Original Research - Special Collection: VukaniBantuTsohangBatho - Spirituality of Black Liberation

Ubuntu as a spirituality of liberation for black theology of liberation

Sandiswa L. Kobe
HTS Teologiese Studies / Theological Studies | Vol 77, No 3 | a6176 | DOI: https://doi.org/10.4102/hts.v77i3.6176 | © 2021 Sandiswa L. Kobe | This work is licensed under CC Attribution 4.0
Submitted: 31 May 2020 | Published: 19 January 2021

About the author(s)

Sandiswa L. Kobe, Department of Christian Spirituality, Church History, Missiology, Faculty of Human Sciences, University of South Africa, Pretoria, South Africa

Abstract

This article aims to respond to Vuyani Vellem’s challenge to black theology of liberation (BTL) to ‘think beyond rethinking and repeating its tried and tested ways of responding to black pain caused by racism and colonialism’. Vellem argued that ‘BTL needs to unthink the west by focusing on and retaining African spirituality as a cognitive spirituality’ for the liberation of black people in South Africa. This article argues that Ubuntu is the spirituality of liberation that BTL needs to advance as one of its interlocutors. This research work will consult the literature emerging from African philosophy, ethics, spirituality and BTL arguing that Ubuntu is an indigenous philosophy, spirituality that continues to exist in the languages and culture of the Abantu (Bantu) speaking people. This article is dedicated to the memory of Vellem as a BTL scholar and a faithful believer of the liberative paradigms of BTL.

Contribution: The scholarly contribution of this article is its focus on the systematic and practical reflection, within a paradigm in which the intersection of religious studies, social sciences and humanities generate an interdisciplinary contested discourse.


Keywords

black; liberation; theology; spirituality; Ubuntu; philosophy; Isintu; Abantu

Metrics

Total abstract views: 3979
Total article views: 4245

 

Crossref Citations

1. Theology and botho/ubuntu in dialogue towards South African social cohesion
Kelebogile T. Resane
HTS Teologiese Studies / Theological Studies  vol: 78  issue: 4  year: 2022  
doi: 10.4102/hts.v78i4.7677

2. Decolonising Evaluation Practice in International Development Cooperation Through an African Religion Lens
Nina van der Puije
Religions  vol: 16  issue: 5  first page: 609  year: 2025  
doi: 10.3390/rel16050609

3. Women and Children under Siege: Re-reading Biblical Texts in light of Child Abandonment in South Africa
Rev Zukile Ngqeza, Prof Lilly (SJ) Nortjé-Meyer
Pharos Journal of Theology  vol: 103  year: 2022  
doi: 10.46222/pharosjot.10320

4. A Journey into African Spirituality: An Exploration of Its Key Values, Traditions, and Healing Methodologies
Nokwanda Mthethwa, Raisuyah Bhagwan
Religions  vol: 16  issue: 10  first page: 1300  year: 2025  
doi: 10.3390/rel16101300

5. A holistic ubuntu artificial intelligence ethics approach in South Africa
Katleho K. Mokoena
Verbum et Ecclesia  vol: 45  issue: 1  year: 2024  
doi: 10.4102/ve.v45i1.3100

6. White responses to Black Theology: Revisiting a typology
Johannes (Klippies) N.J. Kritzinger
HTS Teologiese Studies / Theological Studies  vol: 77  issue: 3  year: 2021  
doi: 10.4102/hts.v77i3.6945

7. Towards a theology of human praxis: A proposal from liberation theologies in a neoliberal world
Jose F. Castrillón Restrepo
Verbum et Ecclesia  vol: 44  issue: 1  year: 2023  
doi: 10.4102/ve.v44i1.2705

8. The agency of the church during COVID-19 and beyond: Koinonia and ubuntu in the context of poverty and unemployment in South Africa
Themba E. Ngcobo, Thinandavha D. Mashau
HTS Teologiese Studies / Theological Studies  vol: 78  issue: 4  year: 2022  
doi: 10.4102/hts.v78i4.7414

9. A Hermeneutical Approach to Theology: Teaching African understanding of Spiritual Beings and their Existence
Mohammed Xolile Ntshangase
E-Journal of Religious and Theological Studies  first page: 251  year: 2024  
doi: 10.38159/erats.20241071

10. Sacred Weaponry: The Historical and Theological Role of Gospel Music in Spiritual Warfare and Liberation in Christianity—A Perspective of Acts 16:25–26
Sakhiseni Joseph Yende
Studia Historiae Ecclesiasticae  year: 2025  
doi: 10.25159/2412-4265/17959

11. Ambivalence and the unsettling aftershocks: Postcolonial perspectives on Vellem’s spirituality
Buhle Mpofu
HTS Teologiese Studies / Theological Studies  vol: 80  issue: 2  year: 2024  
doi: 10.4102/hts.v80i2.9296