South African missiology has seen a shift in its praxis since the late 20th century. David J. Bosch made a crucial contribution in this regard. The shift includes mission as a contextualised praxis and agency. In mission studies, agency has become necessary in postcolonial mission, primarily because of the loss of identity of the oppressed in colonised countries. Through contextual theologies of liberation, African theology, Black Theology of Liberation and postcolonial studies, theologians were able to reflect on the human dignity of the colonised. However, there are still significant efforts needed in this quest, and therefore, the praxis cycle used in missiology is useful to also assess effects on the oppressed and marginalised through the emerging context of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR). In the task of doing mission in the world differently, the questions that missiologists ask are important. The emergence of the 4IR aims to merge the biological with the technological and will bring more challenges to mission work in Africa. This will bring upon us the responsibility to reflect on the notion of human agency, the theologies espoused in such a time and missiologists’ contextual lenses and strategies employed. These should have to be carefully considered especially in a post-apartheid context. The researcher will, therefore, use the commonly used praxis cycle in missiological research to explore through a Socratic (questioning) approach what the implications will be for missiologists and mission agents in the quest of transforming church and the post-apartheid society.
Though there has emerged a few theological contributions from missiology, there has not been a missiological contribution on the 4IR. The author therefore uses one of the theological methods in the discipline to put on the table the imperative questions that those doing missiological research should pose in the context of the 4IR.
The
Therefore, this article will focus on the imperative questions that missiologists should ask in a 4IR context in a post-apartheid South Africa. The author will provide a brief definition of the 4IR followed by an introduction of the praxis cycle that will function and operate as a theological/missiological method in this article. It will then proceed with four critical and imperative questions that a missiologist in post-apartheid South Africa should pose in a 4IR context.
Klaus Schwab (
The contextual scope of the disciplines of missiology and practical theology (twin disciplines) has been considerably associated with the physical sphere as the ‘practical’ and contextual spaces in which the discipline functioned and is imagined.
Nevertheless, within various missiological research projects itself at South African universities, where the praxis cycle has been used, the focus was on case studies and contexts that have often been less virtual or non-virtual than physical. However, the difference is not only between virtual and physical but the blurring of those lines, which Klaus argues would be the new context that the discipline will have to speak to. This has not been addressed before within missiological research and therefore provides a research gap in terms of providing the necessary methodological methods and instruments (questions) that would transform the way missiologists could re-imagine research in the 4IR context.
In the 1990s, missiologists at the University of South Africa (UNISA) introduced the praxis cycle (an adaptation of the pastoral circle of Holland & Henriot 1982). This cycle has been argued to be appropriate to unearth the realities that the marginalised and oppressed people have experienced in neocolonial contexts, including South Africa (Baron 2020:5). It is also crucial to state that the challenges posed by the 4IR was not part of the arguments and discussions at the time and factored into the pursuit of missiologists to address societal transformation. Therefore, based on the two arguments, it is necessary to explore what the impact of 4IR would pose as a novice context with regard to missiological research in the future, and moreover, what would be the appropriate questions to ask.
The previous section focused on the role that a missiological method would have in terms of transforming society. This section discusses the importance of missiological research to change the livelihoods of South Africans, which has been suffering within a post-apartheid context. It is within such a framework that this article proceeds. This issue of mission as the transformation has been well addressed by Botha’s (
The mission approach in post-apartheid South Africa should be based on the preferential option of the poor in society. The notion ‘preferential option for the poor’ has been well articulated and placed at centre stage not only in ecumenical Protestantism but also during the World Mission Conference in 1980 in Melbourne with the theme ‘You’re Kingdom come’.
‘We know’, Bosch asserts, ‘that evil, injustice, hatred, estrangement, prejudice and fear will never entirely disappear from the face of the earth before the kingdoms of this world are finally consummated in the Kingdom of God. Nevertheless, the moment we allow this harsh reality to paralyse and sabotage our efforts, we can no longer pray the Lord’s Prayer – “thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as in heaven.” To offer that prayer implies believing that Christians make a difference to this world … the community of those who are enjoying the foretaste of perfection – should get involved in God’s mission of transforming the world’. (pp. 114–115)
Let me refer to other issues that Botha raises in terms of mission as transformation. Through a cursory look at Stephen Neill’s contribution at the Whitby World Mission Conference in 1947 and his reference to the centenary of the Communist Manifesto in 1948, Botha argues that ‘ideas on transformation in Christian Mission should be kept in creative tension with secular ideas of transformation’. In fact, he argues that if this is done, Christian mission would be able to contribute immensely to the world (Botha
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This is in a nutshell how mission as transformation could be conceptualised. It is within this paradigm that the arguments of this article operate.
Therefore, in the context of transforming South African society for the vulnerable, what questions should South African missiologists pose in a post-apartheid context and, at the same time, in the context of the emergence of the 4IR? The following section is structured in terms of the four dimensions of the praxis cycle that would raise some of the critical questions in each section that missiologists in a post-apartheid context should ask in a 4IR context.
One of the paramount questions that missiologists should ask within a postcolonial context is to identify how the mission agents perceive themselves in relation to the community they are participating in. It is about how they understand themselves and how they want others to understand their role and function.
Missiologists should address the particular experiences of each participant in an online, digital environment. In the post-apartheid situation, the notion of black consciousness has become crucial to promote the experiences of black people in South Africa. However, those new (online) spaces should become liberating spaces not only for black faces but also for black experiences.
A second issue that would be key in terms of human agency in mission is the idea that the 4IR will reproduce the human being’s functions and abilities in the form of artificial intelligence (AI). Though this would rapidly change the efficiency of responsibilities and tasks being carried out in business environments, as well as promise various benefits within ecclesial contexts, missiologists should be posing critical questions on the (non)-agency of human beings in the post-apartheid context. Williamson-Lee (
From these language models, they create associations between words, some problematic like ‘“he” is to “she” as “brilliant” is to “lovely”’. With people’s implicit biases modelled through language, machines become trained in the sexism and racism predominant in our culture. (p. 1)
Nandram (
Technology is increasingly becoming embedded within societies, objects and even our human bodies. The impact of the Fourth Industrial Revolution thus resulted in dramatic changes in the industry, markets, employment trends, society, culture, and even the balance of global power. Unfortunately, technology is never neutral. (p. 3)
This standardisation will also find concreteness through the introduction of ‘robotics’ that has already found its way into some specialised fields and instruments. The notion of ‘robotising’ will become a new way of singularising purpose and actions (Nandram
Nevertheless, robotising would, on the other hand, frame human existence in standardised patterns that Bosch equates with an ‘evolutionary’ pattern and a non-eschatological pattern (Bosch
The agency of the world in ‘God’s mission’ (
The question in this section is also about where the power will lie through the novice developments in South Africa. Bosch critiques in terms of a Western development approach, the approach of development through European models in Africa, when he states, ‘The consequences of the development model were, however, contrary to what had been expected. The rich countries became richer, and the poor still poorer’. Human beings in the non-developed world became ‘regarded as mere objects in a network of planning, transfer of commodities, and logistic coordination in which the development agent was the initiator, planner, and master’ (Bosch
In terms of human agency, in a 4IR context, it should be important to think critically about the replacement of humans and their empowerment in mission. Klaus Schwab (
Moreover, the sense of ‘outside’ control of neurotechnologies for practical expediency in the 4IR context poses a danger for decoloniality in Africa. According to Nandram (
Virtual reality devices can be used to analyse users’ responses by tracking their eye movements and head positions, and by monitoring their emotions. This data then can be used to influence human behaviour. (p. 16)
This might be incredible and efficient, especially the emergence of medical equipment that would be able to ‘take-over’ the tasks and roles of a person. However, the ‘encounterology’ approach that Kritzinger (
The challenge will also be in mission encounters, and missiological research, to re-imagine ‘physical’ encounters and reflect on what ‘virtual encounterology’ would entail. Waghid (
However, on the other hand, certain 4IR technologies do not focus on the role of a person and their ‘self-identification’ and ‘self-determination’ in the process. This should be a critical aspect that should be analysed by missiologists in a post-apartheid context. Williamson-Lee (
First the machine replaced the human slave, then humans were turned into slaves of the machine. Production became the highest goal of being human, resulting in humans having to worship at the altar of the autonomy of technology. (p. 355)
The notion of agency, as in the missiological praxis cycle, will become inclusive of ‘digital beings’ and not only ‘real human beings’ within 4IR contexts. The interactions and relationships could become more ‘digital’, and such ‘encounters’ would become the norm in a 4IR context. Missiologists would be required to become skilful in the analysis of those digital interactions and power relationships that transpire on ‘digital’ platforms. Nandram (
It seems that our ability to make decisions will be diminished in the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Decision making or, in other words, exercising wisdom is a core human activity. Wisdom, put merely, is knowing when to do what and to what extent. (p. 16)
The praxis cycle within missiological research also placed emphasis on collective participation in terms of solving missiological problems. Schwab (
The fourth industrial revolution renders technology an all-pervasive and predominant part of our individual lives, and yet we are only just starting to understand how this technological sea-change will affect our inner selves. Ultimately, it is incumbent upon each of us to guarantee we are served, not enslaved, by technology. At a collective level, we must also ensure that the challenges technology throws at us are properly understood and analysed. Only in this way can we be certain that the fourth industrial revolution will enhance, rather than damage, our wellbeing. (p. 97)
Bosch (
However, there is no need to underplay the bridging between communities that virtual platforms can create: ‘More people connecting with more people makes for a bridge between communities, and one big community from many little ones’ (Knot-Craig
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The contexts would indeed change and would require different questions from missiologists for the emerging context. Excluding the manner in which human beings would be regarded in a 4IR context, we should look at other contextual issues that would require critical questions from missiologists. In terms of the praxis cycle, the context analysis would primarily focus on physical contact. However, in a 4IR context, missiologists should engage their context beyond the physical but still need to pose critical questions in those spaces – relating to the social and political spaces – and engage the effects of and impacts on ‘missiological’ issues and its manifestation on digital platforms. It would be imperative that missiologists should become more skilled in analysing the political, economic and ecclesial issues on those platforms. It would be important to note that such an experience would be different from experiences of physical contact. Missiologists should analyse the influence of the digital environment on a person or community’s physical experiences. How do their online engagements influence their engagements with people in physical encounters? This would be one of the questions that would be crucial in a 4IR context. Moreover, missiologists should be aware of the interplay between the two environments, and this should be taken into account when engaging the online communities. This is well illustrated through the example of Knot-Craig (
The design of the praxis cycle is also to empower and transform the lives of the most vulnerable. Therefore, the dimension of context and, in this case, the emerging context of 4IR should not be engaged with, without laying bare the influence of the new context on the inequality, power and domination that it will pose for the African context. The argument that Williamson-Lee (
Klaus Schwab (
In addition to being a key economic concern, inequality represents the most significant societal concern associated with the Fourth Industrial Revolution. The largest beneficiaries of innovation tend to be the providers of intellectual and physical capital — the innovators, shareholders, and investors — which explains the rising gap in wealth between those dependent on capital versus labour. Technology is, therefore, one of the main reasons why incomes have stagnated, or even decreased, for a majority of the population in high-income countries: the demand for highly skilled workers has increased while the demand for workers with less education and lower skills has decreased. The result is a job market with a strong demand at the high and low ends, but a hollowing out of the middle. (n.p.)
It is apparent that the 4IR would provide access to some but would become inaccessible to others. Therefore, missiologists, through their research on 4IR, should always ask who is not part of this community, especially when it is an online research instrument and platform that is being used. Who does not participate? It would perhaps, within a 4IR context, be more appropriate to analyse the context through the perspective of ‘class’ and not exclusively race as a socio-analytical conceptual instrument.
Nandram (
Chiweshe (
The assumption is that computer programmes are bias-free and algorithms can reduce the influence of gender, race, age or any other factors that may affect how people are evaluated. However, algorithms are programmed by humans and as such have an inbuilt gender bias in their language, indicators and measurements, which in many ways perpetuate inequalities. For example, algorithms that measure the productivity of workers may not take into account historical, cultural and social factors such as work-life imbalances that women have to deal with in patriarchal societies. (pp. 5–6)
Finally, what questions should the church pose as an agent of God’s mission in the world? The church should, as part of its mission in the world, provide effective and efficient alternatives in relation to the rest of South African society. It is interesting to note that the churches are not included in the sectors that need to be developed in terms of the 4IR strategies that are gazette by the Department of telecommunications and postal services, by the South African government’s strategies (RSA
There exist good theological interpretations and missiological contributions on the physical presence of doing mission and 4IR context. Those who would argue for a biblical mission paradigm have often used the examples of physical contact, especially Jesus’ mission on earth (incarnation) and the understanding of the ‘Great Commission’, and also mission at a distance – ‘Paul’s letters’ to his congregations whilst he was in prison. Although the Pauline missionary approach would be close to the 4IR context, it is not the same. Therefore, missiologists should be able to come up with a theological interpretation of mission and articulation that would demonstrate the shift in a theological–missiological hermeneutic of 4IR context based on an appropriate biblical hermeneutic. However, in terms of agency, the contact between people will indeed pose a challenge for the theology of mission in the postmodern paradigm that Bosch (
Missiologists should ask the following question: how does the 4IR context allow missiologists and participants in mission to understand God and the
There is a need for missiologists to have their contextual theologies (postcolonial, Black Liberation, etc.) in their front pockets. It will be imperative to read the Bible from the perspective of the most vulnerable and marginalised in society. Public theology of human dignity is crucial to understand our value, contribution and agency in the Kingdom of God on earth. There should be a reflection on a biblical interpretation of justice in the Kingdom of God and what it means to leave the 99 and focus on the marginalised. Chiweshe (
It shows that automation in productive sectors is placing women’s employment at risk, as they are largely found in low-skill and routinised professions. Studies demonstrate that in specific female-dominated industries, technology will reduce jobs. The other misgiving in Africa is that the 4IR, like its antecedents, will further entrench gender inequalities. (p. 1)
This would necessitate the prophetic role that missiologists should embrace during the 4IR context, especially in the light of the deafening silence of the prophetic voice of the church, as argued by Makofane and Botha (
Missiologists should continuously use the poor and the marginalised as their primary interlocutor. Although it is apparent that the 4IR will deliver myriad benefits for developing countries (including South Africa), the mission of God through Jesus Christ demonstrates his main concern in the devastating effects caused by the powerful systems of the day. It should be a theology in the context of 4IR that still raises the challenges and conditions of the poor. The 4IR context requires missiology to be primarily based on not only a ‘race-based’ critique but also a ‘class-based’ critique (Knot-Craig
The reflection of mission constitutes a question for the shalom in the household of God (
The mission strategy of mission agents will have to change especially from a conservative position to a position of interaction and encounter. The open and connected environment would immediately allow the frequent interaction between various religious and cultural traditions and would be able to enrich the mission enterprise (Knot-Craig
In contrast, in the past, most missiologists would only be able to enter those communities through physical contact and encounters. This would especially be good for South Africa that is still struggling to deal with its racial, gender and geographical segregation. The fusion of identities would be growing at a much faster pace on such digital platforms and would be beneficial for social cohesion.
Nevertheless, the mission strategy should be that of inclusion. Therefore, it would be important to ask how mission would engage with those communities and persons who would be out of the 4IR radar: the homeless, the technologically impaired and the psychologically impaired and conditions that would not be able to make it possible to engage within such an environment. What about those who are mentally impaired and who cannot be reached? Surely the 4IR would also be able to have instruments that would enhance mission engagement to those people and communities. However, mission agents would have to be able to facilitate it and provide tailor-made interventions to those communities to ensure that the mission remains contextual. The physically impaired would perhaps be better served through technological advances. However, as the church was involved in walking alongside the poor and the marginalised in South Africa, solidarity through mentorship will also be one of the core tasks of the church. The church should create platforms and engage with stakeholders and investors to assist the poor in order to gain access and develop the technical skills of the communities they engage with. Manda and Dhaou (
An estimated 30% of workers in South Africa are unskilled with semi-skilled workers constituting 46% and skilled workers being the least at 24% (Statistics South Africa, 2018). The skilling and re-skilling of workers is an immediate priority in preparing for the 4th industrial revolution. The majority of unskilled and semi-skilled workers come from historically disadvantaged groups (Statistics South Africa, 2018). These groups have for decades, been denied socio-economic opportunities such as access to quality education. The effects of the social injustices perpetrated by the apartheid government are still being experienced two decades. (p. 249)
It should change missiologists’ (and mission agents) approach from a primary physical and contact one to that of a ‘virtual’ and ‘distant’ one. It would warrant missiologists to make use of the instruments within the 4IR context that would allow the rapid and boundless engagements with people in various contexts and communities to participate in the
Although the praxis cycle has four dimensions, in which the author also poses the critical questions that missiologists should ask at each dimension, the cycle is inherently driven by the missiologist’s spirituality. Therefore, in light of the four dimensions and the subsequent questions, the author now wishes to address the kind of spirituality that is appropriate within a 4IR context.
The 4IR requires a spirituality of communion. This would mean that missiologists should be driven inherently by an ethos of inclusivity, togetherness and interdependence. This is true to the postmodern paradigm that Bosch argues should be a new approach in missiology and mission. This would address issues of inequality as well as individualism that would endanger an individual effort towards the complete liberation of the poor and the marginalised. This is equally needed as has been the case during apartheid South Africa; a sensitivity towards the poor and the marginalised. Though the 4IR technological advances would assist South Africans to create more financial capital within the current dire economic situation, it would be equally important to ensure that the government and missiological research would promote the notions of equality, equal opportunity and human dignity, and therefore, the innovations should also benefit the poorest of the poor. A spirituality of communion would be needed in a church environment, where people would become accustomed to digital church platforms and not obliged to ‘enter’ physically the spaces of others – especially those who need to ‘feel’ the embrace and inclusion. Therefore, spirituality that would be consistent in creating efforts of inclusion, belonging and justice on these platforms is required. Nandram (
The Fourth Industrial Revolution needs people who know how to intelligently drive technology in a more holistic and integrative way. It also requires the rebuilding of the narrative of who we are and why we exist as human beings. Spirituality is at the heart of both of these needs. (p. 21)
There should be a spirituality of love for people and their dignity. It is God’s household, not robots, things (IoT) and AI, that remains important in missiological research. The spirituality of mission agents should be that of a love for God’s household.
Finally, the author argues that missiologists and mission agents should embody a spirituality of incarnation. This is addressed by Bosch (
There is not an extensive body of knowledge related to missiological research and the 4IR context in post-apartheid South Africa. Therefore, this contribution explores some of the critical questions that missiologists should pose because of the work of David J. Bosch (
This research was made possible through a sabbatical and The Black Academic Advancement Programme of the National Research Foundation Scholarship.
The author declares that he has no financial or personal relationships that may have inappropriately influenced him in writing this research article.
E.B. is the sole author of this research article.
This article followed all ethical standards for research without direct contact with human or animal subjects.
The research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.
Data sharing is not applicable to this article as no new data were created or analysed in this study.
The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of any affiliated agency of the author.
See, for instance, the missiological contribution of Botha (
See also the Book on the
Bosch states (
Where the former coloniser and colonialist share the same geographical space.
See also Kritzinger’s paper in which he also formulates, correctly so, within the predominant sphere, as the physical, for missiological ‘encounters’. I quote his section on the notion of neighbourliness, that he replace with encounterology as a notion to discuss missiological praxis in interreligious dialogue, ‘The unique role of missiology in relation to other theological (and social scientific) disciplines is to reflect on all the factors shaping the intentional encounters between followers of different religious ways. The title of this paper – “faith to faith” – is meant to sound like “face to face,” since this is what a missiological approach wishes to achieve in response to the challenge of other religions: an informed and respectful faith-to-faith encounter that happens “uncushioned,” face-to-face’ (Kritzinger
The research was conducted at the Tshwane Leadership Foundation in Pretoria.
See Botha’s (
Nandram (
The reference here is primarily based on Mbembe’s argument that pigmentation should not be the only determinator of black solidarity but also ‘class’, especially because in post-apartheid South Africa there emerged a new black elite.
See Van Schalkwyk’s (
‘Put differently, when students, for example, are initiated into deliberations about poverty and inequality in South African communities, teachers could use 3D images on the basis of which students would be exposed, through virtual reality, to images depicting poverty and unemployment. In this way, students could become more compassionate towards vulnerable others in their learning – a matter of exercising compassionate imagining through seeing and putting oneself in the shoes of vulnerable others’ (Knot-Craig
He states, ‘Today there are cameras everywhere and more people connected to the internet who has access to what they film — accountability in high definition. Everything exists forever and is easily accessible and distributable. Bad behaviour is shared and shamed, so you can’t do anything anymore without risking public exposure’. He further states, ‘Would the Gupta brothers have been as brazen if they knew that their business emails were going to be leaked? No. Would Mduduzi Manana have beaten-up two women outside of a Cubana if he knew that the video of it was going to make the rounds? Unlikely. Would Adam Catzavelos have thought twice before throwing around the k-word on his Aryan holiday if he knew what the backlash would feel like?’
‘Virtual, augmented, and mixed technologies will blur the lines among artificial technology, the external world, and the role of human intuition. They will also give rise to existential questions about how humans experience the world. With these technologies, a person can realistically simulate being in another country’ (Nandram
It is interesting to note that Knot-Craig does not mention ‘class’, but that ‘Societies and business will become more inclusive and less defined by race or gender’.
He states, ‘Online, people are not restricted by geography, gender, sexual orientation, race or religion. This allows them to connect with people that would usually be physically, culturally or socially out of their reach. Moreover, connect because of who they truly are, behind the labels we lump onto them’.