Between the Prose of Justice and the Poetics of Love? Reading Ricœur on Mutual Recognition in the Light of Harmful Strategies of “Othering”

Against the backdrop of the challenges posed by xenophobia and other social phenomena that operated with harmful strategies of “othering,” this article considers the promise that the notion of “mutual recognition” as exemplified in the later work of Paul Ricœur holds for discourse on these matters. Can the hermeneutical and mediating approach of Ricœur provide an adequate framework in order to respond to these radical challenges? In light of this question, this article discusses and ultimately affirms Ricœur’s view that places mutual recognition between what he calls the prose of justice and the poetics of agápē. In addition this article draws attention to the value of symbolic gestures and an ethic of linguistic hospitality to give further texture to the plea for mutual recognition amidst experience of exclusion, conflict and violence.Face aux défis de la xénophobie et des autres phénomènes sociaux liés aux stratégies nuisibles “d’altérisation,” cet article réfléchit à la promesse que représente la notion de “reconnaissance mutuelle” telle qu’elle se trouve définie dans les derniers travaux de Paul Ricœur. Dans quelle mesure l’approche herméneutique de Ricœur et son travail de médiation sont-ils susceptibles de répondre à ces défis radicaux? En prenant cette question comme fil conducteur, cet article discute et reprend finalement à son compte la thèse de Ricœur selon laquelle la reconnaissance mutuelle se situe entre ce qu’il appelle la “prose” de la justice et la “poésie” de l’agapè. L’auteur attire en outre l'attention sur la valeur des gestes symboliques et de l’hospitalité ethnique et linguistique susceptibles de donner plus de consistance à l’appel pour la reconnaissance mutuelle au sein de cette expérience d’exclusion, de conflit et de violence

Editorial

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'Memory, history, and justice : in search of conceptual clarity'

Publication of this article was funded by the Stellenbosch University Open Access Fund.The original publication is available at http://ngtt.journals.ac.za/pubHow should we reconfigure the relationship between memory and history as two distinguishable yet interconnected epistemological routes to knowing the past? This article seeks some conceptual clarity on the intricate and complex interrelation between memory and history, also in conversation with some questions that arise from contexts associated with historical injustice. With this purpose in mind, the article engages especially the later work of the French philosopher Paul Ricoeur. Ricoeur’s response to the memory-history problem is not to view memory and history as adversaries, but to view them as conjoined and complementary as we grapple with the past and the temporality of our own lives. In light of this affirmation of the dialectical relationship between memory and history, the article further emphasises some aspects that are important to consider in the search for a responsible historical hermeneutic.Stellenbosch UniversityPublishers' versio

Prophetic witness in weakness

This article addresses the possible link between prophetic witness and weakness (one can also speak of vulnerability), and expands on reasons why this connection holds much promise for a theological engagement with the question regarding the prophetic role of Christians and churches in the public sphere in South Africa today. With this in mind, the various sections underscore the need for a form of prophetic witness that emphasises respectively prophetic solidarity, prophetic imagination and prophetic performativity. In the process, the article puts forward three statements or theses as invitation for further reflection and conversation, drawing on, among others, the work of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Giorgio Agamben, Emmanuel Katongole and Judith Butler

Memory, embodiment, ethics : in conversation with Wentzel van Huyssteen’s work on theological anthropology

CITATION: Vosloo, R. 2021. Memory, embodiment, ethics : in conversation with Wentzel van Huyssteen’s work on theological anthropology. Verbum et Ecclesia, 42(2):a2383, doi:10.4102/ve.v42i2.2383.The original publication is available at https://verbumetecclesia.org.zaThis article focuses on Wentzel van Huyssteen’s work on theological anthropology, attending especially to his emphasis on the temporal and narrative dimension of personal identity. In this regard, Van Huyssteen draws on the thought of Paul Ricoeur, including his view that memory is the gateway to the self. With this in mind, the first part of the article highlights some key features of Van Huyssteen’s engagement the last decade or two with the question what it means to be human, namely the affirmation of interdisciplinarity, embodiment and vulnerability. The argument is put forward that Van Huyssteen’s work invites and displays the need to uphold the interconnections between embodiment, memory, vulnerability, imagination and empathy. It is furthermore claimed that his constructive proposals ‘in search of self’ should be seen as inextricably connected with its crucial ethical and theological motivation and contours. Intradisciplinary and/or interdisciplinary implications: This article focuses on the South African theologian Wentzel van Huyssteen’s work on theological anthropology. He is internationally renowned, and this article discusses key features of his views and brings it into conversation with the work of the philosopher Paul Ricoeur and perspectives from memory studies. As such, it presents a novel engagement that can enrich systematic theological discourse.https://verbumetecclesia.org.za/index.php/VE/article/view/2383Publisher's versio

Archiving otherwise : some remarks on memory and historical responsibility

Peer reviewedThis essay seeks to contribute to the ongoing discussion on memory, historiography and archiving by engaging Jacques Derrida’s influential book Archive fever: A Freudian impression. The first part of the essay deals with Derrida’s reflections on the word ‘archive’, as well as his discussion of the possibility of the destruction of the archive through the death drive and his argument about the archive and the openness towards the future. The rest of the essay aims, in conversation with Derrida, at reconfiguring archival passion as a passion for the past, a passion for justice and a passion for the future.Church History Society of Southern Afric

Calvin, the Academy of Geneva and 150 years of theology at Stellenbosch : historical-theological contributions to the conversation on theological education

Peer reviewedThe concurrent celebrations of the 500th anniversary of Calvin’s birth, the 450th anniversary of the opening of the Genevan Academy and 150 years of theology at Stellenbosch invite reflection on theological education. With this in mind, this article revisits some aspects of the founding and early years of the Genevan Academy. It will be shown how, in the first instance, the architects of the Genevan Academy did not view theology as isolated from other sources of wisdom; secondly, that the commitment to train ministers for the Reformed churches formed part of a larger vision to transform society; and thirdly, that the Genevan Academy was not immune to tensions inherent in early modern Reformed higher education. Against the backdrop of these three brief observations, and in view of the reception of Calvin and Calvinism at Stellenbosch, the rest of the article offers some remarks on the challenges facing theological education in contexts such as the Faculty of Theology at Stellenbosch. The article suggests that some notes on “the Reformed habit of mind” (Gerrish) may be valuable in navigating the possible tensions between confessional identity and ecumenism, between academic and ecclesiastical theology.Research Institute for Theology and Religio

The Dutch Reformed Church, Beyers Naude and the ghost of Cottesloe

Peer reviewedThis article revisits the important and controversial Cottesloe Church Consultation that was held from 7 to 14 December 1960 in South Africa under the auspices of the World Council of Churches. It focuses mainly on events that occurred in the Dutch Reformed Church following the Cottesloe Consultation. Special attention is given to the role of Beyers Naudé by drawing on some of his newspaper articles, speeches and sermons during this time (including some unpublished material). Given this focus, the article describes Cottesloe as a vital historical marker that points to some unfinished business for the Dutch Reformed Church on an ecclesial, ecumenical and theological level. It argues that the general response of the Dutch Reformed Church to the Cottesloe Consultation led to harmful ecumenical isolation and hampered the church from living out its prophetic calling vis-à-vis the state.Research Institute for Theology and Religio

Reconfigurating ecclesial identity : in conversation with Paul Ricoeur

Peer reviewedThe complex interrelated histories of the family of churches within the Dutch Reformed Church pose serious historiographical questions. At the heart lies the methodological question of the representation of the past. This question is also central to Paul Ricoeur’s monumental work La mémoire, l’histoire, l’oubli (translated in 2004 as Memory, history, forgetting). After giving a broad outline of Ricoeur’s overall argument in this book, the main body of this article attends to Ricoeur’s discussion of the uses and abuses of memory, as well as his theory of the three phases of the historical operation. The last section of the article draws in part on Ricoeur’s work and gives a brief outline of four trajectories that seek to contribute to the discussion regarding an adequate methodology for doing church history in Southern Africa today.Research Institute for Theology and Religio

The state of exception and religious freedom : revisiting the church-state confrontation, correspondence and statements of 1988

This article revisits the documentation related to the church-state confrontation of 1988 with the aim of showing how it reflects different views on the prophetic role of the church in society, as well as different presuppositions regarding freedom of faith and worship. After a discussion of the polemical 1988 correspondence between church leaders and the State President, the second part of the article attends to the thought of the Italian philosopher Giorgio Agamben, and more specifically to his provocative discussion of the notions of “homo sacer” and “state of exception”. The last part of the article brings aspects of Agamben’s thought into conversation with the church-state correspondence of 1988 in order to argue for an understanding of freedom of religion that encompasses the freedom of the church to speak prophetically against any attempt by the state to normalise a state of exception that threatens vulnerable life.Research Institute for Theology and Religio