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Community Resilience and Spirituality: Keys to Hope for a Post-Apartheid South Africa

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Abstract

This paper aims to provide a theological and psychological basis for faith communities under stress that will allow them to engage with the narratives of Jesus in such a way that they become the bearers of the “good news” and a force of resilience. The context is post-apartheid South Africa, which is plagued by the consequences of colonial as well as present-day neo-colonial atrocities. Faith communities are challenged to respond with resilience, to discover authentic existence in relationship with God and people, and to become agents of change. The article investigates resilience theory from an epistemological and hermeneutical perspective. It applies the “new hermeneutics” of Ernst Fuchs as a model in order to facilitate faith communities to (1) understand their own humanity and the human condition, (2) understand what an authentic life entails and how to acquire it, and (3) become a resilient community by associating collectively with the Jesus narrative.

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Notes

  1. The Marikana miners’ strike (or Lonmin strike) at a mine close to Rustenburg, South Africa, resulted in the deaths of 44 people between 10 and 16 August 2012 in a clash with police. At least 78 workers were injured. Killings continued up to 2014.

  2. American Psychiatric Association, “The Road to Resiliance,” http://www.apahelpcenter.org/featuredtopics/feature.php?id=6&ch=2, accessed 12 April 2009.

  3. Don Browning (2007, pp. 6–7) is known for borrowing from Kantian philosophy by distinguishing in his practical theology between phronesis (practical wisdom) and theoria (theoretical wisdom and knowledge).

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Acknowledgments

This article is based on a paper read at a conference of the “New Directions in Practical Theology” group hosted 7–9 May 2014 by the Princeton Theological Seminary, Princeton, New Jersey.

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  1. Faculty of Theology, University of Pretoria, Lynnwood Road, Hatfield, Pretoria, South Africa

    Yolanda Dreyer

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  1. Yolanda Dreyer
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Correspondence to Yolanda Dreyer.

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Dreyer, Y. Community Resilience and Spirituality: Keys to Hope for a Post-Apartheid South Africa. Pastoral Psychol 64, 651–662 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11089-014-0632-2

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