Thinking Heads

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An overdue return

It's been a while since I last wrote anything on this blog. Well, I've been writing on other blogs. But another thing is that getting connected to the net is becoming a bit tricky. My computer is playing hardball. This started with a lightening strike destroying the modem. Another computer decided to shut its screen and there's nothing I could do about it. Now, I'm blogging from my mobile phone. Ag, 'askis' man, I don't mean to complain.

You are a false teacher, they said

With what do you allay somebody's fear that you are a false prophet or teacher about whom the Bible spoke? And how do you exactly handle that when it is somebody in your cngregation who says so in an open forum? Well, let me give you a bit of background. You see, at our church, we decided to confront the problem of desertion of our cell groups head on. We held a conference the purpose of which was to re-present the vision and mission of the church, achievements and problems encountered and hear what our members experience as challenges that might be responsible for 'low morale'. It was in one of the sessions where group leaders were reporting back on the experiences of their group members that 'a fear of my being a false teacher/prophet' was expressed as one of the contributing factors. How did I respond to that? Well, I told them that I have no way of proving that I am or I am not. I indicated that I know that I love Jesus and desire to always follow him in my time...

Christian- Muslim cooperation with regard to community upliftment

Since the demise of apartheid and the beginning of the democratic order in South Africa, the religious scene became open for all players. Whereas before 1994, one hardly knew that there were other faiths such as Judaism, Hinduism, Islam, etc. because where I grew up there were practioners of these faiths, post 1994 introduced voices we hardly knew existed. The first religious faith I heard about and not in a positive light was Islam. Back in 1993, at a Christian conference, one speaker told the crowd that Muslim countries of the Mid East had embarked on a campaign to Islam-ize South Africa through the use of petro dollars. He further stated that there were Muslim missionaries sent into South Africa to accomplish just that. Of Course later, one came to see here and there, even in a remote area such as the place I grew up in, mosques being erected. Word got around that the Muslims erect Mosques without help from the local communities, run feeding schemes from these newly ...

Inter-faith cooperation

My wife and I enjoy discussing life in its breadth. Topics of discussion touch on matters social, religious, cultural, philosophical, economic, political and personal. Now, she tells me that I talk too much. And yes I do but I enjoy listening to her and being enlightened by her insights. Maloba mona I was telling her about how one of our church welfare sponsors is a Muslim and how this chap and I discussed a lot about getting our people out of poverty through various means. In the course of this discussion, two things came to mind. The first one concerned justification of Christian-Muslim cooperation. The second concerned mental and spiritual liberation. Christian- Muslim Cooperation Ever since I was in seminary, I learnt to enjoy tv sermons by Black Muslims. The reason was that the ones I listened to sought to address the socio-economic situation of people. Their sermons were not heavy on doctrine and polemics but mostly pragmatic. I think it is this pragmatism t...

We can't keep ignoring Islam forever

I am a christian with a basic theological training. This training has widened my scope concerning the christian faith, the development of its doctrines, the differences between different communities and the plethora of theological opinion. Naturally, only wilful disregard of the facts or realities of the faith can allow one to hold tenaciously to the purity and rightness of all their theological method and opinion against the rest. Indeed, it was the learned opinion of some scholar that because of the diversity observable among the followers of Christ, it would be proper to speak of 'christianities'. He thought that this would acknowlegde the fundamental diversity embodied by different theological communities. Now, what this awareness of the diverse nature of christian theology therefore practice aroused in me was a question regarding Islam. I wondered if Islam is this monolithic movement I hear others talk about. Is there only one way of interpreting the Quran?...

Christian self-understanding and the Christian community 1

I find that more and more, the question of identity is taking centre stage in my thoughts. And I do not mean ethnic identity but one's identity as a christian. Perhaps one could ask a question regarding the informants of christian identity. And whatever they are, I think that the church (christian community) plays a fundamental role in the formulation of christian identity. Can one be a christian outside and despite of the community of christians? Africans have a saying that 'one is because of others'. This saying is said to be encapsulating the philosophy of ubuntu. Now, to go back to the question I raised earlier; can one be a christian outside and in spite of the community of christians? Answering this question from the ubuntu philosophical perspective would lead one to say 'no, you cannot be a christian outside of the community of christians'. My question is: how true is it that one's self-understanding as christian is tied to the community of c...