I am a full professor in the Department of Religion and Theology at the University of the Western Cape, South Africa. My main teaching and research focus crosscuts the related fields of theology and development, religion and development, religion and society, and diaconal studies. The interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary approach to my work has led to publications across the theological, religious studies and social science disciplines.
The Hebrew word hamas in the Old Testament is most frequently translated as ""violence&... more The Hebrew word hamas in the Old Testament is most frequently translated as ""violence"". However, this translation often does not do justice to the context in which the word is used. The virtually constant translation of hamas as ""violence"" in literature pertaining to the Old Testament, translations of the Bible and Hebrew lexicons is an example of the incorrect method of determining meaning and translation, whereby a single meaning is consistently allocated to a word. This method is based on the concept that a word has a so-called ""original"" meaning (""Grundbedeutung"") out of which all the meanings of the word are derived. A synchronic study of hamas shows that this word, because of its diversity of contexts, requires a much more nuanced translation. One of the problems of translating hamas as ""violence"" is this concept's modern-day connotation of physical force. However, the word hamas in the Old Testament also appears in the contexts of sin and injustice against God and one's fellow-man, judicial affairs, structural violence and the theodicy problem.
Please help us populate SUNScholar with the post print version of this article. It can be e-maile... more Please help us populate SUNScholar with the post print version of this article. It can be e-mailed to: scholar@sun.ac.zaAlgemeenHugenote Kolleg
Please help us populate SUNScholar with the post print version of this article. It can be e-maile... more Please help us populate SUNScholar with the post print version of this article. It can be e-mailed to: scholar@sun.ac.zaAlgemeenHugenote Kolleg
Please help us populate SUNScholar with the post print version of this article. It can be e-maile... more Please help us populate SUNScholar with the post print version of this article. It can be e-mailed to: scholar@sun.ac.zaAlgemeenHugenote Kolleg
Please help us populate SUNScholar with the post print version of this article. It can be e-maile... more Please help us populate SUNScholar with the post print version of this article. It can be e-mailed to: scholar@sun.ac.zaAlgemeenHugenote Kolleg
TeologiePraktiese Teologie En MissiologiePlease help us populate SUNScholar with the post print v... more TeologiePraktiese Teologie En MissiologiePlease help us populate SUNScholar with the post print version of this article. It can be e-mailed to: scholar@sun.ac.z
This article introduces Religion & Development as a new transdisciplinary journal focusing on the... more This article introduces Religion & Development as a new transdisciplinary journal focusing on the nexus between religion and development. It outlines the motivation for establishing the new periodical along three central themes: the move towards sustainable development as dominant development paradigm; the reinvigoration of the post-development debate; and the emerging academic, policy and practice field of religion and development. The discussion proceeds to highlight the envisaged task of the journal as well as its transdisciplinary and collaborative span. Moreover, it delineates Religion & Development’s core editorial policies, before setting the scene for the contributions of the journal’s first issue.
Missionalia : Southern African Journal of Mission Studies, 2003
This paper identifies the historical debate on development projects in the ecumenical movement as... more This paper identifies the historical debate on development projects in the ecumenical movement as the essential starting-point for Christian theology and the churches' ongoing concem with development. Named by Charles Elliot at an early stage as 'The Pragmatic Debate', the paper innovates by distinguishing between a moderate and a radical account of this debate. It is argued that the radical account in particular, problematises a one way, movement in development from the rich and powerful to the poor.
The Hebrew word hamas in the Old Testament is most frequently translated as ""violence&... more The Hebrew word hamas in the Old Testament is most frequently translated as ""violence"". However, this translation often does not do justice to the context in which the word is used. The virtually constant translation of hamas as ""violence"" in literature pertaining to the Old Testament, translations of the Bible and Hebrew lexicons is an example of the incorrect method of determining meaning and translation, whereby a single meaning is consistently allocated to a word. This method is based on the concept that a word has a so-called ""original"" meaning (""Grundbedeutung"") out of which all the meanings of the word are derived. A synchronic study of hamas shows that this word, because of its diversity of contexts, requires a much more nuanced translation. One of the problems of translating hamas as ""violence"" is this concept's modern-day connotation of physical force. However, the word hamas in the Old Testament also appears in the contexts of sin and injustice against God and one's fellow-man, judicial affairs, structural violence and the theodicy problem.
Please help us populate SUNScholar with the post print version of this article. It can be e-maile... more Please help us populate SUNScholar with the post print version of this article. It can be e-mailed to: scholar@sun.ac.zaAlgemeenHugenote Kolleg
Please help us populate SUNScholar with the post print version of this article. It can be e-maile... more Please help us populate SUNScholar with the post print version of this article. It can be e-mailed to: scholar@sun.ac.zaAlgemeenHugenote Kolleg
Please help us populate SUNScholar with the post print version of this article. It can be e-maile... more Please help us populate SUNScholar with the post print version of this article. It can be e-mailed to: scholar@sun.ac.zaAlgemeenHugenote Kolleg
Please help us populate SUNScholar with the post print version of this article. It can be e-maile... more Please help us populate SUNScholar with the post print version of this article. It can be e-mailed to: scholar@sun.ac.zaAlgemeenHugenote Kolleg
TeologiePraktiese Teologie En MissiologiePlease help us populate SUNScholar with the post print v... more TeologiePraktiese Teologie En MissiologiePlease help us populate SUNScholar with the post print version of this article. It can be e-mailed to: scholar@sun.ac.z
This article introduces Religion & Development as a new transdisciplinary journal focusing on the... more This article introduces Religion & Development as a new transdisciplinary journal focusing on the nexus between religion and development. It outlines the motivation for establishing the new periodical along three central themes: the move towards sustainable development as dominant development paradigm; the reinvigoration of the post-development debate; and the emerging academic, policy and practice field of religion and development. The discussion proceeds to highlight the envisaged task of the journal as well as its transdisciplinary and collaborative span. Moreover, it delineates Religion & Development’s core editorial policies, before setting the scene for the contributions of the journal’s first issue.
Missionalia : Southern African Journal of Mission Studies, 2003
This paper identifies the historical debate on development projects in the ecumenical movement as... more This paper identifies the historical debate on development projects in the ecumenical movement as the essential starting-point for Christian theology and the churches' ongoing concem with development. Named by Charles Elliot at an early stage as 'The Pragmatic Debate', the paper innovates by distinguishing between a moderate and a radical account of this debate. It is argued that the radical account in particular, problematises a one way, movement in development from the rich and powerful to the poor.
Bonding in Worship: A Ritual Lens on Social Capital in African Independent Churches in South Africa, 2019
This chapter was written to contribute towards developing a suitable conceptual framework for mee... more This chapter was written to contribute towards developing a suitable conceptual framework for meeting the overarching research aim of developing a more profound empirically informed interpretation of the manner and extent to which religious ritual could be valued as a source of social capital formation in the South African context. With this in mind, the article first explores the concept of social capital in the light of the threefold distinction between bonding, bridging and linking forms of social capital. Secondly, from the vantage point of such exploration the connection with religion is made more pointedly. By tapping into the more recently invented notion of religious social capital, the article shows how this concept is today used meaningfully to advance a twofold perspective: on religion as a special repository of social capital, but also on the limitations of religion and its institutions in meeting the social capital needs of communities and the wider society. Finally, from the viewpoint of eliciting important conceptual value from the notion of religious social capital, the case of religious ritual as a very necessary yet untapped element in the contemporary research focus on religion and social capital formation is presented. In particular, an argument about religious ritual as the consistently missing element in this research focus is put forward and given greater substance through the identification of two pointers from the literature that can be deemed useful in starting to address this lacuna.
From back cover:
This excellent book provides new impetus to the academic debate around the asse... more From back cover:
This excellent book provides new impetus to the academic debate around the assessment criteria of the impact of the broad religious sphere on social development in contemporary South Africa. The volume is exemplary in its interdisciplinary approach and for advancing a new theoretical framework that combines hermeneutical and empirical methods. Indeed, the book sets new standards in the fields of practical theology and sociology of religion. Prof Wilhelm Gräb, Professor of Practical Theology & Director of the Institute of Sociology of Religion and Community Development, Humboldt University, Berlin
This book may easily stand out in future as seminal in the way that it promoted the social development debate of the church and its organisational structures from an interdisciplinary focus. The book will not only impact on how the church and religious structures should reach out to address social development themes such as poverty. It will, in turn, facilitate understanding by other disciplines of the role of the church and FBOs, which will encourage them to engage the church and religious structures more meaningfully in pursuing the social development agenda. Prof Antoinette Lombard, Professor of Social Work & Head of the Department of Social Work and Criminology, University of Pretoria
This publication makes a significant contribution to the debate about the role of the faith-based sector in social development in post-apartheid South Africa. Its initial positive hypothesis is supported by original interdisciplinary research that paints a realistic picture of organised religion in contemporary South Africa; it also sets new standards for empirical and socially based religious and theological research. As such, it presents an appropriate intellectual response to the social agenda of the “New South Africa”. Dr Ian Nell, Senior Lecturer in Practical Theology, Department of Practical Theology and Missiology & Director of the Unit for Religion and Development Research, Stellenbosch University
This book provides valuable theoretical and practical perspectives for critical engagement in the field of development in post-apartheid South Africa. It provides much-needed insight into the contribution of the religious sector while, at the same time, challenging this sector to embrace a more holistic view of development. With its combination of experienced and novice “voices”, the text is a vigorous and commendable example of interdisciplinary collaboration. Prof Jaco Dreyer, Professor of Practical Theology, Department of Practical Theology, University of South Africa
Welfare, Religion and Gender in Post-Apartheid South Africa: Constructing a South-North Dialogue , 2012
The topic covered by this book is important (crucially so in post-apartheid South Africa) and the... more The topic covered by this book is important (crucially so in post-apartheid South Africa) and the research is meticulous. This has resulted in an impressive collection of material concerning welfare, religion and gender in twenty-first century South Africa, which includes both theoretical reflections and an abundance of empirical data. - Professor Grace Davie (Professor Emerita of Sociology, University of Exeter, UK)
African Initiated Christianity and the Decolonization of Development: Sustainable Development in Pentecostal and Independent Churches, 2020
In the burgeoning academic scholarship on religion and development, most specifically that sectio... more In the burgeoning academic scholarship on religion and development, most specifically that section concerned with the nexus between religion and development in African society, the potential and actual development role of African Initiated Churches (AICs) is receiving increasing attention. In this respect, a theoretical claim or thesis that has come in vogue in the literature to capture the essential contribution that these churches are making in the sphere of development is that of development from below. This paper, in view of contributing to the academic debate about AICs and development, seeks to subject the development-from-below thesis to closer scrutiny. Through a closer study of a selected corpus of literature, within an explorative framework that incorporates both the familiar African Independent-type churches and the new African-founded Pentecostal-Charismatic Churches (PCCs), the discussion proceeds to identify and discuss five dimensions that can be said to define the development-from-below thesis. This finally leads the paper to conclude with a positive but also qualifying statement about the continuation of a research exploration of AICs and development along the lines of the development-from-below thesis. While the paper finds undoubted promise in this continuation, it also finds important scope to qualify this promise by identifying with the synergistic approach in the secular development literature, which highlights the fundamental importance of a synergistic relationship between bottom-up and top-down processes of development to achieve broad-based development.
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threefold distinction between bonding, bridging and linking forms of social capital. Secondly, from the vantage point of such exploration the connection with religion is made more pointedly. By tapping into the more recently invented notion of religious social capital, the article shows how this concept is today used meaningfully to advance a twofold perspective: on religion as a special repository of social capital, but also on the limitations of religion and its institutions in meeting the social capital needs of communities and the wider society. Finally, from the viewpoint of eliciting important conceptual value from the notion of religious social capital, the case of religious ritual as a very necessary yet untapped element in the contemporary research focus on religion and social capital formation is presented. In particular, an argument about religious
ritual as the consistently missing element in this research focus is put forward and given greater substance through the identification of two pointers from the literature that can be deemed useful in starting to address this lacuna.
This excellent book provides new impetus to the academic debate around the assessment criteria of the impact of the broad religious sphere on social development in contemporary South Africa. The
volume is exemplary in its interdisciplinary approach and for advancing a new theoretical framework that combines hermeneutical and empirical methods. Indeed, the book sets new standards in the fields of practical theology and sociology of religion.
Prof Wilhelm Gräb, Professor of Practical Theology & Director of the Institute of Sociology of Religion and Community Development, Humboldt University, Berlin
This book may easily stand out in future as seminal in the way that it promoted the social development debate of the church and its organisational structures from an interdisciplinary focus. The book will not only impact on how the church and religious structures should reach out to address social development themes such as poverty. It will, in turn, facilitate understanding by other disciplines of the role of the
church and FBOs, which will encourage them to engage the church and religious structures more meaningfully in pursuing the social development agenda.
Prof Antoinette Lombard, Professor of Social Work & Head of the Department of Social Work and Criminology, University of Pretoria
This publication makes a significant contribution to the debate about the role of the faith-based sector in social development in post-apartheid South Africa. Its initial positive hypothesis is supported by original interdisciplinary research that paints a realistic picture of organised religion in contemporary South Africa; it also sets new standards for empirical and socially based religious and theological research. As such, it presents an appropriate intellectual response to the social agenda of the “New South Africa”.
Dr Ian Nell, Senior Lecturer in Practical Theology, Department of Practical Theology and Missiology & Director of the Unit for Religion and Development Research, Stellenbosch University
This book provides valuable theoretical and practical perspectives for critical engagement in the field of development in post-apartheid South Africa. It provides much-needed insight into the contribution of the religious sector while, at the same time, challenging this sector to embrace a more holistic view of development. With its combination of experienced and novice “voices”, the text is a vigorous and commendable example of interdisciplinary collaboration.
Prof Jaco Dreyer, Professor of Practical Theology, Department of Practical Theology, University of South Africa