Proposing a social justice approach to diaconia for a South African context

dc.contributor.authorBeukes, Jacques W.
dc.contributor.authorBeukes, Laurika Elouise
dc.contributor.emailjacques.beukes@up.ac.zaen_US
dc.date.accessioned2024-07-17T05:05:36Z
dc.date.available2024-07-17T05:05:36Z
dc.date.issued2023-05-17
dc.descriptionThis article belongs to the Special Issue titled: 'Diaconia and Christian Social Practice in a Global Perspective'.en_US
dc.description.abstractSouth Africa, although a “young” democracy, has quickly become one of the most economically uneven nations due to its history of segregation and discrimination as contributing factors. South Africans have seen an increase in the number of protests over the past several years because of the frustration that has been caused by unbearable living circumstances, a lack of service delivery, and empty promises made by the government. Poverty, unemployment, and social injustice are seen by the South African government as the most important obstacles that need to be overcome to construct a prosperous nation. Despite the government’s commitment to a “better life for all” since 1994, the post-apartheid South African government has predominantly prioritised civil and political rights in its efforts to address social injustices, while the socio-economic needs of the country’s impoverished and marginalised populations have remained largely unfulfilled. The degradation of human dignity that results from conditions such as poverty and unemployment is significant. A violation of one’s dignity can also occur when one is excluded from efforts to combat issues such as poverty and unemployment, which should be considered. Amidst all of this, the church is criticised for remaining silent and doing little to address the situation. This article proposes social justice as an ideal approach to diaconia and development. Therefore, it seeks to understand and include social justice principles as a means of empowering people to ensure effective development. The objective of long-term poverty reduction cannot be accomplished unless there is an emphasis placed on social justice. This article conducts an in-depth analysis of a variety of social justice theories to rationalise a social justice approach to diaconia.en_US
dc.description.departmentPractical Theologyen_US
dc.description.sdgNoneen_US
dc.description.urihttps://www.mdpi.com/journal/religionsen_US
dc.identifier.citationBeukes, Jacques Walter, and Laurika Elouise Beukes. 2023. Proposing a Social Justice Approach to Diaconia for a South African Context. Religions 14: 668. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel14050668.en_US
dc.identifier.issn2077-1444 (online)
dc.identifier.other10.3390/rel14050668
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/2263/97062
dc.language.isoenen_US
dc.publisherMDPIen_US
dc.rights© 2023 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ 4.0/).en_US
dc.subjectSocial justiceen_US
dc.subjectDiaconiaen_US
dc.subjectJohn Rawl’s theoryen_US
dc.subjectSen’s capability approachen_US
dc.subjectNancy Fraser’s Social Justice theoryen_US
dc.subjectRedistributionen_US
dc.subjectRecognitionen_US
dc.subjectRepresentationen_US
dc.subjectSouth Africa (SA)en_US
dc.titleProposing a social justice approach to diaconia for a South African contexten_US
dc.typeArticleen_US

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