Fostering a praxis of spatial justice in suburban churches : an emancipatory approach

Abstract

Almost three decades after the end of apartheid in South Africa, Cape Town remains a racially, economically and spatially divided city. This study focuses on the praxis of suburban churches and is located within a wider national conversation about land reform, the crisis of ongoing urban land (in)justice and the position of church-owned land and property in this discourse. It takes an emancipatory research approach towards fostering a praxis of spatial justice in churches located in the former Whitesonly Southern Suburbs of the City of Cape Town. The framework of the praxis cycle guides the literature and the voices of ministers in suburban Cape Town into three moments: immersion and social analysis, theological reflection and action towards spatial justice. Lenses are then proposed with which it is possible to approach an ongoing emancipatory approach to suburban churches, and churches in general, in the quest for more just and inclusive cities.