Abstract:
This study begins by framing the challenges for theological education/formation
which remain disconnected from urban realities. The rationale for the study stems
from a personal experience as a participant in a praxis-based approach to
theological education during the Leadership in Urban Transformation (LUT) course
in 2016, which opened up a quest to understand liberative pedagogy for the urban
context.
The aim of the principal research question is to discover how a praxis-based
approach shapes the consciousness and actions of urban practitioners towards
liberating engagements with their urban contexts. The research methodology is
grounded in the transformative paradigms of a praxis-based approach and
Womanist theological conceptions which are presented as the vehicle to explore
theological education in Cape Town. The aim of the study is investigated in three
ways, namely (1) focus groups with theological educators, alumni of theological
education programmes, community-based practitioners and ministers, (2) an auto
ethnographic exploration and (3) semi-structured interviews with 2016 LUT
participants.
As a methodology the praxis cycle and the requisite series of action-reflection
movements – exploring immersion, social analysis, theological reflection and co-
constructing plans for action – were used as a framework to analyse lived
spiritualty in the city. Utilising the praxis cycle, participatory action research
methods and pastoral ethnographic interviews, data was collected, complied,
transcribed, reviewed and scrutinised using thematic analysis to identify themes
for examination.
An autoethnographic chapter expounding on the biography of the researcher in
conversation with Womanist theological literature and a praxis-based approach
preceded the ethnographic investigation of the narratives of the LUT participants.
Throughout the autoethnography, four quintessential resources of Womanist
theology – redemptive self-love, critical engagement, radical subjectivity, and traditional communalism – were amalgamated with the movements of the praxis
cycle to contribute to a developing pedagogical method for urban challenges.
In the ethnographic research, the praxis cycle movements and Womanist ideals
aided in identifying: (1) how the context of the city was brought to life for LUT
participants, (2) how participants received new lenses to read the past, present
and future of urban contexts, (3) how the participants refined or developed fresh
faith practices, and (4) what dissonances were generated for participants in the
learning process. Finally, a revitalising orientation of theological
education/formation using the praxis cycle methodology preparing practitioners for
informed engagement with urban challenges was outlined.
Synthesising the study, focus group themes and imaginative scenarios were
brought into conversation with the ethnographic explorations and relevant
literature to substantiate how the praxis-based approach in tandem with womanist
theology were joined reflecting liberative pedagogical and epistemological features
for urban theological education. Finally, praxis-based and Womanist approaches
where used to propose a transformative urban pedagogical framework employing
Katie Geneva Cannon’s transformative pedagogical imperatives consisting of
historic ethos, embodied pathos and communal logos. In addition, a fresh
conception of imaginative oikos was fused together with Cannon’s ideals towards
a liberative praxis-based pedagogical framework suitable to prepare practitioners
for urban challenges.