Un-thinking the West : the spirit of doing black theology of liberation in decolonial times

dc.contributor.authorVellem, Vuyani Shadrack
dc.contributor.emailvuyani.vellem@up.ac.zaen_ZA
dc.date.accessioned2018-08-16T05:33:46Z
dc.date.available2018-08-16T05:33:46Z
dc.date.issued2017-11-22
dc.descriptionThe collection entitled ‘Spirit rising: tracing movements of justice’, forms part of the ‘Faith in the City’ research project, hosted by the Centre for Contextual Ministry in the Faculty of Theology, University of Pretoria. Some of the articles were papers presented at the Biennial Consultation on Urban Ministry, hosted by the Institute for Urban Ministry, in collaboration with other organizations, from 17-20 August 2016. The theme of this Consultation was ‘#We must rise: healers - dreamers – jesters’.en_ZA
dc.description.abstractIt is indisputable that Black Theology of Liberation (BTL) intentionally un-thinks the West. BTL has its own independent conceptual and theoretical foundations and can hold without the West if it rejects the architecture of Western knowledge as a final norm for life. This, however, is a spiritual matter which the article argues. The historical arrest of the progression of liberative logic and its promises might be self-inflicted by rearticulating and reinterpreting liberation strong thought. At a time when neofascism, which is virtually an open display of psychological and ideological confusion, racism, classism, sensibilities of integralism and gender violence, having become rife, liberal democracy is arguably in crisis today. BTL has to move beyond rethinking and repeating its tried and tested ways of response to black pain caused by racism and colonialism. Un-thinking the West is not only cognitive but also spiritual. Umoya, the spirit of life, the article argues, to un-think the West, constitutes inter alia, the rejection of Hellenocentric concepts as a starting point of knowledge. Umoya should reject the self-serving periodisation of history centred on Europe, dualistic obfuscating secularism and willingness by black to occlude their knowledge systems. Without this, the article argues, the lethargic sleep, the mocking laughter of the West at the self-wounding black African remains a syndrome that arrests the translation of liberation knowledge from history.en_ZA
dc.description.departmentDogmatics and Christian Ethicsen_ZA
dc.description.librarianam2018en_ZA
dc.description.urihttp://www.hts.org.zaen_ZA
dc.identifier.citationVellem, V.S., 2017, ‘Unthinking the West: The spirit of doing Black Theology of Liberation in decolonial times’, HTS Teologiese Studies/Theological Studies 73(3), a4737. https://DOI.org/10.4102/hts.v73i3.4737.en_ZA
dc.identifier.issn0259-9422 (print)
dc.identifier.issn2072-8050 (online)
dc.identifier.other10.4102/hts.v73i3.4737
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/2263/66151
dc.language.isoenen_ZA
dc.publisherAOSIS Open Journalsen_ZA
dc.rights© 2017. The Authors. Licensee: AOSIS. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution License.en_ZA
dc.subjectIndependenten_ZA
dc.subjectNeofascismen_ZA
dc.subjectBlack theology of liberation (BTL)en_ZA
dc.subjectWestern knowledgeen_ZA
dc.subjectLiberationen_ZA
dc.subject.otherTheology articles SDG-05
dc.subject.otherSDG-05: Gender equality
dc.subject.otherTheology articles SDG-10
dc.subject.otherSDG-10: Reduced inequalities
dc.subject.otherTheology articles SDG-16
dc.subject.otherSDG-16: Peace, justice and strong institutions
dc.titleUn-thinking the West : the spirit of doing black theology of liberation in decolonial timesen_ZA
dc.typeArticleen_ZA

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