Original Research - Special Collection: Practical Theology

Seeking feasible reconciliation: A transdisciplinary contextual approach to reconciliation

Christoffel H. Thesnaar
HTS Teologiese Studies / Theological Studies | Vol 70, No 2 | a1364 | DOI: https://doi.org/10.4102/hts.v70i2.1364 | © 2014 Christoffel H. Thesnaar | This work is licensed under CC Attribution 4.0
Submitted: 16 November 2012 | Published: 10 March 2014

About the author(s)

Christoffel H. Thesnaar, Department of Practical Theology and Missiology, Stellenbosch University, South Africa

Abstract

In South Africa scholars in the broad field of practical theology are currently faced with a daunting challenge: to rethink the reconciling role of the institutional church in the light of continued challenges facing reconciliation within post-apartheid and post-Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) South Africa. This contribution investigates whether the transdisciplinary, region-centred scientific research approach with a focus on the Hölderlin perspective on reconciliation could assist scholars in practical theology to address reconciliation in a post-apartheid and post-TRC society. The article proposes a contextual and constructive approach to reconciliation in order to assist South African scholars in the field of practical theology and the institutional church to address the challenges of reconciliation in a post-apartheid and post-TRC society. The contribution confirms that this approach does indeed assist the field of practical theology to contribute to reconciliation without the risk of speaking a language that nobody beyond theology can understand.

Keywords

transdisciplinary; reconciliation; post-Apartheid; post-TRC

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