Abstract:
How can an academic voice concerning systematic-theological
reflection find expression at a public university in a postapartheid
SA? In this chapter, the different research foci of the
members of the Department of Dogmatics and Christian Ethics
at the UP are presented and interpreted as attempts to find such
a voice as a collection of voices within a society characterised
by shifting social-ecclesial and theological landscapes. The
specific research foci, namely eco-hermeneutics; evolutionary
perspectives on religious experience; an ethic of sociality within
postcolonial, pluralist and unequal societies; and ecclesiological
challenges and political theology are structured and presented
in terms of the hermeneutical question that was posed by
Ricoeur, namely D’où parlez-vous? [Where do you speak from?].
Against the background of the vision, objectives and values
of the Department, the main objectives of their respective
approaches as explication of the ‘speaking from’ and ‘speaking to’ are outlined. Some of the most important contemporary
issues are identified in a conclusion that are, according to them,
to be addressed within the Southern African contexts.
