Bible

A Lament for the Place That Proclaims Your Word

Blog
O, Father, you know my heart, you know my fears and worries, you know my disappointment, my temptation to give in and give up. You are the Creator of these people, in this, your world; you are the Creator of me, in this, your world. You ordain steps, and you’ve brought us here; and yet you know my heart full of questions. You hem me in, behind and before, and…
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The Holistic Gospel

Seminar, Video
What if the gospel was so much bigger, richer, and more beautiful than you realised? What if the gospel was not only about heaven one day but also the inbreaking Kingdom of God today? What if the gospel was not only about forgiveness for sinners but liberation from oppression too? What if both of these...
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Made in the Image of God

Made in the Image of God: Some Contextual Reflections

Blog
Interpretation is, in the words of David Bosch, always a creative tension between text and context. There are no neutral or abstract interpretations of Scripture. How then do we read and interpret Scripture in the context of a county like South Africa, with such a rigidly racialised past and a vastly unequal economic and racial present? In this post we will explore the doctrine of Creation, grounding our theology in…
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Decolonising Discipleship: Is it Enough to “Just Teach the Bible”?

Talks
There is a popular line of thought in some Christian circles that goes something like this: "We don't get involved in 'politics' or issues of racial controversy, we just teach the Bible". But is the idea of an a-contextual faith possible or even desirable? In this talk, given at TGIF, Cape Town, John Scheepers questions whether the concept of an a-contextual faith is itself even possible or more significantly desirable.…
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Julle Mense

Decolonisation Part 2 (with Dambudzo Mushambi)

Podcasts
In this two-part episode David and John discuss Decolonisation with special guest Dambudzo Mushambi from Janana. What exactly is decolonisation? What would it mean to decolonise theology? How does context affect our theology? What would or could a decolonised church look like? Does the Bible itself need to be decolonised? Is there still a place for Western theology?
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Preaching Salvation and Justice without Losing the Gospel

Blog
Just Preach the Gospel? If the current socio-political climate of our country is anything to go by, our Christian answers to these issues might prove to be a little bit more complex. Not to mention our colonial and Apartheid past which has proven that unless our preaching is more intentional, following the example set by Christ in the Sermon on the Mount, preaching ‘the gospel’ is simply not enough.
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How Did our good evangelical theology allow apartheid

How did our “Good Evangelical Theology” Allow Apartheid?

Blog
The theology of Apartheid may have been perfected by the Dutch Reformed Church but it was born among the English-speaking evangelical missionaries who sought to promote the evangelization of the indigenous people whilst leaving white supremacy untouched. The resolution passed by the 1857 Synod of the Dutch Reformed Church, and proposed by evangelicals, agreed that whilst it was both Scriptural and desirable to integrate indigenous believers into the existing church…
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