Journal: Conspectus
Volume: CONSPECTUS 33:1 (Apr 2022)
Article: Toward "Shalom" As A Radical And Transformative Conceptual Framework For Post-Apartheid Social Justice In Namibia
Author: Basilius M. Kasera

Conspectus 33:1 (April 2022) p. 74

Toward Shalom As A Radical And Transformative Conceptual Framework For Post-Apartheid Social Justice In Namibia

Basilius M. Kasera

University of Namibia

About The Author

Dr. Basilius Kasera lectures on religious and moral education, religious studies and philosophy, and applied ethics at the University of Namibia. He holds a Ph.D. from Stellenbosch University, in partnership with the Oxford Centre for Religion and Public Life, with a focus on contextualization and conceptualization of post-apartheid social justice. His main interests are in moral philosophy, applied ethics, political theology, contextual theology, and systematic theology. [email protected]

This article: https://www.sats.ac.za/toward-shalom-radical-transformative

Abstract

Social justice has become a deeply contested subject among Christians. These disagreements indicate an ongoing process of discernment and reflection regarding Christian participation in transforming the social order. For the post- apartheid context, the need to reformulate our vision and approach is crucial to cementing our witnessing. This article seeks to explore how the concept of shalom could provide for a thicker theological and conceptual framework for Christian praxis in the Namibian post-apartheid context. It seeks to provide a theological basis for Christian participation in the social ordering and what role the church can play to ensure more positive social outcomes. The paper engages in critical analysis and suggests critical participation as a way of embodying Christian values and the gospel in the public sphere. This engagement is an attempt to answer the question: In what ways could the notion of shalom provide for a new, radical, and transformative vision for taking part in minimizing the effects of post-apartheid social injustice?

Keywords

shalom, social justice, post-apartheid, gospel-centered, Namibia

1. Background

Namibia, like many other African states, experienced colonialism, briefly under British, then German rule, and finally South African apartheid rule. This paper deals with the effects of the third entity—the apartheid system. This was an intentional and systematic cultural, political, social, and economic disadvantaging of Namibians based on their social grouping (Black Africans). Its effects continue to be seen, even decades after it was abrogated as a legal and political system (this

Conspectus 33:1 (April 2022) p. 75

is also the sense in which I use post-apartheid, as apartheid at social and economic levels continues to prevail).

Although Namibia is now an indepe...