Responding to the challenge of Black Theology: Liberating Ministry to the White Community – 1988–1990

This article provides an initial overview of the Institute for Contextual Theology’s 1988–1990 project on A Liberating Ministry to the White Community, particularly exploring the main themes that emerged from national workshops during the 3 years. The project participants set out to think through the questions of a ministry to the white community in dialogue and in solidarity with Black Consciousness and Black Theology and the article seeks to explore the extent to which this initial focus was attended to in the main themes developed. Particular attention is given to how the project developed the notion of the white church as a ‘site of struggle’ and the accompanying social analysis and understanding of the role of prophetic theology

The theological anthropology of Simon Maimela: Democratisation of power and being human in relationship

The lacuna around race in (white) Christian theological anthropology has often been pointed out. The canon of academic systematic theology seldom reflects on the implication of modern race and racism for our theological anthropologies and, therefore, fails to provide adequate resources for dealing with one of the most fundamental problems of modern theological anthropology � that the modern human was conceived through a white racial lens. Black theology, in its various streams, has responded with a theological anthropology that consciously disrupted a modern anthropology which thought of �man� as white (and male). This article analyses the sustained work around theological anthropology of South African Black Theologian Simon Maimela. Maimela over a number of years attempted to articulate the theological problem of white anthropology, or the anthropological problem of white theology, in South Africa. Two dominant pillars are identified in Maimela�s theological anthropology and these are connected to the influence of Black theology and African theology on his work, and his attempt at drawing these traditions together. Maimela�s theological critique on whiteness will be discussed and key contemporary implications noted.Intradisciplinary and/or interdisciplinary implications: While the article is most explicitly situated in the discipline of systematic theology, it challenges dominant narratives on what the theological problem with apartheid was, which also has implications for the broader fields of whiteness studies and critical race studies in South Africa.</p

White theology in dialogue with Black Theology: Exploring the contribution of Klippies Kritzinger

This article explores the contribution of South African missiologist and theologian Klippies Kritzinger to a critical and anti-racist white theology. It analyses his academic work in response to Black Consciousness and Black Theology from publications during his doctoral studies, throughout the transition to democracy and into the present, where this theme remains a constant presence in his work. The article explores his use of liberation, conversation and re-evangelisation in constructing a white response to Black Theology and a suggested ministry to the white community. In analysing his contribution various models of contextual theology, in particular that of Steven Bevans, are used in order to position Kritzinger and illuminate Kritzinger’s approach. Bevans’ praxis, counter-cultural and translation models are used to emphasize different aspects of Kritzinger’s theology for liberating whiteness

White theology in dialogue with Black Theology: Exploring the contribution of Klippies Kritzinger

This article explores the contribution of South African missiologist and theologian Klippies Kritzinger to a critical and anti-racist white theology. It analyses his academic work in response to Black Consciousness and Black Theology from publications during his doctoral studies, throughout the transition to democracy and into the present, where this theme remains a constant presence in his work. The article explores his use of liberation, conversation and re-evangelisation in constructing a white response to Black Theology and a suggested ministry to the white community. In analysing his contribution various models of contextual theology, in particular that of Steven Bevans, are used in order to position Kritzinger and illuminate Kritzinger’s approach. Bevans’ praxis, counter-cultural and translation models are used to emphasize different aspects of Kritzinger’s theology for liberating whiteness. Keywords: Whiteness; Klippies Kritzinger; anti-racis

Responding to the challenge of Black Theology: Liberating Ministry to the White Community – 1988–1990

This article provides an initial overview of the Institute for Contextual Theology’s 1988–1990 project on A Liberating Ministry to the White Community, particularly exploring the main themes that emerged from national workshops during the 3 years. The project participants set out to think through the questions of a ministry to the white community in dialogue and in solidarity with Black Consciousness and Black Theology and the article seeks to explore the extent to which this initial focus was attended to in the main themes developed. Particular attention is given to how the project developed the notion of the white church as a ‘site of struggle’ and the accompanying social analysis and understanding of the role of prophetic theology

Conceptual considerations for studying churches’ engagement with urban fractures and vulnerabilities

This article provides an overview of conceptual considerations underpinning the design of a research project on religious innovation and competition amidst urban social change. The conceptual work developed out of the planning of the research methods, questions and questionnaires, and provides the background on which particular methodological choices and research foci were built. In six sections, the following will be discussed: the tension between a liberation theology commitment and ethnographic description of local congregations’ response to social change; the motivation for a particular understanding of ‘church’ used in identifying communities for the mapping process and focus groups; assumptions on the relation between church or theology and society; introduction to the key notions ‘urban fractures’ and ‘vulnerabilities’ used in the study; and our understanding of ‘innovation’

Velocity derivative skewness in isotropic turbulence and its measurement with hot wires

We investigate the effect of the hot wire resolution on the measurement of the velocity derivative skewness in homogeneous isotropic turbulence. Single- and cross-wire configurations (with different lengths and separations of the wires, and temporal sampling resolution) are considered. Predictions of the attenuation on the basis of a model for the energy spectrum are compared to experimental and numerical data in grid and box turbulence, respectively. It is shown that the model-based correction is accurate for the single wire but not for the cross-wire. In the latter case, the effect of the separation between the wires is opposite to that found in the experiments and simulations. Moreover, the attenuation predicted by the numerical data is in good agreement with that observed in the experiment. For both probe configurations, the sampling resolution has a sizeable attenuation effect, but, for the X-probe, the impact of the separation between the wires is more important. In both cases, the length of the wires has only a minor effect, in the non-dimensional range of wire length investigated. Finally, the present experimental data support the conclusion that the skewness is constant with the Reynolds number, in agreement with Kolmogorov's 41 theory

Spatial resolution of PIV for the measurement of turbulence

Recent technological advancements have made the use of particle image velocimetry (PIV) more widespread for studying turbulent flows over a wide range of scales. Although PIV does not threaten to make obsolete more mature techniques, such as hot-wire anemometry (HWA), it is justifiably becoming an increasingly important tool for turbulence research. This paper assesses the ability of PIV to resolve all relevant scales in a classical turbulent flow, namely grid turbulence, via a comparison with theoretical predictions as well as HWA measurements. Particular attention is given to the statistical convergence of mean turbulent quantities and the spatial resolution of PIV. An analytical method is developed to quantify and correct for the effect of the finite spatial resolution of PIV measurements. While the present uncorrected PIV results largely underestimate the mean turbulent kinetic energy and energy dissipation rate, the corrected measurements agree to a close approximation with the HWA data. The transport equation for the second-order structure function in grid turbulence is used to establish the range of scales affected by the limited resolution. The results show that PIV, due to the geometry of its sensing domain, must meet slightly more stringent requirements in terms of resolution, compared with HWA, in order to provide reliable measurements in turbulence