GOD TALK IN THE CONTEXT OF SOUTH AFRICAN OPPRESSION 

In the spirit of my previous article, I continue to emphasize that theology (God-talk) takes place not only in the First World of Euro-America, but also in the countries (especially the underdeveloped ones) of the Third World. We ask ourselves, "What has God done and what is God doing in this part of the world?"  We also ask, how do people experience God and how do people engage in God-talk in this part of the world?  

As mentioned before, there is reluctance to talk about theology in the context of the African continent. Those of us whose mind has been colonized still tend to think that African spirituality and theology is  either "inferior" to Euro-American spirituality and theology, or at the very least, demonic and pagan.  

White settlers from Holland landed in South Africa in 1652 and established a sailing settlement near what is now the city of Cape Town.  In a manner reminiscent of the white invaders of North America, who pushed the Amerindians westward, the Dutch settlers forced the blacks into the midsection of Africa.  White immigrants, the progenitors of the contemporary Afrikaners, came in increasing numbers from many European countries and combined their forces against the native blacks.  British citizens began to settle during the latter part of the eighteenth century and for a time served as a buffer between the Afrikaners and the indigenous black population. The British, however, greedy for gold, moved to the interior, an invasion that led to the Anglo-Boer Wars (1899-1901).  The victorious British soon united all of South Africa into one white-controlled principality in which blacks had no rights-a wholesale oppression that was continued when England gave commonwealth status to the Union of South Africa in 1910.  The Afrikaners began to establish their own identity by emphasizing their own culture, tradition, and language. Their Nationalist Party, founded in 1914, made a concerted effort to institutionalize apartheid in a ruthless enactment of laws to keep blacks powerless.  The Nationalist Party, which had held power since 1948, reaffirmed apartheid in the constitutional referendum of 1983, allowing partial parliamentary recognition for Asians and "coloureds," but keeping blacks powerless.  In this resolute affirmation of white supremacy, most Afrikaners believed that they were building a Christian nation  and until recently, were supported by the "Christian"(that is, white) churches. The Dutch Reformed Church continued to be the largest and most influential church, often referred to as "the Nationalist Party at prayer" (Ferm, op.cit. p. 62). 

Ernie Regehr points out the importance of this church and its relationship  to the government: 

It is a potent irony that one of today's most perverted and unjust social systems is the creation of a regime that, perhaps more than any other modern state, views itself as a Christian theocracy. Since 1948, when the Afrikaner nationalists gained power, the Dutch Reformed churches have had the direct access to, if not control over, the country's political leadership (Perceptions of Apartheid: The Churches and Political Change in South Africa. Scottdale, Pa.; Herald, 1979), p.11) 

Similar to what happened in Latin America, the system of apartheid-oppressor versus oppressed- was not only condoned by the white parents of the First World, which gave financial support to their mission churches in Africa, but was also reinforced by First World investors from Western Europe and the United States, primarily through transnational corporations.  The participation of U.S. business in the economic system  of South Africa has increased in recent decades (Ferm, op cit. p. 62).  

Baldwin Sjollema says the following: Those who invest in South Africa should please do so with their eyes open...Economic growth has failed to benefit black people in any significant way.  The claim by transnational corporations that the apartheid system would change and human rights improve has also not come true (Isolating Apartheid: Western Collaboration with South Africa: Geneva, 1982, pp. 1,11). 

There is little doubt that a direct correlation exists between economic and political domination by First World Powers and the perpetuation of apartheid in South Africa (Ferm, op. cit., p. 62)

Does anyone see a similarity between Christian Nationalism and white Christian Nationalism in the U.S.A. in the era of Donald Trump?  Can you see why it is so important to engage in God-talk from an African perspective?   

Our coverage of Liberation Theology from an African perspective continues in subsequent articles.

In the Name of the Creator, and of the Liberator, and of the Sustainer. Amen.

Rev. Dr. Juan A. Carmona 

Past Visiting Professor of Theology 

Tainan Theological College/Seminary, Tainan, Taiwan