Abstract:
On 29 July 2017, an international colloquium entitled ‘Re-Imagining Curricula for a Just
University in a Vibrant Democracy – Carrying the Conversation Forward’ was held at the
Faculty of Theology, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa. A wide range of scholars
from African and non-African countries provided variegated perspectives on how tertiary
theological and religious education could contribute positively to the development of
contemporary societies – African and non-African. This article focuses on the colloquium’s
African contributors by means of the concept of ecodomy, envisaged as a constructive process.
Whilst the attending academics came from Europe, the USA, South Africa and Ghana, this
article takes into consideration only the contributions provided by African scholars. The
purpose of this selection is to identify ecodomic or constructive ways to argue in favour of
university education in the fields of theology and religion which share the potential to be
applied across the whole African continent. Bearing in mind that Africa has been dealing with
decolonisation awhile, these African contributions investigate issues such as contextualisation,
science, practice, illumination and holism from the governing principle of decolonisation,
which is also the overarching societal umbrella for academic development in Africa. This
study concludes with an assessment and a proposal written from an exclusively South African
vantage point which demonstrates the viability of tertiary theological and religious education
for the ongoing ecodomic development of African societies.
Description:
This research is part of the
project, ‘University, Education
and Theology’, directed by
Prof. Dr Johan Buitendag,
Department of Systematic and
Historical Theology, Faculty
of Theology and Religion,
University of Pretoria.
