Black Theology of South Africa: Is this the hour of Paradigm Shift?

Abstract

The paper is based on the premise that the proposal for a shift of paradigm, from liberation to reconstruction, in the post apartheid South Africa and the post cold war Africa, was not received with great enthusiasm, among the practitioners of Black theology, as was widely expected. Could it be a quiet way of saying, “Look our concerns such as racism, poverty, land redistribution, deconstruction of patriarchy, fair redistribution of the national resources and now HIV/AIDS have not yet been achieved? Without ‘total freedom,’ can we really engage in a theology of reconstruction?” In attempting to address the above concerns, the paper surveys the historical background of Black theology. It also attempts to explore the philosophy behind the paradigm shifts in theo-social contexts in general – as it dwells on the crucial question on: Is it time to shift paradigms? In other words, who and what dictate the change of paradigm in the society of men and women in both the African traditional society and in the “modern” society?