Journal of Reformed Th eology 3 (2009) 247-273 brill.nl/jrt Jesus in South Africa—Lost in Translation? Elna Moutona & Dirkie Smitb a Professor of New Testament and Dean of the Faculty, Stellenbosch University Email: [email protected] b Professor of Systematic Th eology, Stellenbosch University Email: [email protected] Abstract Within South African circles, Jesus is seen, interpreted, and understood in diverse and complex ways. It is almost impossible to provide any representative overview of these many ways in which the message concerning his person and work has been and still is being appropriated and claimed in South African churches and communities. Th is paper briefl y surveys four of the dominant discourses about Jesus in contemporary South African society; namely, Jesus in the popular news and newspaper debates, academic circles and scholarship, the worship and spirituality of congregations and believers, and public opinion concerning social and political life. In all cases, major trends are pointed out, which raises the question of whether these developments perhaps involve forms of betrayal, and ways in which the fi gure and message of Jesus may be lost in these diverse forms of translation. Keywords Jesus, South African theology, historical Jesus, Jesus and spirituality, Jesus in public opinion Looking for Jesus Christ in South Africa Today1 Who is Jesus in South Africa? How is Jesus seen, interpreted, and understood in the South African context? How is the person and work of Jesus translated into the South African reality? Th ese are very complex questions in need of complex answers. Th e story of South Africa has been and still is a story of many stories; the context of South Africa is a context of many contexts, dif- ferent worlds, and diff erent realities. Any attempt to look for Jesus Christ, 1 Th is paper was read during the October 2007 annual International Conference organized by the Moluccan Th eological Council together with IRTI (VU University Amsterdam), the Protestant Church in the Netherlands, and the Beyers Naudé Centre for Public Th eology (Stellenbosch, South Africa) on the theme “Jesus—Lost in translation?” © Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2009 DOI: 10.1163/187251609X12559402787155 Downloaded from Brill.com09/27/2021 02:44:55AM via free access 248 E. Mouton, D. Smit / Journal of Reformed Th eology 3 (2009) 247-273 therefore, runs the risk of selection and over-simplifi cation, and reduction and forgetfulness—perhaps even of ignoring the obvious. Even attempts to respect the complexities are still faced with the problem of how to fi nd a grid that could help us see the richness and diversity. Should one look at the diff erent views of Jesus in the confessional traditions—like David Bosch has done?2 Should one use the once popular contrast between more cultural, so-called African appropriations of Jesus and more political, so-called black theological appropriations of Jesus—a contrast that Desmond Tutu, Bonganjalo Goba, Manas Buthelezi, Allan Boesak, and many others, once were continuously forced to address?3 Should one use a commonly shared grid of images of Jesus—following Jaap Durand, for example—and seek to deter- mine whether and how they are also present in South Africa?4 Or should one perhaps use the well-known threefold typology and look for Jesus in the acad- emy, the church, and society—a typology that many South African scholars 2 Bosch used such a typology in his infl uential plenary paper during the well-known SACLA Conference of Christian leaders during the apartheid years, “For such a time as this” (Sunday July 8, 1979, unpublished) but he would later also develop this in the conclusions of his magnum opus on missiological theory, David J. Bosch, Transforming Mission (New York: Orbis, 1991), 512-18. Pointing out that diff erent traditions appropriate and emphasize diff erent aspects of the story and fi gure of Jesus, he argues that “[t]he Calvinist tradition, one could say, focuses on the ascension. For John Calvin, Christians live between the ascension and the parousia; from that position they seek to comprehend what their mission is,” 515. 3 During the years of struggle against apartheid and especially with the rise of black theology in South Africa, these leading theologians, together with many others, often addressed these questions. See, for example, the documentation of the conference Black Th eology revisited (Braamfontein: ICT, 1983), organized and published jointly by the Institute for Contextual Th eology and the New Horizon Project. Frank Chikane edited the volume of essays, including important contributions by Mokgethi Motlhabi, Buti Tlhagale, Bonganjalo Goba, Simon Maimela, and Sister Bernard. Other important contributions on the same question and related themes published elsewhere include, for example, Bonganjalo Goba, “An African Christian theology: Towards a tentative methodology from a South African perspective” (JTSA 1979, Vol. 26), 3-12; Sigqibo Dwane, “Christology and liberation” ( JTSA 1981, Vol. 35), 29-38; and also Jabulani A. Nxumalo, “Christ and ancestors in the African world: a pastoral consideration” (JTSA 1980, Vol. 32), 3-21, although with a diff erent focus. For a more recent overview and proposal, see Tinyiko S. Maluleke, “Black and African theologies in the New World Order: A time to drink from our own Wells” (JTSA 1996, Vol. 96), 3-19. Already in an internationally well-known but in apartheid South Africa banned publication on black theology edited by Basil Moore, Manas Buthelezi raised this question, “An African Th eology or a Black Th eology?”, in Basil Moore (Ed.), Th e Challenge of Black Th eology in South Africa (Atlanta: John Knox, 1973), 29-35, while many of the other contributors refl ected on the same theme. 4 J.J.F. (Jaap) Durand, “Jesus en lewensituasie,” (Jesus and Life Contexts) in his volume of collected essays, Teks binne konteks. Versamelde opstelle oor kerk en politiek (Text within Context: Collected Essays on Church and Politics) (Bellville: University of the Western Cape, 1986), 100-06. Downloaded from Brill.com09/27/2021 02:44:55AM via free access E. Mouton, D. Smit / Journal of Reformed Th eology 3 (2009) 247-273 249 have used, including Russel Botman and Nico Koopman?5 Would it be more helpful to concentrate on the Jesus ‘before Christianity’ or the Jesus ‘not of the church’ and the Jesus ‘not of the doctrine’—like Albert Nolan, Jim Cochrane, and several others, although from widely diff erent backgrounds and persua- sions and for radically diff erent reasons?6 Or could precisely the opposite way prove more fruitful; namely, to focus on the Jesus of the faithful, the images of Jesus among the ordinary believers, in worship and spirituality—for example, in the enormously popular and infl uential South African industry of spiritual publications and broadcasting? Or should one not so much look for Jesus but, rather, for diverse ways in which the salvation that Jesus off ers is viewed—like Ronald Nicolson?7 Who is Jesus in South Africa—and where should one look for views on his person and work? Rather than following any available grid or pre-determined typology, the following survey simply attempts to remember some of the best known dis- courses around Jesus in South Africa over the last decades. Dependent on published material—which already presents a serious limitation in answering this question adequately in South Africa—this brief overview off ers nothing more than an attempt to record some of the best known and therefore, per- haps, the most representative discourses around Jesus in South Africa. It asks whether it is possible to hear what people said about Jesus in some of the most important social locations in South Africa, and in each case remembers some representative voices, contributions, or controversies. Jesus—In the News? It is no exaggeration to claim that today Jesus is extremely popular in many parts of the South African public media, especially some radio stations and 5 For Botman’s ideas on Jesus Christ and public life, see his “Who is ‘Jesus Christ as community’ for us today? Th e quest for community: A challenge to theology in South Africa,” JTSA 1996, Vol. 97, 30-38; on the three publics, see, for example, Nico N. Koopman, “Th eology and the fulfi llment of social and economic rights,” in André van der Walt (Ed.), Th eories of social and economic justice (Stellenbosch: SunMedia, 2005), 128-40. Koopman is developing his infl uential public theology around these three publics and with specifi c focus on Christology. 6 See, for example, Albert Nolan, Jesus before Christianity. Th e gospel of liberation (Cape Town: David Philip, 1976); and several works by James R. Cochrane, often referring to the postgraduate work of his student G. Philpott, published as Jesus is tricky and God is undemocratic (Pieter- maritzburg: Cluster, 1993), for example, “Christ from above, Jesus from below” ( JTSA 1994, Vol. 88), 3-14; much more comprehensive in James R. Cochrane, Circles of Dignity (Minneapolis: Augsburg Fortress, 1999), esp. 24ff . 7 Ronald Nicolson, A Black future? Jesus and salvation in South Africa (London: SCM, 1990). Downloaded from Brill.com09/27/2021 02:44:55AM via free access 250 E. Mouton, D. Smit / Journal of Reformed Th eology 3 (2009) 247-273 certain newspapers—albeit often for reasons of controversy and scandal. Th is is not a reference to the continuous role of religious public broadcasting and to religious publications, including church magazines and regular columns with spiritual content, but a reference to the powerful presence of specifi c debates about Jesus in the public media—debates that are clearly of interest to at least certain circles of the public opinion and that cause heated and almost uninterrupted polemical exchanges in the letters received from readers.