Church as heterotopia
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Date
Authors
Van Wyk, Tanya
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
AOSIS Open Journals
Abstract
This article reflects on an ecclesiastical institution as a spatial panoptic structure which
domesticates representational space as a hierarchy of power devoid of a sensitivity for the
‘human Other’ (Autrui). The notion of heterotopia is promoted to deconstruct spatiality and
linearity (time) as theological binary concepts. Being church as heterotopia does not deny
the desire for the utopian dimension in religious thinking but holds on to utopian thinking
amidst adversity and diversity. Therefore the concept of heterotopia is used to describe
reconciliatory diversity, which is characteristic of an inclusive postmodern church which is
a space where unity is not threatened by diversity, where the one is not afraid of the Other.
Description
This article is a reworked
version of a paper
presented at the 4th annual
interdisciplinary ‘Space and
Place’ conference, Mansfield
College, Oxford, UK, 09–12
September 2013.
Keywords
Church, Heterotopia, Diversity, Power, Human Other (Autrui), Spatiality, Linearity, Utopian thinking
Sustainable Development Goals
Citation
Van Wyk, T., 2014, ‘Church as heterotopia’, HTS Teologiese Studies/Theological Studies 70(1), Art. #2684, 7 pages. http://dx.DOI.org/ 10.4102/hts.v70i1.2684.