board of its Domain Religious Studies certify that the book was evaluated in a two-step review process: an initial selection review process by the Domain’s international editorial board, followed by in-depth double blind peer reviews by three specialists, thoroughly revised by the book editors and the individual chapter authors, and verified by the chief editor of AOSIS Scholarly Publications. The external reviewers were selected by the editorial board as content experts in the field of Child Theologies. Where the reviewers recommended publication subject to specified revisions for improving the manuscript, the authors responded adequately to the recommendations. Research Justification The purpose of this book is to combine perspectives of scholars from Africa on Child Theology from a variety of theological sub-disciplines to provide some theological and ministerial perspectives on this topic. The book disseminates original research and new developments in this study field, especially as relevant to the African context. In the process it addresses also the global need to hear voices from Africa in this academic field. It aims to convey the importance of considering Africa’s children in theologising. The different chapters represent diverse methodologies, but the central and common focus is to approach the subject from the viewpoint of Africa’s children. The individual authors’ varied theological sub-disciplinary dispositions contribute to the unique and distinct character of the book. Almost all chapters are theoretical orientated with less empirical but more qualitative research, although some of the chapters refer to empirical research that the authors have performed in the past. Most of the academic literature in the field of Child Theologies is from American or British-European origin. The African context is fairly absent in this discourse, although it is the youngest continent and presents unique and relevant challenges. This book was written by theological scholars from Africa, focussing on Africa’s children. It addresses not only theoretical challenges in this field but also provides theological perspectives for ministry with children and for important social change. Written from a variety of theological sub-disciplines, the book is aimed at scholars across theological sub- disciplines, especially those theological scholars interested in the intersections between theology, childhood studies and African cultural or social themes. It addresses themes and provides insights that are also relevant for specialist leaders and professionals in this field. No part of the book was plagiarised from another publication or published elsewhere. Jan Grobbelaar Unit for Reformed Theology and Development of the South African Society North-West University South Africa Gert Breed Faculty of Theology North-West University South Africa Contents List of abbreviations appearing in the Text and Notes xiv Preface xv Notes on Contributors xx Chapter 1 Welcoming children? – On building cultures of trust? 1 Welcoming children? Building cultures of trust 1 The context in which children are living 6 Abandoned? – Life in our inhospitable households 6 Endangered? – Life in our risky communities 10 Threatened? – Life in our violent societies 12 Redundant? – Life in our wasteful consumerism 16 Distrustful? – Life in our dark times 21 Vulnerable? – Life in our cultures of fear 23 Anxious? – Life in our lifestyles of status 27 Philosophical perspectives on the spirit of our times 28 Alone? – Life in our empty cosmos 28 Lost? – Life in our nihilistic accounts 31 Disillusioned? – Life in our reality without tomorrows 33 Welcoming children in life? 35 Chapter 2 Doing Child Theology: History and methodology 42 Introduction 42 Problem statement 43 Some biblical perspectives on the children-theology relationship 44 A few perspectives from the Old Testament 45 A few perspectives from the New Testament 46 Reflecting on the biblical perspectives 48 ix Contents The ‘disappearance’ of Child Theology 49 Some factors contribution to the degeneration of Child Theology 50 Child Theology recovered 56 Conceptualising childhood 56 Doing theology from the margins 60 Children and theology meet each other

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