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

White responses to Black Theology: Revisiting a typology

Johannes N.J. Kritzinger
HTS Teologiese Studies / Theological Studies | Vol 78, No 3 | a6945 | DOI: https://doi.org/10.4102/hts.v78i3.6945 | © 2022 Johannes (Klippies) N.J. Kritzinger | This work is licensed under CC Attribution 4.0
Submitted: 23 June 2021 | Published: 21 February 2022

About the author(s)

Johannes N.J. Kritzinger, Department of Christian Spirituality, Church History and Missiology, College of Human Sciences, University of South Africa, Pretoria, South Africa

Abstract

This article reflects on a threefold typology of white responses to Black Theology (rejection-sympathy-solidarity) which I used in my doctoral thesis (1988). This article, which is dedicated to the memory of Vuyani Vellem, shows how the typology was used by him in a publication. It then points out a number of inadequacies in the typology and places it in a framework of encounters between the praxis of a Black Theology of Liberation (BTL) and a liberating white praxis (LWP). It uses a seven-dimensional ‘praxis matrix’ to explore such encounters, which happen along with an encounter with the praxis of the poor and the praxis of God. Since a typology of white praxes remains useful, an expanded six-fold typology is suggested to replace the previous one.

Contribution: The contribution of this article is to deepen reflection on the dynamics of interaction between white theologians and a BTL.


Keywords

Black Theology; white theology; praxis matrix; encounterology; conversion; orthopathy

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