September 18 — Isabel Phiri addresses Black Theology in contemporary South Africa
How does Black Theology in South Africa, which emerged as a response to the oppression of a Black majority by a White minority, inform the pursuit of social and economic justice for all now that it is Black people who walk the corridors of power in South Africa?
When: Thursday, September 18, at 1:00 pm
Where: CTS Common Room Christian Theological Seminary 1000 W. 42nd Street Indianapolis, IN 46208
South African Theological Educator and Activist Isabel Phiri will deliver the Saltsburg Distinguished Lectures at CTS on September 15, 17, and 18. Admission to all lectures is free and no advance registration is required. The public is welcome to all lectures.
Why does Provocate think you should attend this event?
Americans had a flavor of “Black Theology” when Barack Obama’s pastor Jeremiah Wright dominated the breathlessly outraged cable news networks this spring. To Wright’s defense came one of the best know spokespersons of South African Black Theology, Nobel Prize winner Desmond Tutu:
“Black Theology Seeks the Liberation of All”
When we were struggling in South Africa against the vicious racist policies of apartheid, it was exhilarating to proclaim to our people that our God was encountered first not in the peaceful quiet of a sanctuary. No, our God was out there in the rough and tumble of the politics of the day. Our God revealed Himself in the utterly vulgar world of setting a fractious rabble of slaves free. Our God was/is the great liberator God of the Exodus – the paradigmatic event that helped to define God as the God who is never unbiased, but is always biased in favor of the oppressed, the marginalized, the down and outs.
This God in Jesus Christ continued to demonstrate this bias – Jesus companied not with the high and mighty, Archbishops, Presidents, and such like, but with the scum of society, prostitutes, sinners, the despised. This was the God who had an extraordinary identification with the little people – inasmuch as you have done this(clothed the naked,fed the hungry,etc.) staggeringly you have done it as to God.Wow. Our God did not give good advice from a safe distance. No, our God entered the fiery furnace to be there as Immanuel, God with us in our anguish and agony. Our God was not deaf, but heard our cries, was not blind but saw our suffering and would as of old come down to deliver us from our bondage too, so that we would enjoy the glorious liberty of the children of God.
Jeremiah Wright has said really no more than this which falls squarely in the ambit of black theology, black religion to answer the anguished questions of black people suffering under the brutality of white racism. It ultimately seeks reconciliation, but you cannot be reconciled with one who has his boot on your neck to keep you in the gutter. To be reconciled you must stand up right to look the other in the eye.
Black theology and religion seek the liberation of all, oppressor and oppressed, black and white together – as we accomplished it in South Africa for freedom is indivisible. Whites won’t be truly free until blacks are free. Listen to Condeleeza Rice in the Washington Times. Obama is a person of courageous integrity. He could have ingratiated himself to white Americans by repudiating his pastor completely. He did nothing of the sort. That speaks volumes for the man. America will not find peace with itself until you really deal with your history.You need something like a Truth and Reconciliation Commission to help you come to terms with your past.
Another Jeremiah,the prophet of old shocked his compatriots when Jerusalem was being besieged by the Chaldeans. He urged his compatriots to desert and join the enemy. What price patriotism.
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On September 15 hear Isabel Phiri discuss the challenges of theological education for women in Africa. On September 17 she discusses HIV/AIDS, violence against women, and notions of masculinity in Africa. For a contrast, attend Richard Carrier’s explanation of six reasons why we need a well-thought naturalist worldview on October 26 … would this god-free naturalism sustain the struggles for justice Isabel Phiri describes?
