Nooit weer nie? ’n Teologies-etiese beoordeling van die idees oor politieke vryheid in Suid-Afrika sedert 1899

Abstract

Never again? A theological-ethical evaluation of ideas about political freedom in South Africa since 1899

Various conflicting concepts of political freedom and the process of liberation have played a major part in South African society over the past century. These concepts have inherently been influenced by theological-ethical guidelines given by prominent Christian leaders and churches. This article focuses on the conflicting concepts of freedom as they were defined from a theological-ethical perspective in the old republics of Transvaal and the Orange Free State during the Anglo-Boer war which started in 1899, the apartheid society since 1948 and in the Black Liberation struggle which culminated in the democracy of 1994. In every instance the theological-ethical presuppositions used in the formulation of each particular concept of freedom are defined and analysed. In conclusion attention is paid to the state of freedom in South Africa in 2000 and the church’s responsibility to contribute to the development of an ethos of human rights from an ecumenical theological-ethical foundation.