Religion and Theology 

About: Religion and Theology is an academic journal published by Brill. The journal publishes majorly in the area(s): History of religions & Early Christianity. It has an ISSN identifier of 1023-0807. Over the lifetime, 423 publications have been published receiving 1703 citations. The journal is also known as: R&T: Religion & theology & R and T. Religion and theology.

Beyond Anthropocentricity – Botho/Ubuntu and the Quest for Economic and Ecological Justice in Africa

Abstract: This essay suggests that the anthropocentric interpretations of the concept of botho/ubuntu in African intellectual scholarship, whether religious, theological and social sciences, limit the potential of botho/ ubuntu in the quest for the fullness of life, and the affirmation of the integrity of creation, wholeness and wellbeing. The essay suggests therefore that when the expanded and creative interpretation of botho which acknowledges its socio-economic, political, and ecological scope or horizon is utilised, it has the potential to become a resource, principle and norm for overcoming ecological degradation and economic injustices in the world today. The essay thus posits botho/ubuntu as a vibrant, vital and ecologically and economically viable principle and norm for the wellbeing of humanity and of the integrity of creation.

Shifting perspectives on the comparative paradigm in (south) african biblical scholarship

Abstract: The comparative paradigmisthemostpervasiveinterpretive framework in Africanbiblical scholarship.Recent work hasattempted to chart the contours of this paradigm and tonote its historicalandhermeneutical development.This articlejoinsthediscussion, by locating SouthAfricanbiblicalscholarshipwithinthis paradigm and by offering an analysis of the comparativeparadigm interms ofits understandingof colonialism.The argument put forwardisthat amore nuancedand complexunderstandingof colonialism may provide new angles of analysis both of the comparative paradigm itself and of the task of African biblical scholarship.

Feminist Methodologies: An Intersection between Theology and Religious Studies

Abstract: Given changing contexts and social discourses, it is theoretically enriching to enlarge the research emphasis of the secular academic discipline of Religious Studies to consider ways in which women who self-identify as religious contribute to their various traditions in ways that deepen spiritual experience for the communities as a whole and make contributions to their larger social contexts. Religious Studies scholars value scientific approaches but also, to be respectful of the communities studied, must recognize that they do a disservice to those communities if they reduce findings to the confines of these approaches. Interdisciplinary work that draws on methodological concepts developed in feminist theological thought, together with naturalist approaches, serves to increase knowledge about and by women in faith communities. By continuing to develop theology in rigorous and thoughtful ways, modern women are carrying forward an important interpretive tradition that strengthens analyses of religion in the secular humanities and social sciences.

The Role of Religious Ritual in Social Capital Formation for Poverty Alleviation and Social Development. Theoretical and Methodological Points of Departure of a South African Exploration

Abstract: The article is a presentation of a South African research project in which researchers in the fields of ritual-liturgical studies and social development are collaborating to explore the role of religious ritual in the kinds of social capital formation that have a direct significance and implication for alleviating poverty and promoting social development at grassroots level. Focusing on Christian congregations in poor socio-economic contexts in the Western Cape and KwaZulu-Natal, the aim of the research is to understand social capital formation through the lens of religious ritual. The research project builds on the hypothesis that social capital has a role to play in the related goals of poverty alleviation and social development, something which it seeks to conceptualise and explore in greater detail. Within this framework the discussion explores and contextualises the conceptual link between social capital and the practice of religious ritual in present-day South African society by drawing on existing research and theoretical debates, both nationally and internationally. This enables the authors to present some additional notes on the key theoretical, conceptual and methodological points of departure of the undertaken project. These are followed by a number of concluding observations about the modes of investigation and action steps through which the research topic is currently being further developed.

African culture, African intellectuals and the white academy in South Africa - some implications for Christian theology in Africa

Abstract: Attitudes towards African culture are central to the crisis of African intellectuals. This crisis is manifest in the issues of African identity, black self-love, black poverty, the stranglehold of the Western academy and white racism. For the debilitating aspects of the crisis to be converted to our advantage, African intellectuals must reconnect to African culture. However, such a reconnection must include not only an analysis and problematisation ofwhatAfrican culture is, but also the question of how best to connect to it. The call for African intellectuals to reconnect to African culture is not a call for the resuscitation of romantic views on African culture. Nor is it a call for a rehash of the often strident views of Western missionaries, philosophers and colonialists on African culture. It is also not a call for the self-hating castigation of African culture by Africans themselves. It is rather a call to a mature reappropriation of past and present manifestations of African culture within, because of and in spite of oppressive and racist conditions. This kind of appropriation will help African intellectuals emerge from the crisis. Such a reappropriation has significant implications for the teaching and the shape of Christian theology of Africa. Basic to these implications is the necessity to return to black and African theologies of liberation.