ORIGINAL RESEARCH

 

Transformational diaconia as educative praxis in care within the present poverty-stricken South African context

 

 

Smith F.K. Tettey; Malan Nel

Department of Practical Theology, Faculty of Theology, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa

Correspondence

 

 

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ABSTRACT

This article explores how ministerial and leadership formation could be enabled to adopt transformational diaconia in addressing poverty in South Africa, engaging in ways in which pastoral care and leadership formation can respond to the addressing of poverty. The fact that transformation aims at changing the worldviews, paradigms and approaches to life and problem solving informs the author's concept of transformational diaconia, which was proposed as an aspect of spiritual leadership capital (SLC), defined as, 'The inner virtues afforded individuals by their spirituality in formulating their leadership paradigms which contributes to social capital formation for addressing social problems'. Spiritual leadership capital is hereby argued to be a transformative spirituality that can enable an understanding and sustainable responses to poverty and other social problems. This is needed for Africa and particularly for the present day South Africa, seemingly a country with the best infrastructure in Africa; yet its poverty seems pronounced because the dregs of apartheid still lurk in the social fibre, where poor people blame rich people for their plight and vice versa. Bowers Du Toit's view that '[m]ost congregations respond to poverty by providing relief and not empowerment', re-echoes here. From a mixed-methods research, SLC is a theory recently advanced as a congregational development paradigm and a theology of poverty, which views public theology as an educative praxis that can respond to transformational needs in poverty-related contexts. The authors suggest that for a Church that is responsive to the plight of society, fresh empowerment approaches to address poverty are needed.

Keywords: Transformational diaconia; Spiritual leadership capital; Reconstructive compassion; Public theology; Pastoral care; Poverty; Educative praxis; South African context.

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Introduction

In this article, the authors discuss the role of diaconia as part of the church's role in the world, particularly focused on pastoral care as an educative praxis towards the addressing of poverty in South Africa.

Transformational diaconia as an educative praxis is a perspective argued as part of the spiritual leadership capital (SLC) theory advanced in a recent doctoral thesis by Dr Smith F.K. Tettey,¹ similar to but not the same as what the Lutheran World Federation described as transformative diaconia, which could further be traced to Nordstokke (ed. 2009) who presented a paper to the World Council of Churches (WCC), where it was suggested to help overcome the so-called helpers' syndromes, practices and relations that separate 'we' from 'they' (ed. Nordstokke 2009:43-44).

Spiritual leadership capital locates the pastoral praxis of transformational diaconia in missional congregational development and follows Malan Nel's view that ministries are communicative acts on God's behalf and as such its 'transformation engages and changes all who are part of it' (Nel 2018:11). The fact remains that God's people are called for engagement in the created world (Wright 2010:229). South African theologians need to decolonise their academic response to the needs of society. As Dreyer (2017) put it:

We also have to consider how we plan and implement our community service projects (with others or for others?) and our practices of academic citizenship (for example, who gets invited to do peer reviews). (p. 5)

The authors acknowledge Niemandt's (2016) article on the WCC, 'Together towards life: Mission and evangelism in changing landscapes'; the article shows an approach that states that 'mission spirituality is always transformative'. Thus the author views pastoral care in poverty-stricken contexts as a burden for public theology to address with missional spirituality. Spiritual leadership capital theory is hereby suggested as a transformative part of authentic spirituality which serves as a means of understanding and responding to poverty and other social problems.

This discussion is based on a reflection on the ongoing poverty in South Africa and how the church contributes to the improvement in people's lives. The following questions arise: how can we practise public practical theology through diaconia as an aspect of pastoral care that provides a responsive educative approach to poverty in the historically complicated South African context? How can the South African church live in the world for the sake of the world, without being of the world?

South Africa's development plan, 'vision 2030', calls for the use of resources, skills, talents and assets of all South Africans to adequately advance social justice and address historical disparities. It aims at 'facilitating the emergence of a national consciousness that supports a single national political entity, and helps to realise that goal' (National Development Planning Commission 2015:465). This implies inner transformation, because, as Buffel (2007:56) puts it, 'poverty so profoundly marks the context that one could say that the South African churches and caregivers carry out their pastoral work in a context of poverty'. Consequently, 'many pastors feel the desperation brought about by a lack of knowledge and the inability to give meaningful assistance to poverty-stricken people' (Janse Van Rensburg 2010:1).

 

Rationale for this discussion

Could a missional pastoral response to poverty by the church in South Africa be possible if diaconia, which fosters inner change, is taught and practised? History suggests that this is possible. As the Apostolic Church of Acts 6:1-7 epitomises an approach to diaconia to bridge the need-gap between the Hellenists and Jewish widows in the early Church, the writer believes that a strong diaconal presence in the early church saw problems and addressed them swiftly. Breed (2014:5) addressed the point that 'it must be kept in mind that the author of 1 Peter was equipping his readers to live in a world full of hardships', as he would do to us in the South African and for that matter African Church of today.

The rationale for transformational diaconia as an SLC way of educative pastoral praxis is that, diaconia being an aspect of congregational life, concentrates on service and helps. Spiritual leadership capital seeks to build people from within to address both internal and external problems. As such, it is deemed a potent paradigm shift that can address many human and social problems like poverty.

Various works in research have dealt with the role of diaconia in the missional conversation some of which are referred to here. But it seems much attention has not been given to transformational diaconia as an aspect of spirituality as regards missional congregational leadership formation. The commonest response from the Church towards poverty has been relief efforts. Relief involves '"Doing things for people" by providing assistance without addressing long-term needs or using assets found in the people or neighborhood' (ed. Rowland 2017:2). Pastoral care aims at alleviating and helping people cope with suffering, but has not addressed the issue of empowering them to overcome the causes of the pain and suffering to a great extent. This work brings forward an aspect of diaconia centred on the transformation of people served by diaconal leadership, going beyond alleviating their pain or need to transform their views and perspective towards that. This thrives on the incarnational ministry which is driven from servant leadership paradigm and 'The serving, caring, sharing and developing conduct of the leader are central in the servant leadership model' (Manala 2014:254-255). The trend of neglect of transformational focus in favour of the reactionary (relief) approach to diaconia can be traced to the type of theological education as well as the Church's public theology or orientation towards the world outside the walls of the congregation. In this way, the educative aspect of pastoral care (didache, paraclesis and diaconia fused) aims at empowering people to move from compassion consumers to producers of Christ's love as their inner lives are made resilient by the knowledge of God's truth.

This article locates a transformational perspective of diaconia as conceived using the SLC theory. The original study was conducted within the Ghanaian Pentecostal space in which the empowering of people needing relief from poverty to cultivate their spiritual abilities towards addressing their own care needs is proposed to be emphasised. In this view, poverty must be addressed in a broader light beyond philanthropy. It rests on the backdrop that congregants mostly have what it takes to face difficulties for which they seek pastoral care and compassion, but are almost oblivious of this fact. Building up local churches is a process of returning the ministry to God's people (Nel 2009a:2). In that building-up process, diaconia is being presented in this work as an aspect of the broader field of pastoral care which includes counselling, therapy and other helping activities (Magezi 2018:1).

 

Towards transformational diaconia to address poverty effectively

An encounter with a street beggar in Hatfield, Pretoria

One late afternoon while returning from the library to the university guest accommodation where I lodged, I was approached, as a common aspect of South African street experience, by a young man for some 'change' (coins or small cash handouts). I stopped, looked him in the eye and said to him, 'you do not belong here!' He asked, 'what do you mean?' I said, 'you do not want to be a beggar for the rest of your lifetime, do you?' Instead of a simple honest 'no' as the answer, he proceeded with reasons for being a beggar on the street. He told me that he was neglected and rejected by his family and siblings after the death of his mother when he was 25 years old. He said the whereabouts of his father were not known as he was from a single-parent home. Therefore, he had no option other than to leave home for the streets to beg.

I said to him, 'at 25 years, you were already old enough to think for yourself. You need to decide where your life takes you. You have left your life in the hands of people who are trying to live their own lives. If you stop to tell yourself, "enough of this hopelessness", you can begin to see other ways out'. After a long motivational conversation with him, including letting him recommit his life to Christ, I gave him a small amount of money and counselled him to consider going back home, get a clean shave and give a fresh start to his broken life and to allow Christ to help him do so. After making him understand the fact that no one owes him the good life he yearns to live and that he needed to create it himself, his eyes beamed with hope and he seemed to have breathed an air of relief on discovering life anew. He promised to go back home to make peace with his family. On my next visit, he was no more at that spot. I guess he had been able to carry out his new resolve.

There are numerous people and cases in South Africa whose situations are similar to that of this young man. Can the church respond appropriately to their real need? Public theology responds to matters of public concern.

 

The South African context

The Church in South Africa, like others elsewhere, ought to pay attention to how its Christian message affects public life - a public theology. Agbiji and Agbiji (2016:2) observed that, pastoral care as a professional discipline and practice has not received sufficient attention in development discourse. Perhaps this scant attention could be related to the narrow conception of pastoral care, limiting its practices to the ecclesial context. This can be seen particularly in the South African context where there is a fair amount of consensus that apartheid and its legacy lives and its consequences continue to impact negatively on our society (Buffel 2007:111). Cilliers (2008) notes that in responding to problems of South African society:

The unified, prophetic voice of (Reformed) churches in South Africa is absent: it is as if the church has lost its energy to protest against societal evils like poverty, corruption, crime, stigmatization, etc. (p. 16)

Magezi (2018:10) views practical theology as 'an open process of learning, unlearning and re-learning in the space of practical life where people yearn for disentanglement from colonial hangover'. This hangover affects economic policies of post-1994 South Africa; as Kgatle (2017:2) notes, '[t]hose policies have achieved some level of economic growth, yet the majority of people in South Africa still live in poverty'. Other studies show that 'a huge contingent of people living in poverty never experiences the benefits of economic growth; instead, they are facing new and ever-growing social problems' (Van Zeeland 2016:3). The biggest problem faced is a sense of loss of identity where the Afrikaners struggle with finding a new identity in post-apartheid society and the non-Afrikaners struggle with accepting this new identity (Cilliers 2008:9-11). How does the Church develop a homiletic that addresses this dilemma? It requires the church to develop new ways that build capacity and willpower to confront oneself with truth before doing so for others.

For most congregations, poverty lurks in their backyard. More seriously, a large number of people in the Church who are living in poverty is a factor going against Christ's transforming power. It seems to portray as though Christian spirituality is unable to transform people in reality. However, God's aim is to save us as a whole.

 

From comfort-centredness to transformational social action

The mission of the Church has always involved a 'process of teaching them to "observe all things" that Jesus commanded. Christians have assumed that this obedience would lead to the transformation of their physical, social and spiritual lives' (Pillay 2017:1). Spiritual leadership capital as a transformational tool stands on the premise that all humans have the tendency to be held captive by their homoeostasis. Poor people settle down in their poor states and are reluctant to confront their plight for want of ideas and a sense of direction. Homeostasis is the automatic tendency of the body to maintain a balance or equilibrium (Goldenberg & Goldenberg 1996:46). In that state, people adjust to circumstances without seeking to change, or push beyond the line of resistance or against the negative situation. This is similar to equilibrium SLC (discussed above). Not until the person develops a stronger inner strength beyond that point, can he or she make changes to the status quo. At this point, social needs equal the available SLC. That means a person has the emotional, intellectual and the spiritual capacity to face the challenge in question. And as such, a leader must have a personal SLC above equilibrium before he can lead with success. Stafford (2014:18) said that purpose, work and being must be integrated before leadership does not become dualistic.

 

A public theology

Thiemann (1991:20) described public theology as 'faith seeking to understand the relation between Christian convictions and the broader social and cultural context within which the Christian community lives'. More practically, Van Aarde (2008:1216) notes that 'public theology emerges in multifarious facets: in movies, songs, poems, novels, art, architecture, protest marches, clothing, newspaper and magazine articles'. In other words, we express what we believe in our lifestyle, in social intercourse and in the market place. By extension, spiritual perspectives inform these facets of life in tacit and silent ways.

 

Diaconia defined

Nel (2018) explains that:

Diaconia was a comprehensive term that denoted everything in which humans were involved in the name of God. … It [sic] is the umbrella term for all that the congregation does, for all its ministries. What we today call modes of ministry was, in the first century, simply the diakonia of the congregation. (p. 5)

In practice, the WCC (2013) describes diaconia as:

Service that makes the celebration of life possible for all. It is faith effecting change, transforming people and situations so that God's reign may be real in the lives of all people, in every here and now. (p. 108)

Stevens (1997:636) notes the Old Testament makes a stunning contribution 'pointing to the centrality of Pastoral care in making Jesus known'.

Hodge in his commentary on 2 Corinthians 8:4, notes (Hodge 2007):

The word diakonia ('ministry,' 'service') is often used in the sense of 'aid' or 'relief' (9:1, 13; Acts 6:1; 11:29). Paul had urged the Corinthians (1 Corinthians 16:1) to make collections for the poor saints. (cc8)

Nel (2009b:6) notes, the importance of the 'cared for' metaphors. 'They help us to understand that God has given us as the congregation everything we need in order to care for creation, his world'. In this vein, 'the nature of the church is no longer understood in imperial terms seeking to normalise Christianity in society' (Boshart 2010:18). The Church by mission has become God's agent for transformation. The Church through (Lutheran World Federation 2009):

Diaconia can only fulfil its call and play an active role in shaping a better future while initiating processes of transformation, when the unique giftedness, human dignity and daily experience of each person are respected. (p. 12)

In this way, people are not treated as mere objects of compassion but as agents of change who need empowerment to carry forward the needed change.

Ham (2013) suggested transformative Diaconal ministry:

[I]nvolves both comforting the victim and confronting 'the powers and principalities' (Ephesians 6:12). It must heal the victim as well as the one who victimizes. It is a radical spirituality of struggle and commitment for transformation of sinful social structures and for the liberation of their victims. (p. 6)

Transformational diaconia as this author understands it, extends beyond ending suffering and injustice. It rather seeks to build up people, to equip them so as to address the problems for which they need diaconal ministry by themselves.

Furthermore, Jesus was a transformational minister as Anderson (2011:49) observes, 'Jesus by his being the Son of the Father was a diakonos [servant] and a leitourgos [benefactor to the world]'. This fact is in agreement with Nel (2015:124) that 'Diaconia in all its forms lead to leitourgia (service to God) nourished by Christ's redemptive work'. Taking this as a point of departure, transformational diaconia is defined as a service and care aimed at the root causes of need rather than the symptoms, aimed at creating a lasting change in the recipient and society beyond temporal existential need-level compassion. Such an approach is needed as an educative pastoral approach to poverty, which is being advanced as part of the conception of the SLC theory.

 

Inner strength: A missional praxis in diaconal leadership and pastoral care

The role of the congregational leader in opening up individual vistas or people's potential to address their own situations is a gospel calling. Nel (2015:175) viewed the missional congregational leader as an equipper rather than an enabler. Service in the body of Christ should be geared at equipping the saints for service which edifies the body. Consequently, diaconia in this spirit aims to unravel a sufferer's inner possibilities hitherto relegated to the background for the lack of detailed self-introspection in the face of hardship. Heuser and Schawchuck (2010:30) refer to 'the inner life' of a leader as the basis of ministry, with lessons from Jesus's model of leadership. In their 16th chapter, they identify 'transformational change' as a matter of conscience rather than of force. Klenke (2007:70) also relocates the self to the centre of leadership and specifically, 'the role of the self in authentic leadership, through three identity lenses: (a) self-identity, (b) leader identity, and (c) spiritual identity'. In the conception of SLC, all the above three lenses, proceed from the spiritual authenticity of the leader or person. The spiritual permeates all three spheres as a matter of cause.

In this vein, the congregational leader as a diaconal practitioner builds bridges between the personal and social self of congregants with the mission of God driven from a person's spirituality. 'Building mutual community is about owning our own brokenness, no longer hiding or pretending, but standing alongside others experiencing God's love and his healing' (Ruddick & Eckley 2016:5).To respond to pastoral care needs of people, their spirituality must be given direction. That implies building up people with inner strength in order to sustain them in the face of life. Thus, the church's most basic operating system (heart) is missional, relational and incarnational (Sweet 2009:35).

By implying for theological education, emphasis is needed in the formation of leaders from their hearts in order to make them adequately responsive to the inner problems of people. This is important in an age where God is the last resort when people are weak and needy. Shallow Christianity practices what Van der Westhuizen (2017:147) describes, 'God is merely a "deus ex machina" brought onto the scene, "either to appear to solve insoluble problems" or to provide strength when human powers fail'.

Furthermore, our quality of life as a society has much to do with the condition of our hearts in view of Christ's ethos of neighbourliness. In Christ we become servants of one another. Dames (2017:1) agrees with Odhiambo (2012:158) that 'there is need for the enhancement of servant leadership to reconstruct pervasive poor living conditions by providing essential services to African communities in improving quality of life'. The quality of people's life starts from the quality of their spiritual states. Bosch ([1991] 2005) states:

The harsh realities of today compel us to re-conceive and reformulate the church's mission, to do this boldly and imaginatively, yet also in continuity with the best of what mission has been in the past decades and centuries. (p. 8)

A sound public theology can refocus the church towards its mission in the world.

 

Definition of spiritual leadership capital

Spiritual leadership capital is defined as the inbuilt advantage that moral and aesthetic devotion or spirituality forms in personalities which becomes the primary driver for formulating their leadership paradigms and approaches to problems of life in response to the ever-changing dynamics of their world. It is not limited to 'the religious' because spirituality can be found outside religiosity.

Its positive form is the substance, essence or strength of virtuous character and drive which a person cultivates from the tenets of his spirituality or faith, that builds the social capital (SC) for solving personal and social problems. In Christian congregations, it is basic to an authentic missional leadership paradigm, as it provides the inherent advantage of motivational influence which a leader (a person) exerts on his followers through the practice and application of the teachings of his faith virtues (spirituality). It is educative and transformative. This inner working virtue is what is perceived to add value to a person's leadership capability conceptualised as SLC. Woodward (2012:3) notes that 'more than a strategy, vision or plan, the unseen culture of a church powerfully shapes her ability to grow, mature and live missionally'. Spiritual leadership capital is that inner power which underlies the culture of a people.

This article does not intend to abolish the compassionate ministry of helps. It sees as the Christian's duty not only to be a proclaimer (Kerygmatic) but also a practical witness (diaconal) to the good news, and in so doing, to love neighbour and self and to be sensitive to issues in the world (Abale-Phiri 2011:247). The goal of missional leadership is 'the transformation of people and institutions to play a part in the Missio Dei, through meaningful relations and in the power of the Spirit, in God's mission' (Niemandt 2016:57). Christ's love should motivate us to move beyond simple compassionate service (diaconia) to a reconstructive motivation of people in need to wake up after receiving compassion to start putting together the broken pieces of their lives - transformational diaconia. Changed people are those who have discovered their true identity as children of God and who have recovered their true vocation as faithful and productive stewards of gifts from God for the well-being of all (Myers 1999:14). Therefore, this 'motivation should not be reduced to coercion but grow out of authentic inner commitment' (Bass & Steidlmeier 1999:186). That is authentic spirituality.

Interestingly, 'the church has struggled to balance or integrate social change and inner change. At times they over emphasised the one and at other times the other' (Bowers Du Toit 2015:np). Hirsch (2012) in his forward to Woodward's book creating missional culture, referred to the sociologist Alvin Toffler, who once observed that 'the illiterate of the future will not be those that cannot read or write. Rather, they will be those that cannot learn, unlearn and relearn'. As an educative praxis for the church, the time has come for us to unlearn stale old ways of conducting pastoral care and relearn missional transformative approaches to old and new problems in church and society. From a balanced view, diaconia is 'both an expression of what the church is by its very nature, and what is manifested in its daily life, plans and projects' (Lutheran World Federation 2009:29).

An SLC-filled person knows the right meaning to life and faces life's challenges with a constantly renewed sense of purpose. God's 'kingdom itself is a spiritual society, membership in which is absolutely impossible without a personal change of heart (Matthew 18:3)' (Oosterzee 1878:46). This change must make the practice of diaconia to transcend philanthropic compassion leading to a transformational one. Poverty is a system and we can agree with Nygaard (2017) that:

Social systems in which people live are multilayered. The system can be a macrosystem, as seen in political systems, a mesosystem as seen in institutions, or a microsystem, as seen in close relationships. People can beat the margins in one of these systems, but not necessarily in all of them. (p. 168)

Suffering and deprivations that we see are usually the effect that each system or an amalgam of these systems has on people. The people's relationship with their system determines whether they live at the margins or at the centre. Poverty has kept people at the margins of affluent societies because poor people have not been able to reconcile their reality with the world in which the affluent live. We see such interplay of affluence and poverty in South African society. The forgoing situation is partly external, yet mainly an internal problem that needs to be looked at from the inner lives of people suffering from poverty.

One goal of missional congregational development is to enable the process of building up of a Christian community which influences the congregants and the community at large in a radical way. This makes missional theology essentially a public one. Nel (2017:3) notes that, 'being transformed into a missional congregation may disturb the peace and may make "us" lose members and donors'. But that is the cost of our being Christ's disciples. This transformational influencing can be conducted by equipping people to realign their response to external and internal problems, to position them into the desired system or situation in life. Turning attention to an educative 'strategic public pastoral theology' that aims to foster both deep self-reflection and expansive global or even cosmic citizenry (Magezi 2018:2), is imperative if the South African and for that matter African Church, universities and seminaries want to develop leaders who measure up to the tasks of our day.

 

Spiritual leadership capital as a change agent

Spiritual leadership capital equilibrium (SLCeq) is the point at which a leader or person's faith-driven strength, skill and composure (spiritual virtue), equals a task or challenge that requires action or response. Practically, the extent of a leader's spiritual depth, mental stability, agility and courage to make the necessary moves or changes that are required for the status quo to change for the better, is depicted along the axis towards equilibrium.

By the idea of SLC, a person's spirituality inspires courage, hope and resilience. It grants him a sense of direction that must be consistently maintained to be creatively sustainable. Sternberg (2007:46) said: 'a leader who lacks creativity may get along and get others to go along. But he or she may get others to go along with inferior or stale ideas'. Spiritual leadership capital deals with this staleness because the basis on which spiritual character and leadership are formed includes unmovable stands of the individual's conviction and they are dynamic and renewable. Pastoral leadership that ignores its spiritual nature and context diminishes the ministry to a people pleasing force and the building of brick and mortar, consequently, reducing the congregation to a social gathering rather than a community of the Spirit (Akin & Pace 2017:70).

Authentic spirituality cannot get stale although religiosity may. If majority in a community have these virtues of authentic spirituality (SLC) inculcated, it informs their working norms and acts as the balancing object in the equation that makes action equal to need. Because human needs continue to expand, SLC of leaders or persons must be constantly enhanced to meet new needs that may arise. This makes SLC-informed transformation, a reformative continuum depicting a tension between need and resources or capacity to meet them.

In this sense, a grid described as the SLC transformation indicator grid that portrays how people move between need and solutions as their inner states change or are transformed, is illustrated in a grid below.

 

The spiritual leadership capital transformation indicator grid

The SLC transformation grid (SLCTG) puts need and spiritual virtue against each other. The grid indicates whether SLC is sufficient to address needs or it falls below what is required. Hence, these two factors in tension indicate whether SLC is in equilibrium or in disequilibrium.

Figure 1 depicts the process that leads to the formation of SLC. It shows that spirituality births beliefs which in turn create personal virtues such as faith, resilience, hope, stability and faith-relevance. Consequently, these develop character which has work ethic and other habits such as creativity, will power, poise, perseverance. These good virtues enable people to solve problems and influence other spheres of life, resulting in transformation. As such, an SLC-filled Christian life and leadership becomes a transformative incarnation of Christ in the world.

 

 

Spiritual leadership capital can either be negative or positive. The negative identified as disequilibrium (DISeqSLC), occurs when people's inner capabilities produced from their spirituality comes below what is required of them to rise above the challenges they are faced with. If a particular kind of spirituality fails to transform and improve its adherents, it suggests that that spirituality is not SLC efficient. Spiritual leadership capital makes people resilient and strong against problems they face.

The opposite of DISeqSLC is positive SLC (PIeqSLC) which is simply the point which lies above equilibrium (eqSLC). Positive SLC is the point beyond eqSLC. This supposes that SLC can be under-employed or over-employed. Figure 1 shows this.

In Figure 1, the SLC grid depicts social need which is a starting point in the cycle of a typical poverty situation (point 1). The ultimate is either at +4 or −4. SLC (Point 2), which is generated in the person(s) as spirituality is adequately and authentically lived out. When equal amounts of SLC (or hypothetically, force or quantum of it) are applied to social need, that should take the situation to eqSLC (point 3 which is a coping level). At this point, people draw on inner virtues that are barely enough to meet the demands facing them.

Where a person's SLC falls below eqSLC, the situation moves towards or is at point −4 (DISeqSLC), which can be a state of poverty, social inequality, corruption or not being generally fulfilled in life or being in an adverse state. On the other hand, if the person's spirituality is SLC efficient, one is able to move beyond the need (point1) through point 3 (eqSLC) which is beyond coping to point +4 (PleqSLC) which is the point of sufficiency, fulfilment or point of satisfaction or the desired state.

A leader over-employs SLC when he spiritualises matters without reflecting purposefully and knowledgeably on the human partnership with divinity in solving problems, hence, missing out on a missional approach to such cases. Spiritual leadership capital is under-employed when a person or group ignores the spiritual element until complications set in, a stage at which it becomes more complex to reverse the damage done because the basic principles are ignored. One of the ways in which negative SLC can result is in attempting to apply human capabilities pretending that there is no need for the contribution of divinity - the case with most apophatic spiritualities.

 

Spiritual leadership capital as a practical theology underlying social capital formation

The calling of the church as a missional community makes it imperative for each person in the congregation to be helped to discern their situatedness in the life which Christ offers, and how the mission of God affects all human circumstances. Theology is our expression of what we perceive to be God's view of action in the world and our response towards him (Haughton 1972:228). 'The task of practical theology is to question what the undergirding epistemology and beliefs are and to reinterpret them in the light of the gospel' (Dames 2013:3). In looking at poverty from an SLC perspective, it starts from the inner state of people. The people are colonised mentally by their inability to rise above poverty.

Therefore, leaders at (Dames 2017):

[A]ll levels of society are in need of the decolonising of the mind by unlearning the current pervasive poor service ethos by relearning a new service ethic, and in learning how to maintain and sustain a progressive service ethic for the common good of all. (p. 4)

The days are long gone for society to continue on its old ways, and change is needed regarding how practical theological education is focused. Practical theology needs to expand its scope from the Church to society and everyday life or its context if new problems in our society are to be addressed. This is because, 'religious institutions which are carried by intrinsic believers, are the ones to care for and help the oppressed in society in different ways' (Dreyer 2004:919-920).

The effects of that undergirding epistemology of spirituality on a person's leadership drive and its contribution to SC formation lies in understanding SLC. Its nature grows out of the inner meaning of our relationship with our source of spiritual strength. In Christian perspective, that is a theology. In pastoral care terms, the spiritual state of a person determines how and what he can make of life in turbulent times. Thus to aim at preventing people from 'suffering for the wrong reasons', as Mathews (2002:62) suggests as the aim of pastoral care, and taking the foregoing as a point of departure, SLC posits that transformational diaconia can alleviate suffering, build up suffering people and empower them to pick up their lives afresh thus weaning them off compassion. In applying the same to a poverty-stricken South African context, the Church has a role of solidifying people in a positive and authentic spirituality which enhances life.

This takes us to Dingemans's (2002:142) view of the Church (faith community) as a 'junction where God and people, tradition and the world, challenges and reality meet'. It is 'only when a congregation's spiritual practices are focused on missional faithfulness can it be equipped for its calling to be Christ's witness in our postmodern world' (Guder 2007:125). Mission therefore, is not primarily an act of the church but 'an attribute of God' (Bosch 1991:390). In this same light, a missional Church can arrest poverty and inequality in the current post-modern, post-apartheid South Africa, if the attribute of God is inculcated in the public conscience. The need for a public practical theology that offers pastoral care holistically cannot be over emphasised.

 

Concluding argument

So far, the authors have tried to argue that transformational diaconia with an SLC approach, builds up people's spirituality inspires courage, hope and resilience in the congregation and society. The resulting sense of direction from this transformation empowers people living in poverty-stricken contexts like South Africa to develop resilience and take a new approach to solving their social problems. This change must be bold, honest and a complete paradigm shift. This shift should make people in the church passionate about God's mission, what Fitch (2014:1) refers to as 'being present to Christ's presence'. It requires change in and out which is called deep change.

 

Deep change is transformational

Change is not manipulation. It is about constant, yet responsible, reformation (Nel 2015:208, 210). In general, human and cultural change is sustainable if it begins from within. This view stands strong in the conception of SLC. Osmer (2008:177, 206) talked of deep change in identity, mission and altered operating procedures of organisations. South African society needs such a deep change similar to what Kegan and Lahey (2009:57) observe, that 'once people have identified their competing commitments and the big assumptions that sustain them, most are prepared to take some immediate actions to overcome their immunity'. It is a long-term process, which must involve thinking of change and making series of changes until the desired transformation results (Steinke 2006:79). The presence of the Church in the world has brought about many transformations. The 17th century historian, Philip Schaff, described the transformation occasioned by authentic spirituality in the apostolic era of the Church as 'practical Christianity'. He detailed this as (Schaff 1882):

The manifestation of a new life; a spiritual (as distinct from intellectual and moral) life; a supernatural (as distinct from natural) life; it is a life of holiness and peace; a life of union and communion with God the Father, the Son, and the Spirit; it is eternal life, beginning with regeneration and culminating in the resurrection. It lays hold of the inmost centre of man's personality, emancipates him from the dominion of sin, and brings him into vital union with God in Christ; from this centre it acts as a purifying, ennobling, and regulating force upon all the faculties of man-the emotions, the will, and the intellect-and transforms even the body into a temple of the Holy Spirit. (p. §44)

Steyn and Masango (2011) also note that:

Pastoral problems cannot be separated from their urge to caregivers to find solutions in the praxis of the same. Furthermore, this understanding and interpretation should also provide the caregiver with the motivational means to offer this pastoral care from within his or her theological convictions. (p. 2)

For the church to be able to transform its people who will in turn affect society, SLC posits that the educative praxis should focus on developing pastoral leaders by cultivating their inner-strengths to enable them to respond to the challenges of their world which require internal capabilities to be addressed.

 

Spiritual leadership capital as an educative public theological response to poverty

One presupposition which the authors go with is that of Yancey (1990:161-162), where he argues that Jesus is tilted towards the poor and this can be found in his major teachings such as the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus appears so because his gospel is one that transforms people firstly, from their heart and secondly their situation in life. The power of the Christian gospel is seen and experienced in the transformation it brings in people both ways. Therefore, every gospel activity ought to be aimed at total transformation.

Furthermore, most African pastoral care approaches tend to be informed by denominational background and practice (Magezi 2016:5). Largely, denominations carve their pneumapraxis and chritopraxis from their history and traditions. Present social contexts are also shaped in the same way, and South Africa is no exception to this. Most African Pastoral care is hindered by backward African thinking (Lartey 2013:10-20). If we have a Jesus that is separated from public discourse and is filled with a spirit that only exorcises demons but does not teach responsible living, then we cannot expect a society different from our inner states.

To transform is to improve people inside out. In this enterprise, the congregation matches its mission and salvific action with Christ's nature and purpose in society. Boshart (2010:27) calls this 'transformational witness' which is trinitarian. Nel (2017) explains that:

This divine involvement makes the congregation special - a counter community, an alternative possibility for living life in communion with the One who called and with the other called ones or many. (p. 3)

As mentioned in the introduction to this article and from a Christian spirituality viewpoint, SLC-rich leadership cultivates what Roxburgh and Romanuk (2006:27) describe as 'the practice of indwelling Scripture and discovering places for experiment and risk as people discover that the Spirit of God's life-giving future in Jesus is among them'. This creates in people 'positive chaos', which spurs them to search for answers to difficult questions, resulting in mental stability born out of a spirit filled with discernment of times and events. The transformation process is a winding long road, which does not avoid the difficult questions. It rather develops the capacity to deal with difficult situations. This hangs on the premise that our faith gives us a sense of possibilities and by this we take risks, make decisions and do our strategic thinking. Yancey (1990:21-22) notes our modern aversion to pain and suffering. Yet Christ's transformation has everything to do with scars that have healed well, failures that have been redeemed, sins that have been forgiven and thorns that have settled into the flesh. Conversion is not limited to our private or religious life. It is an all-embracing and holistic salvation (Moltmann 1993:103).

A transformed people are those who have been empowered to rise from their fall. The victory that Christ gives the saved soul is the power to live in victory over sin and its effects. Spiritual leadership capital as spiritual virtue that produces resilience in people can include what Barnes (2005:3) calls 'gravitas', 'a condition of the soul that has developed enough spiritual mass to attract other souls'. According to Barnes (2005:3), 'This "condition" makes the soul appear old, but gravitas has nothing to do with age'.

Consequently, the author contests that, most cases requiring clinical pastoral care are largely the result of people being overwhelmed by circumstances and therefore, needing help to sustain them or reduce their burdens. This can be interpreted as a leadership shortfall on the personal level. Leadership must be equal to the task facing it. In this, a leader must be strong and simultaneously humble (Nel 2015:162-164). And if leaders lack the capacity to stand problems confronting them and their organisations which they lead, they are not qualified to be leaders of that group at that stage although they might have done excellently early on. To be up to scratch in caring for souls, congregational leaders need to constantly replenish their SLC and inspire followers to build the same to confront problems facing them.

One strong public theological input that SLC can make for economic systems is its potential to enhance pastoral care which in turn contributes to the growth and expansion of human capacity which builds what others call 'human capital' an aspect of SC. 'The place occupied by religion within the category of SC comes from its value in stabilising and clarifying the purposes around which people can build their willingness to cooperate' (eds. Berger & Redding 2010:4). Development occurs as people cooperate to solve their own problems.

Spiritual leadership capital holds that a people's quality of life stems from their systems and convictions which shape their thoughts and possibilities. Spiritual leadership capital harnesses the substance of such convictions for productive living. Leaders can build it in their own lives and their followers through intentional teaching, guiding and inculturation of those basic spiritual values. In this way, the SLC-based pastoral care becomes an educative praxis.

A person stabilised from within is able to stand the external fears and threats. It is people's core beliefs, values and skills which combine to produce their leadership substance. As such, pastoral care should focus on building personal capacity of people under care rather than providing them with soft pads to rest on.

 

Educative implications for South African public theology

At this point, we turn to the transformational implications of a public theology that addresses poverty largely fuelled by historical trauma in South Africa. Prior to the Dutch Reformed Church becoming a state Church, a wish from Alexander Mackay (Footprints in Africa 2019), one of South Africa's mission pioneers in 1878, resounds loud as an educative praxis needed in post-apartheid South Africa today:

Men have to be taught to love God and love their neighbours, which means the uprooting of institutions that have lasted for centuries, labour made noble, the slave set free, knowledge imparted and wisdom implanted, and above all true wisdom taught which alone can elevate men from a brute to a Son of God. (p. 26)

A new public theology is imperative, more so from a complex historical backdrop which needs to be reversed. For example, Niit (2015) notes:

By the time the Afrikaner government came to power in 1948 the Dutch Reformed Church had lost contact with the original teachings of Calvyn and in doing so conveniently provided the theological foundation for apartheid. Calvyn would never have condoned the virtual deification of the nation or the absolutism of the state or of race. The Nationalists' policies led to the elevation of apartheid to a civil religion in which the secular notions of the 'volk', culture and politics became prominent features. (p. 10)

The hurts and fears from traumatic circumstances can be passed on to generations unborn if not addressed in the present. Even after over a decade of officially ending apartheid in South Africa, traditions of feeling peeved and of being left impoverished continue to affect South African society. 'Traditions are transgenerational processes by which societies reproduce themselves' (Gassman 2008:517). In the South African context, the remains of apartheid though unwanted, continue to influence the way in which most people below the poverty line perceive their situation. Beakley (2016) notes:

Poverty is a very complicated issue in Africa, and every country on the continent has its own unique challenges. One reason South Africa is even more complicated than others is that the country recently broke free from the apartheid government in 1994.

It's a country with both western influences and African influences, first world situations and third world ones, all intermingled together.

Poverty is a reality in South Africa. Yet it's not going to be resolved by just providing food. In every situation, the poor desperately need a Christian worldview and biblical understanding of the sovereignty of God. Such an understanding lifts people up. (p. 1)

Many after a decade of officially ending apartheid, continue to blame the past for their present state of poverty. This is done oblivious of the fact that South African poverty is not confined to one racial or ethnic group but cuts across all (Kgatle 2017:2). Popular opinion notes that South African society is bedevilled by continuous moral decay that now threatens the very fibre of society and needs to be redressed decisively by all South Africans (Shongwe 2017:1). And he concludes; 'it is my belief that the church is still eminently placed to influence public opinion on matters affecting the nation' (Shongwe 2017:3). This is a challenge for public practical theology, particularly pastoral care within the congregation.

Tutu (1999) writes:

Harmony, friendliness, community are great goods. Social harmony is for us the summum bonum - the greatest good. Anything that subverts or undermines this sought-after good is to be avoided like the plague. (p. 35)

The self-understanding of each individual in the social machinery is crucial for the transformation of society. Besides, cultivating a sense of belonging as a transformational process takes place through many small steps' (Sider, Olson & Unbuh 2006:157). For the South African Church, simple conciliatory, trust-building gestures can be the initial missional steps towards developing a public theology that truly meets the larger South African populace at the point of Christ's transformation.

The need for transformational diaconia cannot be overemphasised. Practical theologians in South Africa should understand that the metaphorical dregs of apartheid are still with us. Therefore, the church ought to shape leaders who can address it.

Spiritual leadership capital as a concept should therefore be explored for its usefulness to this enterprise.

Theological education should focus on a clinical pastoral care model that takes seriously, the building up of inner spiritual state of people needing care, matters of lifestyle, tradition of racial biases and how these affect the fibre of society. In terms of poverty, this article motions the church to a field beyond just almsgiving and acts of mercy, it is an invitation to the shaping of lives that are strong enough to face all that the world throws at them.

 

Acknowledgements

Competing interests

The authors declare that they have no financial or personal relationships which may have inappropriately influenced them in writing this article.

Authors' contributions

S.F.K.T. is the main author contributing to the conceptualisation and writing up of this paper and is a research associate of M.N., the main research partner. M.N. was responsible for the monitoring of the article and offered guidance on its development.

Ethical considerations

This article followed all ethical standards for a research without direct contact with human or animal subjects.

Funding information

The research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.

Data availability statement

Data sharing is not applicable as no new data were created or analysed in this study.

Disclaimer

The views and opinions expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of any affiliated agency of the authors.

 

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ORIGINAL RESEARCH

 

Character education for public leadership: The continuing relevance of Martin Buber's 'Hebrew humanism'

 

 

Bernhard Ott

Department of Christian Spirituality, Church History and Missiology, Faculty of Missiology, University of South Africa, Pretoria, South Africa

Correspondence

 

 

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ABSTRACT

The need for character education for those in public leadership is of unquestionable importance. Professor Christoph Stückelberger (University of Basel, founder of Globethics) has recently argued that 'structural ethics' (constitutions, policies and standards) have their merits, and that 'there are no virtuous institutions, there are only virtuous people'. Stückelberger calls for the cultivation of virtues, especially the virtue of integrity. In recent decades, character education has received new attention. Those who call for character education most often draw from Greek traditions, especially from Aristotle. This article will explore a different source for the discussion of virtues and character. About 80 years ago, the Jewish philosopher Martin Buber proposed character education, based on what he called 'Hebrew humanism', as the foundation of nation-building. I will explore the continuing relevance of Buber's view of character and character formation, taking his famous Tel Aviv speech on 'The Education of Character' of 1939 as a point of departure.

Keywords: Public leadership; Education; Virtues and character; Character formation; Martin Buber.

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Introduction: The call for character formation

Freedom, community, global justice, equality, responsibility, participation, peace, sharing, solidarity, trust, tolerance and sustainability are all values outlined in a book entitled Global Ethics for Leadership (eds. Stückelberger, Fust & Ike 2016). This book was published in 2016 by Globethics.net, a 'worldwide ethics network' with the aim 'to ensure that people in all regions of the world are empowered to reflect and act on ethical issues' (Globethics.net n.d.a:n.p.). Furthermore (Globethics.net n.d.b):

Globethics.net offers institutions the opportunity to set their ethical standards and structures to strengthen ethics not only by focusing on individual behaviour but also on institutional mechanisms used to incorporate ethics within the organization. (n.p.)

From this, it follows that special emphasis is given to senior leaders in the public sphere, in global enterprises, in non-government organisations and in higher education. The aforementioned book not only outlines core values for institutions but also identifies 'virtues in leadership', such as honesty, respect, listening, courage, vision, reliability, compassion, gratitude, modesty, patience and integrity.

Christoph Stückelberger, a Swiss reformed theologian, founder and long-time executive director of Globethics.net, contributes a chapter on integrity to the book. It is based on a speech he had delivered in December 2015 at the Protestant University of the Congo in connection with the project 'Training on Integrity in Responsible Elections' in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (Stückelberger 2016c:149-165). Later he presented a slightly revised version as his farewell lecture at the Theology Department of the University of Basel (Switzerland), where he served as Professor of Ethics (Stückelberger 2016b).

I use this speech by this renowned expert in leadership and ethics in the public sphere as a point of departure because he identifies a particular, often neglected or even ignored, issue, namely, the formation of virtues and character for those in leadership responsibilities.

Stückelberger (2016b) states:

People and organisations make decisions based on motivations which derive from various factors such as power, greed, opportunities, emotions, faith - or values and virtues. Values are reference points and ethical principles on which decisions and actions are taken. They help to answer questions such as 'What shall I do? How shall I decide?' Virtues are attitudes or behaviours of individuals. Through self-control, education and regular training, an individual can become and remain an ethical person. Interpreting and giving priority to virtues over values may bring change in a person's life, as well as to a society or a culture. (p. 312)

In other words, values are external; they can stimulate or enforce ethical behaviour extrinsically. Virtues are internal; they shape a person's being so that he or she acts ethically. Stückelberger argues that we need to give priority to the formation of virtues over the definition of values. He emphasises 'structural ethics' (Stückelberger 2016b:324), but concludes that good constitutions, policies and codes of values - important though they are - remain extrinsic motivations and do not have the power to transform people.¹ He argues that '[t]here are no virtuous institutions, there are only virtuous people' (Stückelberger 2016a:2). This leads him to his urgent call for the formation of virtues and character.

Stückelberger's call is not new. Throughout the centuries, philosophers and theologians have pointed to the foundational significance of character formation. In this study, I turn to the Jewish philosopher Martin Buber (1878-1965) and his remarkable contribution to education. I am convinced that his insights into the formation of human beings are of timeless significance.

In 1938, Buber was forced to leave Germany and he moved to Palestine in order to contribute to the establishment of a Jewish nation. In this context, he gave his remarkable speech on 'The education of character' (Buber 1947d:104-117). Buber was deeply convinced that the Jewish nation could never be built solely on a piece of land, on national ideas, on political structures and on military power, but ultimately only on character formation rooted in the Jewish faith. It was this conviction that distinguished him already at the beginning of the 20th century from Theodor Herzl and the nationalist Zionist movement (Buber 2002a, 2002b, 2002e; cf. Kohn 1961:40-47; Kuschel 2015:56-60).

This lecture by Martin Buber on the formation of character in the context of nation-building caught my attention many years ago. It was something like an invitation to look more carefully into Buber's writings, searching for a deeper understanding of his contribution to character formation.

This leads to the question to be dealt with in this article: what are the potential and the continuing relevance of Buber's view of character and character formation for today, especially in relation to public leadership and nation-building? After a short introduction to Buber's life and work, I will identify several key components of his contribution to the formation of character. At the end, I will challenge recent developments in higher education in light of Buber's call to character education.

 

The framework of Hebrew humanism

The intention and the significance of Buber's Tel-Aviv lecture of 1939 can only be captured if we first introduce the concept of 'Hebrew humanism'. Buber points out that he used the term 'Hebrew humanism' already in 1913 (Buber 2002d:158). Later, in 1933 - still living in Germany - Buber addressed the young generation of Jews confronted with National Socialism when he delivered a speech titled 'Biblical humanism' (Buber 2002c). And in 1941, at that time already living in Palestine, he spoke explicitly on the topic of Hebrew humanism (Buber 2002d). Finally, when Buber received the Erasmus Prize 1963 in Amsterdam, he titled his speech of thanks as 'Believing humanism' (Buber 1967). The three terms may not carry exactly the same meaning, but they all point to a foundational frame of reference of Buber's thinking (cf. Volkmann 2005).

By using the term 'humanism', Buber positions himself within the European discourse on renaissance, enlightenment and humanism. At the same time, the qualifying adjectives 'biblical', 'Hebrew' and 'believing' put his worldview in critical distance from all forms of anthropocentric post-enlightenment humanism. In contrast to European humanism, Buber is not referring back to the classical Greek and Roman antiquity, but rather to the ancient writings of the Hebrew Bible (Volkmann 2005:181-182).

In his 1933 speech, he defines 'Biblical humanism' as follows (Buber 2002c):

Biblical humanism is concerned with a 'concrete transformation' of our total - and not alone our inner - lives. This concrete transformation can only follow upon a rebirth of the normative primal forces that distinguish right from wrong, true from false, and to which life submits itself. The primal forces are transmitted to us in the word - the biblical word. (p. 47)

And in his address of 1941 on 'Hebrew humanism', he looks back and comments (Buber 2002d):

When Adolf Hitler stepped into power in Germany, and I was faced with the task of strengthening the spirituality of our youth to bear up against his nonspirituality, I called the speech in which I developed my program, 'Biblical humanism', to make the first half of my concept still clearer. The tide indicated that in this task of ours, the Bible - the great document of our own antiquity - must be assigned the decisive role that in European humanism was played by the writings of classical antiquity. (p. 159)

This provides a frame of reference for all of Buber's philosophical and educational writings. He moves beyond unworldly and even escapist piety, on the one hand, and a godless, purely immanent humanisation, on the other hand. His pedagogy was characterised by putting humans in relationship to the world and to God (Ventur 2003:199-208). This is summarised in some of Buber's key statements, such as 'God wishes man whom He has created to become man in the truest sense of the word' (Buber 2002d:164; cf. Ventur 2003:197).

Over against European humanism, which refers to Greek and Roman antiquity as a resource for renewal and renaissance, Buber points to the more holistic anthropology of the Hebrew tradition. He states (Buber 2002d):

[We] must reach for a farther goal than European humanism. The concrete transformation of our whole inner life is not sufficient for us. We must strive for nothing less than the concrete transformation of our life as a whole. The process of transforming our inner lives must be expressed in the transformation of our outer life - of the life of the individual as well as that of the community. (p. 161)

Buber argues that European humanism focuses too much on the transformation of the mind, the intellect, the inner life. In contrast, Hebrew humanism views humans in their totality, including the mind and body, thinking and acting.

From this point of view, he also criticised the separation of the private and the public sphere, which he observed in many societies - not least in the political programme of Jewish Zionism in his time. From the point of view of Hebrew humanism, he argues (Buber 2002d):

What it [Hebrew humanism] does have to tell us, and what no other voice in the world can teach us with such simple power, is that there is truth and there are lies and that human life cannot persist or have meaning save in the decision on behalf of truth and against lies; that there is right and wrong and that the salvation of man depends on choosing what is right and rejecting what is wrong; and that it spells the destruction of our existence to divide our life up into areas in which the discrimination between truth and lies and right and wrong holds, and others in which it does not hold, so that in private life, for example, we feel obligated to be truthful but can permit ourselves lies in public, or that we act justly in man-to-man relationships but can and even should practice injustice in national relationships. (p. 161)

For Buber, the Hebrew faith is not a religion for the inner life, the spiritual sphere in a compartmentalised world. It is a way of life rooted in the truth revealed by God in the Bible, a way of life that comprises the entire life and affects all spheres of life, individual and communal, private and public. This is the reason why the formation of character became so central in Buber's educational engagement. This leads us to his lectures on education.

 

The education of character

Buber began his lecture on 'The education of character' with the following statement (Buber 1947d):

Education worthy of the name is essentially education of character. For the genuine educator does not merely consider individual functions of his pupil, as one intending to teach him only to know or to be capable of certain definite things; but his concern is always the person as a whole, both in the actuality in which he lives before you now and in his possibilities, what he can become. (p. 104)

Education that only focusses on 'individual functions' of the person, on knowledge or skills, is - according to Buber - not worthy to be called education. Genuine education views the 'person as a whole' and focuses on his or her entire being; it 'is essentially education of character'.

For Buber, character is what an individual is - far beyond what he or she knows (knowledge) and what he or she does (skills). Out of a person's very being flow his or her 'actions and attitudes' (Buber 1947d:104). Buber does not use the term 'integrity' but this is what he is actually speaking about: the congruence of being, speaking and doing.

More precisely, he defines character with two terms 'actuality' and 'possibilities', or in other words, 'reality' and 'potentiality' (Buber 1947d:104). As we will see later, these are two foundational concepts in Buber's definition of character. The first term ('actuality' or 'reality') refers to a person's ability and willingness to perceive and accept his or her actual reality in the here-and-now of his or her life. The second concept ('possibilities' or 'potentiality') focuses on a person's responsibility to realise life according to his or her potential and the demands of the situation. Buber speaks about the 'personal responsibility for life and world' and 'the courage to shoulder life' (Buber 1947d:115).

This leads to the term 'responsibility', another key concept in Buber's understanding of character. By relating the term 'responsibility' to 'response', Buber gets at the heart of his understanding of responsibility. He says, '[a]n individual's responsibility exists only where there is real responding' (Buber 1947a:16), and in another speech on education, he says (Buber 1947c):

The fragile life between birth and death can nevertheless be a fulfilment - if it is a dialogue. In our life and experience we are addressed; by thought and speech and action, by producing and by influencing we are able to answer [or 'respond']. For the most part we do not listen to the address, or we break into it with chatter. But if the word comes to us and the answer [or 'response'] proceeds from us then human life exists, though brokenly, in the world. The kindling of the response in that 'spark' of the soul, the blazing up of the response, which occurs time and again, to the unexpectedly approaching speech, we term responsibility. (p. 92)

For Buber, 'responding' is an essential dimension of true human existence. Therefore, he emphasises the significance of 'responsibility' (in the literal sense of the term) for the realisation of true humanity. Character means that a person perceives reality as a call and that he or she responds in a 'responsible' way.

One of the most passionate and challenging definitions of education and the role of the educator can be found in 'Education and world-view'. Buber (1957) states:

The education I mean is a guiding toward reality and realization. That man alone is qualified to teach who knows how to distinguish between appearance and reality, between seeming realization and genuine realization, who rejects appearance and chooses and grasps reality. (p. 105)

Again, reality and realisation are at the heart of the educational goal. However, now Buber sharpens his argument by pointing to the difference between appearance and reality, between pretended realities and real realities. Persons with character are educated to distinguish between pretence and reality - and to choose reality. In 'Elements of the interhuman', Buber deals with the same issue under the title 'Being and Seeming', arguing that a mature person recognises his or her pretensions ('what one wishes to seem') and accepts and reveals what he or she 'really is' (Buber 1982:339). This again is a dimension of integrity.

In all of this, we have to take note that reality and realisation, response and responsibility have two dimensions in Buber's thinking: human beings have to respond to the realities of this world and they have to act in a responsible way (this is what Buber calls 'realisation'). However, reality should not be limited to the scope of what science (empirical reality) and philosophy (cognitive reality) can offer; it needs to be open to the transcendent (and yet immanent) reality of God.

Buber concludes his Tel-Aviv lecture with the statement (Buber 1947d:117), '[t]he educator who helps to bring man back to his own unity will help to put him again face to face with God'.

It is evident that for Buber becoming truly human includes the oneness of the person (integrity) 'face to face' with God. The relationship with the world and the relationship with God are fully intertwined. As we will see later in his essay 'The way of man', responding to the voice of God and responding to the demands of earthly realities constitute a holistic and character-forming education.

This has significant implications for the education of character. Buber argues that it is the educator's task to help individuals to a 'rebirth of personal unity, unity of being, unity of action - unity of being, life and action together' (Buber 1947d:116). As mentioned earlier, he adds at the end of his lecture on character education that, in order to reach this 'rebirth', a person needs to be put 'face to face with God'.

Furthermore, he argues that it is not sufficient to 'talk about' virtues and character in a distant and theoretical way (in Buber's terms I-It-talk). It does not help to explain what good and bad is because such cognitive knowledge does not necessarily shape character (Buber 1947d:105-106; cf. Ventur 2003:170). The educator has to 'address' the learner in such a way that a response is provoked (I-Thou-talk) - ultimately a response in the form of action, of appropriate realisation - in proper relation to God and his world. This, according to Buber, is only possible in an 'atmosphere of confidence' (Buber 1947d:107). In other words, character education requires person-to-person relationships.

In his essays 'The way of man' (1948/1964) and 'Elements of the interhuman' (1953/1982), Buber further develops the framework for a pedagogy that facilitates character formation.

 

The way of man

Buber understands human existence as a journey towards full humanity. This implies that life must be conducted, shaped and formed. In 'The Way of Man' (1964), Buber outlines this life-shaping journey in six steps:

1. Heart-searching: the journey begins with a person being addressed by God ('Where are you, Adam?'). We have to respond to three foundational questions: 'consider three things. Know whence you came, whither you are going, and to whom you will have to render accounts'.

2. The particular way: we should not copy others but find and realise our personal calling.

3. Resolution: we need to unify our soul - body and spirit - so that we think and act purposefully, firmly and congruently.

4. Begin with oneself: we should not blame others if it is our responsibility to take the first step.

5. Avoid preoccupation with oneself: we should not remain focused on ourselves but approach the needs of the world in the realm of our responsibility.

6. Here where one stands: it is our responsibility to realise our personal calling here and now, at the place where we are. We should not always escape into day-dreaming about other, perhaps better places to realise life.

In this essay, Buber did not explicitly talk about character formation. Nevertheless, his reflections point to the heart of the education of character in the framework of Hebrew humanism. Again, the journey towards the realisation of true human existence begins with the encounter of the eternal Thou - with responding to the 'voice' of the creator. And again, the journey towards full humanity is a journey towards greater integrity, facing the realities of one's personal life and of the surrounding world, and responding with one's entire being to the demands of the situation in a responsible way.

However, how can such a character be formed? The most specific pedagogical suggestion we can find in Buber's writing is connected to the term 'dialogue'.

 

Genuine dialogue

Buber is a storyteller and we best approach his pedagogical teachings by listening to one of his examples in 'On the education of character' (Buber 1947d):

The teacher who is for the first time approached by a boy with somewhat defiant bearing, but with trembling hands, visibly opened-up and fired by a daring hope, who asks him what is the right thing in a certain situation - for instance, whether in learning that a friend has betrayed a secret entrusted to him one should call him to account or be content with entrusting no more secrets to him - the teacher to whom this happens realizes that this is the moment to make the first conscious step towards education of character; he has to answer, to answer under a responsibility, to give an answer which will probably lead beyond the alternatives of the question by showing a third possibility which is the right one. To dictate what is good and evil in general is not his business. His business is to answer a concrete question, to answer what is right and wrong in a given situation. This, as I have said, can only happen in an atmosphere of confidence. Confidence, of course, is not won by the strenuous endeavour to win it, but by direct and ingenuous participation in the life of the people one is dealing with - in this case in the life of one's pupils - and by assuming the responsibility which arises from such participation. It is not the educational intention, but it is the meeting which is educationally fruitful. A soul suffering from the contradictions of the world of human society, and of its own physical existence, approaches me with a question. By trying to answer it to the best of my knowledge and conscience, I help it to become a character that actively overcomes the contradictions. (pp. 106-107)

From all we have seen so far it follows that the 'interhuman' - what happens between persons - is central in Buber's anthropology and pedagogy. Buber calls it 'the between'. In his address 'Elements of the interhuman', he identifies five aspects (Buber 1982):

1, The 'social' and the 'interhuman' should not be confused: the 'social' refers to all sorts of communal realities in which the individual can remain isolated and I-It relations may dominate. The 'interhuman' refers exclusively to what Buber calls I-Thou relationships.

2. Being and seeming: a person reveals to another his real being and not what he or she likes the other to perceive as his or her real being.

3. Personal making present: a person turns to another, is aware of the other person, affirms the other person in his or her being (not necessarily in all his or her thoughts and actions) and makes himself or herself accessible - in short, one is fully present with the other person.

4. Imposition and unfolding: a person does not impose 'himself, his opinion and his attitude towards life' on another person (forming copies through propaganda), but rather facilitates the becoming of the unique being of the creature face to face with the creator (growing originals through education).

5. In summary, there are six marks of genuine dialogue:

• The turning of the being - turning my full existence to the full existence of the other.

• Receiving the other by affirming him as a person - even if I disagree with him.

• Bringing myself to the other - opening up and saying what needs to be said.

• Overcoming semblance - moving from 'seeming' to 'being'.

• The 'memorable communal fruitfulness' - expecting, seeking and rejoicing what happens in the 'between', which is unique and could not be experienced by each one individually.

• Being silent - it is not always necessary to speak in order to facilitate genuine dialogue; be silent if appropriate.

According to Buber, it follows that any person who wants to provide the space for the development of character has to understand the sphere of the interhuman and acquire the competences of authentic dialogue. Such persons must be able to engage in deep-level relationships (cf. Buber 1982:332-348; Keim 1990:59-104).

 

Conclusion

It is time to sum up and return to the foundational question provoked by Stückelberger at the beginning of this study: what are the potential and the continuing relevance of Buber's view of character and character formation for today, especially in relation to public leadership and nation-building?

In the context of threatened Jewish identity in the diaspora and the establishment of a Jewish nation in Palestine, Buber fervently fights for character formation as the ultimate and only solid ground for any society.

Buber does not use classical Greek or Roman definitions of virtues and character. He even points to the insufficiency of such classical definitions as 'absolute values', 'voluntary obedience to maxims' or 'the interpenetration of habits' (Buber 1947d:108-111). With statements such as 'personal responsibility for life and the world' and 'the courage to shoulder life', he points the way. What this precisely means is specified in all the aforementioned aspects and can be summarised as follows:

• Character and the education of character must be seen in the framework of 'Hebrew humanism', an anthropology that is shaped by the Hebrew Bible.

• It follows from such an anthropology that inter-relatedness is not just a sociological reality or a pedagogical method, but rather the essence of humanity.

• A person with character responds to God and the demands of life in a responsible way. He or she perceives reality and realises life with his or her entire being.

• All educational efforts have to lead beyond I-It relations toward I-Thou relationships.

• Becoming fully human (developing character) is a journey - Buber outlines the steps and stations of that journey (the way of man).

• Genuine dialogue is the pedagogical centrepiece of character education.

• Such dialogue is characterised by I-Thou relationships, provoking existential responses to existential questions.

• At the heart of such an understanding of the task of character education is the I-Thou encounter with God.

As theologians and leaders of the church, we have to respond to the question, 'what is our task and our mission in any given context, in any society?' Quite often in history and in the present time, Christian ministries and missions have been focusing on inner and private piety in view of some sort of eternal life after death and/or on social actions as a contribution to peace and justice in society. For some this used to be an either … or …, while others have tried to be holistic by emphasising both. It seems to me that Buber's Hebrew humanism points to a third dimension of Christian responsibility in the world: the education of character as the formation of personal integrity and communal responsibility - helping men and women to become truly human, by responding to the call of the Creator and to the demands of life in the here-and-now. That is, in the words of Buber, assuming 'personal responsibility for life and the world' and developing 'the courage to shoulder life' by a life lived 'in the face of God'.

Birgit Ventur accurately concludes her doctoral dissertation with the statement that the centre and the original contribution of Buber's view of education is the 'all-inclusive reference to God and the world' (Ventur 2003:199).² We can learn a lot from this Hebrew humanism of a Jewish wise person.

In conclusion, I want to relate the findings of this research to the role and responsibility of the university and some recent development in higher education. It is the task of the university to train the elite of a given society, especially those in public leadership. At least this used to be the legacy of the European university from its founding in the 11th and 12th centuries (Bologna, Paris and Oxford) up to the modern university in the 19th century (Berlin). Building on the foundation of 'general studies' [studiumgenerale], theologians, lawyers and medical doctors received the education needed for their role in public leadership. Of course, the world became more complex, theology lost its significance and more leadership roles of public relevance developed in areas such as education, economy, industry, technology, media and others. However, the task of the university remains essentially the same: to educate those who will lead a society, a nation in the future and into the future.

If we follow Martin Buber's argument, the education of character must be at the centre of our educational efforts, as the primary nation-building force.

In the last 20 years, we have observed a dramatic shift in higher education - and it drives us away from the ideals of Buber and many other advocates of classical education. More and more we are doing exactly what Buber tells us is insufficient. We focus on partial knowledge and certain skills; in short, we concentrate on 'individual functions' required to fit into the economic system, and by doing so we lose sight of 'the person as a whole'. We have invented impressive new terms like 'fitness for purpose', 'output-orientation' and 'competences' at the cost of earlier values such as virtues, character and wisdom.

Martin Buber outlines the parameters for education that forms the 'the person as a whole', which helps human beings to become fully human. This can happen in the sphere of a true encounter between professors and students characterised by I-Thou relationships. It requires mutual trust that creates a space free of fear. This facilitates true dialogue and enables students and teachers to face reality - realty about their own lives and the world. In turn, these realities will be perceived as a call to respond in a responsible way. In short and in the words of Buber, such education will enable a next generation 'to shoulder life' in 'personal responsibility for life and world'.

Buber's Hebrew humanism even points to the very specific and essential task of faith-based education of character. 'The way of man', the journey towards the wholeness of life begins with the encounter with God, the Creator. It is, therefore, the task of the educator 'to bring man back to his own unity' by putting him 'again face to face with God'.

Above all, this requires presence, personal encounter, true dialogue and trust. Unfortunately, the main currents of higher education drive us in a different direction. The fragmentation and modularisation of curricula, the credit accumulation system and the constant reduction of contact hours undermine personal encounter, deep dialogue and the integration of the whole of life. The proliferation of regulations, policymaking, assessment, reporting and accreditation, requiring immense administrative efforts, draws faculty and student services away from being present with students and forces them to sit behind their computers reading the most recent versions of policies and writing reports. The shift from the 'community-model' to the 'client-model' of education promotes an institutional culture which is characterised more by I-It than by I-Thou relationships. However, exactly such deep inter-personal relationships are the hotbed of genuine education.

It is short-sighted to make economic success and global competition the main purpose of education and to focus all educational efforts on making students fit for that purpose. In his time, Buber called education back to the essential responsibility of character formation as the only reliable foundation of any community, any society and any nation. I am convinced that this is a timeless call, worthy to be heard in our times.

 

Acknowledgements

Competing interests

The author declares that he has no financial or personal relationships which may have inappropriately influenced him in writing this article.

Author's contributions

B.O. is the sole author of this research article.

Ethical considerations

This article followed all ethical standards for a research without direct contact with human or animal subjects.

Funding information

This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.

Data availability statement

Data sharing is not applicable to this article as no new data were created or analysed in this study.

Disclaimer

The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of any affiliated agency of the author.

 

References

Buber, M., 1947a, Between man and man, Kegan Paul, London.         [ Links ]

Buber, M., 1947b, 'Dialogue', Between man and man, pp. 1-39, Kegan Paul, London.         [ Links ]

Buber, M., 1947c, 'Education', Between man and man, pp. 83-103, Kegan Paul, London.         [ Links ]

Buber, M., 1947d, 'The education of character', Between man and man, pp. 104-117, Kegan Paul, London.         [ Links ]

Buber, M., 1957, 'Education and world-view', Pointing the way: Collected essays - Primary source edition, pp. 98-105, Harper & Brothers, New York, NY (Reprint).         [ Links ]

Buber, M., 2002a, 'Zionism and nationalism', in A.D. Biemann (ed.), The Martin Buber reader: Essential writings, pp. 277-280, Palgrave MacMillan, New York, NY.         [ Links ]

Buber, M., 2002b, 'The national home and national policy in Palestine', in A.D. Biemann (ed.), The Martin Buber reader: Essential writings, pp. 281-288, Palgrave MacMillan, New York, NY.         [ Links ]

Buber, M., 2002c, 'Biblical humanism', in A.D. Biemann (ed.), The Martin Buber reader: Essential writings, pp. 44-50, Palgrave MacMillan, New York, NY.         [ Links ]

Buber, M., 2002d, 'Hebrew humanism', in A.D. Biemann (ed.), The Martin Buber reader: Essential writings, pp. 158-165, Palgrave MacMillan, New York, NY.         [ Links ]

Buber, M., 2002e, 'Zionism and "Zionism"', in A.D. Biemann (ed.), The Martin Buber reader: Essential writings, pp. 289-292, Palgrave MacMillan, New York, NY.         [ Links ]

Buber, M., 1964, The way of man: According to the teaching of Hasidism, Citadel Press, New York, NY.         [ Links ]

Buber, M., 1967, A believing humanism: My testament 1902-1965, Simon & Schuster, New York, NY.         [ Links ]

Buber, M., 1982, 'Elements of the interhuman', in J. Stewart (ed.), Bridges not walls, pp. 336-348, Addison-Wesley, Reading.         [ Links ]

Globethics.net, n.d.a, About us, viewed 08 May 2019, from https://www.globethics.net/about-us.         [ Links ]

Globethics.net, n.d.b, Ethics for Institutions Programme, viewed 08 May 2019, from https://www.globethics.net/institutions.         [ Links ]

Keim, W.S., 1990, 'The education of character: Implications of Buber for the student services profession', PhD thesis, College of Education, Oregon State University, viewed 08 May 2019, from http://ir.library.oregonstate.edu/xmlui/handle/1957/38228.         [ Links ]

Kohn, H., 1961, Martin Buber. Sein Werk und seine Zeit, Melzer Verlag, Köln.         [ Links ]

Kuschel, K.-J., 2015, Martin Buber - Seine Herausforderung für das Christentum, Gütersloher Verlagshaus, Gütersloh.         [ Links ]

Stückelberger, C., 2016a, 'Integrität: Die Tugend der Tugenden. Der christliche Beitrag zu einer globalen Tugend für Wirtschaft und Politik', farewell lecture at the University of Basel, Department of Theology on 02 November 2016, unpublished manuscript.         [ Links ]

Stückelberger, C., 2016b, 'Integrity - The virtue of virtues', in C. Stückelberger, W. Fust & O. Ike (eds.), Global ethics for leadership, Values and virtues for life, pp. 311-328, Globethics.net, Geneva.         [ Links ]

Stückelberger, C., 2016c, Global ethics applied, Vol. 4: Bioethics, religion, leadership, Globethics.net, Geneva, viewed 08 May 2019, from https://www.globethics.net/documents/4289936/19534065/GE_Readers_4_web.pdf.         [ Links ]

Stückelberger, C., Fust, W. & Ike, O. (eds.), 2016, Global ethics for leadership. Values and virtues for life, Globethics.net, Geneva, viewed 08 May 2019, from https://www.globethics.net/documents/4289936/13403236/GE_Global_13_web.pdf/.         [ Links ]

Ventur, B., 2003, Martin Bubers pädagogisches Denken und Handeln, Neukirchener Verlag, Neukirchen.         [ Links ]

Volkmann, M., 2005, 'Martin Bubers hebräischer Humanismus', in M. Friedenthal-Haase & R. Koerrenz (eds.), Martin Buber: Bildung, Menschenbild und Hebräischer Humanismus, pp. 181-193, Ferdinand Schöningh, Paderborn.         [ Links ]

 

 

Correspondence:
Bernhard Ott
bernhard.ott@atticstudio.ch

Received: 06 Jan. 2020
Accepted: 27 Feb. 2020
Published: 20 May 2020

 

 

Note: Special collection entitled Christian Leadership, sub-edited by Wessel Bentley (UNISA).
1 . This is stated even more explicitly in the German version of the lecture (Stückelberger 2016a:1-2).
2 . Translation by Bernhard Ott. Original text in German: 'Dieses Eigentliche ist in dem umfassenden Gottes- und Weltbezug zu sehen, der Bubers Erziehungsdenken prägt'.

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ORIGINAL RESEARCH

 

Does the Christian church have any guidance to offer in solving the global problems we are faced with today?

 

 

D. Etienne de Villiers

Department of Department of Systematic Theology and Church History, Faculty of Theology, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa

Correspondence

 

 

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ABSTRACT

In his book, 21 Lessons for the 21st century, the historian Yuval Noah Harari devoted a chapter to the question of whether traditional religions could provide any guidance in solving the momentous global problems confronting us today. He drew the rather negative conclusion that they do not have any constructive contribution to make in solving these problems. This article made an original contribution to scholarly research by, from the perspective of Christian Ethics, subjecting this recently expressed view of Harari to critical scrutiny and by exploring the guidance the Christian church could offer in solving global problems we are faced with today, such as nuclear war, ecological collapse and technological disruption. These research objectives were realised by addressing four questions: (1) does the church have a responsibility to provide guidance in this regard? (2) What is the nature of the guidance the church ought to provide? (3) What are the factors hindering the church in providing such guidance? (4) Which conditions need to be fulfilled for the church to provide meaningful guidance? The answers provided to these questions were substantiated by drawing on the findings of published Christian ethical and social scientific research. The conclusion drawn from the article is that the church could today provide meaningful moral guidance in solving global problems. It should then, however, depart from an unbiased understanding of the message of the Bible and effectively deal with certain hindrances preventing it from providing adequate moral guidance.

Keywords: Church; Global problems; Christian ethics; Moral guidance; Responsibility of church.

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Introduction

In his latest book, 21 Lessons for the 21st century, historian Yuval Noah Harari has devoted an entire chapter to address the question whether traditional religions can provide guidance in solving the momentous global problems confronting us today - problems such as nuclear war, ecological collapse and technological disruption. He draws a rather negative conclusion: 'when it comes to solving, rather than stoking the global problems of the twenty-first century, they don't seem to offer much' (Harari 2018:138). The first reason he provides for his conclusion is that traditional religions are largely irrelevant when it comes to the all-important technical and policy problems involved. They just do not have the expertise to provide technical and policy solutions (Harari 2018:128-133). The second reason is that the relevance they do have with regard to identity problems specifically causes them to obstruct rather than contribute to the solution of the global problems. As institutions with expertise in building strong mass identities, they today allow themselves to be used by governments to preserve unique national identities. As handmaids of modern nationalism, they make it even harder to transcend national differences and find a global solution to the threats of nuclear war, ecological collapse and technological disruption (Harari 2018:137-138).

In this article, I critically respond to Harari's view, from a Christian ethical perspective, by addressing four questions specifically with regard to the guidance that the Christian church could provide in solving global threats. These questions are: (1) does the church have a responsibility to provide guidance in this regard? (2) What is the nature of the guidance the church ought to provide? (3) What are the factors hindering the church in providing such guidance? (4) Which conditions need to be fulfilled for the church to provide meaningful guidance? I substantiate my answers to these questions by drawing on the findings of published Christian ethical and social scientific research.

Before addressing these questions, I want to add that for the purposes of this article, I understand the concept of 'church' inclusively. With 'church', I do not only refer to church denominations but also to theological institutions, ecumenical organisations, local congregations, voluntary Christian societies and individual Christians (cf. De Villiers 2013:96-97). I have in the article, for the most part, the global church in these six manifestations in mind but do occasionally also touch on the South African church and the specific situation in which it finds itself today.

 

Does the church have a responsibility to provide guidance?

A negative answer to this question comes from quite different quarters.

Harari himself belongs to those secular sceptics who do not see any constructive role for the church to play with regard to the solution of global problems. From what he writes in his book, it is clear that he is one of those academics who believe that modernisation has resulted in the irreversible differentiation of autonomous social orders such as politics, the economy, science and technology, in which traditional moral values do not have a role to play anymore (for a discussion of social differentiation, see De Villiers 2018b:165-173). For him, the only relevant problems that need to be addressed in solving global challenges are technical and policy problems, to be tackled by purely functional means of a political, economic, scientific and technological nature. He nowhere acknowledges the fact that ethical considerations should also be taken into account while solving these problems. With that, he takes sides with political realists, neo-liberal capitalists and technicists who are convinced that the momentous global challenges of our time could be solved in a purely functionalist manner (cf. De Villiers 2018b:187-189).

The Achilles heel in Harari's argument (see Harari 2018:127-138) is that he completely ignored the widespread realisation, especially after the Second World War, that reliance on purely functionalist considerations often does not contribute to the solution of global problems but rather tends to aggravate them. This has led to a new appreciation of the indispensable role of moral values in providing normative frameworks within which political, economic and technological activities have to be channelled. Two examples can be stated in support. The Nazis' political goal of the racial purification of the German nation at all costs led to the extermination of 6 m Jews during the Second World War. In response, the United Nations, in 1948, ratified the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, based on the recognition of the equal dignity of all human beings, as a moral and legal instrument to guide politics and to prevent the repetition of such atrocities in the future. Contrary to expectations, economic globalisation, fuelled by neoliberal capitalism and rapid technological development, has not brought about worldwide prosperity but has resulted in the enrichment of a minority and the impoverishment of many, as well as the intensification of ecological devastation. As a result, there is today widespread recognition that age-old moral principles such as justice and moderation need to guide economic and technological activities.

Should we recognise that moral considerations play an indispensable role in solving global problems, the Christian religion - and other religions - cannot be so easily left out of the equation as Harari wants us to believe. After all, the Christian church has made major contributions to our contemporary understanding of moral notions such as the equal dignity of all human beings, justice and moderation.

There are, however, not only secular sceptics who question the responsibility of the church to contribute to the solution of global problems but also religious sceptics within the church itself. Firstly, there are those Christians who believe that to expect the church to become involved in solving global problems is to tempt it to divert from its true mission, namely, to devote itself to the proclamation of the gospel of the salvation from sin and eternal damnation through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. They take it for granted that the new life in Christ entails being actively involved in typically religious activities such as attendance of church services, bible study, prayer and witness to non-believers.

Secondly, there are also those Christians, who, like Stanley Hauerwas, accept the fact that Christian life entails more than involvement in only religious activities. They are convinced that disciples of Christ should also, like Christ, live a life of moral righteousness and selflessly serve their fellow human beings (for Hauerwas's view on discipleship, see Hauerwas 1981:83-85, 2001:523). Discipleship, however, does not in Hauerwas' view include the responsibility to join initiatives to promote social justice in public life in liberal societies such as the United States. The reason is that as a result of the separation of state and religion in liberal societies, conceptions of justice peculiar to particular religions are not allowed to influence public life. Only the liberal conception of justice, which is regarded as universally valid, is accepted in the public sphere. However, a church promoting social justice in a liberal sense of the word does not serve the cause of Christ, but the cause of political liberalism (Hauerwas 1991:45-68). Instead of undertaking all sorts of social ethical initiatives in public life, the church should rather, in Hauerwas's (1997; for a critical discussion of Hauerwas's view, see De Villiers 2003:24-26) view, serve as a model of how a true community should look like:

The task of the church [is] to pioneer those institutions and practices that the wider society has not learned as forms of justice …The church, therefore, must act as paradigmatic community in the hope of providing some indication of what the world can be, but is not …The church does not have, but rather is a social ethic. (pp. 142-143, 24-26)

The problem with restricting the Christian responsibility of the church to religious activities, or activities relating to moral formation and service to fellow human beings, and denying that it also relates to transformational activities aiming at a more just and peaceful world, is that the Biblical message of the Kingdom of God points in another direction. Already in the creation stories of Genesis, God's care for the whole of his creation, and the comprehensive responsibility he bestows on human beings to look after his creation as his stewards are proclaimed. In the prophetic books of the Old Testament, the vision of the coming peaceable Kingdom of God is central. Peace or 'shalom' in the Old Testament does not only refer to the absence of violence or war, nor only to inner peace and peace with God, but also to the prevalence of justice and harmony, of comprehensive well-being, in society at large (cf. Is 32:1; Ps 72:3). 'Shalom' also comprises harmony between human beings and nature, and harmony within nature itself (Is 11:6-9). The coming peaceable Kingdom of God is thus understood as a Kingdom in which the reign of God goes hand in hand with comprehensive and multidimensional peace (for the reference to 'shalom' in the Old Testament see Dietrich 1987:134-161).

It is the message of the New Testament that the peaceable Kingdom of God has broken into this world in the person and actions of Jesus Christ (cf. Lk 2:14; Mt 4:17; Eph 2:14, 17). Through his death on the cross and his resurrection, he brought about reconciliation between God and human beings, broke the power of sin and opened up the possibility of a new, righteous and peaceful life. As with this reconciliation, the main cause of comprehensive disruption in the world, namely sin, has lost its domination; Paul does not shy away from saying that 'God was in Christ reconciling the world with himself' (2 Cor 5:19).

Just as important, however, is the message of the Bible that we as Christians are called to witness God's reign of a comprehensive peace that broke into this world in the life and death of Christ. Paul stresses in 2 Corinthians 5 that God 'has enlisted us in [the] service of reconciliation', has 'entrusted us with the message of reconciliation' (2 Cor 5: 19-20). Christians have the responsibility to, through word and deed, live out this reconciliation in all the relationships in which they are involved. They have the responsibility as the church to be an alternative community that demonstrates to the world what the new life in Christ entails. But, they also have the responsibility, in the workplace and in society, and when they have the opportunity to do so even in the wider world, to strive to heal broken relationships, restore moral standards, combat human need, overcome injustice and care for the natural environment.

One can also put it this way: although the coming of God's kingdom entails more than the flourishing of living beings, it is certainly part of what God intended. The words of Jesus in John 10:10: 'I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full', among others, provide a concise formulation of the intent of the coming of God's Kingdom that commenced in his own life and ministry. These words more specifically refer to the flourishing of human beings. In light of the full Biblical message on the Kingdom of God, one could, however, assert that God wishes the flourishing of living beings on earth and also expects Christians to support initiatives that contribute to it (cf. De Villiers 2018a:8). As this wish of God also applies to living beings in the future, we have a corresponding responsibility to now do what we can to contribute to the flourishing of living beings in the future.

 

What is the nature of the church's guidance?

How should the church fulfil its comprehensive stewardship responsibility when it comes to global problems? From what has been said so far, it is clear that the advice it can offer does not pertain to technical and policy means in solving such problems but rather to the moral guidance it could provide.

It is important to distinguish between two levels of moral guidance with regard to the solution of global problems the church could offer. The first is the intra-church level of moral guidance to denominations, congregations, Christian non-governmental organisations and individual Christians. The second is the extra-church level of moral guidance to the public, companies, national and international agencies, and governments.

When it comes to intra-church moral guidance, the church can draw not only on the Bible as a source but also on the 2000-year-old tradition of theological reflection and church proclamation on moral issues relating to inter alia war, poverty, injustice, the protection of the natural environment and a moderate lifestyle. The church should, of course, be careful to not directly apply Biblical guidelines to modern problems of which the authors of the Bible did not and could not have any knowledge. Explication and interpretation of relevant Biblical material could, however, play an important motivational role in making members of the church aware of the responsibility they also have with regard to the global problems we face today and in inspiring them to contribute to their solution. It could also provide moral orientation on present-day global problems by stirring the imagination in finding new and original avenues in tackling these problems. The Old Testament message on the creation of all human beings in the image of God, God's appointment of human beings as stewards of his creation, the comprehensive peace that characterises God's Kingdom and justice entailing special care for the poor and the needy comes to mind. The same is true of the love commandment in the New Testament and the radical message of the Sermon on the Mount on reconciling with someone who has a grudge against you, breaking the vicious circle of retaliation, loving the enemy, not making money a priority, not being anxious about material needs and not judging others but admitting your own shortcomings. Normative analogies could even be drawn between the church's new life in Christ as sketched in the New Testament (such as the realisation of visible unity, joining natural and cultural differences into life-giving richness, and real reconciliation, overcoming deep divisions and structures of alienation) and the new national and global societies we should strive for in overcoming the deep racial, gender, cultural, class and national divisions we experience today (Smit 2002:8; cf. De Villiers 2017:139).

Apart from explicating Biblical material, the church could invite experts to inform members on pressing national and global problems and stimulate discussion on such issues among them. It could also initiate projects, which on a small scale contribute to the solution of a pressing national or global problem, such as assisting poor people to start a vegetable garden, crossing racial and class borders by maintaining active partnerships with congregations and welfare organisations operating in poor and segregated neighbourhoods, organising cleaning up operations in polluted areas and providing containers at the church for recyclable refuse and encouraging members to make use of them. The value of such projects lies not only in the fact that they provide models that could on a larger scale be emulated by church members in different contexts but also in cultivating, in especially the youth, the virtues and skills needed to successfully tackle such problems.

When it comes to extra-church moral guidance regarding the solution of global problems, the church is faced with a different situation. It has to take into account the fact that different social domains, such as politics, the economy, science and technology, because of modernisation, freed themselves from the control of traditional religious and moral values and operate in accordance with their own autonomous sets of functional and non-religious moral values. One of the results of this differentiation of different social orders with their own set of values is that in liberal democracies, the principle of the separation of state and religion is recognised, which means that the state may not favour any particular religion or base any legislation on religious beliefs.

What are the implications of this development for the extra-church moral guidance on global issues the church could provide? We have already seen that people like Stanley Hauerwas regard the predominance of secular values in liberal democracies as an insurmountable stumbling block for any effort by the church to exert a public influence regarding social justice issues. The Dutch theologian Gerrit de Kruijf has a different view. He does come to the conclusion that the Barthian approach of explicitly Christian prophetic witness in public on political and economic matters is not appropriate and, in any case, fruitless in contemporary liberal democracies (De Kruijf 1994:40-52, 236-240). Should Christians want to responsibly contribute in such societies to policy formation, they, in his opinion, should not make pronouncements on societal issues on the basis of their own 'thick' or strong Christian morality but should do so rather on the basis of the 'thin' cultural values shared by all in plural societies (De Kruijf 1994:194-195).¹

In response to the views of both Hauerwas and De Kruijf, I would like to say that much depends on the society the church finds itself in. In liberal democracies like France and the United States, which are characterised by a 'hard' or strict separation of state and religion and where the liberal prejudice against introducing religious views in the public sphere is strong, expressing Christian moral views on national and global issues in public would mostly be counter-productive. In democracies like South Africa where the constitution demands a 'soft' or more lenient separation of state and religion, the media often carry discussions on religious matters, and the majority of the population are Christian and understand Christian language, there is still considerable room for expressing Christian views on, among others, global problems in public. Such discussions could even contribute to shifts in public opinion on such problems.

De Kruijf, however, is in my opinion right in saying that Christians could hardly expect legislation in liberal democracies to be based on strong Christian values. Legislation - for example, on abortion - has to allow different-minded groups and individuals to act in accordance with their own consciences. And the same is true in most workplaces. Christian employees cannot expect their company or government departments, which employ people from different creeds and cultures, to be run in accordance with Christian moral values. In such situations, they have to base their arguments in favour of certain policies or actions, for example, to counter global warming, on shared moral values subscribed to by people from different religious and cultural backgrounds.

What do we then make of Hauerwas's objection that Christians, when they subscribe to shared moral values, do not promote the Christian cause, but the cause of liberalism? First of all, I want to respond that it is not true that the shared moral values to which Christians have to relate their arguments are always liberal in nature. In social domains like the economy, science, healthcare and technology and the professions and organisations that operate within them, shared moral values, often expressed in professional and organisational codes, differ from profession to profession and from organisation to organisation and change over time. The moral consensus with which Christians have to work in such cases is always social-context-specific. The same applies to politics. Even different democracies are not always based on exactly the same shared moral values. Differences in the number and mix of human rights that are recognised in the constitutions of different democracies attest to that.

More importantly, I have a problem with Hauerwas's view that the actions of Christians should always be based on distinctively Christian moral notions. I would rather agree with Nigel Biggar when he stresses that '[i]ntegrity, not distinctiveness is the point' (Biggar 2011:9). The reason why one should not overstress distinctiveness is that it is, for the most part, an accident of history. To quote Bigger, 'whether or not what the Christian ethicist has to say is distinctive is dependent on the happenstance of whom he is talking with and what he is talking about' (Biggar 2011:8). Far more important than whether Christians in particular circumstances base their arguments on distinctively Christian moral notions or rather on shared moral notions is whether doing so enables them to promote a cause that is commensurate with their basic Christian moral beliefs.

This conclusion regarding the priority that the integrity of Christian moral notions has over their distinctiveness is of extreme importance when it comes to the moral guidance the church could provide outside its own sphere. The church can in its own sphere take a moral stance on global issues that motivate and guide its own members and can initiate projects that on a small scale contribute to the solution of such issues. However, it remains true that the scale of global problems is of such magnitude that world-wide cooperation and coordination is needed in order to be of significance. Yuval Harari is right: global problems need global answers (Harari 2018:111). Should the church wish to effectively contribute to the solution of these problems, it just has to find common moral ground with other role-players and accordingly work with them. It has to do so because only by doing so can it fulfil its responsibility towards promoting the protection and flourishing of all life in God's creation.

 

Which factors hinder the church in providing guidance?

It is an undeniable reality that in many churches worldwide, very little, if anything, is seen of this twofold moral guidance the church can provide regarding global problems. Why is this the case? I would like to briefly highlight some of the main hindrances for providing this moral guidance.

Ideological hindrances

Yuval Harari is of the opinion that the grip nationalist ideologies today have on religions render them incapable of providing any meaningful guidance with regard to global problems. One can rightfully object that he overly generalises and that many examples can be given of Christian churches not serving nationalist interests. This does not take away from the fact that many churches in the past fell for the temptation of supporting nationalist ideologies; the Afrikaans churches in South Africa during the apartheid era and the Deutsche Christen in Germany during the reign of national socialism, being two blatant examples from the recent past. In the United States, Donald Trump can today count on the fervent support of many evangelical churches and their members for his clearly nationalist ideology of 'America first', which threatens to undermine world peace.²

Doctrinal hindrances

I have already mentioned certain doctrinal views on salvation and the mission of the church that do not recognise the responsibility of the church to contribute to the solution of global problems. In especially the Reformed tradition, the responsibility of the church to also contribute to the holistic transformation of society has been recognised from the start. The goal of this transformational responsibility of the church has, however, been mostly understood as 'christianising' the society. A completely christianised society is one in which the Lordship of Christ is explicitly recognised and the moral guidelines of the Bible are regarded as the final measure for policy formation in all spheres of life

As we have already noticed, this exclusively Christian approach to the transformation of society, whether national or global, has lost its legitimacy in modernity. This leaves many churches, also in South Africa, in great uncertainty about the appropriate way to respond to public issues.

A still influential view of God's providential rule in this world is one in which a sharp distinction is made between God's actions in this world and our own human actions. To truly believe in God's providence, according to this view, is to wholly rely on his intervention, and not on human initiative. An extreme example is that of those Christian groups that do not vaccinate their children against measles or polio, because it, according to them, implies a lack of faith in God's providence.³ One of the implications of this understanding of God's providence is that for the church to take co-responsibility for the solution of global problems is to arrogantly deny our total dependence on God for determining the future of humankind.

Hindrances relating to church-centredness

Many factors contribute to church-centredness. One factor is fear of losing one's distinctively Christian identity. We have already taken note of Hauerwas's view that the church jeopardises its distinctive Christian identity by becoming involved in public issues in liberal democracies.

Another important contemporary factor is the struggle for institutional survival. Many denominations and congregations all over the world, but especially in Europe, have over the last century experienced a serious loss in membership numbers and income as a result of secularisation (see Joas 2012:34-36; Taylor 2007:513-514). To a lesser extent, South African churches have also experienced this, especially after the introduction of the new democratic dispensation in 1994. The introduction of this new political dispensation finally broke down the cultural isolation during the previous political dispensation and also opened the flood doors for secularising influences. The loss of membership numbers and income often leads to a survival-mode and the pre-occupation with projects that could secure the institutional survival of one's own denomination or congregation.

A related factor is a need for personal and social security. Especially in a social environment that is experienced as threatening their personal security and the security of their family or cultural group, people turn to their church denomination or their congregation in the hope that it will provide a 'safe haven'.⁴ The security they seek from the church is not so much of a physical nature but of an emotional and spiritual nature. They expect the pastor to comfort them, ensure them of God's continued protection and, at least for the duration of the sermon, help them to totally forget about the unpleasant reality outside the doors of the church. What they definitely do not want the pastor to do is to remind them of their responsibility to constructively contribute to the solution of societal and global problems.

Hindrances relating to pluralisation

Especially after the Second World War, modernisation processes have had a strong individuating effect in the Western world, meaning that individuals have increasingly adopted their own distinctive lifestyles and sets of beliefs, including moral beliefs. Charles Taylor in his monumental study on secularisation with the title A secular age referred to the 'individuating revolution' experienced in contemporary Western culture during the last 70 years or so (Taylor 2007:473). Among others, the result has been a dramatic increase in the plurality of moral views held by Christians, even among those who are members of the same church. During especially the last two decades, the pluralising impact of modernisation on the moral stances of Christians could also be clearly detected in South Africa. It is not only the case that a whole spectrum of views can today be found among Christians on 'big' ethical issues like same-sex relationships, abortion, euthanasia, capital punishment, climate change, the use of nuclear energy and fossil fuels, the impact of social media and animal rights but also that they differ quite significantly on what an appropriate personal Christian lifestyle entails.

This, of course, creates challenges for churches. It is difficult to meaningfully preach on ethical matters without annoying at least some members. The temptation is, therefore, to avoid preaching on such matters, or to do so in such a vague or abstract manner that very little ethical orientation is provided. It is also difficult to take a clear common moral stance on important social and global issues or to undertake joint projects based on moral concerns as the necessary moral consensus is lacking.

Hindrances related to fundamentalism

Fundamentalism refers to an aggressive way of responding to the threats modernisation poses for religion. The term 'fundamentalism' was coined to identify a counter-movement against theological liberalism and cultural modernism initiated among conservative Protestants in the United States and Great Britain in the late 19th and early 20th century. This counter-movement strongly defended the inerrancy of the Bible and orthodox Christian doctrines. Today, it is more generally used to refer to the radical defence of religious convictions against the undermining effect of modernisation. Part of most fundamentalism is the resolute insistence that a particular version of religion is absolutely true. The flip side of this approach is that other versions of the same religion and other religions are often condemned as absolutely false. It goes without saying that churches with fundamentalist sentiments would not be willing to work together with other churches and religious groups to find moral consensus regarding the solution of global problems.

 

Which conditions need to be fulfilled?

The church would only be able to provide adequate moral guidance regarding the solution of global problems when it succeeds in overcoming the above-mentioned hindrances. The conditions that need to be fulfilled are discussed in the following text.

Introducing doctrinal reform

When certain doctrinal beliefs are out of tune with the existing social reality or undermine the responsibility of the church to provide moral guidance on societal problems, an option to reform these doctrines should be considered. Such a proposal may sound radical, but was the fact that fundamental changes had taken place in society in the past not often one of the reasons for doctrinal reform in the church? Martin Luther in proposing drastic doctrinal reform during the Reformation responded to malpractices and doctrinal distortions in the church, and also to changes in society: the emergence of a middle class of predominantly merchants who cherished their independence from authoritarian powers and a new sense of appreciation of the initiative and dignity of the individual since the start of the Renaissance.⁵ Luther, like most church reformers, did not fabricate his proposals of doctrinal reform all by himself but discovered, retrieved and interpreted neglected insights from especially the Biblical tradition that would be applicable in the circumstances of his own time. In the same way, we should retrieve and interpret insights from the Christian tradition that would help us alter doctrinal beliefs that prevent the church in optimally fulfilling its comprehensive mission in the world.

I already mentioned the need to bring doctrinal beliefs about the purely spiritual nature of salvation in Christ and the mission of the church more in line with what the Bible teaches about the comprehensive and inclusive Kingdom of God and the comprehensive mission of the church that goes hand in hand with it. But what should we do with regard to the doctrinal belief, central especially to Reformed confessions, that the church should strive to attain the full Christianisation of every aspect of society? This belief has not only become highly problematic in contemporary societies characterised by the differentiation of social orders, including the separation of state and religion, but has also become almost impossible to realise in such societies. Should the conclusion drawn earlier in the article from the biblical message on the Kingdom of God that God wishes the flourishing of living beings on earth and also expect Christians to support initiatives that contribute to it be correct, there is no reason to persist on the fact that Christianisation is the goal of the transformational task of the church regarding society. This goal could and, in my opinion, should be supplanted with that of the flourishing of living beings on earth. This opens the possibility for the church to cooperate with and contribute to all initiatives, even those of non-Christians, that enhance the optimal flourishing of living beings on earth.

There is also no need to accept the doctrinal belief that trust in God's providence in future excludes all initiative from our side. This doctrinal belief does not only fly in the face of the growing contemporary awareness that we humans are, to a large extent, responsible for the dire condition of the world, and should take full responsibility for improving it, but also contradicts what the Bible teaches about the work of the Holy Spirit. Paul, after exhorting the Philippians to maintain a life of obedience to God, adds these extraordinary words: 'you must work out your salvation in fear and trembling; for it is God who works in you, inspiring both the will and the deed, for his own chosen purpose' (Phlp 2:12-13). These words of Paul in a striking manner sum up what the New Testament teaches about the work of the Holy Spirit: he guides us not only in a hidden way working in and at us but also with us in the sense of together with us. It is typical of the work of the Holy Spirit that what he works in us is always carried out as our own work. Thus, as Christians, we can and should take full responsibility to contribute to the salvation of our world, while at the same time acknowledging that we have to give full credit to the Holy Spirit for guiding and enabling us to do so.⁶

Resisting church-centredness

The church would only be able to provide moral guidance with regard to a global problem to the extent that it succeeds in adequately resisting factors contributing to church-centredness.

With regard to the contributing factor of an institutional survival mode, I want to point out that the church should avoid regarding the process of secularisation as an unstoppable one, which will inevitably lead to the total demise of all religions, including the Christianity. Although both Europe and the United States have experienced extreme modernisation, the churches in the United States have not been affected so much by secularisation as the churches in Europe. In fact, in the period from 1800 to 1950, during which the membership of the European churches steadily declined, membership of churches in the United States grew steadily. To some extent, this can be ascribed to the influx of immigrants; yet, according to social scientists, it should be ascribed in the first instance to the early separation of church and state, which encouraged freedom of religion and contributed to a vibrant and variegated religious life (Joas 2012:36-39; cf. also De Villiers 2018b:157-165). Totally avoiding political interference in its internal matters and effectively catering for the growing variety of doctrinal and moral beliefs and spiritual needs of members are two ways in which a denomination could retain member interest and loyalty.

With regard to the tendency of members to expect their congregation or denomination to be a safe haven, I want to remark that pastors and church leaders should not as a result of this expectation fall for the temptation to suffice with priestly comforting. They should also equip their members to, in the midst of difficult circumstances in the workplace and the wider society, fulfil their kingly office by setting an example of what it means to live a morally upright life, as well as their prophetic office of providing moral guidance and constructive criticism with regard to global problems. Should churches succeed in doing this, chances are that not only their members but also people who are alienated from the church would recognise the comprehensive relevancy of the Christian message and be attracted to the church.

Overcoming the negative effects of pluralisation

No effective initiative contributing to the solution of a particular global problem could be undertaken without adequate agreement among participants on the moral norms guiding the initiative. The same is true for the church. To overcome the negative effects of pluralisation in its midst, the church should realise the need to first reach adequate moral agreement when it considers undertaking projects. The search for moral agreement could only succeed when all role-players are in one way or another involved, have the opportunity to make inputs and buy into final agreements. To be realistic, in many denominations and congregations, it would often not be possible to reach adequate moral agreement among all the role-players. Why not then allow those members in the church who feel strongly about undertaking a particular project to initiate it and recruit other members in the denomination or congregation, sharing their moral convictions, to participate? And, should a church project not come from the ground, why not encourage church members to join action groups and societies outside the church promoting a cause they support?

Overcoming fundamentalism

Seeking moral agreement and cooperating with fellow-Christians and non-Christians who do not fully agree with my moral views presupposes not absolutising my own moral values. To de-absolutise one's own moral views, to not regard these views as absolutely true, is one way of overcoming fundamentalism. But does this proposal not undermine the convictional certainty that goes hand in hand with religious belief? It is undoubtedly true that religious convictions, whether moral or not, require unconditional commitment from believers. Having convictional certainty on a particular ethical view does, however, not imply the epistemological certainty, in the sense of epistemological infallibility, of this view. Even Christians should be open to criticism of their moral views and be willing to change or adapt them when they do not stand up to criticism.

Another implication is that Christians ought to be much more tolerant or hospitable⁷ - to use a concept from the Christian tradition - over against fellow-Christians and non-Christians who have views on ethical issues that differ from their own. This tolerance or hospitality should not be misunderstood as indifference but rather be based on the acknowledgement that we are all truth-seekers who only have limited access to the truth and constantly need to test our own moral views against the arguments of those who differ from us. Christians should, therefore, be motivated to actively engage in constructive critical discussions with those having different views in the hope of reaching a stronger moral agreement.

Resisting ideological allegiances

The church should constantly be vigilant against the disruptive influences of ideological allegiances in its midst. The identification with the interests and views of one's own political party, cultural group, class or gender has a way of inadvertently colouring one's moral views on, among others, global problems. A denomination or congregation whose members largely belong to a certain political party, cultural group or class would be especially prone to support moral views that serve the interests of their own group. Against this temptation, the church should uncompromisingly adhere to and proclaim to their members the message that they owe their highest allegiance to Christ and should at all times maintain the inclusiveness and impartiality of Christian morality.

 

Conclusion

I have in this article addressed the question, 'does the Christian church have any guidance to offer in solving the global problems we are faced with today?' The conclusion is: the question can be answered in the affirmative in as far as the church has meaningful moral guidance to offer. The church should then, however, depart from an unbiased understanding of the message of the Bible and effectively deal with the hindrances preventing it from providing adequate moral guidance. The proposals made in this article are unavoidably of a general nature. The difficult challenge remains of working out how the church could provide concrete moral guidance with regard to the solution of each of these global problems.

 

Acknowledgements

Competing interests

The author declares that he has no financial or personal relationships that may have inappropriately influenced him in writing this article.

Author's contributions

D.E.d.V. is the sole author of this research article.

Ethical considerations

This article followed all ethical standards for a research without direct contact with human or animal subjects.

Funding information

This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.

Data availability statement

Data sharing is not applicable to this article as no new data were created or analysed during this study.

Disclaimer

The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of any affiliated agency of the author.

 

References

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Biggar, N., 2011, Behaving in public: How to do Christian ethics, William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, Grand Rapids, MI.         [ Links ]

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De Villiers, E., 2013, 'Public theology in the South African context', Journal of Theology and Religion in Africa 37(1), 83-107.         [ Links ]

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Harari, Y.N., 2018, 21 Lessons for the 21st century, Jonathan Cape, London.         [ Links ]

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Hauerwas, S., 1981, Community of character: Toward a constructive Christian social ethic, University of Notre Dame Press, Notre Dame.         [ Links ]

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Moltmann, J., 1974, Man: Christian anthropology in the conflicts of the present, S.P.C.K., London.         [ Links ]

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Correspondence:
D. Etienne de Villiers
etienne.devilliers@up.ac.za

Received: 15 Oct. 2019
Accepted: 13 Mar. 2020
Published: 03 June 2020

 

 

Note: Special collection entitled Christian Leadership, sub-edited by Wessel Bentley (UNISA).
1 . The social scientist Peter Beyer has a rather similar view in this regard. He is of the opinion that the predominance of globalisation as the contemporary outcome of the process of modernisation does not necessarily mean that the public role of religion has been played out. It can still play an important role in strengthening public protest against political and economic aberrations. It should then, however, take its point of departure in liberal moral values like equality and freedom, as is the case in liberal Christianity (e.g. the WCC) (Beyer 2001:273).
2 . John de Gruchy points out the tendency in many African states in the post-independence period for ruling elites of political, church and business leaders, often belonging to one dominant ethnic group, to form informal coalitions to perpetuate their own privileged status. 'This often led to the co-option of the churches as uncritical servants of the state, giving legitimacy to policies which were morally suspect, socially disastrous, and counter-productive to Christian witness' (De Gruchy 1995:170).
3 . In the eighties of the previous century, a well-publicised case in point was the refusal of conservative Reformed Christians in the Dutch town of Staphorst who on similar grounds refused to inoculate their children against polio.
4 . Jürgen Moltmann uses the term 'inward emigration' to describe the tendency of church members to avoid engagement with the problems of society and seek solace in the church as a safe haven (Moltmann 1974:37-41).
5 . For the role of the emergence of a class of merchants, an anti-monarchal attitude and the emphasis on the individual played in the Renaissance see Skinner (1979:69), and for the relation between the humanism of the Renaissance and the Reformation see Koopman (1962:38-41).
6 . The Dutch theologian AA van Ruler in this regard makes a distinction between Christology and Pneumatology. While it is, in his opinion, appropriate to characterise the redemptive work of Christ as a substitution for human initiative, it is not the case when it comes to the work of the Holy Spirit. It would be more appropriate to use the term 'theonomic reciprocity' than 'substitution' to describe the work of the Holy Spirit (Van Ruler 1964:205-227; cf. De Villiers 1978:172-174).
7 . For a discussion on hospitality as a Christian virtue, see Smith and Carvill (2000:79-103).

^rND^sBeyer^nP.^rND^sDe Villiers^nE.^rND^sDe Villiers^nE.^rND^sDe Villiers^nE.^rND^sDe Villiers^nE.^rND^sDietrich^nW.^rND^sHauerwas^nS.^rND^sVan Ruler^nA.A.^rND^1A01^nSebastiaan^svan Dyk^rND^1A01^nSebastiaan^svan Dyk^rND^1A01^nSebastiaan^svan Dyk

ORIGINAL RESEARCH

 

Racism amongst white Afrikaner adolescents: The challenge of I-Thou (Buber) relations

 

 

Sebastiaan van Dyk

Department of Practical Theology, Faculty of Theology, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa

Correspondence

 

 

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ABSTRACT

This article was derived from my doctoral thesis, 'Post-apartheid racism among Afrikaans speaking urban adolescents: A narrative-pastoral reflection'. The impetus for this study was the seemingly increasing occurrences of racism amongst post-apartheid Afrikaans-speaking urban adolescents in South Africa by taking a narrative practical theological perspective on the matter to help build meaningful cross-cultural dialogue. This study explored the level of dialogue of the participants using a postfoundational paradigm. Two questions guided the investigation: (1) How deeply embedded are objectifying of cross-cultural relationships? (2) How can we instigate honest dialogue aiding us in being more aware of our biases to embrace diversity and going forward as a unity in diversity? This study was conducted in 2016 amongst white Afrikaans-speaking urban adolescents living in Pretoria-East, South Africa. I had four group conversations (A, B, C and D) with my co-researchers (research participants), with six to eight adolescents per group. I made use of certain empirical research methods, such as narrative interviewing and group discussions. From an epistemological perspective, a postfoundational, social constructionist perspective, including an auto-ethnographical approach, was followed. The research indicated that Afrikaner adolescents could live life unquestioned from a position of power and objectivity that was culturally inherited. It was found that by objectifying relationships (I-It), diverse engagement becomes almost impossible. Consequently, this article advocates for a dialogical (I-Thou) approach towards building relationships in a context where people feel vulnerable and shameful, have fears, but also gain trust to contribute to meaningful dialogue with 'others'.

Keywords: Racism; Afrikaner; Buber; Adolescents; Narrative.

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Introduction and background

I was born and bred in South Africa. My earliest memories are being a carefree youngster on a farm. My best buddy was Kenith, our domestic worker's son. At that point in time, I did not realise that, although we lived shared lives, domestic workers were treated as inferiors in many ways. Later we moved to a town. It was the turbulent period of unrest in townships and the transition from apartheid to democracy. The greater part of my family was fearful racists. Instead of appreciating and celebrating South African diversity (Giliomee 2003; Giliomee & Mbenga 2007), I am ashamed to admit that I 'inherited' their racism story - a story that starts with white supremacy; a story I was born into with a certain history, a story that shaped me to think in no other way, at least for a big part of my life; a story that is so part of me that it is almost too difficult to shake its grip from me; a story that could be dangerous even within the best of intentions to help others. My exposure to practical theology taught me to listen (Müller 2013:3). Through 'listening' I discovered that voices of those different to me were not threatening but beautiful voices enriching me. Slowly but surely I was freed from the yoke of racism.

After my theological studies, I was called to the Dutch Reformed Church Lux Mundi as a youth minister. Here I had the opportunity of doing and living practical theology (Heitink 1999:106; see also Heitink 1999:9; Meylahn 2014, 2015) amongst adolescents in the Afrikaans-speaking urban community. I had a 12-year relationship with this specific congregation and with most of the co-researchers described in this article. I've known them since their early primary school years. As a racist in recovery, I was often saddened by the racism I had encountered in those I ministered to. This left me with the following unanswered questions: 'How can one be a God loving Christian and at the same time be a racist? How is this even possible?'

Enrolling for a doctoral thesis on this sensitive topic of racism, the opportunity arose to deconstruct racism in my ministered constituency. The result of this endeavour was my thesis, 'Post-apartheid racism among Afrikaans speaking urban adolescents: A narrative-pastoral reflection'.

 

Methodology

This study was carried out within the philosophical guidelines of narrative therapy (Besley 2002; Freedman & Combs 1996; Monk et al. 1997) and a postfoundational practical theology (Müller 2006, 2009a, 2009b, 2011, 2013). This study was conducted in 2016 amongst white Afrikaans-speaking urban adolescents (male and female, aged 16-19) living in Pretoria-East, South Africa. I had four group conversations (Group A, B, C and D) with my co-researchers (research participants) comprising six to eight adolescents in each group, with a combined total of 26 co-researchers. The identities of the co-researchers are not revealed, however, three unique identifiers are used to validate their statements. For example, participant B2-16-F is a 16-year-old female and participant C2-17-M is a 17-year-old male. I made use of certain empirical research methods, such as narrative interviewing and group discussions.

From an epistemological perspective, a postfoundational, social constructionist perspective, including an auto-ethnographical approach, was followed. This supports the research design which was based on the principles of narrative practical theology.

The research indicated that Afrikaner adolescents could live life unquestioned from a position of power and objectivity that was culturally inherited. It was found that by objectifying relationships (I-It) diverse engagement becomes almost impossible.

Consequently, this article advocates for a dialogical (I-Thou) approach towards building relationships in a context where people feel vulnerable and shameful, have fears, but also gain trust to contribute to meaningful dialogue with 'others'.

How deep are racism stereotypes (traditions or interpretation) embedded in the lives of these adolescents? How possible is honest deconstructing of dominant discourses in helping us realise or be aware of our biases so that we could embrace diversity in our so-called 'rainbow nation' going forward as a unity in diversity? In this article, Buber's (1958) I and Thou philosophy of personal dialogue is explored as a way forward. According to Buber (1958), human existence is defined by how we engage in dialogue with God, the world and with each other. According to his theory, I-Thou is a relation of subject-to-subject, of mutuality and reciprocity, whilst I-It is a relation of subject-to-object, of separateness and detachment.

The importance of dialogue and listening is well documented by Müller (2013) as is racism in general by Blum (2002:4-5) and Yang (2000:144) as well as racism in South Africa after two decades from various perspectives by Baloyi (2018:2-3), Mashau (2018:1), Naidoo (2019:1-7), Ntombana and Bubulu (2017:1-10) and Vellem (2017:1). Because of our history in South Africa, we need to apply dialogical and listening skills regarding racism (see also Baloyi 2018:4). In this study, I conversed with and listened to Afrikaans-speaking adolescents from a practical theological perspective in order to co-create positive unique outcomes.

We can create new imaginative possibilities through narrative approach - possibilities that point beyond the obvious context, including diverse stories that inspire and help as they benefit from each other (I-Thou). It will take time and effort, but we need to commit to building respect, mutual understanding and trust. Thus, the aim of this study was to listen to the stories of racism of Christian Afrikaner urban adolescents to facilitate dialogue with the God, the world and with each other (see also Naidoo 2019:3).

In this study, I position myself within the overarching paradigm of postfoundational theology as described by Müller (2011):

[T]he postfoundationalist approach is sensitive for both the danger of relativity and subjectivity in a multiverse rationality and of the rigidity and false claims of the universal rationality. Therefore, it consists of an effort to move beyond both foundationalist and nonfoundationalist claims. For that reason, it is called post-foundationalism … (p. 2)

I think it would be unrealistic to say that my theological positioning would not have any influence on my relationship with the context and vice versa. In the same sense, my own auto-ethnographic narrative on racism couldn't stand alone and be removed from this research, nor could my theological positioning be ignored. I have my own story on this theological positioning and in no sense could it be viewed apart or without influence on my relationship with the context. That being said, I think the methodology used in this study and my personal positioning in theology are sensitive and open to both my own positioning and the context being studied.

Hence, we as practical theologians could make a meaningful contribution by facilitating the variety of stories where different story cultures are met (Müller 2011):

[F]or the practical theologian one of these storying cultures would always be people's experiences of the presence of God in their lives. A focus on all these stories, including the religious story, does not make our contribution better than that of others, but it is unique. The so-called safe public space created by a wide reflective equilibrium becomes even more fragile because of the inclusion of the stories of the experience of God's presence. (p. 5)

This is a journey where the co-researcher's contextuality was upfront contributing in listening to in-context experiences and interpreting it together.

The co-researchers in this research led me towards a primary focus on the work of Martin Buber and specifically on his concepts of I-It and I-Thou as a way of making sense of research contribution (in narrative language) towards a unique outcome of this problem. Not meeting one another as whole persons and instead collide as fragments is a great concern that came out during conversations.

The research clearly showed that by objectifying relationships (I-It), diverse engagement becomes almost impossible. Consequently, this article advocates for a subjective (I-Thou) approach towards building relationships in a context where people feel vulnerable and shameful, have fears, but also gain trust to contribute to meaningful dialogue with 'others'. This view is not forced, controlled or managed; it is simply the I-Thou walking into our lives (Buber 1965):

'[B]etween' is not an auxiliary construction, but the real place and bearer of what happens between men; it has received no specific attention because in distinction from the individual soul and its context, it does not exhibit a smooth continuity, but is ever again re-constituted in accordance with men's meetings with one another. (p. 203)

According to Hycner (1995), the primary attitudes that a human being can take towards others are that of the I-Thou or I-It attitude (see also Lamola 2018:3). The former is a natural attitude of 'connection' and the latter is a natural attitude of 'separation'. The I-Thou attitude is an experience of appreciating the 'otherness', uniqueness, and the other person reciprocates the wholeness of another. The I-It attitude is not wrong, or evil, as it actually helps in achieving goals that one sets in life. However, when it is overwhelmingly predominant, it gets problematic and even tragic. When this objectifying attitude is out of balance with a dialogical approach to one's existence, as well as to others, it is rather problematic and tragic, as was so clear, for instance, from the ideology of apartheid.

 

Findings

Listening to post-apartheid voices: 'IT'

The co-researchers expressed rather explicit objectifying attitudes (I-It) during our conversations:

D1-17-M: 'On our farm the blacks just take everything they want, they steal wire cables and even though we take such good care of them. My father is currently in a court case after he shot and killed a farm worker for stealing his shoes and got in a scuffle with my dad when he reprimanded him. There is no respect for us [white people] on our farm'.

(Long silence)

D5-17-F: 'Our family also has a farm and we did everything for the farm workers. We gave them maize meal, housing and everything, but it was never enough. They always wanted more and that is frustrating'.

D1-17-M: 'Obviously, certain white people did harm to blacks in the past, but can't we just move on with our lives. Most white people are good to them [black people]'.

D1-17-M: 'They [black people] must stay separate like in the old days. You still get good ones [black people] that still call you boss [baas] and you can work with them, but you don't stay with them. They have their own way of doing things and therefore I prefer to stay separate'.

(Silence)

D1-17-M: 'Apartheid was meant well and tried to uplift the country'.

D6-16-F: 'Most of them are just so stupid and then they still get the work or the university exemption and that is unfair'.

D1-17-M: 'We [white people] work harder and therefore are prone to more success in life, it is how we were raised. One cannot trust them [black people], they just steal'.

(Silence)

D1-17-M: 'The culture of white people is that of more civilised because we [white people] were brought up better and with better values'.

Maluleke (2016) has underlined exactly this point in his interview at the Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) that we focus on the physical attributes rather than the potential that lies in people. The I-It attitude constitutes an objectifying way of relating to a person - addressing and treating a person as we would address and treat any object in life. The I-It relationship is the way we typically treat each other for practical necessity, manipulation and means-ends instrumentality. This is called 'using' and 'experiencing' by Buber (1958:5-13; see also Horwitz 1978), that is, in terms of either an externalised 'out there' way of addressing each other or an internalised 'in here' one. According to Buber (1958:3-34), we speak the I-It with only part of our being (think of talking to someone and thinking of something else, such as lunch, whilst this dialogue is taking place). It is only a partially engaged way of addressing another person. Furthermore, the primary temporal modality of the I-It is the past. In other words, it is a way of treating each other governed mostly by things we know about the other person from past experiences and our own experiences of interaction or what we believe (traditions of interpretation) we know about the other person or group.

One way to recognise I-It in our lives would be to think about how frequently we try to objectify each other in our everyday interactions. It basically boils down to getting the other person to do what we want them to do and manipulate their behaviour accordingly to what we know or believe from that person's past experience in much the same way as we manipulate objects such as hammering a nail into a piece of wood. Most of the time it is quite difficult to acknowledge other people's deep humanity if you are entrenched with I-It thinking. The unpleasant truth is that most of the time with this thinking we only use each other to have what we really want. Boesak (2019) describes the process of caution in this instance incredibly well:

[I]t is for that reason that in the final analysis black South Africans, in our choice for reconciliation and reconciled diversity, chose political justice rather than victim's justice; distributive justice rather than retributive justice; justice for the living rather than revenge for the dead; a reconciled future rather than an unforgiven past; a shared hopefulness rather than a negotiated despair. (p. 7)

During conversations with co-researchers, they explicitly accused black people of oppressing them rather than the other way around. They did this because the object (black people) stood in their way of achieving goals and not one of togetherness. With this I do not state at all that black people cannot oppress other races, but we were specifically focusing on Afrikaner adolescents in this study:

A4-17-M: 'I think blacks and whites look down on one another both ways. I mean, look at all the discrimination against whites these days. Blacks are using every means that they can get to advance themselves even if they don't deserve it. I cannot study what I am entitled to study because of excellent grades in school because my skin colour is white. They [black people] want university education in their own language, but my brother told me there does not exist good engineering terms in their language and therefore Afrikaans is still more advanced and therefore it is not racism but pure logic. So I really don't understand what the big deal is'.

A2-18-M: 'I won't be able to get work one day because the blacks are pushed in front of us [white people] the whole time'.

A5-17-M: 'I agree, they [black people] are just looking for any excuse to blame whites for their problems. They oppress us [white adolescents] that was not even a part of apartheid and now they use apartheid to blame us. They just want to blame us and back it up with apartheid'.

During conversation with group B, it led to discussing the attitudes of black people, and again it was evident that black people were expected to do all bad things in life and that they were, in a sense, viewed as objects of sin (Fanon 1963):

[T]he native is always on the alert, for since he can only make out with difficulty the many symbols of the colonial world, he is never sure whether or not he has crossed the frontier. Confronted with a world ruled by the settler, the native is always presumed guilty. (p. 52)

In group B's conversation, it was said that:

B5-16-F: 'What strikes me from what B6 just said is that, yes, it is not in their [black people] culture to break into our homes. I think it is more a case of our country that has certain stories in it that we are against one another, we are enemies. I mean, I would emphasise it when a black person is driving badly in front of us or we would emphasise it when a black person is helping a white person'.

B4-18-M: 'Because we [white people] work for everything and we always have. They [black people] just use us [white people]. They cannot stay in big houses and drive big cars in any other way than using us [white people] for it. They should work for all they want in the same way as I have to and we will see then whom [sic] comes out on top'.

It was also evident that the co-researchers looked upon other races, and especially black people, differently. If, for instance, an incident took place where a white adolescent would not be benefitted or even be in worst condition than previously, it was evident from this conversation in group B that the adolescents would react differently in the same situation because of benefactor's race:

B2-16-F: 'If a white person were to benefit from a situation where I myself would not, then I would refer to it as being unfair. If it is a black person benefiting from me that would be discrimination as they do not deserve it'.

B4-18-M: 'I agree, I have much more sympathy with people from my own ethnicity'.

B6-19-F: 'Like I mentioned before, my mother begged me to not marry a black person as it would be a downgrade for me in life'.

Obviously, the adolescents didn't have the terminology for this conversation and they were not familiar with Buber's philosophy, but it was clear that black people were viewed, in some instances, as objects and white people more as subjects. The I-It attitude seemed to become apparent when ethnicity was involved. This almost came naturally in the way these adolescents and I myself viewed the world and the relations we had within it.

In the conversation with group C, a discussion emerged about the system in which the world operates and the co-researchers in this group felt that it was the system itself that had created unfairness towards other groups. Almost all of them said that they had no idea about race or differences in society until they went to primary school (a system):

C2-17-M: 'There will always be hate towards others as long as the system is unfair and treats people unfairly'.

Researcher: 'Do you think this hate you are talking about is vice versa between black people and white people?'

C2-17-M: 'I think so, because it seems that they [black people] really hate us and don't care whether we [white people] are allowed into university or sports teams and they would use the system of majority black rule to get what they need at the cost of whites. Perhaps we as whites did the same, but I just want the system to be equal'.

C3-17-F: 'Yes, I treat the workers [black people] in our home so nicely, and [sic] sometimes it seems that they don't really appreciate it, and they just use the system to force us [white people] being nice to them, otherwise we will go to a court of law'.

The I-It attitude was evident here. One thing noticed here was that the co-researchers saw themselves as victims at this stage of the conversation. They realised at this point that black people were victims at one stage in history, but all things had been fixed now and that things would be perfectly fair. It seems that the co-researchers in this group had no acknowledgment of the real effect of the past that still affected the lives of most black South Africans even until this day. They agreed that some things were not fine in the past, but that they were solved after the end of apartheid. The privileges bestowed upon them as a result of apartheid seemed to have no effect on their reasoning at this stage. They only wanted things or objects in the lives of all South Africans to be fair because they knew they could outplay and outperform most black people as a result of their education and training. Ironically, this was because of the privileges they had obtained through a system called apartheid. This notion of not fully acknowledging the effect of a privileged past over others was something the co-researchers struggled with. Unknowingly, the co-researchers benefitted under colonialism, their whiteness and the apartheid regime and a history of more advanced training, schooling and monetary ability (Giliomee 2003).

It was the perfect example of the I-It attitude taking control over the fascinating and diverse world in which we live in South Africa.

Group D had more or less the same conversations on this topic as we had in group C:

D6-16-F: 'I really do not know what the big deal is. I mean most of them [black people] were not even born in the apartheid era. Can we just get on with South Africa, please?'

D5-17-F: 'I agree; we were not even born in the apartheid era, why should we take so much discrimination against us [white people]'.

It was clear at this stage of the conversation that the I-It attitude, as explained by Buber (1958:3-34), was present in Afrikaner urban adolescents in the way they looked at the world they were living in today. Although our social and cultural lives could lead us evermore away from the 'Thou' and into the domain of 'It', Buber (1958:37-72) speculated on the possibility of what he called 'the return'. This is the possibility of returning to the I-Thou attitude as our primary way of addressing each other in today's world. What is required for 'the return' to the I-Thou attitude is, as Buber (1958) has stated on many occasions, 'to call the incubus of the world of I-It by its true name; in other words, to call it exactly what it is (see also Rohr 2016): An imbalance in our relation with life that short-circuits our chance to experience real relation, real transcendence and real spirituality.' According to Buber (1958:37-72), the main impediment affecting this return is a kind of capriciousness that runs through our time. Buber (1958:37-72) has put it numerous times that a capricious person does not believe in encounter, he does not know association, he only knows the feverish world out there and his desire to use it. Perhaps the best thing for us to do is to allow ourselves to be more sensitive to potential I-Thou moments and to cultivate the courage to enter into those moments when they take place.

Listening to post-apartheid voices: 'THOU'

In contrast to 'Thou', the I-Thou attitude has to do with what Buber (1958:3-35) calls relation or encounter. This has to do with being completely present for another person rather than only partially engaged. It also has to do with addressing each other with a sense of mutuality and reciprocity by recognising and affirming the other person's full humanity with our full humanity. In this, the primary temporal modality is the spontaneous unfolding of the present rather than the past. The I-Thou attitude happens in the 'here and now', as opposed to the 'there and then'. According to Buber (1958:62-63), the I-Thou attitudes are important in our lives for many reasons. Experiencing the I-Thou moments is one of the most precious parts of human birth. Furthermore, the I-Thou is the locus of all genuine creative activity, all genuine spirituality and all becoming in transcendence. It basically comes down to Buber from the notion that there is no such thing as growing as a human being all on our own, at least not in any deep way. All moments of genuine growing and becoming require an I-Thou; in other words, they unfold between people, rather than within or outside people. Moments of transcendence basically occur in the unpredictable flexion of a genuinely fully engaged relationship with each other.

Buber (1958) constantly points out that the I-Thou moments do not rise out of wilful activity alone. The opportunity to experience I-Thou arises from grace, but then we also have to choose to enter into the I-Thou experience wilfully by choice. In other words, the I-Thou attitude requires both will and grace. Although it comes to us, we must also choose to enter into it. As Buber (1958) has so often asserted, the relation is election and electing, passive and active at once.

During conversations with co-researchers of group A, some of the participants were ranting about how much better white people were and that they had better education and had come from a better ancestry. This was a real I-It dialogue. One of the co-researchers then mentioned something as follows:

'I hear what you say, but is that really so important? I mean when we go to Mozambique on holiday, for instance, I cannot help but to notice the pure joy and laughter I witness from children there. Yes, they don't have what I have, but I don't have what they have. This makes me wonder about our world we live in and if it really is that superior'. (Participant A4, age 17, male)

These remarks made by A4-17-M changed the direction of our conversation almost as if the I-Thou had now come to them. Group A co-researchers started (chose to wilfully enter I-Thou) to see others as I-Thou and not I-It, or at least started to question attitudes. I decided not to interfere with questions at this stage and allowed the conversation to lead us:

A8-17-M: 'What you just said made me think that blacks are not that bad actually. I cannot begin to describe the caring and sharing most of them have in my school. One day I did not have any food at school and a black student saw this and offered to buy me a sandwich from the tuck shop. That was pretty cool. The other thing that I notice from black children in my school is the respect they treat their parents with. I mean us whites are so cheeky and demanding towards our parents most of the time and I think they set a great example to follow'.

A4-17-M: 'I agree with you A8. I would actually like to ride in a minibus taxi sometime. My mom will have a heart attack, but I want to do it sometime. This conversation is making me rather curious about black people and maybe we can even learn from them. The thing is that we get so bombarded at home and through white society that blacks are bad, but what if… it is not so, what if… we dare to know them, what if… we can get along?'

I sensed that things had started to move ahead among the co-researchers and I did not want to interfere too much so I simply asked, 'after hearing these stories of black people that we just heard, I am curious what the rest of you think about this?'

Then A3-16-F started talking. A3-16-F was the person who stated that white people were cleaner, that they had a better culture, that they managed better, and that these things were just like second nature to white people:

'I do hip-hop dancing as you all know. This is terrible, but I must admit blacks are so much friendlier than whites. I learn a lot from blacks in dancing, they have so much more rhythm than us whites and they never hesitate to help me. I think I label some black people unfairly and I assume stereotypes, I don't feel too good now about what I said before'. (Participant A3, age 16, female)

I could sense that A3-16-F was not in a good space at this stage being confronted with her own attitude. I asked some externalising questions to give A3-16-F a sense of the real problem and that she was not the problem. This helped her to grasp the problem, rather than feeling embarrassed. A5-17-M was still sticking to his guns at this point, saying 'that black people are lazy and he won't talk to a black person unless they were like him'.

I think some comments made in group B were relevant to this topic. We were discussing their parents and the effect that their parents' thinking and upbringing had on them and on the way they talk in front of their parents and then talk differently to the outside world:

B6-19-F: 'There is no doubt that we whites are just being politically correct. We talk differently to the outside world and I don't think that is a good thing. Are we being hypocrites, liars or what are we doing here? We cannot go on like this; we need to have a hard look towards our attitude. The worst of all is that we are so-called Christians'.

B2-16-F: 'I think God's heart is breaking when he sees how we work with other people. It's like backstabbing God. It's like we love others, but with conditions'.

B5-17-F: 'Ok, I hear what you are saying. We are actually all lost, it is like we love others but with certain criteria that fits us. I think this is how we approach God sometimes, almost like ticking off criteria on the Jesus list and I don't think God is like that at all'.

B1-17-M: 'What would Jesus say about all the things we said?'

B6-19-F: 'That is a good question. Obviously, he is a God of love and forgiveness and I know he has so much grace over all of us, but I think we are missing something here. Maybe, I need to look at my relationship with God afresh and why I am a Christian'.

B5-16-F: 'Yes, we are different as humans but why can't we be one in humanity? This is heavy stuff, but it makes sense. B6, I think we all need to look at our relationship with God afresh'.

Assumption that unmasked 'IT' had opened the door for 'THOU'

In the conversation with group D, something happened by mistake from my side but it revealed something else. This was the last group I had a conversation with, and they were talking about how black people were so much better in the old days and they were happy with minimal and not like today's black people who just demand. All other groups - A, B and C - invited Jesus in their conversation spontaneously, but for some reason my guard slipped and in group D I said, 'we will get back to that topic again later on when I am going to invite someone into this conversation'. I assumed they wanted to talk about Jesus like the other three groups. I meant inviting Jesus, but all co-researchers thought I was going to invite a black person. At this stage, many bad things were said about black people, and they thought I was going to expose them in front of a black person. There was a physical reaction in all of them, moving chairs and sitting up straight with big eyes. I immediately realised my mistake and corrected it and apologised to the group for assuming a topic, but I was now curious about the reaction that took place in the room. I then asked, 'I am curious as to what this reaction that just happened is saying to us?'

D4-17-M: 'I really thought you were going to bring in a black person and I was thinking about all the things we already said up until this point. I got a big scare and I just realised something… [pause for a few seconds] … I am a racist. I talk behind the backs of people and play the game in front of them. I am scared now by realising how much I look down on black people. I thought I was okay, because in public I am okay and do not harm anybody, but in my core I am corrupt and racist'.

D3-16-F: 'I agree; I now realise this more than I have ever realised it'.

D1-17-M: 'I agree; I am actually shocked thinking back on what we said'.

D3-16-F: 'I feel guilty; I have the guts to say things behind the backs of people but not in front of them'.

D6-16-F: 'This is as un-Christian as can be'.

D5-17-F: 'Maybe inviting Jesus into this conversation is not such a bad idea after all. Maybe we are looking just too shallow on our own and need Jesus to help us look deeper into this'.

D6-16-F: 'Jesus sees more than just a human being'.

D4-17-M: 'Jesus doesn't see skin colour. I am now thinking of that poem that Bouwer Bosch wrote - Kleurblind [colour-blind]. Can I Google it and read it to the group?'

Researcher: 'You are more than welcome to do so'.

(Silence)

D4-17-M: 'Here it is…' [Afrikaans poem]

(Reading it to the group)

… (Silence)

D4-17-M: 'So Jesus didn't die on a cross for the colour of your skin. I can't sit here and claim that I am a Christian and a racist. It simply does not resonate'.

D5-17-F: 'I know you [Researcher] apologised for that [introducing Jesus], but actually we need to thank you, when D4 was reading I just realised the truth of all that he said. I think I am racist and I want to do something about this. Yes, we can blame ourselves or we can tackle this issue and create a better world for all'.

D1-17-M: 'That just blew me away, I don't know what to say now'.

Researcher: 'What is the first thing that jumps to your mind?'

D1-17-M: 'That I am sorry, that I need to stand in the shoes of a black man before I do anything'.

D4-17-M: 'This helps me; I got some distance from myself. Looking at it from another perspective - God's perspective, perhaps. We are actually so well equipped as Christians to deal with these things. Why are we not dealing with this? Jesus guides us and we don't even see it. We just look at ourselves and miss him completely. We just went on and on in this conversation'.

D3-16-F: 'This conversation made me realise serious things in my own life that need work. However, I don't actually feel that guilty because forgiveness is what God is all about. I just have this urge now to live out that which I claim to believe - God's love. It is almost as if Jesus touched me now. I actually want to embrace God's love with all people. That's what Jesus did. It's going to be hard though, but possible'.

D5-17-F: 'I feel so much more aware now'.

D2-17-F: 'I am not a racist, but they do still make me angry. I think a little different now'.

D6-16-F: 'Some of us whites are actually very stupid, I can't believe I said that of blacks. I want to make a difference but I don't know how. I will sit with Jesus like D4 said and I believe he would guide me in this'.

D4-17-M: 'I agree; one needs to address this'.

D2-17-F; D1-17-M; D3-17-F; D6-16-F: 'Yes'.

 

Discussion

Deconstructing 'IT'

The assumption I made during the conversation with group D fortunately turned out to be something real and made all of us realise how objectively, rather than subjectively, we could look at people. In group D and through an honest mistake, the moment of I-Thou walked in. Similarly to other groups, the co-researchers willingly chose to walk into the I-Thou moment, which meant we were on our way to 'the return' being an I-Thou.

Buber's (1958) I and Thou present a philosophy of personal dialogue, in that it describes how personal dialogue could define the nature of reality (see also, Friedman 2002). Buber's major theme is that human existence may be defined by the way in which we engage in dialogue with each other, with the world, and with the God. According to his theory, I-Thou is a relation of subject-to-subject, of mutuality and reciprocity, whilst I-It is a relation of subject-to-object, of separateness and detachment. If one is to analyse a subject, it is no longer a subject but rather an object. This implies that there is no fluidity between subjects anymore; for example: Mistrust takes it for granted that the other dissembles so that, rather than genuine meeting, conversation becomes a game of unmasking and uncovering unconscious motives. Buber criticises Marx, Nietzsche and Freud for meeting the other with suspicion and perceiving the truth of the other as mere ideology. In the same sense, as Buber accepted the 1953 Peace Prize of the German Book Trade, 'Genuine Dialogue and the Possibilities of Peace', Buber (1957:234-239) argues that the precondition for peace is dialogue, which in turn rests on trust. In mistrust, one presupposes that the other is likewise filled with mistrust, leading to a dangerous reserve and lack of candour. We need to understand human existence as a dialogue of fluidity with each other, the world, and with the God.

If we are to understand and analyse the Trinity as three separate entities, for example, we would completely miss the unity and fluidity and dialogue of this subject-to-subject-to-subject. Many people would refer to God as love. Love, as a relation between I and Thou, is a subject-to-subject relation. In this relation each other's unity of being is perceived. Love is an I-Thou relation in which subjects share this unity of being. Love is also a relation in which I and Thou share a sense of caring, respect, commitment and responsibility. The I-Thou relation is an ideal relation; the I-It relation is an inescapable relation by which the world is viewed as consisting of knowable objects or things like racism. The I-It relation is the means by which the world is analysed, controlled and described. However, the I-It relation may become an I-Thou relation, and in the I-Thou relation we can interact with the world in its whole being. Thus, if we engage God as an I-Thou, we can interact with God in his whole being, Father, Son, Holy Spirit and even more. It is possible that we as a diverse people can thus interact within the whole being of each other. The I-Thou relation may have either potential being or actual being. When the I-It relation becomes an I-Thou relation, the potential being of I-Thou relation becomes the actual being of the I-Thou relation.

Attitude and moment

We saw some movement from I-It to I-Thou during conversations with co-researchers in above sections. The ship was clearly sinking in an ocean of racism backed by traditions of interpretation inherited within the Afrikaner culture. It seemed, however, that before all was lost the awareness of life rafts saved the day and gave us hope for a new life. The fact that we are on life rafts through awareness raises the following question: Whether this is just a 'moment' in the I-Thou that would soon fall back in to what seems to be the default mode of I-It, or is it truly the beginning of an I-Thou 'attitude'?

It is important to differentiate the I-Thou 'attitude', or the dialogical, from the I-Thou 'moment'. The dialogical is not the same as the moment, as the word 'moment' suggests only something briefly that came and went by. According to (Hycner 1995:10): 'An I-Thou encounter is but one moment, or dimension, of an overall rhythmic dialogical approach encompassing the alternation of I-Thou and I-Thou moments'. This moment, although exceptional in its living experience, could have the effect of an over emphasised or inflated I-Thou experience. It is especially true if a person makes it a goal to achieve this I-Thou, something that we saw happening after the moment of awareness, the co-researchers wanted to make it a goal to achieve and fix the problem. The irony is that it becomes an I-It encounter. Buber (1958) was very clear on this, as already mentioned, that one cannot just decide to have an I-Thou encounter, one needs to prepare the ground for when it might occur. The reality is that we can only be as present as we are in an encounter and we cannot enforce this on ourselves nor on any other person to engage in genuine dialogue. This unfortunately is completely outside our control: 'The Thou meet me through grace, it is not found in seeking' (Buber 1958:11). Genuine dialogue is mutual. It can't be forced. It can't be held onto. We need to be open to its ebb and flow (Buber 1958):

[T]hrough the graciousness of its comings and the solemn sadness of its goings it leads you away to the Thou in which the parallel lines of relations meet. It does not help to sustain you in life, it only helps you to glimpse eternity. (p. 33)

The reality of this is that we need to be open to, and want this experience to occur, yet not trying to force it (Hycner 1995:10). One needs to get into the life raft, ready to encounter the ocean and wanting to survive, but a life raft can't be controlled like a ship with a rudder. Perhaps the ocean can take us along, not forcing our way. This could be an option for us to abandon our ships called racism, and perhaps 'grace' can meet us there in the ocean streams.

 

Conclusion

Racism is alive and well in South Africa and does not exclude the so-called 'freeborn'; yes, it needs deconstruction, and this research wants to put a way (not the way) forward in advancing one step closer in achieving this. Deconstructing racism lies in the efforts of individuals and systems to become bridges to truly connect with 'others' (I-Thou). This should encourage us to physically and mentally leave our comfort zones and find life in the uncertain terrain of otherness where diverse people contribute to each other's humanity (I-Thou). On this journey we need awareness and the courage to change some of our de facto beliefs and attitudes.

This research indicates that if we sacrifice our 'little will', which is unfree and ruled by things, and drives to our 'great will', we move away from being determined to find destiny. In essence, this research shows that our greatest enemy in this life is small-selves (false-self) that we usually think we are. Through Buber's philosophy, this research amounts to an incisive critique of the systemic imbalances and pathologies that run through many of our Afrikaner adolescents, but it also offers the paradigm of a powerful and compelling alternative to us. Perhaps in the final analysis the central question is whether in our way of life where so much draws us further and further into the world of 'It' we can nonetheless find within ourselves the sensitivity to detect the opportunity to enter into a real relationship with each other and then have the courage to actively do so - a question that plays out across our lives both individually and socially.

 

Acknowledgements

Competing interests

The author declares that he has no financial or personal relationships that may have inappropriately influenced him in writing this article.

Author's contributions

S.v.D. is the sole contributor of this article, which was derived from his doctoral thesis under the supervision of Prof. J. C. Müller (Department of Practical Theology, Faculty of Theology, University of Pretoria).

Ethical considerations

The author obtained research ethics approval for the research of his doctoral thesis as described and quoted in this work. The author declares that he observed the ethical standards required in terms of the University of Pretoria's code of ethics for researchers and the policy guidelines for responsible research.

Funding information

This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.

Data availability statement

Data sharing is not applicable to this article as no new data were created or analysed in this study.

Disclaimer

The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of any affiliated agency of the author.

 

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Correspondence:
Sebastiaan van Dyk
svandyk@luxmundi.org.za

Received: 23 Aug. 2018
Accepted: 25 Mar. 2020
Published: 11 June 2020

 

 

Research Project Registration:
Project Number: 02380595

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ORIGINAL RESEARCH

 

Servant leadership as part of spiritual formation of theological students in contextualisation of 21st century theological training

 

 

Amanda L. du Plessis; Carol M. Nkambule

Unit for Reformed Theology, Faculty of Theology, North-West University, Potchefstroom, South Africa

Correspondence

 

 

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ABSTRACT

The theory of servant leadership with its key concepts of servanthood and leadership has emerged during the last few decades. A person who has a heart for people and serves them whilst leading them practices servant leadership. Servant leaders are not motivated by attaining higher positions but by serving people. Leaders call people to follow a set vision. In the church, that vision ought to be a God vision, premised on the Word of God. Leaders in the church should lead people according to the guidance of the Bible and inspiration from God. He is the one who calls people, gives them an assignment and will require an account from them. The church has been in the spotlight in recent times because of the conduct of their leaders, who are the pastors assigned with the task of leading believers. Understanding the principles of servant leadership can contribute to spiritual formation of theological students in contextualisation of 21st century theological training. The article begins with a reflection on the findings of an empirical study, followed by a short view on the servant leadership of Moses, David, Paul and Jesus Christ. Thereafter, the article focuses on servant leadership characteristics and competencies or skills according to contemporary scholars, and the article concludes with a proposed model for servant leadership as part of spiritual formation of theological students.
CONTRIBUTION: Although the article is context specific to the Faculty of Theology, Mahikeng campus, the principles of servant leadership can contribute to the spiritual formation of all theological students and is especially relevant to the discourse of contextualised 21st century theological training

Keywords: Calling; Leadership; Servanthood; Spiritual formation; Theological training.

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Introduction

This article is written as part of a project, Theological Education at the North-West University for the 21st Century South Africa and therefore, it is context-specific to the theological education at the Mahikeng campus of the North-West University. Currently, the B.Th. in Christian Ministry is presented as a programme consecutively for the past 12 years. Almost 80% of the students who enroll for this programme at the Mahikeng campus are adults who are already pastoring a church but lack formal theological training. Apart from the opportunity to receive formal theological training, the disadvantage is that the curriculum of the B.Th. has been built on predominantly cognitive training, whilst experiential and practical trainings have (still) been regularly overlooked. Because of the complex and interconnected context of South Africa, where students originate from different cultural backgrounds and frames of reference, the authors believe contextualisation of the curriculum content is unavoidable.

The goal of this project is to rethink theological training at the North-West University (NWU) for the 21st century South Africa and in the process, a 'federal-structured' (inter-denominational) Faculty of Theology is envisaged. The faculty expanded its academic offer with a range of Higher Certificate and Diploma qualification types. Maximising its utilisation of the Higher Education Qualifications Sub-Framework (HEQSF), a golden opportunity is created to accommodate a range of ecclesiastical requirements and preferences within the domain of accessible university education.

With this article, the authors participate in the project with the specific aim to focus on the spiritual formation of students. Theological education should be a life-creating process and experience. By broadening and deepening the students' spiritual formation, their education could have a life-long effect once they minister and live meaningfully in communities. The research question is what the principles¹ of servant-leadership are and what servant leader characteristics² need to be developed to train servant leaders for the (South) African context to become effective and obedient servants of God and noble leaders of the people of God in the Christian faith paradigm.

The church in South Africa is constantly dealing with turmoil stemming from internal issues and this calls for a reflection on the above question. Regretfully, the very people currently at the helm of some churches are the cause of the unrest. Some of the issues include abuse of authority by pastors over congregants where for example, a church leader made the congregants to drink petrol, another made them to eat grass and another one sprayed congregants with insecticide (Mokhoathi & Rembe 2017:2). Some of the issues are non-compliance to laws and regulations, soliciting money from congregants for blessings, governance issues and bad financial management (CRL Commission 2016:25). The relationship between some church leaders and their followers can even be called 'toxic' as it involves manipulation and mistreatment, which is tolerated and even preferred (Lipman-Blumen 2005:18-19). Wealth, prestige and a huge following characterise some of the mega-churches today, and some pastors are highly elevated with bodyguards, a fleet of cars, numerous attendance and grand entrances into places of worship. Some members hold a pastor in high esteem, some even to the extreme of bordering on idolatry.

An attempt will be made to answer the research question using the servant leadership theory as part of spiritual formation of theological students, which has emerged over the last few decades. The theory presents two concepts in a continuum, namely leadership and servanthood. If these two concepts are defined individually, they could be understood wrongly and seem to be in conflict with each other. A leader is known to be prominent, on 'top' and one who influences other people, whilst a servant is generally known to carry out instructions and to be subservient to a leader. Yet, the servant leadership concept consolidates these ideas into one positive form of leadership. It presents a servant whose act of leadership is reflected in the function of a servant, not in the change or development of a leader becoming a servant. The most prominent Biblical examples of servant leaders include Moses, David, Paul and Jesus Christ. Church leaders are called to serve God and the people by leading the congregation.

In an attempt to reach the aim of attending servant leadership as part of spiritual formation of students, the article begins by reflecting on the results of an empirical research. The mixed-method empirical study was carried out to determine the existential challenges South African pastors are facing that have an effect on their leadership. The findings of the empirical study were coded according to certain themes with the aim to highlight typical characteristics of the servant leader. Thereafter, modern theories on servant leadership will be investigated and servant leadership principles that are congruent with biblical principles will be identified. Using these leadership principles, the article concludes by proposing a servant leadership model that could be included in the curriculum of theological training as part of the spiritual formation of students. In this way, a contribution could be made to contextualising theological training in South Africa.

Ethical considerations

As part of the study, a mixed-method empirical research was carried out and ethical approval to conduct the study was obtained from the North-West University (reference no. NWU - 00580-17-A6), Faculty of Theology, Research Ethical Committee, North-West University.

 

Results of empirical research

Sampling

The study covered pastors from 15 pre-selected churches of various denominations and a balanced age group in Mpumalanga, Limpopo and Gauteng. They participated in the qualitative research conducted through semi-structured interviews. A quantitative survey then followed with some church members from each of the participating churches. The denomination category of the 15 pre-selected churches varied with the inclusion of seven charismatic churches, three evangelical churches, two pentecostal churches, two independent churches and one mainline church. The longest serving pastor has 36 years in ministry and eight pastors have served less than 10 years. Ten of the 15 pastors have formal training qualifications in the form of a diploma, degree or certificate, three have postgraduate qualification and two do not have any formal training. The membership total of the pre-selected churches varied, 33% can be indicated as large (more than 800 members), 40% as medium (between 200 and 800 members) and 27% small (less than 200 members). One of these churches is a mega church with more than 40 000 members.

Data collection

A total of 15 pastors were interviewed and 333 church members participated in the survey. The type of data was determined by the focus themes will provide information regarding leadership types, their leadership styles, their characteristics and the way they govern their specific congregations. The data collection started with the qualitative part with the pastors, followed by the compilation of the questionnaire for the execution of the survey with the church members. The results of the interviews were compared with the results of the survey, and both the qualitative and quantitative results were compared with how Jesus Christ demonstrated servant leadership.

Data analysis

The data were coded according to 13 different themes, namely motivation, governance, vision and mission, leadership style and character, servant leadership, succession plan, church services, recognition of the role of the Holy Spirit, finances, pastoral care, conflict management, community engagement, commitment and future planning. Because of the compact version of an article,³ only relevant remarks of the findings will be given. As part of the data analysis, the findings were compared with the servant leadership style as portrayed by Jesus Christ recorded in the gospels.

Motivation: The motive for going into ministry was looked at. Without pointing to a specific event, most pastors were motivated by a calling. Pastors' motivation for ministry came from a calling identified mostly through inner voice and dreams, fewer had distinct audible voice and recommendation from others, whilst one had no calling but an opportunity to study through a bursary offered. Jesus' call was revealed before conception, and confirmed to Him and others at baptismal with an audible voice from heaven. Jesus subsequently called His disciples publicly and appointed them as apostles.

Governance: The participating churches had various structures of governance, including leadership or advisory boards, apostolic leadership structures, elders, deacons and pastors. This aspect was in line with how Jesus shared governance by appointing 12 disciples, and still had three who were closer to Him than the others.

Vision and mission: Almost all the pastors have certain visions and missions for their church that are shared with members, though some members had no interest in taking responsibilities towards that vision. Jesus taught the disciples about the vision of the kingdom of heaven, mostly through parables, and they continued with that vision even after He departed from the earth.

Leadership style and character: Most pastors were using a combination of various leadership styles, and some offered no reflection on their leadership styles, indicating a lack of awareness of leadership styles. Some pastors struggled to describe their characters, whilst some indicated honesty, integrity, high ethics and sincerity. It was difficult for some of the pastors to identify their character flaws, though a few mentioned that they were impatient and short-tempered. Jesus was a servant leader who shared His vision, served others even doing menial tasks, empowered His followers and took care of their needs above His own, acknowledging faithfulness. Jesus never coerced or forced anyone to follow Him and He gave people a choice.

Servant leadership: Some pastors consciously sought to emulate Jesus' servant leadership style, striving to attain that level. Comprehension of the concept of servant leadership was a challenge for some of the pastors. The definition by some included prioritising people, serving, meekness and being dedicated.

Some pastors were able to identify spiritual gifts in their members and a few pastors have training programmes for those whom they believed had gifts. Three out of the 15 pastors reported that they supported those who had gifts in establishing churches by covering their costs and availing some members to support with church establishment. Mostly, pastors were the main preachers, assistant pastors or elders led services other than Sunday services. Jesus even rebuked His disciples who aspired for prominence and called them to servanthood.

Shared leadership: Shared leadership was still lacking in most of these churches, as the focus was on the pastor as the main preacher. This is in contrast with what Jesus taught the disciples and sent them out on their own. The essence of the concept of shared leadership is that there are gifts that should emerge when people are given opportunities to serve.

Succession plan: Most of the churches did not have a succession plan and a few mentioned that they are still working on it. Flowing from shared leadership, a proper succession plan can give the vision a chance of continuity. Jesus prepared the 12, then the 70, and the number grew.

Church services: The pastors are committed to the great commission; however, many of them were concerned about the poor attendance of midweek services that points to the low commitment of some members. During the survey, the members corroborated this as well and justified it with life pressures. In the ministry of Jesus, multitudes followed Him and at times, they stayed with Him for days. The necessity for commitment by church members was identified as a potential theme for further study.

Recognition of the role of the Holy Spirit: The gifts of the Holy Spirit operated mostly through the pastors and leaders. There was limited evidence of members having and or using the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Most pastors refrained from using items like oil and water when praying for people, saying that people become dependent on the symbols instead of depending on God. They were also wary of being viewed in a negative light by the general public. Those who used oil and water reported using it occasionally when prompted or for a special event, for instance, ordination. The Holy Spirit came on Jesus whilst He was baptised before He embarked on His ministry.

Finances: The subject of finances addresses accountability and stewardship. Most pastors did not inform their members about their finances; however, the records were available for members on request. Jesus taught about stewardship and against wasting resources, even though Judas whom Jesus knew was dealing with the finances in a dishonest way held the group's finances. He taught on being responsible for what has been put under one's care.

Pastoral care: Most of the pastors provided pastoral care through calls, prayers and counselling, and the members corroborated the findings during the survey. The only challenge was found in the bigger or mega churches where the members would generally not have access to the pastor, but cell group system was used. Jesus went to dine with the people, even the sinners and the Pharisees. He demonstrated care for the people, by healing the sick and feeding the hungry.

Conflict management: The study found that pastors were prepared to handle conflicts even to the point of apologising when they are at fault. The responses from members did not fully agree with the pastors, with a 55% satisfaction level. Jesus taught the disciples how to handle conflict, mostly taking the position of peace seeking.

Community engagement: The impact of the church in communities includes social development, involvement in political structures and an overall positive influence. Though Jesus did respond to some of the social needs of the people, it was never His focus. He was more interested in their spiritual well-being.

Commitment and future planning: Despite having been hurt in their ministries, most pastors indicated their commitment to the call of God. Some indicated that if they knew the cost of ministry, they probably would not have accepted, but remained committed anyhow. The members were mostly committed to remain in the church, some wishing for better administration, spiritual growth and better infrastructure. Jesus was committed to His ministry to the point of death.

Principles deducted from the empirical study

Time is the best indicator of whether a person's actions have impact or not (Nkambule 2019:212). This is relevant to the impact that the ministry of Jesus Christ has on the world. The impact of the disciples was felt to the extent that they were said to be turning the world upside down (Ac 17:6).

Conducting the empirical study gave the authors insight into the life, accomplishments and struggles that pastors experience in their ministry, as well as the expectations church members have from their pastors. Although the results of the empirical study were mostly positive and the pastors' impact in their respective contexts are visible, the authors concluded that a deeper knowledge about a theme such as servant leadership as part of the spiritual formation of a pastor will give them the necessary skills to overcome the struggles and challenges many of them experience in their ministry.

 

Servant leadership training as part of spiritual formation of theological students

When theological students are trained to understand the principles inherent in servant leadership as part of their spiritual formation, they will have a greater chance of experience in their ministry as fulfilling. An awareness of the personal characteristics of a servant leader will have a positive effect on their resilience when dealing with difficult challenges. Not all theological students are natural leaders, but with fundamental knowledge about the principles of servant leadership and the characteristics of servant leaders, they will be able to apply the principles to continuously develop their competencies and skills.

The rest of the article will, therefore, be explorative in nature on the theme of including servant leadership training as part of the spiritual formation of theological students. Theory formation is necessary as a foundation for the inclusion of (new) content in a curriculum. Consequently, the formation will start with a short view on the servant leadership of Moses, David, Paul and Jesus Christ. Thereafter, the focus will be on servant leadership characteristics and competencies or skills according to contemporary scholars and the article will conclude with a proposed model for servant leadership as part of spiritual formation of theological students.

 

Servant leadership in the Bible

The Christian church ought to be founded on principles espoused in the Bible. Various biblical leaders provide important lessons, including the lessons Jesus Himself offered. The one who leads ought to be like a shepherd who goes before the sheep, finds good pasture and water, and takes the sheep to safe places known to him. Because the flock is close to the heart of the shepherd, caring for their wellbeing is his main concern. Jesus taught the disciples the basic principles of servanthood when they were arguing about who should be prominent in the kingdom, saying to them, 'If anyone desires to be first, he shall be last of all and servant of all' (Mk 9:35).

Several leaders in the Bible portray servant leadership, for instance Moses, David, Paul and Jesus Christ. The leadership of each of them will now be investigated to identify principles of servant leadership and characteristics of the servant leader.

Moses

Moses rose to a leadership position in the congregation of Israel by standing up for the Israelites, even at the expense of losing his place in Pharaoh's palace. God revealed his calling through the burning bush incident, and empowered him with authority and power to do miracles. Through courage, power and authority, Moses and Aaron went to Egypt and did signs and wonders that eventually persuaded Pharaoh to release the people. As they journeyed in the desert, Moses listened to the instructions of God and communicated that to the people. Moses initially took responsibility for all cases, and because he could not attend to everyone on time, the people became disruptive (Constable 2017a:109). Jethro advised Moses to delegate functions to leaders in the congregation of Israel. Moses listened and took Jethro's advice (Ex 18). In this incident, Moses demonstrated listening skills and subsequently, shared leadership and empowerment. A servant leader listens and considers advice and views from others before making a decision. Moses received instructions for building the tabernacle, conceptualised it and instructed the people to do the work. He also called for a contribution, and when it was enough, he stopped the people from giving more than required, which was an act of integrity in managing finances and resources (Ex 36:6-7). Moses pleaded to God for the people, demonstrating empathy and compassion, though they complained, murmured and disobeyed (Ex 32:10). When God offered Moses the Promised Land instead of the people, Moses arose as a servant leader and put the people first. He prayed to God on their behalf (Ben-Hur & Jonsen 2012:967). Moses listened attentively and was guided by God throughout the journey, from the burning bush, and all he had to tell Pharaoh with each plague, and getting the 10 Commandments (Hays 2012:6). Having listened to God for many years, Moses failed to obey an instruction once and missed the opportunity of going to the Promised Land (Nm 20:7-12, 27:12-17). Moses commissioned Joshua to lead Israel after him, empowering him with authority (Kislev 2009:429). Indicative of his selflessness, Moses did not select a person he favoured, but asked God to choose a man to take over his leadership role, and he did not choose his own sons (Nm 27:15-17).

Principles of servant leadership that can be identified from the above discussion of the leadership of Moses are the following: God Himself calls people - sinful and frequently unwilling people - as servant leaders in His work, not for their own benefit but to serve others. On the one hand, He endows them with leadership qualities, prepares them, supports them and equips them in such a way that they can act with authority and wisdom. God expects them to be patient with their followers, to have compassion for them, to learn to deal with criticism and to obey and trust Him. He expects leaders to follow his religious prescriptions and rites, thereby showing and promising visually and tangibly that His people belong to Him and that He will free them from bondage, physically and spiritually. Servant leadership characteristics are for instance obedience to God, trust in God, wisdom, courage, authority, integrity compassion, empathy, patience, dealing with criticism, selflessness, perseverance, managerial qualities and foresight.

David

The concept of servant leadership is not easily associated with kings given their position, status and corresponding service they receive from their subjects and servants. David claimed his leadership position through his victory over Goliath, a selfless act that saw him becoming a leader in the army (Serrano 2015:38). Through this one act, David demonstrated love, humility, philanthropy, vision, belief, service and empowerment (Serrano 2015:39). It took courage in David to fight and defeat an enemy who had the benefit of experience, armament and was older than him (1 Sm 17:37). Anointed as king, David served the reigning king Saul with humility and he did not attempt to take the kingdom by force, as he held him in high honour (1 Sm 24:6). King David did not conduct himself with integrity when he committed adultery and murder, but still had a repentant heart and was forgiven (Cafferky 2010:41).

Servant leadership principles defining the leadership of David are the following: honouring the name of God and trusting God in the face of overwhelming danger; submission and faithful service to a person in a ruling position; and confession and repentance of one's sins before God. Faith and trust in God, courage, vision, humility and repentance for one's sins are characteristics clearly associated with a servant leader.

Paul

Scripture portrays Paul as a persecutor of believers before he became an apostle of the Lord by grace, a title he carried with authority. He consistently referred to himself by this designation in his letters (see Rm 1:1; 1 Cor 1:1; Eph 1:1) and people widely recognised him as such (Tyson 2016:387). Paul followed a shared leadership style - one of the characteristics of servant leadership identified by Laub (1999). He worked with acquaintances on his missions, Priscilla, Aquila and Urbanus also reffered to as co-workers (Rm 13:3), and Titus, stated as his partner (2 Cor 8:23). Paul used foresight by getting Timothy circumcised because of the challenges they would face (Hoehl 2011:36). Paul empowered Timothy and prepared him for ministry and to deal with doctrinal errors and interpretation of scripture (Hoehl 2011:39), and then stepped back and allowed the young man to fulfill his role. Applauding noble leadership in others is a reflection of authenticity, being content with one's own capabilities and abilities and acknowledging what others have to offer.

Servant leadership principles standing out in the leadership of Paul are an awareness of authority based on divine appointment in the service of God, vision and commitment, dedication in spreading the Good News, shared leadership style, overseeing Scripture interpretation, and training and commending a successor. Personal characteristics are love for co-workers and fellow-believers, selflessness in stepping back when necessary and endurance in suffering because of the gospel.

Jesus Christ

Jesus is the embodiment of servant leadership. The concept befits Him in His teachings and the things He did by serving and leading. Jesus chose disciples that He would teach and empower to continue His ministry after His departure, that is shared leadership. Jesus gave the disciples authority to do what He was doing, going around, preaching the Good News and healing the sick (Troftgruben 2013:392). The disciples were active participants in the ministry of Jesus, they were not bystanders, but they learnt to do what He was doing. Jesus gave his disciples power (Greek dunamis, meaning 'ability') and authority (Greek exousia, meaning 'the right to exercise power'). Jesus did not just send the disciples, He gave them power and authority, that was important for the disciples to enable them to perform miracles to validate their preaching (Constable 2017b:144). Jesus made His mission clear by referring to Isaiah 61:1-2 (Constable 2017b:309). Jesus came and became a servant, even to the point of washing the feet of His disciples (Mt 20:28; Lk 22:27; Jn 13:14). The act of washing the disciples' feet was viewed as an act of supremacy; the one who received the washing was generally superior to the one doing the act (Åkerlund 2015:7). The word for 'servant' used in John 13 is the Greek diakon, which means 'one who serves in a lowly way'. Constable (2017b:323) states, 'what was not below their Master should not be below His servants'. Jesus was humble, though He had authority and power (Foster 1971:338).

Jesus demonstrated understanding, far-sightedness and watchfulness to the will of the Father. In His actions, Jesus did the will of the Father, showing unity and obedience (Jn 5:30). The Holy Spirit anointed Jesus when He was baptised, thereafter He started His ministry (Johnson 2017:148). Jesus was able to teach and do miracles under the leadership of and being empowered by the Holy Spirit (Constable 2017b:374). Jesus taught about integrity that people must practice what they teach. The authenticity and authority of one's teaching are reflected in how they conduct themselves with regard to what they teach (Troftgruben 2013:392). Throughout His ministry, Jesus related with all kinds of people, religious and sinners, going into crowded places and attending to those in need. Jesus acknowledged and affirmed Zacchaeus who saw himself as a sinner not worthy to host the Lord, and through this act, Jesus inspired change in Zacchaeus (Campolo & Darling 2010:21). Jesus showed love and care to people who were condemned like the woman caught in adultery. Jesus brought healing to her soul through forgiveness not condemnation (Campolo & Darling 2010:21). Jesus also reserved times for withdrawal, which is a time of solitude, where you are out of reach for a certain time (Blanchard 2003:88). Jesus spent time alone in preparation for the start of His ministry where He prayed and fasted (Mt 4:1-11).

Even such a cursory discussion as above confirms Jesus is the personification of servant leadership. All the principles indicated in the servant leadership of Moses, David and Paul are found in the leadership of Jesus. A few are preaching the Good News, giving priority to call workers for the kingdom of God, equipping them and giving them authority to continue the ministry, not only amongst their own people, but also in missionary work, fulfilling the will of the Father in complete obedience, withdrawing for reflection and prayer, serving in humility and not expecting to be served, love, compassion and sensitivity for the needs of people, involving other people in serving, enduring animosity and persecution, and suffering and sacrificing the self for the sake of others. Divine involvement is found in the fact that the Son of God Himself is the servant and the Holy Spirit is upon Him. To discuss all the characteristics of Jesus as a servant would be impossible within the scope of this article. Suffice to say that servanthood is inherent in the person of Jesus, as He revealed Himself in his teachings and actions on earth.

It is important that the content of the Bible should be contextualised for the existential needs in present times. When doing exegesis, a pericope should not only be read and understood in the context of the intended original readers, but the exegete also has to apply the principles to the current context. In pursuing the aim of contextualising the Biblical theme of servant leadership, some contemporary views of servant leadership will now be explored. If contemporary servant leader principles could be identified that are congruent with biblical principles, they could be used in a servant leadership model as part of spiritual formation of theological students.

 

Servant leadership characteristics and competencies or skills

Leadership is a practice whereby one influences others in a group to work towards realising an identified shared goal (Northouse 2013:5). The core of leadership is 'going out to show the way' (Greenleaf 2002:chap. 1). Leaders have a dream, a vision and all-encompassing purpose for which they lead others to work towards (Greenleaf 2002:chap. 1).

A servant leader is a servant first (Greenleaf 2002:chap. 1). He or she has the heart to serve people and then leadership is bestowed on them as a function or a role to play. The desire to serve inspires a servant leader to lead people. The servant nature is not conferred or presumed and cannot be taken away; it is the core of who the person is (Greenleaf 2002:chap. 1). Servanthood must be intrinsic in the leader's nature (Caldwell, McConkie & Licona 2014:20). The fundamental principle of servant leadership is in the focus on other people before the leader considers their own issues (Chan & So 2017:13). A servant leader is not just a servant who waits for instructions, but a leader who shows initiative, takes risks, assumes ownership, provides structure and is responsible for failures (Sousa & Dierendonck 2017:14).

An important skill that students have to learn to be a servant leader is firstly the ability to listen and to understand. It is an attitude of seeking to understand, to hear what is said, to identify and clarify the will of others, to reflect on issues, to listen without being judgmental, to comprehend what causes a person to think and behave in a certain way, to view issues from the way another person sees, to clearly understand what is being communicated, and to get in touch with the inner voice that communicates matters of the body, mind and spirit (Campolo & Darling 2010:70; Chan & So 2017:15; Spears & Lawrence 2004:chap. 2).

Important skills include the following: (1) language and imagination that enable open communication and information exchange to increase confidence and allegiance (Carroll & Patterson 2014:19); (2) withdrawal when reaching one's optimum, which means stepping back from pressure at some point and identifying a point where one's abilities as a leader are optimally utilised and you have to reorient yourself and make choices that produce optimum performance (Greenleaf 2002:chap. 1); (3) acceptance and empathy, which implies having tolerance for others' imperfections (Greenleaf 2002:chap. 1); (4) foresight, which refers to the ability of a leader to review present issues and equate them with past events in order to make predictions for the future in the event of having nothing else for guidance (Greenleaf 2002:chap. 1); and (5) awareness and perception, which refers to an intense contact with, acute awareness of and creative insight into current situations (Greenleaf 2002:chap. 1), and qualities that enable the leader to view issues holistically whilst considering ethical consequences, power and values (Chan & So 2017:15).

Persuasion, another skill of servant leadership, is the art of bringing about change by convincing rather than by coercing. In persuasion, the leader deals with one person at a time. He or she seeks to reach accord and to influence by model and partnership, a method that has a better chance of long-term success (Chan & So 2017). Servant leadership is about the servant leader giving him or herself to people, a characteristic that naturally draws people towards him or her, thus effecting a change of heart in other people (Roach 2015:chap. 1). People are attracted through influence and not authority based on a position (Roach 2015:chap. 2). Persuasion asks for good conceptualisation as the ability to plot present matters and opportunities, articulating available prospects and using thorough reasoning based on a logical mental framework (Green et al. 2015:82). Community building is an important part of the task of a servant leader. It may include caring for orphans, those who are in jail, those who are sick, the education system and elderly (Greenleaf 2002:chap. 1). It therefore also involves healing and serving because both the leader and the follower have a need of wholeness, and whilst the leader is serving, they are also healed (Greenleaf 2002:chap. 1).

From the review of contemporary literature, several principles of servant leadership have been identified that are congruent with the biblical principles of servant leadership identified earlier. This creates the possibility of contextualising the biblical principles in the context of a contemporary curriculum for theological training. In the section 'Proposed servant leadership model', the information from contemporary literature will be presented systematically with a view to suggest a servant leadership model.

 

Proposed servant leadership model

Distinguishing and understanding the following five aspects of servant leadership will enable students to form a clear vision of servant leadership:

· Style: Leadership styles are the approaches or methods adopted and used by a leader to inspire and influence others towards a particular end goal (Uzohue, Yaja & Akintayo 2016:20). Leadership style is a description of what the leader emphasises when they lead people (Mwenje 2015:56). Leadership styles are demonstrated in the manner in which a leader deals with people and work at hand, and it differs depending on the situation at hand (Uzohue et al. 2016:20). There are various leadership styles that leaders employ, such as transformational, transactional, participative, servant leadership and dictatorship styles. A description of all the various leadership styles should be included in the curriculum for the student to understand the differences in approach.

· Principles: Servant leadership should share responsibilities and promote healthy relationships. With the proposed model, the authors want to link with Laub's (1999) six principles of a servant leader, namely valuing people, developing people, building communities, displaying authenticity, providing leadership and sharing leadership.

· Functions: A pastor has to fulfill a specific role in the church and it involves distinct functions. These functions flow naturally from their character and competency. Some of these functions are setting, translating and executing a vision; providing and sharing leadership with the church members; becoming a role model and ambassador not only for adults but also for the youth and children in the church; identifying spiritual gifts and talents of the church members and helping them to grow and develop their gifts and talents; and continuously monitoring and improving the status quo.

· Character: The proposed model follows Spears and Lawrence (2004:27), who identified 10 characteristics of a servant leader, namely listening, empathy, healing, awareness, persuasion, conceptualisation, foresight, stewardship, commitment to the growth of people and community building.

· Competency: The servant leader's competency is seen in aspects like being a visionary, empowering others, showing stewardship skills and having a heart for other people in order to build relationships.

Nkambule (2019:222) proposes the servant leadership model in Figure 1.

In the proposed model, all the necessary aspects are given in an encompassing manner. The principles of servant leadership form the foundation of the model, whilst the importance of certain leadership styles, characteristics, competencies and the functions of a servant leader are highlighted.

From the biblical principles of servant leadership, the characteristics and skills of the biblical servant leader and the principles from contemporary literature, it is clear that the concept of servant leadership is noble; therefore, instruction in servant leadership should be included in the theological curriculum as part of the spiritual formation of students.

 

Conclusion

The principle of servant leadership is an example of the necessity of contextualising a biblical theme. A thorough understanding of a theme like servant leadership contributes to spiritual formation of theological students and will ultimately empower them to minister the Word of God, which means following in the footsteps of leaders such as Moses, David, Paul and Jesus Christ. Christians can draw inspiration from the historical record in the Bible where leaders are called 'servants'. They can do it with the knowledge that faith in Jesus Christ assures them that they are called by God himself to be servants for the benefit of others.

Jesus set the bar very high for leaders, which is sometimes difficult to attain. However, if theological students are committed and have faith that it is possible to attain the standard, then they will strive towards fulfilling their call. With this article, the authors aimed to propose a servant leadership model that could be integrated into the curriculum of theological students in an attempt to help them with their spiritual formation. In understanding and following a servant leadership model in ministry, the negative publicity surrounding the church in South Africa in the media might end. The two aspects of the term servant leadership and the way a balance can be found between the aspects have been discussed. The servant leadership examples of two Old Testament and two New Testament leaders have been identified. The article has been concluded with a proposal of a model as a summary of the research and that can be helpful for spiritual formation of students.

 

Acknowledgements

Competing interests

The authors declare that they have no financial or personal relationships that may have inappropriately influenced them in writing this research article.

Authors' contributions

A.L.D.P. and C.M.N. contributed equally to this research article.

Funding information

This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.

Data availability statement

Data sharing is not applicable to this article as no new data were created or analysed in this study.

Disclaimer

The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of any affiliated agency of the authors.

 

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Correspondence:
Amanda L. du Plessis
amanda.duplessis@nwu.ac.za

Received: 11 Feb. 2020
Accepted: 11 June 2020
Published: 11 Aug. 2020

 

 

1. A fundamental truth or proposition that serves as the foundation for a system or belief or behaviour or for a chain of reasoning.
2. A characteristic is a broad term for what is a distinctive or typical feature (or an important aspect) of someone or something.
3. The empirical study was also part of a PhD study and the full process and results can be viewed in Nkambule (2019).

^rND^sÅkerlund^nT.^rND^sBen-Hur^nS.^rND^sJonsen^nK.^rND^sCafferky^nM.E.^rND^sCaldwell^nC.^rND^sMcConkie^nM.^rND^sLicona^nB.^rND^sCarroll^nB.C.^rND^sPatterson^nK.^rND^sChan^nK.W.C.^rND^sSo^nG.B.K.^rND^sGreen^nM.T.^rND^sRodriguez^nR.A.^rND^sWheeler^nC.A.^rND^sBaggerly-Hinijosa^nB.^rND^sHays^nR.^rND^sHoehl^nS.E.^rND^sJohnson^nK.^rND^sKislev^nI.^rND^sMokhoathi^nJ.^rND^sRembe^nN.S.^rND^sMwenje^nJ.^rND^sSerrano^nC.^rND^sSousa^nM.^rND^sVan Dierendonck^nD.^rND^sTroftgruben^nT.M.^rND^sTyson^nJ.B.^rND^sUzohue^nC.E.^rND^sYaya^nJ.A.^rND^sAkintayo^nO.A.^rND^1A01 A02^nChristoph W.^sStenschke^rND^1A01 A02^nChristoph W.^sStenschke^rND^1A01 A02^nChristoph W^sStenschke

ORIGINAL RESEARCH

 

Lifestyle and leadership according to Paul's statement of account before the Ephesian elders in Acts 20:17-35

 

 

Christoph W. Stenschke^{I, II}

^IDepartment of Biblical and Ancient Studies, College of Human Sciences, University of South Africa, Pretoria, South Africa
^IIDepartment of New Testament; Biblisch-Theologische Akademie, Forum Wiedenest, Bergneustadt Gesellschaft für Bildung und Forschung in Europa, Gummersbach, Germany

Correspondence

 

 

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ABSTRACT

In the book of Acts, the Apostle Paul provides examples of leadership and displays significant leadership skills. In the speech to church leaders from Ephesus in Acts 20, he is presented as giving an account of his approach, detailing all the challenges involved. This article analyses how the Paul of Acts understood his own leadership role, in particular, the need for integrity, emotional involvement in the process and ceaseless effort. The article also examines Paul's emphasis on the necessity for leaders to exemplify or embody in a perceptible way the values which they convey to others and demand of them.

Keywords: Paul; Acts of the Apostles; Miletus speech; Leadership; Lifestyle; Personal integrity.

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Introduction

While many of the paranetical sections of the New Testament could be summarised under the heading 'spiritual formation', relatively few passages particularly address issues regarding leadership within the Christian community.¹ Other fields of leadership - such as Christians as leaders of civic communities - are not directly in view.² One of these passages is Paul's speech in Acts 20:17-35, which - in the portrayal of Acts - was delivered at Miletus to the elders of the Ephesian church when Paul was on his way back to Jerusalem at the end of the third missionary journey (Ac 18:23-21:16). In this speech, Paul describes his own past ministry among the Ephesians (Ac 20:18-27). It serves as a summary and statement of account of Paul's ministry among the nations before his return to Jerusalem, the place where he was commissioned for this task by the risen Christ (Ac 22:21). Paul also outlines the tasks ahead for these elders (Ac 20:28-35). Both parts of the speech are closely linked as Paul presents his own ministry as an example which the elders are to emulate. Paul's instructions are interesting when read against the notions of social status and leadership ideals in the Greco-Roman world (see Stenschke 2014).

These instructions have received much attention in New Testament studies and in quests for Christian ministry and leadership. Jacques Dupont's (1962) insightful study, Le discours de Milet, remains one of the classic expositions. In this article, the focus is on the close connection between lifestyle and leadership in the speech.

What is 'the thing' we are looking for? Both terms, lifestyle and leadership, are difficult to define. For leadership, we follow Peter G. Northouse, who defines it as 'a process whereby an individual influences a group of individuals to achieve a common goal'.³ In our case, the individual is Paul who influences a group of individuals: at an initial stage, his non-Christian audiences in Asia Minor, later on, his converts. In addition, in Acts 20, he influences or tries to influence a group of leaders from the Christian communities of Ephesus who represent a wider group of Christ-followers. The common goal is Christian existence as the people of God (this requires thorough re-socialisation of Gentile converts to a Christ-like lifestyle, i.e., their 'sanctification', to use a Pauline term) and the spread of the good news of Jesus Christ.

For lifestyle, we use the social sciences definition of Stefan Hadril (2005:46), who states that '[e]in Lebensstil ist […] der regelmäßig wiederkehrende Gesamtzusammenhang der Verhaltensweisen, Interaktionen, Meinungen, Wissensbestände und bewertenden Einstellungen eines Menschen', [the overall context of regularly recurring manners of behaviour, interactions, opinions, stocks of knowledge and value judgements that a person holds].⁴

Before we start, some comments regarding our source are necessary. What we have in Acts 20 is the presentation of this speech by the author of Acts, commonly referred to as Luke.⁵ Is Paul's speech merely a Lukan piece of fine rhetoric or are we hearing something of the historical Paul after all? If one takes the so-called 'We-passages' of Acts seriously, where the author claims to have been an eye witness to the events (Ac 16:10-16; 20:5-21:17; 27:1-28:16), he was present on this particular occasion. Therefore, the speech could be Luke's summary of a longer speech by Paul. However, while this is plausible, it cannot be proven. We cannot do justice to these historical issues here. We focus on the speech as Luke's perspective on Paul, as Luke's summary of Paul's ministry on the verge of returning from the Diaspora to Jerusalem.⁶ What we hear is the Lukan Paul.

Luke's presentation of Paul can be and has often been compared with Paul's own statements regarding his ministry in his letters.⁷ Steve Walton's study Leadership and Lifestyle: The Portrait of Paul in the Miletus Speech and 1 Thessalonians indicates that 1 Thessalonians has proven to be a particularly fruitful field.⁸ Needless to say, Paul's own assertions are not fully objective either. They are part of the portrait which Paul paints of himself and his ministry to his readers and vis-à-vis his ever-present opponents. How he presents his ministry and wants others to perceive it is not necessarily what happened on a day-to-day basis. Because of the nature of the sources, we focus on the manner in which the Lukan Paul presents his ministry. We briefly return to issues of rhetoric and plausibility in the concluding section.

In the larger genre of Acts as a work of ancient historiography (see Keener 2012:51-165), Paul's Miletus speech adopts the genre of a farewell speech, a widely used genre in the ancient world and its literature.⁹ Some of the elements typical of this genre appear in Acts 20. Michel (1973, cited in Von Wahlde 2014) has identified the following nine elements typical of farewell speeches:

[A]nnouncement of approaching death, paranetic sayings or exhortations, prophecies or predictions, a retrospective account of the individual's life, determination of a successor, a prayer, instructions concerning burial, promises and vows requested of those assembled that they will fulfil these requests, and final instruction of those present.¹⁰ (p. 879)

Our focus is on Paul's retrospective account of his ministry which, in this farewell speech, serves to indicate that Paul has appropriately fulfilled all that was demanded by him (a typical topos of such speeches, see Avery Peck 2014:882).

 

Lifestyle and leadership in Paul's ministry (Ac 19:17-35)

At the beginning of his address, Paul recalls his own ministry among Jews and Gentiles in some detail: he taught in public and private (Ac 20:20), proclaiming and promoting not himself but declaring the whole purpose of God (Ac 20:27), testifying about repentance towards God and faith towards the Lord Jesus or the gospel of God's grace and proclaiming the kingdom (Ac 20:24-27). Paul served the Lord (and the Ephesians) with all humility (Ac 20:19), not with the attitudes associated elsewhere with Gentile leadership.¹¹ These statements indicate Paul's understanding of his calling, his attitudes and their embodiment in a particular lifestyle. Paul's ministry, his lifestyle, serves as the model for his audience to follow. What is said about the nexus between lifestyle and leadership?

'How I lived among you the whole time' (Ac 20:18)

Paul's ministry in Ephesus was not one of distance or reservation: he lived among the Jewish and Gentile Christians, shared their lives and identified with them. For Paul to do so was all the more remarkable in view of the stance taken by other Jews and Jewish Christians of his day and age towards Gentiles.¹² The Christians in Ephesus could not only listen to his proclamation of the Gospel, but also observe his whole life and his interaction with them. There were no secrets or restrictions to his life among them. Paul did not intermittently appear among them and disappear again but was there the whole time of his stay in the area and committed to his task ('that I set foot in Asia').¹³

Elsewhere, Luke also emphasises the intensity of Paul's public ministry in Ephesus: he taught daily in the lecture hall of a certain Tyrannus (Ac 19:9). The so-called Western textual tradition of Acts¹⁴ adds that Paul did so from the 5th to the 10th hour of each day, that is, from about 11:00 to 16:00.¹⁵ Probably, Paul could make use of the lecture hall during this time, as this was the hottest part of the day. According to Keener (2014), this reading is:

[A]t least a reasonable guess from someone familiar with the arrangement of ancient schools. If Paul was working throughout this period of his ministry (cf. Ac 20:34; 1 Cor 4:12), he may have worked from dawn until about 11:00 a.m. (about five hours), then devoting the next five hours to the still more exhausting business of Christian dialectic. (p. 2829)

This would have been followed from the late afternoon onwards by his 'private' ministry from house to house (Ac 20:20).

In addition, Paul worked in his trade as a tent-maker to support himself (Ac 20:34). It seems that even during this time, people had access to him and could observe him (Ac 19:12; whether Paul was aware of it or approved of it or not, they would carry off to the sick handkerchiefs or aprons that had touched his body). All this took place for about two years, 'so that all the residents of Asia heard the word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks' (Ac 19:10). Later in the speech, Paul mentions a ministry period of three years (Ac 20:31) when he refers his audience back to his own example: 'for three years I did not cease night or day to admonish every one of you with tears' which is evidence of his 'truly untiring dedication' (Haacker 2019:343). Paul provided a splendid example 'of persistence and sincerity in teaching the church at Ephesus, again noting that he missed no opportunity and used the time fully (cf. Ac 20:20, 27)' (Walton 2000:82). He practised the admonition in Ephesians 5:15: 'Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil'.

Paul gives an account of his lifestyle and leadership to people who witnessed and observed his life. The persuasiveness of his account of his ministry presupposes that the audience can confirm Paul's claims as they had ample opportunity to observe him carefully and knew him well. Paul's leadership was tied to a lifestyle (understood as the overall context of regularly recurring manners of behaviour and interactions) of full commitment to his calling and to the people he came to lead. In addition to the exceptional miracles reported for Ephesus (Ac 19:11-12 and other superhuman factors such as the Holy Spirit), this commitment will have added to the persuasiveness of Paul's ministry and to his influence on others.¹⁶

'Serving the Lord with all humility and with tears' (Ac 20:19)

Paul emphasises that he, although a leader (i.e. an individual influencing a group of individuals to achieve a common goal), is a follower and servant himself. He serves the Lord (δουλεύων τῷ κυρίῳ). This is his identity. The Greek word douleuein implies dependence and obedience, though in this case not in a slavish manner. The servant derives great dignity and authority from serving this Lord.¹⁷

Despite his calling and commissioning by the risen Lord, the exceptional signs and wonders performed by him and his successes elsewhere and in Ephesus (19:11-12), Paul claims to have served in humility, not with the arrogance of some leaders in his world. Humility means relinquishing status, 'but even this could be honourable for a leader'.¹⁸ If not a word coined by early Christians, the Greek word ταπεινοφροσύνη was at least a word, which was (Walton 2000):

[G]iven an entirely different 'atmosphere' by its use by the earliest Christians, where it is contrasted (e.g., in Phlp 2:3) with ἐριθεία (seeking followers by means of gifts - hence ambition, rivalry) and κενοδοξία (vanity, conceit, excessive ambition). (p. 76)

Paul's emphasis on his humility is striking in a social context in which honour was a prevalent value. However, Keener (2014) notes that although:

[H]umility was sometimes associated with servility, it could also be viewed positively (especially as gentleness), and the motif of a 'humble' leader was widely valued. … a ruler's 'humility' was often considered power under control.¹⁹ (p. 3008)

Paul does not indicate the relationship between serving the Lord and 'power under control'.

Paul also refers to his tears. Haacker (2019:339-340) notes that, in the ancient world, the suppression of tears was 'kein Erziehungsziel bei heranwachsenden Männern … Aussagen über eigene Tränen unterstreichen die Intensität einer Zuwendung oder eines Gefühls der Verbundenheit'.²⁰ Paul's ministry was not one of professional distance from his 'clients' or one of successfully 'managing' his mission and team of co-workers, but one of high personal and emotional involvement: he was in tears for the Ephesians and with them.²¹ Later in the speech, Paul again recalls his emotional involvement, 'for three years I did not cease night or day to admonish every one of you with tears' (Ac 20:31).

These claims again underline Paul's full commitment to the task. In his role as a leader in Ephesus, he served the Lord, was ready to relinquish status and to control his power and engaged emotionally with his followers.

'The trials that happened to me' (Ac 20:19)

In addition to situations that led to tears as he shared the lives of people, Paul's ministry was challenged from outside. Some Jews plotted against Paul (see Ac 19:9, 'but when some became stubborn and continued in unbelief, speaking evil of the Way before the congregation'). While appreciated and accepted by some (Paul's followers), for others, Paul's ministry was a riposte which had to be challenged. They attempted to restrict Paul's influence on a group of people (Jews and Gentiles attending the synagogue of Ephesus, Ac 19:8; some people from that group had already become followers of Paul) by slandering Paul's proclamation ('the Way'). It is not clear whether and what kind of other plots were involved. In addition to other motives, presumably, this was also performed by Paul's opponents to secure their own influence in the synagogue of Ephesus. Probably, there were also vested financial interests involved. Exercising and establishing leadership often leads to conflict with former leaders when followers shift their allegiance to new leaders.²²

It is noteworthy that Paul did not seek an open confrontation with these opponents and challenge their claims to influence (which may have led to unwanted official attention to the Jewish minority; see Ac 18:12-17), but withdrew from the synagogue without resistance, taking his adherents (τοὺς μαθητὰς) with him. Also, in this context, Paul displayed humility. The reference to his followers - the same Greek word is used for the followers of Jesus - underlines Paul's success among Jews and Gentiles and indicates his leadership.

Despite these challenges to Paul's leadership and the hostility and dangers which it involved (see the earlier accounts of Jewish hostility in Acts), Paul pursued his commission faithfully. He did not give up when facing such trials, rather he persisted.

Paul's completed commission (Ac 20:20, 26-27)

The complete fulfilment of Paul's task is the next theme. Paul assures his audience that he had declared to them everything that is profitable. He did not withhold any of what there was to know and that they needed to know. People, who will appear on the scene later on (in Ac 20:29, some of Paul's opponents are in view), cannot legitimately claim that Paul's message was wanting and needs to be supplemented.

Paul returns to this theme immediately before he commissions the elders for their ministry (Ac 20:28-30). He affirms his innocence as he not only diligently but also fully completed his commission (recalling the Old Testament prophetic tradition, in particular, Ezk²³): 'Therefore I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all, for I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God' (Ac 20:26-27), that is, 'the whole of God's will or mind - a complete message for all kinds of people, both Jews and Gentiles'.²⁴

Paul did not hold anything significant back or employ his superior knowledge as a means of exercising power (as greater or full knowledge or information implies power), as some of his opponents might have performed. Paul did not preserve his superior status on the basis of the superior knowledge that he had at the beginning of his ministry and so keep a distance between himself and his followers. Instead, he generously passed on his knowledge in its entirety to them. He did so publicly for three months in the synagogue, for two years in the lecture hall of Tyrannus (see above) and privately throughout his stays in houses (Ac 19:8-9; 20:20).

Paul did not refrain from ministering in public²⁵ where he could reach the whole population of the city and of the area (see the description of the result in Ac 19:10) and be observed by the whole community.²⁶ There was nothing secretive or subversive to his ministry and leadership in influencing a group of individuals to achieve a common goal. Paul was not manipulative or prone to drawing people away after him (see his explicit warning against doing so in Ac 20:30). His ministry was fully transparent to all who wanted to inquire. People knew where to find him (Ac 19:9-10).

At the same time, Paul also provided instruction in private contexts, where the range of people and their numbers were more limited.²⁷ He was not only interested in public appearance, the honour which this may have involved, and large numbers, but also came to their houses (not worrying about Jewish purity regulations, see Ac 10:1-11:18; 1 Cor 9:19-23). Paul identified with his followers or followers to be and was ready to share their lives. In this way, 'Paul provided intimate contact for the disciples, probably knowing most of them personally until his departure in Acts 20:1'.²⁸ 'That Paul taught both publicly … and from house to house (i.e. privately), shows that he exploited every possible means to make his teaching available' (Keener 2014:3012-3013).

Paul had no vested financial interests in providing instruction as he fully covered his own costs of living (see Ac 20:33-35). Paul's leadership was characterised by full transparency.²⁹ In view of Paul's example, the elders' ministry is to be as unstinting and as complete as Paul's (see Walton 2000:85).

One message and one consistent standard for all (Ac 20:21)

Closely related to Paul's claim that he taught everything that there was to know, he 'testified to both Jews and Greeks of repentance toward God and of faith in our Lord Jesus Christ' (Ac 20:21).³⁰ Consistent with his calling, Paul ministered to Jews and Gentiles. While his point of departure would have been different in Jewish synagogues and on marketplaces such as in Athens (Ac 17:17), he had but one message. Paul did not play off Jews and Gentiles against each other.³¹ Both, Jews and Gentiles, needed to repent and would be accepted by God. Both groups were called to saving faith in Jesus. There was one consistent standard and requirement for all to become followers of Christ and followers of Paul. Paul did not favour his fellow Jews (although he emphasises his Jewish identity in some passages of Acts) nor the Gentiles, to whom he was particularly called (Ac 9:15-16; 22:21).³²

Also, in Acts 20:31, amidst the charges to the elders, Paul claims that 'for three years I did not cease night or day to admonish every one of you with tears'. Paul had all of the elders in view and did not show partiality to one of them or a particular group among them: neither to fellow Jews nor to Gentiles, neither to people of high nor low social status, neither to fellow Roman citizens among them (see Ac 16:37-39; 22:25-29; 25:11), neither to rich nor poor elders, neither to slave owners nor to slaves, neither to people of his age group nor to people from Tarsus/Cilicia (Ac 22:3) or whatever other criteria for making distinctions may come to mind. Paul did not distinguish between his followers; all of them received the same passionate ministry (being admonished with tears). As all received the same share of the apostle's attention (instruction, counselling, prayer, etc.), there was no room or need for competition in this regard. Paul's emphasis on every one of them laid the foundation for unity among his followers.

This principle will have added to Paul's credibility and to the readiness of people to follow him. As Paul's ministry was public (and private), the audience could affirm that Paul made no such distinctions in his ministry.

Because of the rhetorical situation, that is, a farewell speech with the typical topos of a retrospective account of a person's life and the intention to declare that Paul has appropriately fulfilled all that was demanded by him (see above), Paul appears here as the perfect role model for leadership rather than as a person of flesh and blood. Some of the rhetoric in this presentation of Paul is because of the genre and must be taken as such. Acts does not offer a neutral biography of Paul but an apology of his life and gospel written by an ardent admirer.

 

Constrained by the Spirit (Ac 20:22)³³

Paul has emphasised his own initiative and approach in his past ministry up to this point. Now he turns to the future. He is about to set out for Jerusalem. Despite uncertainties regarding the outcome of this journey and the risks involved ('not knowing what will happen to me there'), he is ready to set out courageously. He is obedient to the Spirit, even though he knows that such obedience will involve imprisonment and afflictions.³⁴

Despite his high calling and the generous divine affirmation of his ministry, Paul also submits to the constraints of the Holy Spirit. He is not a law unto himself nor free from such obligations. Paul's lifestyle is one of obedience to the guidance and command of the Spirit. As a leader and influencer among the Christians of Ephesus, he himself is and remains a follower of the Spirit. Some of the authenticity and authority which Paul exercised will have derived from this submission to the Spirit, even when it involved unpleasant prospects.

Not shying away from suffering (Ac 20:23)

Although not directly related to his leadership role in Ephesus,³⁵ Paul refers to a brave lifestyle that does not shy away from suffering and affliction: the prospect of 'the Holy Spirit testifies to me in every city that imprisonment and afflictions await me' does not deter him from starting out towards Jerusalem.³⁶ Walton (2000) states:

[P]aul's lack of detailed knowledge of the future does not produce any shirking from the way ahead, for he sees obedience to God as of greater importance than the preservation of his own life (v. 24).³⁷ (p. 77)

Walton (2000) summarises Paul's attitude as follows:

[P]aul's attitude to suffering is twofold: there is an implied patience and fortitude in his description in verse 19; and he is utterly committed to seeing through the path of witness-through-imprisonment which awaits him as the Lord's purpose (v. 24). By implication the elders are to regard suffering similarly when they meet it, as Paul hints that they will (v. 29-30). That is why they need to keep watch and stay alert (v. 28, 31). (p. 89)

Earlier on, Paul emphasised his commitment to his task in other ways (Ac 20:19-21). Later in the speech, he will return to his commitment and the evidence for it. Paul underlines that a leadership role does not serve the leader's own interest or offer opportunities for maximising pleasure and profit. It means following the Spirit, even if this should involve suffering. What Paul expects of his followers, be they leaders themselves or not, he practises himself: allegiance and witness to Christ despite potential suffering.

Selfless service and finishing the course (Ac 20:24)

Paul's lifestyle and leadership are not self-serving: 'I do not count my life as of any value nor as precious to myself'.³⁸ His motivation is not to preserve or to prolong his own life or to increase its quality, for example, by accumulating status or wealth.³⁹ Rather, he is ready to serve selflessly. In doing so, Paul follows the example of Jesus, his call to follow him, and to self-denial.

Rather than serving his own purposes or self-enhancement, Paul's goal is, 'if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the Gospel of the grace of God'.⁴⁰ Paul is ready to invest himself in the particular task to which he was called. In doing so, he follows and embodies Jesus' call to discipleship. He is ready to lose his life to gain it. His motivation is not self-advancement but service, even if this means that he will not see again the people whom he had come to cherish and whom he served diligently (Ac 20:25).⁴¹

In his ministry and lifestyle, Paul aims at pursuing and finishing the course set before him by Christ. Paul is clear about the aim and purpose of his life. This course is not determined by himself according to his predilections and preferences but set before him by Jesus, the highest authority in the narrative. Paul the leader is a self-denying follower of Christ and ready to pursue what is set before him by Christ. As he influences and leads others, Paul is himself an exemplary follower of Christ.⁴² His readiness to relinquish his own life for the greater prize of his calling commends Paul to his followers (see Keener 2014:3021).

Counsel about future challenges (Ac 20:29-30)

Paul foretells that, after his departure, 'fierce wolves' will come in among the audience and will not spare the flock. Even from among the elders, men will arise who speak twisted things to draw away the disciples after them. In view of these impending threats, the elders are to be alert and to remember Paul's selfless ministry. Being forewarned, they would be forearmed. To inform, counsel and warn others about future events (whether real and concrete situations at this moment or as the normal expected course of events) and to prepare them accordingly is part and parcel of the foresight which should characterise leaders. Paul shows lasting concern for the church, for those whom he leads, beyond the situation of which he currently is part or might be part in the future. An après moi le déluge-attitude is not part of Paul's behaviour and value judgements, rather a concept of sustainable leadership which benefits all who are involved now, and in the future.

Not for personal gain, rather supporting oneself and others (Ac 20:33-35)

Relinquishing material gain is directly addressed after Paul has spoken to the elders about the divine reward for faithful service ('an inheritance among all those who are sanctified'⁴³). Paul refers to his own practice of not coveting silver or gold or costly apparel, probably by not demanding and accepting payment for his service. Rather, he provided for himself and for his companions by working in his trade as a tent-maker (Ac 18:3).⁴⁴ In this context, Paul does not address his right to receive payment or his persistence on his financial independence to avoid dependency as he does in his correspondence with the Corinthians (see Briones 2013; Marshall 1987).⁴⁵

In the light of the close relation between financial interests and religious devotion previously displayed by pagan Ephesians (Ac 19:25-27) and the stunning amount of money involved in one aspect of the local pagan religion (books with magic spells worth 50 000 silver coins, referred to in Ac 19:19), Paul's disclaimer in Acts 20:33-35 is particularly noteworthy. Paul did not share the material concerns of the silversmiths, but displayed true unselfishness. Weiser (1989) notes:

[A]ccording to Luke, unpretentiousness in dealing with material wealth and a high measure of social responsibility characterise the life of the Christians. This Lukan concern can be seen throughout all of Luke-Acts. He also emphasises the unpretentiousness of the messengers of Jesus and the bearers of service-offices in the Christian communities. (See Lk 12:41-46; 17:7-10).⁴⁶ (p. 321)

In addition to serving as a distinguishing mark from false teachers of the future, Paul's attitude was to serve as a model for the elders: neither are they to pursue material gain. Following Paul's example, they are to support themselves and others. The money-mindedness displayed by Gentiles was to have no place in the church. Preoccupation with material wealth is a recurring Lukan theme (see Lk 12:29-30; 17:27-28; Ac 16:19; 24:26). It is therefore not surprising that a gospel directed to Gentile Christians should address this concern repeatedly.⁴⁷ Joseph Fitzmyer (1986) rightly observes that:

[N]o other NT writer… speaks out as emphatically as does Luke about the Christian disciple's use of material possessions, wealth and money…. Obviously, he is not satisfied with what he has seen of the Christian use of wealth in his ecclesial community and makes use of sayings of Jesus to correct attitudes within it.⁴⁸ (p. 24)

Paul gave the church and its elders an example of supporting the weak (Ac 20:35). This expression refers to manual labour to care for the materially poor or socially weak, or to the teaching ministry mentioned previously for the spiritually weak, though the former is usually understood.⁴⁹ Christians have to care for these weak people. That the poor are specifically mentioned in the Miletus speech suggests that Gentile elders, following the patterns of their society, were in danger of misusing them (in creating a clientele or other relationships of dependency which they could exploit for themselves rather than providing genuine charity), overlooking or deliberately neglecting the weak as or when they were of no use to them. Jesus' assertion that 'it is more blessed to give than to receive' is the opposite of the attitude elsewhere ascribed to or displayed by Gentiles prior to faith.⁵⁰

Paul previously defined 'such work' as manual labour in Acts 20:34: 'I worked with my own hands'. On this, Bruce (1990:436) comments: 'These words occupy an emphatic position at the end of the sentence; they would be accompanied by the appropriate gesture'. This emphasis and the previous reference to Paul's work and trade ('they worked together - by trade they were tent-makers') in Acts 18:3 implicitly criticise the Greco-Roman evaluation of manual labour and economic structure, as Greco-Roman culture tended to despise manual labour.⁵¹ The description of 'vulgar tasks' by the Roman upper class gentleman Marcus Tullius Cicero (106-43 BC) is representative and includes manual labour and work by artisans in workshops:

[U]nbecoming to a gentleman, too, and vulgar are the means of livelihood of all hired workmen whom we pay for mere casual labour, not for artistic skill; for in their case the very wages they receive is a pledge of their slavery…. And workers/artisans are engaged in vulgar trades; for no workshop can have anything honourable about it.⁵²

These leaders were not to follow the values of their own society and despise manual labour, but Paul's example that embodies and expresses different values. Barrett (1985) comments:

[T]hey would do well to follow Paul's example and work for their living, in order that, far from receiving payment for their work, they may be in a position to give money away to those who are in need.⁵³ (p. 53)

Through his own labour, Paul embodies the values which he proclaims, even if they are countercultural.

This charge is motivated by a maxim of Jesus in Acts 20:35 ('remembering the words of the Lord Jesus'; cf. Lk 6:30). The elders are not to follow the values and practices prevalent in their society, but to implement fully in their lives the teaching of the Lord Jesus with whom they aligned themselves as Christians and whose authority they accept. This reminder of his Lordship divests this command of any optional character. Walton (2000:84) comments: 'the picture of Paul with which the speech leaves its readers is of one who wants the words of his Master to be remembered'.

 

Lifestyle and leadership: Summary and implications

What then characterises Paul's lifestyle? Paul emphasises that, for a considerable length of time, he shared the lives of his followers without interruptions or distancing himself from them. While among them, he served the Lord with all humility and great personal involvement and sincerity, including tears. His ministry entailed trials and suffering which he bore for the sake and benefit of his followers. Paul fully accomplished the task set before him - applying one consistent standard to all of his followers. Serving the Lord, Paul eagerly follows the prompting of the Holy Spirit, even when this includes suffering. In selfless service, Paul finished the course set before him by divine will, not his own agenda. He had cared about the future situation of the elders, even though he would not be affected by it. In all of this, Paul was not seeking his own personal financial advantage. Rather, he supported himself and others through his own work. Throughout, Paul embodied in a perceptible and exemplary manner the values which he conveyed to others and demanded of them.

Before we discuss the implication of this portrait, we must briefly return to the nature of our sources. Paul's claims regarding his lifestyle and leadership in this statement of account appear in a deliberate rhetorical context, that is, in one of the many speeches of Acts (see Keener 2012:258-319). Luke presents us Paul's claims regarding his lifestyle and leadership during his prolonged ministry in Ephesus in the mid-fifties of the 1st century AD. As statements of account or farewell speeches are not confessions, one may ask how plausible or historically reliable this portrayal of his ministry is.⁵⁴ Paul's credibility is underlined by the reminder that he stayed among the elders and that they witnessed his ministry over a longer period of time ('You yourselves know …', Ac 20:18b). He would lose his credibility if the audience knew or could easily point out, that his description of his ministry was inaccurate.⁵⁵ However, while they could remember his ceaseless efforts in public and private, as well as his tears, and while they could agree with his claims, on other aspects, they had to take his word. For example, they cannot verify or falsify whether Paul has declared to them everything that was profitable (Ac 20:20) or the whole counsel of God (Ac 20:27; their contacts with other early Christian teachers may have helped in this regard). However, all of this is within the parameters of Luke's own account. The many parallels to Paul's own letters and the general convergence in the presentation suggest that Luke has given a fair, albeit exaggerated summary (for rhetorical impact and following the conventions of the ancient farewell speech genre) of the lifestyle and leadership issues that were important to Paul. However, we must remember that we hear the voice of Paul through Luke who was an ardent admirer and had his own apologetic purposes in his portrayal of Paul.⁵⁶

What about the implications? Following Hadril, we defined lifestyle as the overall context of regularly recurring manners of behaviour, interactions, opinions, stocks of knowledge and value judgements that a person holds. Each element of this definition can be seen in Paul's ministry as described in the Miletus speech. There is an observable overall context of regularly recurring behaviour; there are intensive interactions with all kinds of people (non-Christians, Christians, leaders); all of these are based on opinions, stocks of knowledge and value judgements and they are conveyed in an impressive way. In this way, Paul's lifestyle could become a model for others to follow.

What characterises Paul's leadership? Following Northouse (2016:6), we defined leadership as 'a process whereby an individual influences a group of individuals to achieve a common goal'. Precisely by living and serving in this exemplary manner, Paul influenced others and, in this way, provided leadership. Through this lifestyle and the activities which it entailed, Paul influenced the elders and Christians of Ephesus to a life committed to the gospel. These aspects cannot be separated: certain convictions and practices regarding lifestyle lead to certain leadership patterns and practices. Leadership in this sense is not a set of abstract 'management' principles regardless of attitude and behaviour but an outflow of the lifestyle of the leader(s).

Paul's address presents a model of leadership for imitation.⁵⁷ Paul not only gives an account of his own ministry, but also presents an example for his audience to emulate.⁵⁸ Walton (2000) rightly concludes:

[T]he elders are told to imitate Paul several times in the speech, both explicitly and implicitly, by statements about their responsibilities which parallel statements about Paul's ministry. They are to keep alert, remembering how Paul kept alert night and day for three years (v. 31). They are to keep watch over themselves (v. 28) as Paul kept watch over himself (v. 18b-19). They are to keep watch over the flock (v. 28) as Paul kept watch over them (v. 20-21, 26-27). God's word of grace is available to equip them (v. 32) as it equipped Paul (v. 24). And Paul draws the speech to a close with an explicit reference to his example 'in all this' (v. 35) - an example which he derives from the Lord Jesus. Throughout, the elders are being schooled in Pauline ministry as Luke conceives it, and thus being prepared for the exercise of their ministry after Paul loses his ability to travel freely and perhaps his life itself. They are being urged to fulfil their leadership responsibilities faithfully, just as Paul has his.⁵⁹ (pp. 85-86)

In fulfilling these tasks in 'Pauline' fashion, the elders continue Paul's ministry, share in his authority and status and may count on the same divine support: commendation to God and the work of his grace (which Paul received for his ministry), on the same divine equipping ('which is able to build you up') and the same divine reward ('and give you the inheritance…', Ac 20:32).

In the speech or its immediate narrative context, Paul's example is not relativised in any way.⁶⁰ The readers of Acts know of Paul's special commission by the risen Christ, his exemplary obedience and his endless efforts regardless of personal consequences. They know of God's grace in his life, the way in which he had been equipped and motivated by the goal set before him. In his letters, Paul emphasises that he was under divine compulsion to preach the gospel (1 Cor 9:16, 'For necessity is laid on me. Woe to me if I do not preach the Gospel'), insisted on his independence in many ways and apparently was not bound by marital or familial commitments.

In view of this, for his ancient and modern followers, Paul's overwhelming example is not meant to discourage them by reducing them to failure in view of an ideal that can hardly be attained. Paul's example is more nuanced: for them, he serves as an inspiring example of leadership, not as an exact role-model to follow. This was and is impossible because of the uniqueness of Paul's call, the circumstances of his ministry and his unique equipping by God. In view of passages such as John 13:15 and 1 Corinthians 4:16, it is noteworthy that the elders are not directly called to imitate Paul, but to shepherd the flock of God and to be alert (Ac 20:28, 31). Is Luke in this way less emphatic about Paul's example than Paul himself might have been?

There are a number of implications of this example of leadership in our day and age in communities, which cherish the canonical books as inspiration and guidance, including Acts 20, and beyond such confines. Paul's close nexus between lifestyle and leadership (style) is well worth pondering. In this understanding, leadership involves more than a set of techniques that can be acquired and put into practice. Persuasive leadership, that is, leaders who are actually followed by others, requires a certain lifestyle and character of the leaders, at least under certain circumstances. Leaders are to share the lives of their followers without interruptions, distancing themselves from those whom they lead for a considerable length of time. In view of their responsibility before God, they are to serve with all humility and great personal involvement and sincerity. Their task may include trials and suffering, both of which are to be borne for the sake and benefit of their followers. Leaders are to fully accomplish the task set before them and in doing so apply one consistent standard to all of their followers. They are to be receptive to the prompting of the Holy Spirit, even when this includes suffering. They have the future in view and act in a sustainable manner. In selfless service to others, they are not to pursue their own agenda or seek their own personal advantages. Like Paul, they are to embody in a perceptible and exemplary manner the values which they convey and demand of others.

Some voices in today's leadership discussion refer not to lifestyle, but to character. For example, in his description of servant leadership, Northouse (2016:225-256) emphasises 10 characteristics of a servant leader, namely, the ability to listen, empathy, healing, awareness, persuasion, conceptualisation, foresight, stewardship, commitment to the growth of people and building community (2016:227-229). Maak and Ulrich (2007:388-389) list 14 virtues that are essential for leadership with integrity in business contexts. Contrary to some modern debates on qualifications for leadership, Paul refers to his lifestyle and not to numbers, nor does he refer to his achievements or his competence, although he would have had much to offer in this regard. For him, lifestyle is more important than competence.

Examples of failed leaders and leadership because of questionable and detrimental lifestyle are numerous and quickly come to mind. Two issues suffice here: one need not look far for leaders who show favouritism among their followers by surrounding themselves with the cronies always ready to board the gravy train or who exploit others and generously line their own pockets.⁶¹

Sadly, in some instances, the atrocious record of the white colonisers' decadent lifestyle and crudely enforced rule⁶² - leadership is far too harmless a word to use for the phenomenon! - on the African continent was continued by those who followed them. Martin Meredith's (2005) enlightening survey The State of Africa can be read as an account of political leadership in post-colonial Africa. Unfortunately, some of it is an account of poor, at times extremely poor, leadership under which some of the peoples of the African continent have suffered and continue to suffer. In some cases, the record of leaders who confessed to being Christians was more appropriate; in other cases, it was and is not noticeably better. An examination of the track record of leaders of churches or Christian organisations in Africa will be more encouraging but would also indicate areas for improvement. Paul's charge also challenges other leaders to humility and selfless service, not to position, to status or to the self-aggrandisement that is so often associated with leadership. For both tasks, Christian leaders may draw on God and the message of his grace, a message that is able to build them up and give them an inheritance among all who are sanctified (Ac 20:32).

These references take us to a final question: can this portrayal of lifestyle and leadership be assigned to one or several styles of leadership in the current scholarly discussion (see the survey by Ledbetter, Banks & Greenhalgh 2016)? The most obvious candidate is servant leadership, as (Walton 2000):

[T]here is a clear concept of Christian leadership being promulgated in Luke's work, focused on the manner and 'conditions of service' (to use a modern phrase) of leadership, rather than being taken up with considerations of 'office'.⁶³ (p. 135)

The definition of servant leadership according to Northouse (2016) fits well with Luke's portrayal of Pauline leadership:

[S]ervant leaders make a conscious choice to serve first - to place the good of followers over the leaders' self-interests. They build strong relationships with others, are empathic and ethical, and lead in ways that serve the greater good of followers, the organisation, the community, and society at large.⁶⁴ (p. 253)

Luke's portrayal of Paul's leadership also recalls the modern notions of transformational or charismatic leadership (for a survey, see Northouse 2016:161-193) which is defined by Northouse (2016) as:

[A] process that changes and transforms people. It is concerned with emotions, values, ethics, standards, and long-term goals. It includes assessing followers' motives, satisfying their needs, and treating them as full human beings. Transformational leadership involves an exceptional form of influence that moves followers to accomplish more than what is usually expected of them. It is a process that often incorporates charismatic and visionary leadership. (p. 161)

However, Paul's speech also recalls the principles of ethical leadership as described by Northouse (2016:341-349): ethical leaders respect others, serve others, are just, are honest and build community. Some of the characteristics of Paul's leadership also appear in the trait approach to leadership, the skills approach, the behavioural approach and the situational approach, as described by Northouse (2016:19-114). It is interesting to note that Luke's portrayal of Paul's leadership fits into several concepts and defies unequivocal categorisation.

 

Acknowledgements

Competing interests

The author declares that he has no financial or personal relationships that may have inappropriately influenced him in writing this article.

Author's contributions

C.W.S. is the sole author of this research article.

Ethical considerations

This article followed all ethical standards for a research without direct contact with human or animal subjects.

Funding information

This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.

Data availability statement

Data sharing is not applicable to this article as no new data were created or analysed in this study.

Disclaimer

The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of any affiliated agency of the author.

 

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Correspondence:
Christoph W. Stenschke
CStenschke@t-online.de

Received: 21 Nov. 2019
Accepted: 27 Mar. 2020
Published: 11 June 2020

 

 

1. For an excellent survey, see Clarke (2000); for a detailed analysis, see Clarke (1993). Walton (2000) offers an overview of the contents of the speech (75-84) and a survey of the major themes of the speech (84-93; faithful fulfilment of leadership responsibility, suffering, the attitude to wealth and work, the death of Jesus).
2. A number of passages in the New Testament address the leadership (style) of non-Christians, such as the Jewish leaders in Judea and the Jewish Diaspora or Roman leaders in Judea and elsewhere in the Eastern Mediterranean world of the 1st century AD.
3. Northouse (2016:6). On pages 6-7, Northouse offers a succinct description and summary of the implications of this definition.
4. Quoted according to https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lebensstil. Another definition is: Lebensstil, kultursoziologischer Begriff (geprägt durch G. Simmel [1858-1918]), der die typische Art der Alltagsgestaltung von Personen (und sozialen Gruppen) bezeichnet. Gemeint sind die mehr oder weniger stabilen Einstellungen und die mit ihnen verbundenen, typischerweise auftretenden Verhaltensweisen von Menschen. Lebensstil ist weiterhin ein Mittel der Selbstdarstellung des Individuums sowie der Demonstration seiner Zugehörigkeit (bzw. Nichtzugehörigkeit) zu bestimmten sozialen Gruppen (Zeit Lexikon 8 (Kir-Leul), 2005:536). For a different use of the term, see Stevenson (2006).
5. See Keener (2012:90-147, 258-319, 148-220, 402-422) for the genre of Acts, detailed discussion of the speeches in Acts and their historical reliability, of the historical reliability of Acts in general and issues of authorship.
6. On the emphases in the presentation of Paul in Acts and the methodological issues, see Keener (2012:221-257).
7. In his detailed commentary on the speech, Keener (2014:2992-3068) notes all the parallels to Paul's letters; see also Schnabel (2012:838-852) and Thomas (2019); a recent German commentary is Haacker (2019).
8. See Walton (2000). For a summary of Paul's own statements regarding leadership, see the survey by Clarke (2012). After discussing a number of methodological and hermeneutical questions, Clarke describes the titles of leaders, the status of leaders, the power of leaders, the task of leaders and the tools of leaders according to Paul. Acts 20 does not play a significant role.
9. For surveys, see Sweeney (2014), Parsenios (2014), Avery-Peck (2014) and Von Wahlde (2014) and in more detail Winter (1994:45-213).
10. Other scholars have identified up to 20 typical elements (see Avery-Peck 2014:881-882).
11. See Luke 22:25-26 and the displays of Gentile pride and arrogance, for example, Acts 12:23 and 18:12-17. For Luke 22:24-30 as an important parallel text to Acts 20, see Walton (2000:100-117). Paul serves as an example of the humble service required by Jesus.
12. For a survey, see Gilbert (2010:670-673).
13. This recalls the charge of Jesus to the disciples in Luke 9:4: 'And whatever house you enter, stay there, and from there depart'. While his co-workers were probably active throughout the province Asia Minor (e.g. in Colossae, Hierapolis and Laodicea) during this time, Paul claims to have stayed in Ephesus from where he probably co-ordinated the missionary endeavours in the area.
14. For discussion, see Metzger (1975:259-272).
15. For discussion, see Metzger (1975:470): 'may represent an accurate piece of information, preserved in oral tradition before being incorporated into the text of certain manuscripts', for a detailed assessment, see Keener (2014:2829-2830).
16. Paul employs the rhetorical strategy of sacrifice (see Hansen 1993:824): 'In argumentation by sacrifice, sacrifice is presented as evidence of the value of the thing for which the sacrifice is made'. Obviously, Luke's presentation of Paul's ministry and example is a fine piece of ancient rhetoric.
17. In his letters, Paul often uses the verb in a positive way with clear countercultural inklings and in clear dispute with Greco-Roman practices of slavery and dependency that were expressed with this word group, see Weiser (2011).
18. See Keener (2014:3007). 'The most explicit Lukan model for a "servant" whose humility invites God's favour is Mary (Lk 1:48); in her case (1:52), as in general (14:11; 18:14; cf. 3:5), Luke values humility as a prerequisite for divine exaltation'.
19. Drawing on texts which use a common concept although it was expressed through several different terms, Keener refers to the following examples from Greco-Roman sources: Those who govern gently (πρᾴως) commend themselves to their subjects (Polyb. 1.72.3); Roman conquerors also surpassed the Carthaginians in kindness (πρᾳότητα) and so won over many of the Spaniards (3.99.7). Vespasian was praised for identifying with common soldiers (Tac. Hist. 2.5), and Vitellius increased his reputation by kissing even common soldiers (Suet. Vitellius 7.3). A later ruler was so 'gentle' that he ignored a spiteful thinker's verbal abuses (Lucian Peregr. 18). Even a statue of Zeus could convey his 'gentleness' (πρᾷον; Dio Chrys. Or. 12.77). Paul's epistles cultivate not only a model of merciful leaders (2 Cor 10:1) but identification with the broken (Rm 12:16) and relinquishment of public status (1 Cor 4:10-13; 2 Cor 12:10).
20. See also Keener (2014:3008-3009). Keener notes that 'a historian might present as praiseworthy a leader able to mourn over another. It was honourable for those in power to weep over others' suffering, even that of their enemies. Luke does not clarify whether the tears here relate to Paul's trials or to his humble "serving", in which case it could involve rhetorical pathos as he beseeches hearers to respond (as in Ac 20:31). In both biblical and Greek tradition, tears were appropriate for heroes under duress' (3008-3009). Keener discusses in detail the rhetorical function of adding pathos by demonstrating sincerity (3009).
21. The reference to tears recalls the tears of Jesus in Luke 19:41 and John 11:35.
22. Drawing on theories of religious conflict, the 'contested domain' in this case is influence over people or potential followers, for an excellent survey see Mayer (2013).
23. For detailed analysis of this background, see Keener (2014:2028-3032).
24. Walton (2000:80). According to Haacker (2019:342), Paul refers to 'die noch ausstehende Phase der Geschichte'.
25. In other places mentioned in Acts, Paul's public ministry in synagogues and at the Athenian marketplace led to controversies, at times fierce.
26. Keener (2014:3013) notes that 'The emphasis on the point that some of Paul's teaching was public is important. … Romans feared the potential subversiveness of private meetings, but what was public was available to all. Many in antiquity also laid claim to private, esoteric teachings for an inner circle (cf. Luke 8:9-10; but also Greek and Jewish sages)'.
27. See Gehring (2000) and Blue (1994).
28. Keener (2014:3013); adding: 'Knowing the names of their fellow citizens could increase leaders' popularity with the people'.
29. See Stenschke (2019, 2020) for Paul's emphasis on financial transparency in his collection enterprise for the saints of Jerusalem.
30. That faith in Jesus Christ was an essential component of Paul's ministry was attested even by Paul's Jewish opponents in Ephesus who started injuring evil spirits by 'the Jesus whom Paul proclaims' (Ac 19:13).
31. Paul could have easily done so in view of Gentile prejudices against Jews and of Jewish prejudices against Gentiles, see Bohak (2010), Gilbert (2010) and Sim and McLaren (eds. 2013).
32. Paul would have done so out of conviction. He could be consistent because he was financially independent (see below). Paul also emphasises this in his letters to the Corinthians; for a survey of Paul's financial policy, see Briones (2013).
33. It is more likely that 'spirit' here refers to the divine Spirit rather than being a reference to Paul's own resolve; see the discussion in Walton (2000:88) and Keener (2014:3015).
34. In view of many past and present instances of abuse, it is noteworthy that Paul does not refer to the Spirit to bolster his own status and authority in Ephesus or his own financial interests.
35. In a wider sense, Paul served in a leadership role in his collection for the saints in Jerusalem. The enterprise involved a number of significant leadership challenges. Paul influences a group of individuals, that is, the churches which he had founded in Galatia, Macedonia and Achaia, to achieve a common goal, that is, to assist the poor Christians in Jerusalem and to express their gratitude. The task of influencing the Jewish Christian recipients to accept the money lay still ahead of him; see the analysis by Stenschke (2015, 2017).
36. Luke gives no indication of why this journey is so important to Paul that he sets out despite such announcements. 1 Corinthians 16:1-4, 2 Corinthians 8-9 and Romans 15:26-28 indicate that Paul is on his way with a larger group of representatives of churches from different areas and the collection of the Gentile Christian churches for the saints in Jerusalem.
37. For the widespread motif of bravery in the ancient world and the significance of sacrificial devotion, see Keener (2014:3018-3021).
38. According to Haacker (2019:340), the announcement by the Spirit is not taken as a warning, but as a preview and challenge, which Paul bravely accepts.
39. Rather than being served by the Ephesians or taking their possessions, Paul worked with his own hands to support himself and his companions (Ac 20:33-35).
40. According to Haacker (2019:340-341), Paul 'wählt hier das sportliche Bild eines Langlaufs, den er nicht abbrechen will. Es steht hier nicht für den "Lebenslauf" im Allgemeinen, sondern für den Auftrag und die Gefahr des Versagens'.
41. Walton (2000:79) notes that Luke's Paul knew of his forthcoming death, but did not know of its particular circumstances - thus locating the open-endedness of v. 22-25 in the detail; or that he was hoping to go on to evangelise other areas, but was ready for his plans to be curtailed by suffering and imprisonment. … we may conclude that v. 25, 38 need not be read as implying knowledge by Luke of Paul's death, but may reflect Paul's (and Luke's?) uncertainty about the future at this stage - the definite expectation is that Paul will not return to Ephesus, but it is possible that circumstances will change and that Paul may at a future time find himself again in Ephesus.
42. For the many parallels between Paul and Jesus in the speech, see Keener (2014).
43. The elders are commended to God and to the word of his grace, which is able to build them up (Ac 20:32). The 'word of grace' is Paul's only direct reference to the source of his lifestyle and leadership.
44. Regarding the function of these claims, Haacker (2019:345) argues that Luke's entire speech aims at demonstrating the integrity of Paul's character: 'Den Delegierten der Gemeinde von Ephesus gegenüber war das sicher nicht nötig - für das Publikum des lukanischen Werkes aber sinnvoll. Sozusagen am literarischen Vorabend des Prozesses gegen Paulus wird sein "Ethos" eindrucksvoll vor Augen gestellt'. Haacker rightly relates this portrayal to Paul's disputed collection enterprise. What Paul demanded of others, he practiced himself.
45. While Acts 18:3 speaks about Paul's manual labour as a tent-maker, Acts 18:5 notes that Paul fully devoted himself to preaching once Silas and Timothy arrived from Macedonia. They probably brought funds with them which allowed Paul to cease working in his trade and concentrate on his proclamation. Phil 4:10-20 indicates that Paul received gifts from the Philippians (in Macedonia) more than once. However, it is also possible that Paul's companions worked and set him free for preaching the Gospel; see Keener (2014:2740).
46. Pesch (1986:205) comments: 'Apparently this constitutes an important criterion of distinction over against heretics coming into the church from the outside … as also over against heretics from within the church … for whom selfish striving for material gain is characteristic', cf. also Roloff (1989:513-516) and the illuminating reference to Luke 16:1-8; cf. pp. 520-524 for the relevance of Luke 12:35-38, 42-47; 22:24-27 for church leaders.
47. For the readers of Luke-Acts, see Carson and Moo (2005:210-211, 301-302) and Keener (2012:423-434).
48. For a survey, see Hays (2010).
49. Weiser (1989:321): 'socially disadvantaged people'; Bauer, Aland and Aland (eds. 1988:231), list Acts 20:35 under 'economically weak, lacking resources, being in need and metaphorically used to describe religious and moral weakness' (all translations author's own).
50. Roloff (1989) rightly observed the close relation of Paul's exhortation to the Jesus tradition. The example and teaching of Jesus is the supreme standard for these Christian leaders. Luke does not indicate here how Gentiles usually treated the poor. An example is the dire treatment of the prodigal son by his Gentile 'employer' (Lk 15:16; see the different picture in Ac 10:2 and also Luke's criticism of the greed of the Jewish leadership in Lk 11:37-41; 20:47). The Christian task is genuine support ('we must support the weak'; see Lk 1:54).
51. See Bruce (1990:391). Alexander (1986:70) notes that 'this attitude was not shared by the scientific writers, who though not craftsmen themselves, speak of the technitai with deep respect'. As Alexander sees Luke in this scientific tradition, our conclusion should perhaps not be overvalued. See also Strelan (1996:135-137) on the assessment of manual labour in Ephesus; see also Hauck (1950) and Schelkle (1978).
52. De Officiis I (42) 150. Another pertinent example is Plutarch's Vita Periclis 2. Paul differs from these views and follows Jewish tradition which highly treasured manual labour; for the positive Jewish evaluation of work, see the surveys of Preuss (1978) and Brocke (1978).
53. For a discussion of Paul's own references to his manual labour and the reasons for it, see Barnett (1993).
54. For an instructive parallel, see the presentation of his character and rule by Augustus in his Res Gestae inscriptions; see Ridley (2003:67-241). Ridley (2003:240) notes that 'Augustus understood a fundamental truth, that there is great advantage in leaving your own version of events to guide the assessment of you by posterity'.
55. It is interesting to note what Paul leaves out of the picture. He refers to the 'fierce wolves' as a phenomenon of the future. Otherwise there are no indications that his own ministry and message were highly disputed, not only among Jews and Gentiles, but also among some Christians. This is part of the larger issue of the tendency in Luke's presentation of Paul.
56. For a survey of the issues, see Porter (1999) and Pervo (2010:149-156); for a recent analysis, see Lüke (2019).
57. Walton (2000:200). On page 134, Walton notes that 'Paul is being presented as the ideal church leader who fulfils Jesus' commands and therefore is an example to others'.
58. This is to be expected in a farewell speech which admonishes or warns the audience against undesirable actions and instructs or directs to undertake desirable actions (see Sweeney 2014:876).
59. The portrayal of Paul's leadership in Acts needs to be placed in the wider context of Paul's own statements regarding leadership, such as, for instance, 1 Corinthians 4; for a survey, see Clarke's in-depth analysis (2012).
60. The following considerations derive from my own concern regarding the present-day significance of Paul's - for rhetorical purposes and because of the constraints of the genre farewell speech - almost superhuman example of leadership. Paul himself probably would not have had any issues with his example as portrayed in Acts. His letters indicate that he presented himself as an example for others to emulate. Without further reflection, he confidently calls believers to imitate him ('I urge you, then, be imitators of me'), as he imitates Christ ('Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ'; 1 Cor 4:16; 11:1). 2 Corinthians indicates that not all Corinthian believers were ready to do so.
61. See S. Kgatle's astute analysis of South African politics in his article 'Ethical Leadership: Alternative to the Culture of Greed among Politicians in South African Government'.
62. For a recent survey of the devastating effect of German colonial rule, see Grill (2019).
63. Walton describes this clear concept of leadership as follows (135-136): For Luke, the heart of Christian leadership is to be like Jesus, and the extent to which both the disciples and Paul do and teach what Jesus did and taught - frequently using similar vocabulary - makes this clear. Such following in the way of Jesus includes servanthood (e.g., Lk 22:24-27; Ac 20:19), for Jesus, his disciples and Paul serve others at cost to themselves, including past and future personal suffering (e.g., Lk 12:4, 11; 22:15, 28, 31-32, 37; Ac 20:19-21, 22-23, 27). This is why Paul calls the elders to such costly, watchful service (Ac 20:28-31). Jesus, his disciples and Paul served in humility (e.g. Lk 22:26-27; Ac 20:19), valuing others' needs above their own (Lk 22:26-27; Ac 20:19, 21, 22, 24, 28, 34-35). They taught and testified faithfully (e.g. Lk 9:2; 12:1-53; 21:13; 22:14-38; Ac 20:20-21, 24, 25, 26-27, 31). This costly commitment drew out the affection of those they led (Lk 7:38, 44; Ac 20:37), as they saw the faithful ministry (Lk 12:42; Ac 20:20-21, 24, 27) they received. Their ministry was comparable to that of a household steward, whose leadership was real, but who was also answerable to his master (e.g. Lk 12:35-48, esp. 42; Ac 20:19, 24). The suffering which Jesus and Paul experienced is an inevitable part of Christian leadership as Luke understands it (e.g., Lk 21:12-19, 36; 22:28; Ac 20:19, 23-24, 31), but should not be feared above God himself (e.g., Lk 12:4-7; Ac 20:24). Certainly, such suffering and threats from false teachers (e.g. Lk 10:3; 21:8-9; Ac 20:29-30) call for watchfulness (e.g. Lk 12:1, 5, 37; 21:34; Ac 20:28, 31), but in the end suffering and struggle lead purposefully to glory (e.g. Lk 13:32; Ac 20:22; Lk 22:16-17, 29-30; Ac 20:19). The faithfulness of Paul and his master is particularly seen in their approach to money and work, where Luke portrays both men living and teaching openness, generosity to others and straightforwardness (e.g. Lk 12:13-34; Ac 20:33-35). God provides for such faithful servants as he does for the birds and the flowers (Lk 12:24, 27-28), but Paul also carries out the admonition of Jesus to provide for himself and others by working (Ac 20:33-35). This represents far more than a collection of vague platitudes; it offers a dynamic, sharply focused model of Christian leadership rooted in Luke's understanding of Jesus, in contrast with other approaches to leadership available in the ancient world (Lk 22:25).
64. See also the contributions by Spears (2002, 2010). For a recent application of servant leadership theory to Christian leadership, see Detje (2017).

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ORIGINAL RESEARCH

 

Fides in parenthesis: A spirituality of leadership for a (post-)secular(ising) world

 

 

Yolande Steenkamp

The Albert Luthuli Centre for Responsible Leadership, Department of Business Management, Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa

Correspondence

 

 

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ABSTRACT

From the viral social media feeds showing Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng in fervent prayer for the nation, to professed Christian Thuli Madonsela's careful expression of the separation between religion and state, faith identity in the public sphere emerges as anything but a straightforward matter. By placing 'Christian' in parenthesis, the 2019 theme of the Theological Society of South Africa conference acknowledged that leaders operate in negotiated spaces and confirmed the complexity of the context in which we attempt to conceptualise leadership from a theological perspective. This raises the question of the role that personal faith convictions play and may be allowed to play in public life. While conceptualising leadership from a faith perspective in a context that is at once secular(ising) and post-secular(ising) may be complex, evidence emerging from leadership studies of the importance of spirituality in leadership necessitates such a reflection. This article considers the problem from a theological point of view, drawing on Schleiermacher and Bonhoeffer's later letters from prison to provide a theological foundation for a public spirituality of leadership.

Keywords: Spirituality of leadership; Anatheism; Post-secular faith; Richard Kearney; Public theology.

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Introduction

The¹ word 'crisis' featured eight times in the 2019 State of the Nation Address by South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, referring to such diverse situations as violence against women and children (2019:6), the public health system (2019:6, 27), sewage and infrastructure (2019:19), and Eskom and its economic consequences (2019:21, 22, 23). It has in fact become rather common to hear commentators use the word 'crisis' when referring to South Africa, whether this refers to the nation's leadership, as in the case of two heads of South African business schools (Mohale 2019; Naudé n.d.:n.p), or her state of governance or the politico-economic situation. These references often result in a call for leadership, and specifically ethical leadership. Speaking at a Responsible Leadership Conference in Stellenbosch in 2017, for instance, then South African President Kgalema Motlanthe described the leadership required to address social development challenges as 'cross-sectorial' and 'ethical' (Country Needs Ethical Leaders 2017:n.p). Similarly, at a gathering of the Business Unity of South Africa (BUSA) following the election of Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa as the new leader of the African National Congress (ANC), Chamber of Mines Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Roger Baxter said (Cronjé 2017):

We hope to see a renewed focus by the ruling party on responsible and ethical leadership in the national interest across all sectors of the economy and at all levels of society. (n.p.)

Likewise, at the 2018 Chief Financial Officer (CFO) awards, Christine Ramon, AngloGold Ashanti's CFO, who was awarded four of the 10 awards for the evening, described our context as 'a time for ethical leadership'.²

The religious sector has also added its voice to this call for ethical leadership, either through religious leaders, including ecumenical bodies, or through public figures commenting on their own faith convictions. As an example of the former, the South African Council of Churches has engaged the South African government regarding corruption and the leadership crisis (see eNCA 2016; eNCA 2017; Madia 2017; Mahlase 2018; and Nhlabathi 2017). As for public figures, we may begin with former South African Public Protector, Thuli Madonsela, who reflected on the role of faith in society from the perspective of her own leadership role during the dark leadership days of the then President Jacob Zuma (Pillay 2016). In this, she commented both on the subjective element of faith, noting how she had to 'dig deep into her spiritual reserves' and how countless people supported her through sending spiritual texts, and on the objective contribution of religion towards shared societal values and social cohesion (Pillay 2016). Furthermore, in his 2017 Christmas sermon as well, Anglican Archbishop Thabo Makgoba (2017) spoke boldly about challenging the ANC leadership to re-establish 'values-based, ethical and moral leadership':

All through Advent the prophets have reminded us that the Coming Child challenges us to imagine the near impossible and‚ in the face of dire realities‚ to choose life. That is precisely why in recent weeks I have been challenging the leaders of our country to put the common good above all else. I have told the new ANC leadership that the faith community will support their efforts - but only on the strict condition that they must work together to re-establish values-based‚ ethical and moral leadership. (n.p.)

Finally, in mid-2018, a video went viral on Facebook,³ showing Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng, who has become somewhat known for his calls for ethical leadership, in fervent prayer for leaders of integrity to be elected to positions of responsibility.⁴ Somewhat earlier, in 2016, Raborife (2016) reported on Mogoeng's address at the Gordon Institute of Business Science:

Mogoeng said it was important for leaders, both in the public and the private sector, to espouse the characteristics of ethical leadership to ensure that the country moved forward in a direction which sought to undo the wrongs of the past. 'We are where we are as a result of what unethical leadership did to us as a nation', Mogoeng said. (n.p.)

South Africa, a secular democracy that protects freedom of religion in the constitution, has a profoundly religious population, with Christianity representing the largest sector. In such a religious context, amidst a careful separation between religion and state, the question of the role of spirituality in leadership is one that cannot be avoided, and that calls for theological reflection. This is especially so considering the repeated calls for ethical leadership in the troubled South African context, given the role of religion in providing shared values. Yet, faith identity in the public sphere is anything but a straightforward matter, and deserves a theological response. In 2019, the theme of the Theological Society of South Africa (TSSA) Conference held in Pretoria was 'The last shall be first': Theological and ethical reflection on (Christian) leadership. By placing 'Christian' in parenthesis, the conference theme acknowledged that leaders operate in negotiated spaces, and confirmed the complexity of the context in which we attempt to conceptualise leadership from a theological perspective. This raises the question of the role that personal faith convictions play and may be allowed to play in public life. While conceptualising leadership from a faith perspective in a context that is at once secular(ising) and post-secular(ising) may be complex, evidence emerging from leadership studies of the importance of spirituality in leadership necessitates such a reflection.

After exploring the broader theme of spirituality and leadership, the article will provide a brief description of anatheism, the term coined by Irish philosopher Richard Kearney. Read in relation to Kearney's philosophy of religion that described God as possibility, anatheism describes the time 'after' religion, where God may ironically be found again, as a time when the Kingdom becomes a possibility in the world. As such, the presence of God in the world becomes the powerless possible: the story of a vulnerable God, and a story with an uncertain outcome. The overview of anatheism as a means of conceptualising the place of religion in the (post)secular(ising) world will provide the foundation for the following section, which will turn to Bonhoeffer's description of believers given completely to the world as a theological account of Kearney's philosophy of religion. Theologically, then, Kearney's perspective of God as the Powerless Possible is expressed through the creative suffering of God (drawing from Fiddes 1992), which contributes to our understanding of a vulnerable God. We turn now to the first section, which considers the place of spirituality in leadership studies, as sketched by critical scholarship.

 

Leadership and spirituality

Research has shown that leaders who incorporate and embody values that are considered to be spiritual ideals (e.g. integrity, honesty, humility, respect, appreciation and personal reflection) display leadership success (Daft 2015:448). Laura Reave's 2005 review of 150 studies found a clear and consistent positive correlation between spiritual values and practices on the one hand and effective leadership on the other. This leadership style does not necessarily point to formal spirituality programmes (Daft 2015:450), but rather describes 'the display of values, attitudes, and behaviors necessary to intrinsically motivate oneself and others toward a sense of spiritual expression through calling and membership.' Daft (2015) further states that:

[S]piritual leaders start by creating a vision through which organization participants experience a sense of calling that gives meaning to their work. … Second, spiritual leaders establish a corporate culture based on altruistic love. … Spiritual leaders also engage hope and faith to help the organization achieve desired outcomes. Faith is demonstrated through action. … A leader's hope/faith includes perseverance, endurance, stretch goals, and a clear expectation of victory through effort. (p. 450)

What is commonly referred to as 'spiritual leadership',⁵ I would term a spirituality of leadership, mainly to distinguish it from leadership roles defined in certain religious or spiritual institutions, which may take any number of forms and is not my interest here. Organised religion is also not necessarily the source of spirituality or an imagination of the sacred, for which I will follow Enblem's definition of spirituality as 'a personal life principle which animates a transcendent quality of relationship to God' (1992:45),⁶ but with the proviso that 'God' in that definition remains free of any interpretive projections based on any one religion or spiritual tradition.

What is important in a spirituality of leadership is the definitive place of demonstrated ethics, that is, the fact that the leader articulates an inspiring vision through both word and action (Reave 2005:657). Indeed (Geaney n.d.):

Many leadership consultants and researchers have written about the practices and processes of spirituality and leadership using terms such as spirit, whole-person, whole-soul, spiritual and most recently engaging leadership. (p. 1)

This could, of course, apply to leaders who would not necessarily subjectively identify as 'spiritual', but may still be experienced and described as such by followers who feel inspired by the qualities embodied by the leader. On the contrary, leaders who profess to be 'spiritual' may not be evaluated as such by their respective followers. As such, then, a spirituality of leadership focuses on 'traditional spiritual values and behavior as related to measures of leadership effectiveness rather than spiritual faith or intention' (Reave 2005:657).

Fry (2003) has identified 'calling' and 'membership' as two core dimensions of spiritual leadership. He describes the sense of calling as 'the experience of transcendence or how one makes a difference through service to others and, in doing so, derives meaning and purpose in life' (2003:703). As such, the sense of calling explains the leader's motivation, while 'membership' speaks to the leader's ability to successfully create an organisational culture based on altruistic love, 'whereby leaders and followers have genuine care, concern, and appreciation for both self and others, thereby producing a sense of membership and [feeling] understood and appreciated' (Fry 2003:695).

According to Reave (2005):

Instead of starting with the leader's own vision, which may be flawed, a theory of spiritual leadership would start with the leader's own ethics and integrity. Next the leader's practices should be examined to see if they are truly in line with the values professed. This theory incorporates both the trait approach and the behavioral approach. (p. 663)

For now, let us close this brief overview of the relationship between moral leadership, values-based leadership and spirituality of leadership by considering what we may gain by reflecting on leadership from this perspective. Firstly (Reave 2005):

Examining the relationship between spirituality and leadership can give us valuable insight into leader motivation as well as follower perceptions, motivation, retention, ethics, and performance. (p. 680)

Also (Reave 2005):

Because most of the spiritual qualities and practices presented here have been universally endorsed as important, positive leader traits and behaviors, further exploration of the relationship between spirituality and leadership can provide us with a springboard for developing a leadership theory that integrates character and behavior, motivation and performance, in a cross-cultural model. (p. 681)

From the above, it is clear that empirical studies have confirmed the positive role of spirituality in leadership. This brings us to the question of how this role is to be affirmed in a secular context, where the spiritual or religious life of an individual is considered irrelevant to his or her public roles and engagements. To consider how spirituality of leadership might address this point, we turn to Richard Kearney's philosophy of religion as an entry point for conceptualising the place of the sacred in a (post)secular(ising) world.

 

Kearney's anatheism

What is anatheism, or God again - 'ana'? Irish philosopher Richard Kearney uses this word, which he invented for this purpose, to describe that manner of faith that endures the disenchantment of traditional religion (see Kearney 2009, 2011). This is the more personal application of the term, and it will be my focus in this article. Philosophically, it may also be distinguished as an orientation to the enduring God-question - one that both takes seriously the critiques of onto-theology and yet embraces the images, metaphors, prayers and dialogues inherited from the tradition that may inform a religious phenomenology of the sacred. Kearney, following Ricoeur, regards the atheistic critique of the traditional God of onto-theology as a necessary moment without which genuine faith cannot develop. For human persons to move to an encounter with what is truly transcendent, they must first allow for the death of those gods made in human image to address hidden and suppressed fears and dependencies (2009:167). Religion is therefore to welcome the contribution of the masters of suspicion who exposed religion's forging of gods in the human image. Many proceed through this death of the fetishised God and remain within an atheistic orientation, forever separating themselves from any notion of the divine. Kearney notes, however, that many find themselves returning to God. 'Anxious souls may ask', to adopt Bonhoeffer's phrase, about ways to continue being in the presence of God even after the death of God. Here, 'ana' denotes this return, this finding oneself once again occupied with God, 'after' God. Yet, this can never be the same faith, having moved through the crucible of doubt and critique, the former god-images having been exposed for their self-serving intentions.

Having suffered the death of idolised god-images, the anatheist receives God back again ('ana') as a gift, through fleeting moments of radical hospitality to the stranger. It is during these momentary witnesses, during which the guest unexpectedly becomes the host, that the Divine shines through as witness to the eternal, the excess, the more, which has always already gone, and yet is always already here and always yet to arrive. To read anatheism in this way is to bring it into dialogue with Kearney's earlier philosophical project, namely, to construct a phenomenological hermeneutics of religion (2001; cf. 2018:318). Kearney's response to the problematised God of onto-theology is to reimagine God not as pure being, but as the possibility to be. In this, Kearney limits himself to asking the God-question from the human perspective, or God 'for us'. This precludes the question of the objective existence or non-existence of God, asking instead how God might be God in our world. How might the Kingdom come, in other words? To answer this, he attempts an imaginative rereading of tradition, exploring counter-traditions that imagine God in terms of possibility to propose a decidedly ethical foundation for his hermeneutics of religion (Kearney 2001). The God of posse, or possibility, might be God for us only if we enable God through acts of love and kindness to the widow, the orphan and the stranger. This is a preferential option for a God of small things rather than a God of power and might - a God who is vulnerable to human choice and decision, yet a God whose voice forever calls the human imagination to new possible worlds where the Kingdom might come.

Anatheism, when read in dialogue with Kearney's larger philosophical project surrounding the God of possibility, may become a means to conceptualise the place of the sacred in the (post)secular(ising) world. This will become clearer when interpreted theologically with the help of Bonhoeffer, but the core of this potential for the secular lies in anatheism's irony that it is precisely in the absence of God that we may discover God as already present through small acts of kindness in the world.

 

A vulnerable God, a powerless possible, an uncertain outcome: Bonhoeffer and the God pushed aside⁷

From this philosophical foundation, we can now turn to a theological expression of God's presence in and through God's very expulsion from the world. The absolute, impassible God of Greek metaphysics has been subjected to increasing theological reinterpretation. This section wishes to bring Kearney's notion of a God Who May Be, who is vulnerable to human response and who is a 'God of small things', into theological focus. We will focus on recent contributions surrounding, especially, the suffering of God on the cross - the event of divine vulnerability par excellence. Indeed, nothing draws a line across the easy and cheerful romanticism of progress like the cross of the Man from Nazareth. It is through suffering and vulnerability that Jesus becomes the Man 'for others', the exemplary, 'last' Man who embodies the eschatological future of humanity as being-for-O/other (Ratzinger 2004:n.p.).⁸

Paul Fiddes has significantly contributed to the notion of a vulnerable God in his The Creative Suffering of God, where he insists that we remain conscious of the fact that, when we think of God, we think of One who has experienced death, yet without being dead, thereby overcoming non-being (Fiddes 1992:265). Building from Abelard's notion of the intrinsic necessity in God of acting in fidelity to God's own nature, and following the Barthian axiom of the freedom of God,⁹ Fiddes describes God on the cross by arguing that, '(i)n his freedom, God has chosen to empty himself in the incarnation, reaching a climax of humility in Christ on the cross' (Mulcahy 2007:185). This brings him to his argument of God making Godself vulnerable to humanity, by the freedom of God's choice (Fiddes 1989):

But if we take seriously the freedom of God to love, then we can say that he desires fellowship with us, and that by his own eternal choice his being is enhanced by relationship with us. (p.159)

Mulcahy (2007; cf. Fiddes 1989:159) comments:

Paradoxical though it may seem, human beings can 'add' something to God, can increase God's joy. In other words, through love, creation must be able to 'affect' God, in some way. There is no question of external necessity here. God has no need of human affection or relationship, but out the [sic] freedom of his love God 'determines to be in need'. (p. 185)

This vulnerability runs both ways, however, because humans cannot but be affected by such a revelation of love in the person of Christ. God's total and complete identification with 'a desolate and condemned human being dying outside the city walls on Calvary' demonstrates the 'value and significance humanity has in God's eyes' (Mulcahy 2007:185). Fiddes follows Abelard here, for this demonstration of God's love for humanity elicits a similar response in the human person as the receiver of this love (Mulcahy 2007:185). To a large extent, this openness of humanity to be impacted by the illustration of God's love in Christ facilitates our salvation, enabling us to 'accept that we are accepted' (Fiddes draws here from Tillich 1968:202-203, 239-243). According to Mulcahy (2007; cf. Fiddes 1989:159):

Because God in Christ now knows us 'from the inside', because he has entered the furthermost point away from God in identifying with a forsaken dying man, we have the courage to believe that we are really acceptable in his sight. Such acceptance is an integral dimension of what it means to be 'saved'. (pp. 185-186)

For Fiddes, this forms part of the larger question that orients his work on the atonement: how does the past act of salvation in Christ become an immediate presence to the believer? How, then, does God's revelation of love in Christ become a communication of the very Being of God, that is, love, to the believer? Fiddes draws from both Schleiermacher and Bonhoeffer in answering this question. From Schleiermacher, he appropriates the idea that the presence of the Saviour dwells in the community of believers, through which this presence holds 'a transforming power over human attitudes towards God' (Mulcahy 2007:186). Practically, this means that humanity's broken God-consciousness becomes transformed through the perfect God-consciousness of Jesus Christ that he communicates to his disciples (Fiddes 1989:161-162; cf. Mulcahy 2007:168-169). The conclusion that Fiddes draws from this is that Christ, whose presence is able to influence and transform personalities, 'must bring about a new kind of "corporate life" between himself and those whom he transforms, and also between those who are seized by his influence' (Fiddes 1989:162; cf. Mulcahy 2007:187).

Fiddes now turns to two aspects of Bonhoeffer's thinking to bring balance to this insight of Schleiermacher. Firstly, Bonhoeffer's emphasis on the suffering God serves as a corrective to Schleiermacher's Jesus whose 'communion with the Father is untouched by pain and suffering' and who 'goes into death with trusting and serenity'. Secondly, Bonhoeffer's interpretation of Jesus' experience of God-forsakenness on the cross serves as a corrective to Schleiermacher's confidence in a 'universal' religious experience that seems at odds with a contemporary sense of the loss of God-consciousness (Mulcahy 2007:187).

Bonhoeffer, like Schleiermacher, understood Christ's presence to dwell in the community of believers. Unlike Schleiermacher, however, Bonhoeffer did not identify the Church as the presence of Christ with the glorified Christ at the right hand of the Father, but rather with the humiliated Christ on the cross. In his prison letters, Bonhoeffer enlarged his understanding of Christ's presence to include all life in all of the world, including even the secular world that lives in ignorance of God (Fiddes 1989:164; cf. Mulcahy 2007:188).¹⁰ Bonhoeffer accomplishes this by linking Christ's experience of abandonment on the cross with the contemporary loss of a sense of God. That God revealed Godself as Deus absconditus through a scorned human being who felt himself abandoned by his heavenly Father denotes a God who reveals Godself in weakness (Mulcahy 2007:188). This means not only that God suffers with the destitute and forsaken but also that (Fiddes 1989):

God is 'there for us' in places where he appears to be redundant, where no one calls for a God to intervene, where human beings are exercising their freedom to be adult. There God suffers his humiliation, crucified 'at the hands of the world'. (p. 165)

Contemporary Christians, in Bonhoeffer's view, are called to engage with the secular world in a radically different way. In several of his letters from prison, he ponders at length the nature of what he calls a 'religionless Christianity', and in the end comes to value how, in the secular world, God is not pushed aside to the fringes, to that which humanity cannot control or understand, and therefore seeks a god-of-the-gaps that may complete these borderline experiences of humanity. Because the secular world has done away with God altogether, the Deus absconditus is able to be present in the very centre of human life. In order for Christians to testify to this, they must themselves be, with conviction, in the world (Bonhoeffer 1959):

[L]ike Christ himself ('My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?') he must drink the earthly cup to the lees, and only in his doing that is the crucified and risen Lord with him, and he crucified and risen with Christ. This world must not be prematurely written off. (p. 154)

If God is then willing in God's great love to be pushed aside by the world, so must the contemporary Christian learn to follow in the way of the seemingly invisible, seemingly absent. This is the way of the Church who corporately bears witness to the presence of Christ in the world, while the secular world lives in ignorance of this presence (Bonhoeffer 1959):

God is teaching us that we must live as men who can get along very well without him. The God who is with us is the God who forsakes us (Mark 15.34). The God who makes us live in this world without using him as a working hypothesis is the God before whom we are ever standing. Before God and with him we live without God. God allows himself to be edged out of the world and on to the cross. God is weak and powerless in the world, and that is exactly the way, the only way, in which he can be with us and help us. Matthew 8.17 makes it crystal clear that it is not by his omnipotence that Christ helps us, but by his weakness and suffering. (p. 164)

These words of Bonhoeffer are perhaps as close as we have come to a theological formulation of Kearney's emphasis on a powerless and vulnerable God. Bonhoeffer even expresses, in the same letter, thoughts regarding the post-religious world of Europe that come very close to Kearney's ideas of anatheism.¹¹ Here, Bonhoeffer links the idea of a powerless God with the world's coming-of-age, so that a world coming into its own has been able to substitute a suffering God for the Deus ex machina that existed as a projection of a fearful humanity (Bonhoeffer 1959):

This is the decisive difference between Christianity and all religions. Man's religiosity makes him look in his distress to the power of God in the world; he uses God as a Deus ex machina. The Bible however directs him to the powerlessness and suffering of God; only a suffering God can help. To this extent we may say that the process we have described by which the world came of age was an abandonment of a false conception of God, and a clearing of the decks for the God of the Bible, who conquers power and space in the world by his weakness. (p. 164)

The point is, then, that those who want to find God must look for God among the weak, the powerless and the suffering, where he is present as weak, powerless and suffering - and this implies that the contemporary believer must engage himself or herself in complete commitment in the secular world (Mulcahy 2007; cf. Fiddes 1989:165):

Paradoxical though it may seem, the saving presence of Christ in the community of the Church or the community of the wide world is revealed in weakness and suffering, and yet possesses a power to transform the personalities of those who strive to follow him. (p. 189)

In this summary of Bonhoeffer's answer to the question of who Christ is and where he may be found, we find ourselves very close to a theological formulation of Kearney's argument for a God Who May Be that exemplifies the powerless possible. Indeed, there is great irony at the core of the revelation of the Divine in and through the human being from Nazareth. If the miracle is that God has come so close to humanity that we may only take a few steps, reach out our hands and touch God-in-flesh, then it also discloses the unspeakable vulnerability to which God opens Godself in the world. Indeed, while some hands may reach out to the God-Man in the desperate hope that a simple touch may heal a lifetime of shame and social ostracising (the woman with chronic blood flow), and some hands might reach out in an act of worship (the woman washing Jesus' feet with her tears), other hands may point fingers and shout, 'crucify him'. As Ratzinger (2004) so aptly states:

The very thing that at first seems to bring God quite close to us, so precisely, also becomes in a very profound sense the precondition for the 'death of God', which henceforth puts an ineradicable stamp on the course of history and the human relationship with God. God has come so near to us that we can kill him and that he thereby, so it seems, ceases to be God for us. (n.p.)

It is in this context that we have to take seriously the biblical symbols of judgement, punishment and death (Migliore 2004):

By contrast, hell is simply wanting to be oneself apart from God's grace and in isolation from others. Hell is that self-chosen condition in which, in opposition to God's agapic love and the call to a life of mutual friendship and service, individuals barricade themselves from others. It is the hellish weariness and boredom of a life focused entirely on itself. Hell is not an arbitrary divine punishment at the end of history. It is not the final retaliation of a vindictive deity. Hell is self-destructive resistance to the eternal love of God. It symbolizes the truth that the meaning and intention of life can be missed. Repentance is urgent. Our choices and actions are important. God ever seeks to lead us out of our hell of self-glorification and lovelessness, but neither in time nor in eternity is God's love coercive. (p. 347)

Kearney is often criticised for proposing that possibility, which he imagines characterises the Divine as God Who May Be, makes both God and the divine purpose vulnerable to human choice and action. Kearney insists, namely, that it remains the human prerogative to respond negatively, or positively, to the transfiguring Spirit luring us to the eschatological future where God May Be God. We would propose, however, with Kearney, that the certainty that Christianity has often projected onto the Eschaton as a guaranteed future should pass through the purifying fires of Freud, Marx and Nietzsche. We may very well find an idol lurking in the midst of this assurance, a sublimated projection of human angst when faced with the uncertainty that characterises our existence. Kearney's anatheistic project purposefully invites faith to open itself to the necessary death of such gods of comfort and control. On the other side of our idols, we may believe again. In this perspective, God makes Godself vulnerable to humanity, by the freedom of God's own choice. This vulnerability runs both ways, however, because humans cannot but be affected by such a revelation of love in the person of Christ.

In this context, the vulnerability of God, by God's free choice, may be translated as a vulnerable outcome. Creation's future is not certain. God's intended future for creation may be, or it may not, depending on the free choice of humanity to respond (or not) to God's transfiguring presence, becoming co-creators of the Messianic Kingdom of justice and love. This means that the biblical symbols of judgement, punishment and death reveal the frightening reality that the 'meaning and intention of life can be missed', and that the choice to open to God's intended future is an urgent one (Migliore 2004). God's love is not coercive.

 

Conclusion

How is any of this relevant to the demands being placed on leadership in the public sphere today? To answer this, I need to start by pointing to a serious shortcoming of this article. Owing to mainly spatial constraints, and also to set a more simplified scene until the necessary concepts have been introduced, I have framed the leadership challenge within the parameters of ethical leadership on the one hand, and individual leadership on the other. In reality, the contemporary challenges that leadership is called to answer is far greater than this, and the idea that any individual leader, regardless of how ethical his or her leadership style may be, will solve these challenges is laughably oversimplified and idealistic. The tenacity with which complex global problems, such as those typified by the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals have persisted, and indeed gotten worse, has forced critical leadership studies to move beyond the simple answers that characterised leadership theories of yonder years and still continue to earn business schools the small fortunes that ensure their own survival. In the face of what is now termed 'super wicked problems', that is, problems with (1) alarming time constraints, where (2) the ones causing the problem also seek to provide a solution, where (3) 'the central authority needed to address the problem is weak or non-existent' and where (4) 'policy responses discount the future irrationally' (Levin et al. 2012:123), critical leadership studies have had to move beyond the individual to inquire into leadership emergence as 'the multilevel interactional process driven by deep level cognitive and perceptual processes of group members that form a collective patterning of leader and follower interactions over time' (Acton et al. 2019:146).

This is why Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 17 stresses collaboration through multi-sector partnerships as a means of implementation of the SDGs. This significantly raises the bar for leadership, and likewise also for any theological reflection aiming at a relevant contribution regarding the role of an imagination of the sacred in such a complex leadership framework, especially in the (post)secular(ising) civic context that has excluded the God-question from public discourse. Quite obviously, any attempt made in a few pages must fall short. This article should be seen as an initial attempt, a la Kearney, Fiddes and Bonhoeffer, to sketch a conceptualisation of the powerless God, pushed to the fringes, yet no less active in salvific initiative through those who may believe again. Thus, we have started with individual leaders and call for ethical leadership, but this looking glass has delivered us to the far more complex challenges of the global (post)secular(ising) world. Indeed, global humanity is marching at great speed to a judgement day of their own making, the horrors of which apocalypse-authors have only imagined. To conceptualise what it may take for the Kingdom of God to be realised in such a context, I have drawn on Kearney's God of possibility, as well as Bonhoeffer's later letters from prison, to provide theological foundation for a public spirituality of leadership, where the (post)secular(ising) world is cast in light of Bonhoeffer's description of the absence of God in the world.

A spirituality of leadership that meets the contemporary challenges must, of necessity, have its starting point in a complete commitment to the world. A la Schleiermacher, a first element to be elaborated here is that of community: a spiritual leader creates communal environments where the presence of a vulnerable God may be experienced in seeming absence. A la Bonhoeffer, a second element is a surrender of power: a spiritual leader answers a call to belong to the world in a complete surrender that resembles that of Christ stumbling to Calgary. With these two elements, we echo Fry's (2003) two core dimensions of spiritual leadership, namely, 'calling' and 'membership'. The motivations driving such leaders must remain hidden, as is God's own presence, pushed aside by a world who will have nothing of religion. And through this grand act of hospitality, receiving the world in love even as the world pushes God aside, the Kingdom may come, and all things may yet be possible with God.

 

Acknowledgements

Competing interests

The author declares that she has no financial or personal relationships that may have inappropriately influenced her in writing this article.

Author's contributions

Y.S. is the sole author of this research article.

Ethical considerations

This article followed all ethical standards for a research without direct contact with human or animal subjects.

Funding information

This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.

Data availability statement

Data sharing is not applicable to this article as no new data were created or analysed in this study.

Disclaimer

The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of any affiliated agency of the author.

 

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Correspondence:
Yolande Steenkamp
ysteenka@gmail.com

Received: 07 Nov. 2019
Accepted: 06 Apr. 2020
Published: 17 June 2020

 

 

1. This article is based on a section of the PhD thesis by Steenkamp 2016.
2. For another example of public commentators addressing ethical leadership, see Mali (2018:n.p.). For academic contributions, see Schoeman (2014) and Iheriohanma and Oguoma (2010:409-416), whose study refers to the whole of Africa.
3. See https://www.facebook.com/kwazitheo/videos/1749243981830760/?hc_ref=ARSOuUemtlPhzVQBGV81bFpWWJtVvyO8ulbICMhYdq15nFq-ovLnfiBTFpLWkpLTvKU&fref=nf.
4. For more calls for ethical leadership from the religious sector, see McCauley (2016).
5. Servant leadership can be seen as an example of a spirituality of leadership. While it has its origin in Christianity and is often expounded in the context of the leadership of religious institutions, this is not a necessary confinement because it is based on universal spiritual values such as humility and integrity. While servant leadership is more accurately understood as a philosophy rather than a fully developed theory of leadership (Barnett n.d.:n.p.), in a just-published article Mookgo Kgatle argued strongly for servant leadership as a way to address the dire state of political leadership in South Africa, characterised by its abuse of power (2018:1-9).
6. Enblem defines 'religiousness', in turn, as 'a system of organized beliefs and worship which a person practices' (1992:45).
7. This section has been adapted from the author's doctoral thesis (Steenkamp 2016:220-226, 258). This work was completed under the supervision of Prof. Daniël P. Veldsman from the Department of Systematic and Historical Theology at the Faculty of Theology and Religion at the University of Pretoria, South Africa. The title of the thesis was 'Post-metaphysical God-talk and its implications for Christian Theology: sin and salvation in view of Richard Kearney's God Who May Be'.
8. Ratzinger elaborates, 'For to be the man for others, the man who is open and thereby opens up a new beginning, means being the man in the sacrifice, sacrificed man. The future of man hangs on the Cross - the redemption of man is the Cross. And he can only come to himself by letting the walls of his existence be broken down, by looking on him who has been pierced (Jn 19:37), and by following him who as the pierced and opened one has opened the path into the future'.
9. Abelard, in his theory of the atonement, wanted to safeguard God against any extrinsic necessity in the economy of salvation (such as the idea that a ransom had to be paid to the devil, etc.), insisting that the only necessity the divine nature is bound to is that of acting in accordance with God's own nature, which is love (see Steenkamp 2016:214-218; cf. also Mulcahy 2007:185).
10. During his time in prison, Bonhoeffer indeed began to perceive the world as living in ignorance of God: 'The thing that keeps coming back to me is, what is Christianity, and indeed what is Christ, for us to-day? The time when men could be told everything by means of words, whether theological or simply pious, is over, and so is the time of inwardness and conscience, which is to say the time of religion as such. We are proceeding towards a time of no religion at all: men as they are now simply cannot be religious any more.… Our whole nineteen-hundred-year-old Christian preaching and theology rests upon the "religious premise" of man. What we call Christianity has always been a pattern - perhaps a true pattern - of religion. But if one day it becomes apparent that this a priori "premise" simply does not exist, but was an historical and temporary form of human self-expression, i.e., if we reach the stage of being radically without religion - and I think this is more or less the case already, else how is it, for instance, that this war, unlike any of those before it, is not calling forth any "religious" reaction? - what does that mean for "Christianity"?' (Bonhoeffer 1959:122).
In this context Bonhoeffer asked, 'If religion is no more than the garment of Christianity … then what is a religionless Christianity?' (Bonhoeffer 1959:123). It becomes clear, then, that Bonhoeffer had to broaden his understanding of the presence of Christ to include the secular world and not only the Church because he saw the world changing in front of his eyes into a world where the presence of 'Church' to a secular person in a religionless world becomes largely irrelevant. 'How do we speak', he asks, 'of God without religion, i.e. without the temporally-influenced presuppositions of metaphysics, inwardness, and so on? … In what way are we in a religionless and secular sense Christians, in what way are we the Ekklesia, "those who are called forth," not conceiving of ourselves religiously as specially favoured, but as wholly belonging to the world? Then Christ is no longer an object of religion, but something quite different, indeed and in truth the Lord of the world' (Bonhoeffer 1959:123).
11. Bonhoeffer: 'Religious people speak of God when human perception is (often just from laziness) at an end, or human resources fail: it is really always the Deus ex machina they call to their aid, either for the so-called solving of insoluble problems or as support in human failure -always, that is to say, helping out human weakness or on the borders of human existence. Of necessity, that can only go on until men can, by their own strength, push those borders a little further, so that God becomes superfluous as a Deus ex machina. I have come to be doubtful even about talking of "borders of human existence." Is even death to-day, since men are scarcely afraid of it any more, and sin, which they scarcely understand any more, still a genuine borderline? It always seems to me that in talking thus we are only seeking frantically to make room for God. I should like to speak of God not on the borders of life but at its centre, not in weakness but in strength, not, therefore, in man's suffering and death but in his life and prosperity. On the borders it seems to me better to hold our peace and leave the problem unsolved. Belief in the Resurrection is not the solution of the problem of death. The "beyond" of God is not the beyond of our perceptive faculties. The transcendence of theory based on perception has nothing to do with the transcendence of God. God is the "beyond" in the midst of our life' (1959:123-124).

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ORIGINAL RESEARCH

 

Toxicity of leadership and its impact on employees: Exploring the dynamics of leadership in an academic setting

 

 

Gift T. Baloyi

Department of Philosophy, Practical and Systematic Theology, Faculty of Humanities, University of South Africa, Pretoria, South Africa

Correspondence

 

 

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ABSTRACT

Constructive leaders highlight elements of motivation to employees to grow in order to achieve goals for their institutions or departments. They do this either through understanding the significance of ethical leadership or servant leadership. However, people who work under toxic environments often have little or no choice but drop their energy levels and be completely demoralised because of the toxicity at their workplace. This includes stories of leaders who ridicule their employees in public, force employees to undergo physical and psychological pains, and promote divisiveness between colleagues. As the article focuses on leadership, and toxic leadership that is destructive not only for the workplace but also for human relationship, it argues for a need of ethical leadership which creates a dynamic relationship and trust between a leader and those led. The article concludes by stating that there is a relationship between ethical leadership and employee performance, and that this is very important for academic institutions.
CONTRIBUTION: Although the article reflects on the notion of leadership and its toxicity in an academic environment, the implications of the outcome are multidisciplinary, as ethical leadership is necessary in all human institutions (religion, politics, academia, corporate and social institutions or organisations

Keywords: Destructive behaviour; Ethical leadership; Job satisfaction; Leadership; Toxic leadership.

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Introduction

This article discusses the concept of leadership in an academic environment. Leadership has been a focal point of scholarly research for decades across the globe. The existence of leadership is as old as human civilisation itself. It is, therefore, one of the most essential components to have for the functioning of all institutions and organisations or departments. Although leadership is a broad concept without a standard definition, it is not about negativity and destruction.

Whilst numerous scholars (e.g. Herbst & Conradie 2011:1-14; Kelidbari, Fadaei & Ebrahimi 2016:463-470; eds. Samier & Schmidt 2010) have dealt with traits, behaviours and styles that are associated with successful leadership, few have attempted to understand the nature and consequences of dysfunctional leadership (Schmidt 2008:1). In one way or another, most people have experienced bad leadership from different walks of life. There are various places where one could observe or experience bad leadership such as church leadership, place of employment or within political organisations etc.

This investigation focuses mainly on toxic leadership in institutions of higher learning within the context of South Africa. The article intends to use Herbst and Mukhola's (2018:183-193) empirical research findings on 'female leaders' experience of toxic leadership in higher education institutions in South Africa', as the basis of arguments put in this article. Although Herbs and Mukhola's research focus was on female leaders, the results of the study do give an indication or confirmation of the existence of toxicity in higher institutions and this is what is crucial for this article.

 

The concept of leadership

Leadership is one of the most vital aspects of life, which gives any organisation or institution in the world a competitive advantage. Leadership is said to be a process by which a leader inspires others within an organisation to achieve an organisation's set goals in a cohesive way. Its existence is as old as human civilisation (Asrar-ul-Haq & Anwar 2018:179) and has been observed in various institutions such as politics, religion, corporate and social. Whilst leadership is acknowledged to be as old as human civilisation, research shows that it is also one of the least understood traits, especially by those who occupy positions of leadership without necessary skills (see Amanchukwu et al. 2015:6). Leadership is about qualities that recognise other people's qualities whilst bringing out the best in them.

According to Amin, Tatlah and Islam (2018:161), leadership means to 'inspire many people for functioning as a body' or component. It is also defined as a tool to '…enhancing human potential' (Bijur 2000:167) and '…creating the environment within which things can be accomplished' (Matei & Vazquez-Burguete 2012:206). Almaki et al. (2016:226) understand leadership as a '…means to influence others in order to complete a particular task…'. Whilst definitions of leadership may vary, the general sentiment remains the same: Leaders are those people who know how to achieve goals and inspire others along the way (Almaki et al. 2016). However, the substantial qualities of leadership, as indicated above, are generally visible in a leader who is trustworthy, ethical, experienced, knowledgeable, visionary and has a warm demeanour. These become fundamental principles for the effectiveness of leadership in an organisation.

Whilst this author agrees with other scholars that '…leadership doesn't have a one-size-fits-all definition…' (Almaki et al. 2016:226), it is important to mention that its meaning should give influence and inspiration 'to work towards group goals, not through coercion but through personal motivation' (Sart 2014:77). In other words, the complexity of the notion does not take away the fact that 'leadership lies in the ability to create a vision, motivation, and enthusiasm' (Stănciulescu & Beldiman 2019:57). Its definition is also reliant on the type of institution or organisation it is defined for. Defining leadership from a religious or political point of view will surely differ from how a military institution understands and defines it. In the context of an academic environment, leadership could mean, amongst others, to excel in teaching, 'enhances the university's research mission and advances its position as a leading source of innovation' (Sart 2014:82; cf. Anjum et al. 2018:1-10). Such leadership should be able to lead, drive and influence transformation.

 

Background of the study

In their empirical study, Herbst and Mukhola (2018:183-193) were interested in the experiences of 'female leaders of toxic leadership by means of the Schmidt toxic leadership scale to observe the frequency of particular toxic leadership behaviour'. Their data were collected from a group of female leaders (N = 82) employed at 18 different higher education institutions in South Africa. Of the 82 participants, 48 responded to the survey. In their study, there was no identity or biographical data revealed, apart from the job levels of the participants. Of the 48 participants, 2 (4.17%) were members of executive management committee, 3 (6.25%) were executive deans, 6 (12.5%) were heads of academic departments, 16 (33.33%) were heads of support departments, 11 (22.92%) were at non-management position (other) and 10 (20.83%) were lecturers.

For the purpose of their research, '…the survey was designed to measure the following five dimensions of toxic leadership: self-promotion; abusive supervision; unpredictability; narcissism; and authoritarian leadership'. The high rank mean value for each of these five dimensions indicates that the majority of the participants either agree (5) or strongly agree (6) that their line manager demonstrated the 30 toxic leadership behaviours measured by the instrument (Herbst & Mukhola 2018:187). The study findings do confirm that toxic leadership is a prevalent phenomenon in many South African universities. In terms of this empirical evidence, the two dimensions with the highest rank mean values are narcissism and self-promotion. This is alarming because Schmidt's (2008) definition of narcissism includes lack of skill of developing empathy, ethical principles and underestimating others' abilities.

 

Problematising toxicity at the workplace

In an institution with leadership, there lies an assumption that people who undertake such leadership positions possess goodwill and intent for peers, employees and their institutions. It is further assumed that constructive leaders do highlight elements of motivation for employees to achieve goals and inspirations to do more than they thought was possible (eds. Samier & Schmidt 2010:126). These assumptions speak hypothetically on the grounds that every leader in their position has the interest of advancing and growing their institutional agendas, which also empowers everyone in it. Furthermore, these assumptions are born out of the fact that leadership comes with responsibilities to drive innovation, development and encourage employees to improve their performance.

The assumption is, however, not necessarily what happens in practice. In this regard, there is enough empirical evidence in the context of South African higher education (Herbst & Conradie 2011:1-14; Herbst & Mukhola 2018:183-193; Mafini 2014; Ngcamu 2015:208-216), which acknowledges the existence of toxicity in academic space. In the context of an academic environment, where the production of knowledge is paramount, it becomes difficult if not impossible to work and give birth to new ideas under leadership that is toxic. This has negative consequences or outcomes on both employees and the institution at large. Bad leadership has the capacity to destroy collegiality and team atmosphere, and demoralises and, in the end, destroys skills that are necessary for productivity and growth of an institution. It also destroys people's cognitive psychology, that is, the ability to deal effectively with the mind and the way information is processed.

 

Exploring toxic leadership and the tactics of operation

The notion, 'toxic leader' was never in use until its first appearance in Whicker (1996). The notion is associated with dark leadership which encompasses qualities such as 'destructive' (eds. Samier & Schmidt 2010:125), 'abusive and tyrannical' (Pelletier 2010:374), 'narcissist' (Maccoby 2000:68-78) and 'aversive' (Bligh et al. 2007:528-557) style of leadership. Both 'toxic leadership' and 'dark leadership' are at times used interchangeably to describe the same challenges or phenomena in leadership. In the end, these concepts refer to leaders who engage in gravely destructive behaviours and exhibit dysfunctional personal qualities, inflicting severe physical and psychological damage to those being led and undermine the interest of the organisation. Such toxic leaders possess a 'deep-seated but well-disguised sense of personal inadequacy, selfish values, and cleverness at concealing deceit' (Whicker 1996:12).

In dealing with the etymology of the notion 'toxic' from the ancient Greek in terms of what it means, Frater (2014:374) states that 'the word toxon means "bow," as well as "the arrows shot from the bow," and really just archery in general'. However, the notion was later revised and from toxon came the word 'toxicus', which mean 'poison for use on arrows' (Frater 2014:374), and later translated to Latin 'toxicus', and French 'toxique'. From this understanding, one finds common features between 'toxicus' (poisonous) on the arrows of the bow and leaders who inflict physical and psychological harm on the people they lead. These 'toxicus' qualities carry doses of poison with capacity to destroy either quickly or slowly depending on the nature or makeup of the target.

Toxic leadership breeds 'multidimensional construct that includes elements of abusive supervision along with narcissism, authoritarianism, self-promotion, and unpredictability' (Reed 2004:71) that are as dangerous as a dose of poison in a human body. This is also supported by Lipman-Blumen (2005:1), who argues that toxic leadership is '…a process in which leaders, by dint of their destructive behavior and/or dysfunctional personal characteristics, inflict serious and enduring harm on their followers, their organizations, and non-followers, alike'. Whilst a 'toxicus' arrow on a bow may kill instantly, toxic leadership destroys both psychologically and physically, leaving a person mentally paralysed. Toxic leadership may not kill instantly like an arrow shot from the bow, but it has the capacity to kill in the long run. It achieves its toxicity through systemic 'violent managerial practices…' (Cotter 2001:187) and exhibiting '…dysfunctional personal qualities inflicting severe physical and psychological damage to followers…' (Herbst & Mukhola 2018:185; cf. Mehta & Maheshwari 2014:19).

However, one acknowledges that there is no perfect leadership and that all types of leadership may have more elements of abusiveness than others depending on the situation; nevertheless, the dose of 'toxicus' in a particular leadership being displayed is the cause of the collapse of collegiality or team spirit and demoralised attitudes towards performance. It is also important to note that whilst people may regard toxic leaders as poisonous for a working environment, some regard them as their heroes. Even when such leaders are characterised by, amongst other qualities, self-glorification, pettiness, abusiveness and interpersonal malice (Whicker 1996:66), they are still regarded with respect by some of their followers. Lipman-Blumen (2005:376) point out that they also '…exhibit destructive behaviors that work to decay their followers' morale, motivation, and self-esteem, although there is considerable overlap in conceptualizations of toxic, tyrannical, unethical, and destructive leadership'.

Because of their inadequacies, they employ certain tactics in order to operate (Pelletier 2010:375-376). This is indicative of the fact that such 'toxic leaders are fundamentally characterized by three dysfunctional qualities: deep-seated inadequacy, selfish values, and deceptiveness' (Whicker 1996:53). In addition, because of lack of good qualities and the necessary abilities to cope with and carry out their tasks, they resort to this type of leadership in order to scare and frustrate their colleagues, at times to a point of the colleagues quitting their jobs. This does not only result in the destruction of collegiality spirit, harming the institution and the people, it is a destruction of basic human sense of trust. Such leaders have no sense of comprehending the fact that basic human sense of trust is 'critical for working relationships, effective leadership, the university as site of democracy [and space for knowledge production], and [a breeding of] a healthy society' (eds. Samier & Schmidt 2010:134).

Toxic leaders often create what Lewis (1944, cited in Kretzschmar 2019:19-20) calls '…inner ring…' which is always in total support of anything the leader does. This includes violation of institutional policies, destruction of human relations and ultimately collapsing the division or department they have been entrusted with. The role of the 'inner ring' is to strengthen the muscles of a toxic leader. Drawing from Lewis, Kretzschmar (2019:20) argues that '…no "big man" can become powerful or remain in power, without the support of an "inner ring." It is a mutually corrupting association'. This 'inner ring' also shows a total disregard of principles of ethics and morality. According to Mehta and Maheshwari's (2014:18-24) argument, employees who agree to be a part of the circle or 'inner ring' are rewarded for agreeing with the leader but could be reprimanded for challenging their authority. Some of the employees in the circle may agree not because of wisdom or reliability of the leader but because of fear of victimisation.

This style of leadership has today established itself as 'silent killers' (Walton 2007:19) of both humans and institutions. Subordinates who are not in the circle or the leader's support structure are dismissed or dealt with when they question the leader's ways and decisions. This attitude occurs despite the fact and knowledge that independency of mind ought to take the centre stage at an institution of higher learning. As Klein (2010) correctly states in Samier and Schmidt (eds. 2010) that such:

[T]oxic leadership penetrates into the fabric of university life and society, alters it, and hereby defines the university not as a site of democracy and freedom, but rather as a work-place marked by constraint, torture, and injustice. (p. 134)

Although their toxicity may not necessarily display toxic behaviours in all situations, they are able to manipulate a situation to appear as though they are good leaders. The point is nonetheless that they are not trustworthy or even truthful leaders. Notwithstanding that toxic leaders have different methods of displaying their skills and characters, but what they have in common is '…deep-seated but well-disguised sense of personal inadequacy, selfish values and cleverness at concealing deceit' (Herbst & Mukhola 2018:185).

Samier and Schmidt (eds. 2010:128) point out that 'targets within a university setting typically excel well above departmental or college norms and expectations tend to be highly productive scholars…' However, in some instances, targets may not necessarily be in the category as described above but may be because of their association or rather guilty by association. As observed by Samier and Schmidt (eds. 2010:128-129), once toxic leaders have identified their targets, they work to control and intimidate them with implicit threats with the desired outcome of influencing the target to a weak position.

 

Impact of toxic leadership

Toxic leadership has a huge negative impact on individual as well as institution. In the academic space, it has devastating impact on academics, teaching and learning and the institution at large. It has the capacity to erode the purpose of the existence of institutions of higher learning in societies. Herbst and Mukhola's (2018:183-193) research findings do confirm that the existence of toxicity of leadership in South Africa's higher learning institutions is prevalent with negative outcomes. These findings are indicative of the fact that toxic leaders in higher academic institutions do not have any sense of trust, understanding of academic administration and basic human relations. It is not clear whether this suggests lack of comprehension and purpose for being in academic leadership in line with the purpose for the existence of academic institutions in society. There is a sense of deep-rooted pathology which allows such toxicity to occur without any slightest feeling of pain towards others.

Toxicity in any academic space has the potential to inhibit proper teaching and learning and suppress knowledge production by academics (cf. Giroux 2015:5-16). Toxicity has no space for helping colleagues aiming at setting the highest standards of research and teaching in order to be competitive with other global institutions. It is nonetheless capable of devising means to frustrate academics to a point of psychological distress. This type of leadership indirectly denies the whole idea of intellectual space where research breaks new grounds and enables both researchers and the institution to lead in research. A space that is not conducive for producing knowledge will be equally not conducive for training young minds to move and grow the economy of their country.

For a better functioning of higher learning institutions, employees require to be free from toxicity. In other words, toxic leadership '…is associated with the decreased employee performance, increased level of psychological distress and low level of job satisfaction and commitment' (Hussein et al. 2018:32). In agreement with Hussein et al. (2018), the functioning of human body in its totality is vital for interaction, especially in the academic space, on issues relating to research, teaching and learning vigorously. This shows how bad is the toxic leadership together with its associates such as '…destructive leadership, abusive supervision, petty tyranny, narcissistic leadership, and authoritarian leadership…' (Burns 2017:45).

Further, physical and psychological implications include '… loss of concentration, panic attacks…' (eds. Samier & Schmidt 2010:133) and '…sleep difficulties' (Hansen et al. 2014:285), especially on those who are targets of toxic leaders. In such environments, there is a high probability of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in employees because of repeated psychological and emotional abuse. Depending on the level of stress from a toxic workspace, there is a probability of '…broad range of effects on brain function and structure, as well as on neuropsychological components of memory' (Bremner 2006:455). It is essential to indicate that the human brain is a significant contributor to the holistic functioning of a human body. Therefore, it becomes impossible for a person to function fully and vigorously in an environment that obstructs proper functioning of the brain. This leads to a question such as, how does teaching and learning (as a way of imparting knowledge) and research take place effectively when a significant part of the body (the brain) is paralysed by stress?

This contributes to the weakening of values placed by hardworking employees in departments and/or institutions. Furthermore, it results in some employees resigning or moving to other institutions of higher learning in anticipation and hope for peace and freedom of mind. It also diminishes the production strength of department and 'may result in teaching and learning ineffectiveness and/or lack of scholarly productivity' (eds. Samier & Schmidt 2010:134). No matter how much strong are one's cognitive systems, a toxic work environment has the capacity to damage one's capabilities and functioning to the core. Whether or not such leaders are aware of the grave consequences of their toxicity for individuals and institutions at large, the results of their bad leadership are always at their disposal and visible.

 

Traits of a toxic leader

The complexity of the nature of toxic leaders makes it necessary to understand the reasons why they behave in a toxic manner. The article has explored toxic leadership, its tactics of operation and its impact on the people being led. In order to change harmful leadership styles, it is important to have knowledge of why it exists. Zimbardo (2008) reminds us about the importance of understanding the environmental factors and why toxic leadership occurs and the irrevocable damage caused by it. There are many reasons as to why toxic leaders behave the way they do in a working environment; however, some reasons stand as leading factors above the rest. Toxic leaders are characterised by certain behavioural patterns, which according to Pelletier (2010:882) include, amongst others, lack of integrity and honesty, lack of moral philosophy, lack of confidence and incompetence (cf. Lipman-Blumen 2005).

Other researchers (see Lubit 2004:1-7; Padilla et al. 2007:176-194) have identified a toxic leader as a narcissist who displays an illegitimate sense of entitlement, need for administration, lack of empathy and projection of negative traits onto others (cf. Samier & Atkins 2009). They point out that what is consistent about narcissistic leaders in universities is that they are 'likely to violate policies, principles of administrative law, and natural justice' (Samier & Atkins 2009:219). In other words, these are the most problematic leaders who often lead to self-serving and abuse of power. At times, they refuse to be accountable for their words and actions and demand unquestioning obedience.

Pelletier (2010, cited in Burns 2017) found that:

[T]oxic leaders are also skilled at fostering an 'us/them' dichotomy for the purpose of enhancing cronyism ('us'); in promoting this dichotomy, leaders maliciously set constituents against one another by identifying scapegoats and inciting their followers to castigate them; toxic leaders erode unit cohesion and deflate esprit de corps; and that abusive leadership is related positively to turnover intentions and psychological distress, and related negatively to affective and continuance commitment, job and life satisfaction. (p. 46)

At some point, they do not see any need to report back to colleagues or even defend the interest of the department or their portfolios simply because they see themselves as better leaders connected with higher structures than their subdivisions. In addition, Leet (2011:111-112) states that they '…live with the unrealistic expectations that everyone around them is there to provide service to them explicitly…', failing which results in unspeakable psychological harm on the individual. By psychological harm, the present author refers to an individual's sense of self-esteem and mental health which is affected by humiliations rendered by toxic leader. This, in general, has implications for both institution or organisation and employees.

 

A need for ethical leadership

A toxic leader is characterised by (amongst other qualities) abuse, lack of collegiality, deep-seated inadequacy, selfish values and deceptiveness, which display a deep lack of understanding of basic principles of ethics. Ethics are fundamental as they deal with questions of morality beyond personal level. Ethics are considered vital not only for the growth of every institution or organisation but also for the promotion of teamwork amongst colleagues. It is important for leaders to have qualities of high moral principles. According to Ahmad, Gao and Hail (2017:10), 'Leadership without ethics and integrity can be harmful both for the organizational stakeholders and society'.

Perhaps, before dealing with ethical leadership theory (as a proposed model for academic leadership), it is imperative to deal briefly with its definition. According to Rich (2013):

[E]thics is a systematic approach to understanding, analyzing, and distinguishing matters of right and wrong, good and bad, and admirable and deplorable as they relate to the well-being of and the relationship among sentient beings. (p. 4)

It is also understood as 'principles of conduct governing an individual or group' (Merriam-Webster 2012). Cheteni and Shindika (2017:5) have cited Brown, Trevino and Harrison (2005), who defines ethics as a '…demonstration of normatively appropriate conduct through personal actions and interpersonal relationships, and the promotion of such conduct to followers through two-way communication, reinforcement, and decision-making'. Whilst these definitions may vary, the core message or general sentiment remains the same, that is, possessing moral principles.

Although Rich (2013) gives a clear definition of what 'ethics' is in general, Brown et al. (2005:120) define ethical leadership as the 'demonstration of normatively appropriate conduct through personal actions and interpersonal relationships, and the promotion of such conduct to followers through two-way communication, reinforcement, and decision making'. This has the capacity to create strong collegial spirit characterised by '…integrity, honesty, and trustworthy' (Treviño, Brown & Hartman 2003:21). Moreover, to create a caring and beneficial environment for both workers and organisation, ethical leadership must encompass qualities of 'moral person' and 'moral manager' (Ahmad et al. 2017:12), engage in righteous acts and avoid harmful acts to others, and their actions must be based on altruistic motives rather than on self-centred motifs (Kanungo 2001:257-265).

Any leadership, irrespective of institution or organisation, needs basic understanding of ethics as defined above. This helps in cultivating an attitude of moral obligation and personal responsibility in any level of work and leadership. This is very important especially for leaders as their behaviour influences individuals being led to cultivate and work by high moral principles. This is necessary for the growth and success of organisation. Ethics also provides an opportunity for the leader and followers to work as a strong unit. This is more relevant in a country such as South Africa where ethical leadership is not visible clearly (cf. Kretzschmar 2019:17-27). Challenges of corruption, nepotism and bad leadership are deeply established in many institutions and organisations. Institutions of higher learning, departments and other organisations are not excluded from these challenges. Therefore, this emphasises the need for sound leadership, which acknowledges that transparency is inextricably based on ethical principles.

Academic administrations in South Africa, through institutional policies, require a moral person and a moral manager to use their managerial powers to encourage and promote ethical standards and behaviour. Furthermore, ethical leadership helps to eliminate the unnecessary violation of policies and principles of administrative laws which contribute to the success of a leader and the credibility of institution. Thus, ethical leadership becomes an administration characterised by empathy and caring for the utmost functioning of institution/organisation. In such an environment, employees are highly encouraged and motivated to work and reach their full potential and make their departments successful. Principles of ethical leadership also acknowledge that basic human sense of trust is 'critical for working relationships…' (eds. Samier & Schmidt 2010:134), and where trust and relationships are built authentically, there is hope for holistic growth.

Reciprocal confidence develops through good relationships between leaders and followers, allowing the leader and followers to take department or institution to a higher level. This is fundamental, especially in an academic environment where the growth of an institution is depended on its type of leadership. The moment toxic leadership is given a space to crawl in, it then decides the time for the collapse of department or institution. In a working environment where ethics are highly promoted and respected, there is no space for toxicity, which breeds physical and psychological harm to employees and decreases productivity and personal growth.

Ethical leadership is an important aspect of authentic transformation. However, where ethics are not attached to any form of leadership, there is little interest for genuine transformation. Whilst ethical leadership specifically looks at the interests of the institution by applying its policies equally to every employee, toxicity has a propensity of creating a strong circle of friendship which supports anything wrong carried out by the leader, including destruction of human trust, policies and collegiality. Therefore, authentic transformation cannot emerge in such toxic environments because toxicity is not ethical in nature and is far from bringing authentic transformation and growth. Instead, toxicity plays alongside pseudo-transformation, which is characterised by self-interest, lack of morality and is power-oriented. The danger of toxic style of leadership is that it carries many destructive qualities that do not care about the well-being of others, their growth and that of institution.

 

Ethical leadership and employee performance

Kelidbari et al. (2016:464) states that '[i]n every organization the staff performance is regarded as one of the most important concepts'. Any leader in their position should strive to improve and enhance the institution's or departmental employees' performance by appearing more ethical in their way of leadership. Such leaders have a potential to encourage their employees to improve their performance and raise their morale and job satisfaction. Here, job satisfaction refers to a feeling of happiness a person attains from their job, without necessarily focusing on remuneration. This article concurs with Yates (2014:11-12) that ethical leadership is linked with employee's performance and job satisfaction.

Employee performance is typically determined by the type of relationship that exists between employees and their leader and how they interact with each other. Walumbwa et al. (2011:205) points out that '… the more frequently employees interact with their immediate supervisors, the more likely the relationship will be stronger'. In ethical leadership, a leader who is morally and ethically upright has an understanding that the success of institution or department is determined by the high-quality relationship between them and those led by them. Therefore, it is very critical for direct-line managers to improve good working relationship with their employees and be committed to ethical values, as it adds to the characteristics of a highly efficient leader.

Kelidbari et al. (2016:469) maintain that ethical leaders strive to act in the best interests of their employees as well as department; this explains and confirms commitment and trust of employees. When employees observe that leaders act in their best interests and are caring, the result is enhanced quality and production. This in itself is taking employees in confidence and thereby creating trust between a leader and their employees. This high level of confidence leads to emotional connections and mutual support, which in the end confirms growth of both individual employee and institution) and transformation in institution.

 

Conclusion

Toxic leadership has greater effects on the growth of an institution and its employees. It affects job satisfaction of employees and reduces the quality of work and renders institution into disarray. For effective transformation and achievement to take place in institutions of higher learning, there is a strong need for ethical leadership. Morality, ethical behaviour and fairness are the pinnacle of ethical leadership to positively influence and motivate others (Hartog 2015:409-434) to achieve great things and become ethical in their daily lives. People who aspire to be in leadership positions require training on matters of ethics and morals in leadership. It is imperative for such people to acquire skills that enable them to lead ethically, effectively, efficiently and innovatively. It is necessary that toxic leaders are provided with thorough training in order to understand the purpose of ethical leadership, especially in an academic setting. It is nonetheless known that generally toxic leaders won't participate willingly in any training session designed to change their leadership style to align with the interests of the organisation and its constituents or stakeholders. Another reason could be that they do not know that they are toxic leaders. However, whether they have knowledge or not about their toxicity, such training should still be provided. They should understand the purpose of such training sessions aimed at helping them understand their working environment in order to grow.

 

Acknowledgements

Competing interests

The author declares that he has no financial or personal relationships that may have inappropriately influenced him in writing this article.

Author's contributions

G.T.B. is the sole author of this research article.

Ethical considerations

This article followed all ethical standards for a research without direct contact with human or animal subjects.

Funding information

This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.

Data availability statement

Data sharing is not applicable to this article as no new data were created or analysed in this study.

Disclaimer

The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of any affiliated agency of the author.

 

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Correspondence:
Gift T. Baloyi
baloygt@unisa.ac.za

Received: 28 Jan. 2020
Accepted: 11 May 2020
Published: 09 July 2020

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ORIGINAL RESEARCH

 

The beauty of spiritual leadership: A theological-aesthetical approach to leadership

 

 

Volker Kessler^{I, II}

^IDepartment of Philosophy, Practical and Systematic Theology, College of Human Sciences, University of South Africa, Pretoria, South Africa
^IIAkademie für Christliche Führungskräfte, Gummersbach, Germany

Correspondence

 

 

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ABSTRACT

The aim of this article is to investigate two links between beauty and leadership: What is beautiful about spiritual leadership? Why should spiritual leaders bother about beauty? This study was motivated by the Bible verse 1 Timothy 3:1 and the observation that, at least in the German context, church leadership is no longer seen as a beautiful task. After a preliminary note on theological aesthetics, the paper discusses several approaches towards the link between aesthetics and transformation of the world, among them God becoming beautiful by Rudolf Bohren and Christianity, art and transformation by John de Gruchy. The article finally argues that: (1) spiritual leaders are beautifying the church and beyond and (2) spiritual leaders should strive for beauty as diligently as they strive for truth and goodness. Statement (1) is drawn from the propositions that (a) the spirit is the real leader of the church, (b) church leaders are partaking in the work of the spirit and (c) the spirit is beautifying the church and beyond. This is a theological statement, not a phenomenological one. A small poll provides some answers to the questions: 'what is beautiful about leading?' and 'what is not beautiful about leading?' An example of a German kindergarten illustrates some benefits of an aesthetical approach.
CONTRIBUTION: This article focuses on the neglected area of aesthetics in the context of leadership. It aims to encourage Christian leaders to fight against the ugliness of the world and make the world more beautiful

Keywords: Aesthetics; Spiritual leadership; Church leadership; Holy Spirit; Beautifying; Transformation; Practical theology; Rudolf Bohren; John de Gruchy; Patrick Sherry.

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Introduction

'What is beautiful about leadership?' This question entered my mind whilst I was reading 1 Timothy 3:1 in my German Bible, which describes church leadership as a 'beautiful task' ('schöne Aufgabe'). The English standard version reads, 'if anyone aspires to the office of overseer, he desires a noble task'. The Greek word is kalos, which can be translated as 'good' or as 'beautiful'. Most English Bible translations explain it as 'a good task' or 'a noble task'. There are (at least) four German Bible translations using the word 'schön'¹ and two French Bible translations using the word 'belle'.² Two German Bible commentaries opt for the translation 'schön' and discuss the beauty of the leadership task (Grünzweig 1996:118-119; Roloff 1988:148, 153).

1 Timothy 3:1 is the starting point of a longer section about appointing the right persons as 'overseers', referring to the leadership in a local parish (Roloff 1988:153). The task of church leadership is important and carries considerable responsibility; therefore an overseer needs several qualifications (verses 2-7, similar to the list of virtues in Tt 1:6-9). It can also be a hard task, challenged by God's opponents (1 Tm 3:7b, Tt 1:9b). But first of all, this task is beautiful (kalon), and thus it is, according to Greek logic, worthy to be desired (1 Tm 3:1).

In New Testament times, the office of an elder was regarded as noble. However, that is rarely the case in Germany, where both the mainline churches and the majority of the free churches have difficulty finding volunteers for church leadership. Often, when a church member is approached, he or she will answer, 'I'm not that stupid. I won't do that to myself'. Obviously, these people do not see much beauty in a church leadership position: it does not bring either money or honour but rather a lot of criticism once a person is in office. It may be that in other cultures and in certain denominations, like Pentecostal churches, the office of an overseer has more prestige than it generally has in the German context.

The increasing number of conferences and books on church leadership have an ambivalent effect on the image of the church leader. On the one hand, leadership is presented as something attractive; on the other hand, the expectations laid on church leaders have increased, not taking into account the fact that church eldership is usually voluntary, and voluntary church elders cannot invest as much time as leadership heroes like Bill Hybels and Rick Warren.

In this article, the link between leadership and beauty is explored in an endeavour to rediscover the beauty of the church leadership office. 1 Timothy 3:1 speaks about church leadership. This article expands the topic to spiritual leadership, that is, leadership in the context of Christian spirituality. This includes leading a church, but also leading church-oriented organisations like kindergartens and mission agencies.

The research questions for this article are: what is beautiful about spiritual leadership, that is, why is it a beautiful task? Why should spiritual leaders bother about beauty?

The article starts with a short historical note about 'the neglect of (theological) aesthetics' section and 'The Great Theory of Beauty and its decline' section. In the 'theological aesthetics and transformation of the world' section, four books are introduced that deal with the link between beauty and transformation of the world. After these introductory notes, the main part of the article (see 'spiritual leadership and beauty' section) attempts to answer the research questions. The section 'a small poll' reports on a small poll providing some evidence for the conclusions drawn in the 'conclusions' section.

 

The neglect of (theological) aesthetics

The French philosopher Simone Weil (1909-1943) was convinced that for many people in the 20th century the most natural way to find God was through beauty. 'In everything which gives us the pure authentic feeling of beauty, there is the presence of God' (Weil 2002:150). Therefore, she criticised Christianity for having so little to say about it (Sherry 2002:69).

A more balanced view would take into account the fact that beauty may also lead in the opposite direction. 'Beauty is erotic and seductive, and can lead to idolatry; but it is also divine, and can lead to God and worship' (De Gruchy 2008:98). At least beauty can lead to God.³

Today, beauty is important on popular and social media, for example, television, Facebook and Instagram. However, we do lack a theory of beauty such as the Greeks had (Tatarkiewicz 1972:178). According to the German philosopher Wolfgang Welsch, we are currently experiencing an 'aesthetics boom' but more as 'surface aestheticization' (in De Gruchy 2008:91).

Hans Ulrich von Balthasar (1905-1988), a Catholic theologian from Switzerland, was the first modern theologian to publish a voluminous work on theological aesthetics. The work was published from 1961 to 1969 and finally grew to seven volumes (Von Balthasar 1984). In the very first chapter, Von Balthasar (1988a) argues that the three transcendentals - truth, goodness and beauty - are sisters not to be separated. If one destroys beauty, truth and goodness will perish along with it (Von Balthasar 1988a:16). In a world without beauty, goodness would also lose its power of attraction, and the proofs of a true statement would lose their power of persuasion (Von Balthasar 1988a:17). Thus, according to Von Balthasar, aesthetics is essential if one wants to retain logic and ethics. Otherwise one will arrive at the following exclamation: 'truth is a lie, morality stinks, beauty is shit' (in Cilliers 2011:260).

In the Catholic tradition, and especially in the Orthodox tradition, the doctrine of the beauty of God is still alive; however, this topic is almost totally neglected within the Protestant tradition (Von Balthasar 1988a:42, Sherry 2002:60). Two major exceptions are Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758), the father of the so-called New England theology (Sherry 2002:12-14), and Karl Barth (1886-1968, Switzerland), probably the most influential Protestant theologian of the 20th century.⁴ In his Church dogmatics, Barth at least deals with the beauty of God (Barth 1975:733-752), but he is still cautious about the term 'God's beauty' and does not dare to treat it as a topic on its own. 'We speak of God's beauty only in explanation of His glory. It is, therefore, a subordinate and auxiliary idea' (in ed. Thiessen 2004:316). For Barth, beauty is an explanation of his glory and not its equivalent. By contrast, for Von Balthasar beauty is far more: it is transcendental and therefore a constituent of God's glory. According to De Gruchy (2008:113-114), this is the fundamental difference between Balthasar's aesthetics and Barth's aesthetics.

The New England theologian Jonathan Edwards tied his discussion of aesthetics to the role of the Spirit within the Trinity as a beautifier (Sherry 2002:12). The 'spiritual leadership and beauty' section returns to this topic.

One reason why theological aesthetics was neglected in Protestant theology is that Protestantism stresses the 'theology of the cross', and that seemed to be incompatible with aesthetics. Some theologians demonstrate that both perspectives can be brought together. Actually, Von Balthasar and Barth in their aesthetical approach proclaim the beauty of the cross (De Gruchy 2008:122). Von Balthasar calls it 'the most sublime of beauties - a beauty crowned with thorns and crucified'.⁵ According to Cilliers (2011:262) 'the ugliness of the cross is the strange "beauty" of God'. 'Through the lens of faith the ugliness of the cross is transformed into a different type of beauty' (Cilliers 2011:267).⁶ Thus, a theology of the cross does not necessarily exclude theological aesthetics.

Another reason for the neglect of aesthetics is the fact that there is no longer a theory of beauty - which leads us to the next section.

 

The great theory of beauty and its decline

The title of this section is borrowed from the Polish philosopher Tatarkiewicz (1972), who wrote a concise survey on this theory. Umberto Eco (1932-2016, Italy), a professor of literature and author of historical novels, published a 'beautiful' book The History of Beauty. In this book, Eco (2017) provides a number of sources for the understanding of beauty in different epochs.

In classical Greek culture, beauty was 'all that pleases, arouses admiration, or draws the eye' (Eco 2017:39.41). Two aspects are to be mentioned.

Harmony and proportion

Tatarkiewicz (1972:167) wrote about 'the Great Theory of European aesthetics', which he defined as follows: 'beauty consists…in the proportions and arrangement of the parts' (Tatarkiewicz 1972:166), harmonia and symmetria. This Great Theory was initiated by the Pythagoreans. They found the properties and relations of harmony in numbers (Tatarkiewicz 1972:167). 'Pythagoras marks the birth of an aesthetic-mathematical view of the universe' (Eco 2017:61). Plato took over the Pythagorean idea that beauty consists of 'harmony and proportion' (Eco 2017:48).⁷ Today, some elements of this understanding of beauty are still recognisable in the discussions about the Golden Ratio (Corbalán 2012).

Functional beauty

According to Plato's contemporary Xenophon, something is beautiful if it fits its purpose.⁸ This is the functional aspect of beauty. 'Beauty consists in the adequacy of things to their purpose' (Tatarkiewicz 1972:173).⁹ If something is dysfunctional or does not serve its purpose, it cannot be beautiful. In this sense, a crystal hammer is ugly because the material does not conform with the purpose of a hammer (Eco 2017:88). These connotations are probably behind the use of the word kalos in 1 Timothy 3:1: The task is kalos (i.e. beautiful and good) if it fits its purpose, the purpose of the church.

The Great Theory of Beauty was then further developed by Augustine, Thomas Aquinas and others. But it is no longer considered valid; its decline started in the 18th century (Tatarkiewicz 1972:174). The challenge is that today there is no theory in sight to fill the empty space after the decline of the Great Theory of Beauty. 'the word and concept beauty have been retained in colloquial speech; however, they are used in practice rather than in theory' (Tatarkiewicz 1972:178).

Eco (2017:14) argues that 'beauty has never been absolute and immutable but has taken on different aspects depending on the historical period and the country'. A practical example of this statement was provided by the journalist Esther Honig, who conducted an interesting study in 2014. She sent a photo of herself to various people in different countries asking them to make her look beautiful using Photoshop. The results demonstrate that on the one hand, ideals of beauty vary from country to country; on the other hand, they still have some things in common (Gofeminin 2014).

 

Theological aesthetics and transformation of the world

There are some publications on the link between leadership and aesthetics. For example, the Polish authors Hatch, Kostera and Kozminski (2007:1-11) write about 'the aesthetic of leadership'; Hansen, Ropo and Sauer (2007) deal with 'aesthetic leadership' and provide a good survey of literature on this topic. Because the focus here is on the theological aspects of aesthetics, this section discusses four theological books dealing with aesthetics and transformation of the world.

Bohren: Practical theology as theological aesthetics

The practical theologian Rudolf Bohren (1920-2010) was of Swiss origin but spent most of his academic career in Germany, especially in Heidelberg. In his book God becomes beautiful (Dass Gott schön werde), Bohren (1975) lays the groundwork for his understanding of practical theology. The title is surprising because it refers to the future rather than the present. Usually, we would say: 'God is already beautiful' and not 'God becomes beautiful'. Bohren's approach is pneumatological, founded on the work of the spirit. Because the spirit is a recreator, a pneumatological practical theology must be future-oriented - looking at the new earth and the new city (Bohren 1975:14). Practical theology reflects 'God becoming practical', which is understood in the aesthetic sense of 'God becoming beautiful' (Bohren 1975:14). Thus Bohren (1975:15) describes practical theology as 'theological aesthetics' (the subtitle of his book), which has the task of shaping the world according to the laws of beauty.¹⁰ Bohren (1975:142-143) contrasts the 'laws of beauty' with 'the law of ugliness', which entered the world in the fall. Thus Bohren's approach 'is about the beautification of God in the midst of … ugliness' (Cilliers 2011:266).¹¹

Sherry: The Holy Spirit and beauty

In 1992, the British theologian Patrick Sherry published his book Spirit and beauty (2002), exploring the links between the Holy Spirit and beauty - another neglected area of discussion.¹² As Sherry (2002:78) points out, typically two links between the Spirit and beauty are discussed: (1) the role of the spirit in creation (Gn 1:2) and (2) artistic talents as gifts of the Holy Spirit, for example, in the craftsman Bezalel (Ex 31:2-5). In addition, Sherry places a strong emphasis on the Spirit's role as a beautifier (see below).

Sherry (2002:142) then discusses the role of the spirit in the final transfiguration of the cosmos, indicated by Psalm 104:30: '[w]hen you send forth your Spirit, they are created, and you renew the face of the earth'. Thus Sherry (2002), like Bohren, emphasises the eschatological role of the Spirit and of beauty:

[B]eauty has an eschatological significance, that in it we glimpse the future transfiguration of the cosmos which is symbolized in the New Jerusalem and the new heaven and earth prophesied in the Book of Revelation (anticipated by Isa. 65:17). (p. 142)

De Gruchy: Theological aesthetics in the struggle for justice

In 2001, the South African theologian John W. de Gruchy (Cape Town) published a voluminous book Christianity, art and transformation. De Gruchy (2008:1) sees a connection between ugliness and oppression, and between beauty and redemption. Thus his focus in this book is 'the redemptive power of beauty' (De Gruchy 2008:97-135), the contribution of aesthetics to the process of societal transformation. De Gruchy (2008) emphasises the unique contribution of theology to aesthetics:

Theological aesthetics is not a sub-discipline of philosophical aesthetics, but an enquiry that assumes the biblical grand narrative of creation and redemption, of paradise lost and paradise regained, of incarnation, death and resurrection, of the gift of the Spirit and the hope of a 'new heaven and earth'. (p. 101)

Many people consider aesthetics as a sort of luxury, pursued and enjoyed by the elite only. Thus, De Gruchy (2008:129) clearly states: 'Theological aesthetics does not encourage flight from the world but assumes Christian participation in God's mission to transform the world'.¹³

As evidence, the example of Archbishop Desmond Tutu is mentioned and how he was attracted to the icon of the transfiguration (Mt 17:1-13). De Gruchy (2008) states:

In the midst of the ugliness of apartheid and the struggle to bring about its downfall, the icon of transfiguration opened a window of hope through which the transformation of South Africa could be anticipated. (p. 125).

De Gruchy calls this the 'transfiguration spirituality', that is 'the spirituality of seeing the splendour of God even in the midst of ugliness and pain' (De Gruchy 2008:125). This spirituality is transformative and 'can only be understood in the light of the gift of the Spirit' (De Gruchy 2008:125).

Boren: The beauty of God's mission

US theologian Scott Boren completed a doctoral thesis on the 'missional church and missional leadership in the light of theological aesthetics' (Boren 2018: subtitle). His research question was 'how has the theological aesthetics informed the way missional pastors lead?' (Boren 2018:18). Boren conducted an empirical study by interviewing four pastoral leaders who espoused 'the view of missional church as triune participation' (Boren 2018:128).

One motivation for his research was the observation that sometimes Christian leaders are so convinced of the truth and goodness of the missional approach that they 'end up forcing people in that direction, often using guilt, shame, and manipulation' (Boren 2018:23). Boren (2018) is convinced that this happens if theological aesthetics is neglected. In his (2018) concluding section, he argues:

The movement toward missional church depends…upon the church and its leaders' capacity to participate in the telos of beauty. This fosters a way of leadership that is in and of itself beautiful… (p. 234)

 

Spiritual leadership and beauty

This section provides a theoretical theological answer to the research question about the link between spiritual leadership and beauty. It draws heavily from the above-mentioned works of Bohren, De Gruchy and Sherry.

Spiritual leaders are beautifying the church and beyond

The first thesis of this article is that spiritual leaders are beautifying the church and beyond. This conclusion has to be developed in four steps:

1. The spirit is the real leader of the church

In 1961, Bohren gave a lecture about church leadership (reprinted in Bohren 1969). He raised the question: 'who leads the church?' With reference to John 16:3, Bohren (1969:170) argues that the Holy Spirit leads the church. The seven letters of Revelation are dictated by the risen Christ but they end with the words: 'hear what the Spirit says to the churches' (Rv 2:7, 11, 17, 29; 3:6, 13, 22). Christ is the head of the church (Col 1:18) but because Christ sits next to his father, he reigns over his church via the spirit until he returns to the earth (Bohren 1969:170). At first glance, this distinction might look like nit-picking because, after all, the spirit and Christ belong to the Trinity. But Bohren (1975:27, 186-189) lists some practical implications of this change of perspective.

2. Church leaders are partaking in the work of the spirit

The German theologians Böhlemann and Herbst (2011) published a handbook on church leadership entitled 'Spiritual leading'. In their definition of spiritual leadership, they refer to Bohren's teaching: 'spiritual leadership is leadership through the Holy Spirit, executed…by the leaders installed by the Holy Spirit'.¹⁴

According to this definition, the connection between church leadership and the Spirit already starts with the selection process. There are many organisational ways of finding new leaders in the church, but whatever process we use, we trust (hope) that ultimately these leaders have been chosen by the spirit (Ac 20:28: 'in which the Holy Spirit made you overseers'). Furthermore, the spirit distributes gifts in connection with leadership (e.g. 1 Cor 12:28, Eph 4:11). So we may conclude that the spirit chooses the church leaders and enables them to exercise the leadership task. These leaders should be aware that the spirit is the leader of the church and that in their task of leading the church, they have the privilege of participating in the work of the spirit.

3. The spirit is beautifying the church and beyond

Already the reformer John Calvin wrote about the beautifying work of the Spirit. With reference to Genesis 1:2, Calvin (1845; Cf. Sherry 2002:12) concluded:

[F]or it shows not only that the beauty which the world displays is maintained by the invigorating power of the Spirit, but that even before this beauty existed the Spirit was at work cherishing the confused mass. (Institutio, i.13 §14)

In his Discourse on the Trinity, John Edwards describes various offices of the spirit, one of which is to 'beautify all things' (n.d.:123). Edwards then refers to Job 26:13: 'by his spirit garnished the heavens'.

Both Bohren (1975) and Sherry (2002) place great emphasis on the fact that the spirit is beautifying the world.¹⁵ Bohren (1975:94-125) mentions four areas in which God's spirit works according to the laws of beauty, against the law of ugliness: creation, culture and arts, history and the church.

Sherry (2002:12) even uses the noun 'the spirit as beautifier'. He does so in analogy to the well-known phrase 'the spirit as perfecter' (Sherry 2002:81), used by St. Gregory of Nazianzus (2002:5).¹⁶ As noted above, both Bohren and Sherry emphasise the eschatological dimension of beautifying.

From the statements, (1) the spirit is the real leader of the church, (2) church leaders are partaking in the work of the spirit and (3) the spirit is beautifying the church and beyond, we can draw the following conclusion.

4. Spiritual leaders are beautifying the church and beyond

So far, this is a theological statement and not a phenomenological one. Unfortunately, this statement is not true for every spiritual leader. There are, for example, spiritual leaders, who, in their pursuit of power, make the world uglier than before (Kessler & Kessler 2017; Kessler 2019b).

How can this statement (4) become visible? Leaders usually want to improve the organisation they are leading. They envisage a situation that is better than the current situation and take steps to move towards this situation. By doing this, they beautify the organisation and the context in which they work. It was noted previously that leaders need spiritual gifts in order to exercise their leadership task. 'The spiritual gift has the mission to form the world and the church according to the laws of beauty'.¹⁷

Spiritual leaders should strive for beauty

It is taken for granted that church leaders should 'be fellow workers for the truth' (3 John 8). It is also expected that they strive for goodness by being good role models (see, e.g., the above-mentioned list of virtues in 1 Tm 3 and Tt 1). The second thesis of this article is: spiritual leaders should strive for beauty as diligently as they strive for truth and goodness. As Von Balthasar (1988a:16) rightly observes, the troika (truth, goodness and beauty) cannot be separated. Therefore, leaders have to deal with beauty because otherwise truth and goodness will also be forfeited. De Gruchy (2008), taking up Balthasar's statement about the inseparability of the troika, puts it this way:

Truth without goodness and beauty degenerates into dogmatism, and lacks the power to attract and convince; goodness without truth is superficial, and without beauty … it degenerates into moralism. Alternatively, we could say that truth and goodness without beauty lack power to convince and therefore to save. (p. 107)¹⁸

What does this statement mean in practice? De Gruchy (2008:2) believes in the transformational potential of the arts and their importance for Christian praxis and provides many examples from South Africa and beyond. Boren (2018:199-227) identifies some ways pastoral leadership can work towards the goal of missional beauty.

Hanna Schrenk, a student at our Academy of Christian Leadership, pointed out another application of 'leaders should strive for beauty'. Hanna leads a kindergarten in Southern Germany. They started to transform their rooms towards a certain aesthetic ideal. One reason is that today in Germany children spend much more time in the kindergarten than they did a decade ago. It used to be in the mornings only, but today it is often from 08:00 to 17:00 (Hollmann 2016:3). Thus, the kindergarten rooms have a greater influence on the children's development than in the past. In an aesthetic environment, children would develop more motivation and enjoyment of life (Hollmann 2018:2). Their aesthetic ideal is to 'clear the rooms' ('Räume klären'). This means first to tidy up the rooms and then to transform them into clear and transparent spaces ('less is more'), but also to create certain stimuli for the children.¹⁹ In an aesthetic environment, the kindergarten children develop an intrinsic motivation to keep order. Thus, aesthetics obviously has an influence on moral development.

The aesthetic aspect of leadership cannot be reduced to decorative elements like putting flowers and nice candles on the table. It is a much more holistic approach. Thus, it is an essential part of leadership and cannot be completely delegated to somebody outside the leadership team, just as true teaching cannot be outsourced (e.g. see Ac 6:2).

 

A small poll

Methodology

In Germany, we have a biennial conference on Christian leadership (www.kcf.de). There are about 3500 attendees from the business world, churches, Christian non-government organisations, etc. During KCF19 in Karlsruhe, 28 February-01 March 2019, we conducted a survey with the following two questions: (1) what is beautiful about leading? and (2) what is not beautiful about leading? This little 'survey' (strictly speaking, we were just collecting some answers) was not restricted to spiritual leaders. We can assume that the participants of KCF19 identified with the Christian perspective of the congress, but most of them had secular jobs. Thus, we put the question about leadership quite generally and did not distinguish between different branches or between paid and voluntary leadership positions. We kept it simple because we were looking for spontaneous answers. We just provided the Bible verse 1 Timothy 3:1 and asked the two above-mentioned questions. The participants wrote their answers on small index cards and put them into two different boxes (1 beautiful and 2 not beautiful). Some participants just wrote one issue on one card and others wrote several issues on one card. As far as we could tell from the handwriting, only one person put two cards into box B.

Results on the question 'what is beautiful about leading?'

We collected 116 index cards on the first question. The highest score was given to 'human beings' (69 times). Leaders enjoy working together with other people, and they especially enjoy it when they can empower other people by finding their strengths and then supporting them (mentioned 36 times). They enjoy it when people grow. The apostle Paul obviously also knew about this joy. He wrote to the Thessalonians: 'for you are our glory and our joy' (1 Th 2:20, cf. Phlp 2:2).

The second highest score was for the opportunity to shape the future. Actually, 23 participants used the German word 'gestalten' (shape). In Germany, people do not like the word 'power' and often use the word 'shaping' instead. Eleven index cards mentioned 'responsibility' as a beautiful facet of leadership (which is interesting, because this was also a topic on the negative side - see below).

Twelve index cards had an explicit link to God or Jesus. They mentioned that it is beautiful to have a task from God, to work for God's honour, to participate in God's work. One expected a reward in heaven. One participant mentioned the opportunity 'to observe God at work'.

Results on the question 'what is not beautiful about leading?'

We collected 47 index cards on this question. The highest score went to pressure and stress (14 times). Leaders have to work hard, and they often have to work more than others. The second highest score was for the issue of responsibility (12 times), amongst which was to take responsibility for hard and nasty decisions. The third highest score was for the social isolation of leaders (six times). Although many leaders like to work with people (see above), they know about the loneliness of leaders.

 

Conclusions

Firstly, beauty is as important as truth and goodness. Thus, leaders should strive for beauty as diligently as they strive for truth and goodness. The leadership task cannot be completely delegated to people outside the leadership team.

Secondly, spiritual leadership is a beautiful task because spiritual leaders are beautifying the church and beyond. They partake in the work of the spirit, who is a beautifier. This has a future-oriented, eschatological dimension: leading into a better, more beautiful world.

This is not to be understood in a naïve way. Christian leaders often deal with the ugliness of the world, amidst chaos, crime, corruption, abuse of power, etc. But in their service they contribute to the beautification of the world, working against the 'law of ugliness' (Bohren 1975:143).

In practice, the beauty of leadership can be experienced in different ways, for example, by helping people grow, by seeing beautiful results or, as one participant in the survey put it, 'by observing God at work' and being part of it.

 

Acknowledgements

Competing interests

The author declares that he has no financial or personal relationships that may have inappropriately influenced him in writing this article.

Author's contributions

V.K. is the sole author of this research article.

Ethical considerations

This article followed all ethical standards for research without direct contact with human or animal subjects.

Funding information

The research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.

Data availability statement

Data sharing is not applicable to this article as no new data were created or analysed in this study.

Disclaimer

The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of any affiliated agency of the author.

 

References

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Calvin, J., 1845, The institutes of the Christian religion, transl. H. Beveridge, Christian Classics Ethereal Library, Grand Rapids, MI.         [ Links ]

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Correspondence:
Volker Kessler
volker.kessler@me.com

Received: 19 Nov. 2019
Accepted: 19 Mar. 2020
Published: 20 July 2020

 

 

1. Züricher Bibel, Elberfelder Übersetzung, Hoffnung für alle and Gute Nachricht (Bibleserver 2019).
2. La Bible du Sermeur and Segond 21 (Biblegateway 2019).
3. For example, in Kessler (2019a:55-56), it is explained how mathematical beauty may lead to the experience of spirituality.
4. As a matter of fact, neither Von Balthasar nor Barth quote Edwards. Von Balthasar (1988a:49) erroneously named Karl Barth as the first Protestant theologian to deal with God's beauty (De Gruchy 2008:111).
5. English quote from De Gruchy (2008:122).
6. The German theologian Jürgen Moltmann discusses the 'glory of the crucified God' (in ed. Thiessen 2004:316). He argues for a redefinition of beauty, because the Holy Spirit, who is the beauty of God, was present with Christ in the ugliness of the cross (Van den Bosch 2014:852).
7. Plato, in his work Symposium, speaks about the 'glance' that sees 'true beauty, the divine beauty' (Eco 2017:41), which he connects to virtue and truth. Here we see the above-mentioned troika: 'the true, the good and the beautiful'.
8. 'If therefore a thing is well-suited to its purpose with respect to this, it is beautiful and good'. This wording probably goes back to Xenophon's teacher Socrates.
9. This functional aspect used to be a supplement to the Great Theory; it became independent only in the 17th century (Tatarkiewicz 1972:173).
10. 'Praktische Theologie gilt demnach der Formierung der Welt nach den Gesetzen der Schönheit' (Bohren 1975:143).
11. Because Bohren's work was never translated into English, he is nearly ignored outside the German-speaking countries. The Dutch author Heitink (1999:112) and the South African author Cilliers (2011:266) are the only references I am aware of. Neither is Bohren's work mentioned in Thiessen's reader on Theological aesthetics, nor by Sherry (2002) or De Gruchy (2008), although the latter came to conclusions similar to Bohren.
12. Sherry concedes that the East has 'done more to develop a theology of beauty specifically related to the Holy Spirit' (Sherry 2002:91) and that 'many Eastern theologians connect the Holy Spirit's role as beautifier with his function of manifesting the Word' (Sherry 2002:91).
13. De Gruchy (2008:133) argues that also in the case of von Balthasar 'his theological aesthetics did not imply any withdrawal from the need to work for justice in the world'.
14. German original: 'Geistliche Leitung ist Leitung durch den Göttlichen Geist, vollzogen in der Gemeinschaft der Heiligen durch die vom Geist eingesetzte Leitung' (Böhlemann & Herbst 2011:22).
15. Von Balthasar (1988b:232-236) speaks about the spirit as 'glorifier', glorifying Jesus Christ.
16. Sherry argues that this is a concept he found in theologies of different times and places: early Alexandria, 18th century New England and 20th century Russian Orthodoxy (Sherry 2002:4).
17. 'Das Charisma hat die Aufgabe, Welt und Gemeinde nach den Gesetzen der Schönheit zu gestalten' (Bohren 1975:145).
18. Also quoted in Boren (2018:62).
19. There is some parallel to Calvin's explanation of Genesis 1:2: first the spirit had to contend with the tohubohu and then the spirit created something clear, functional, meaningful and beautiful.

^rND^sBohren^nR.^rND^sCilliers^nJ.^rND^sHansen^nH.^rND^sRopo^nA.^rND^sSauer^nE.^rND^sKessler^nV.^rND^sKessler^nV.^rND^sTatarkiewicz^nW.^rND^sVan den Bosch^nD.^rND^1A01^nKefas U.^sKure^rND^1A01^nKefas U.^sKure^rND^1A01^nKefas U^sKure

ORIGINAL RESEARCH

 

Leadership, corruption and the dignity of humans: Some reflections from the Nigerian context

 

 

Kefas U. Kure

Department of Systematic Theology and Ecclesiology, Faculty of Theology, Stellenbosch University, Stellenbosch, South Africa

Correspondence

 

 

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ABSTRACT

Leadership inadequacy in Nigeria has contributed to the rise in corruption, which has undermined human dignity through insufficient provision of basic human needs. This happens because the leadership venerates self-interest to such an extent that enhancing human wellbeing is not considered important. To save Nigerians from this dilemma, this article calls for a new leadership ethics called 'responsible leadership', whose precepts protect and enhance human dignity and enforce adherence to the rule of law to curb the spread of corruption. This was carried out by surveying the present system of governance with its failures and how it has contributed to human dignity violations. It was found that poor leadership was responsible for the continuous spread of corruption and exposure of human dignity to violations through porous and inadequate provisions of basic human needs. However, this study concluded that new leadership ethics, which are inclusive and integrative, would appreciate and recognise the intrinsic worth of every human being, take its people from their present position to where they should be, and would reduce violation of human dignity purported through corruption.
CONTRIBUTION: The article argued for a new ethos of leadership that is responsible in nature, encompassing, and intentionally people-centred, which takes people from where they are to where they ought to be. It fits into the scope of the journal by way of inter-connecting different topics to produce a unifying idea

Keywords: Corruption; Nigeria; Ethics of responsibility; Public theology; Human dignity; Leadership.

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Introduction

The year 2019 marked two significant events in Nigerian history. The first being the 59th year of independence since it took over power from colonial masters, and the second being 20 years of stable democracy after several years of military leadership. Thus, it was a good time to remember and reflect on the developmental progress of the nation between 1960 and 2019. Interestingly, one of the central themes of the conference¹ was 'Leadership'. It invited us to reflect upon what we see happening in our local contexts. For the author, the pertinent issue was the leadership of Nigerian state, particularly concerning humanity's wellbeing and nature. Being mindful of the theme of the conference, the title of this article was chosen to characterise how leadership, particularly in Nigeria, contributes to this conference's subtitle, 'The first shall be last and the last first'.

It is the American systematic theologian, Schweiker (2004), who, after a careful observation that every work in ethics provides some account of what is going on, describes the time we live in. He observes that all travails of the 20th century, including the horrors of mass deaths and the terrors of tyranny, are informed by a sense that we live amidst a global whirl and confusion in which meaning and orientation are difficult to attain. Many people feel their hopes and dreams fade away in the dusk of this age of uncertainty. With these events, he raises concerns on why people of our age must orient their existence by the commitment to respect and enhance the integrity of human life. Perhaps the worries of our time drive them to seek comfort in the past, thinking it was better than the present. To these, Schweiker (2004:xi) imagines the 'time of many worlds' as the best description of such a world.

Similarly, Hauerwas (1983) attests to such periods with great concern for humanity. According to him, we live in a morally bankrupt age where what was at some time in the past unthinkable has become the norm. Moreover, we experience our world as so chaotic that we now feel that the only alternative is for each person to choose or create the standards by which they could live. It is the time where theories of rationality and relativity of absolutes have gained momentum. Such is the world that Hauerwas (1983:5) worries, as there is a 'hunger for absolutes'. This gives us a glimpse into the moral fibre of society where everyone defines moral maxims for themselves. To this Hauerwas (1983:6) adds that it is extremely hard to maintain our moral identity because we feel pulled into different directions by our various roles and convictions, unsure of any coherence to our lives, and so become divided selves and more easily tempted to violence. In a world with such complexity, maintaining and protecting human moral identity becomes difficult. Bedford-Strohm's (2010:211) uneasiness is that it is a time where people are no longer bothered by the nagging concern to maintain and uphold human dignity. Indeed, these events remind us that we live in a precarious situation (Hauerwas 1983:5). With these happenings, one is left wondering why things continue this way and wonder whether something has gone wrong with our moral judgement. Although some may argue that this is only a reflection of the American-European context. Do we, in the African continent, experience any effects of global dynamics threatening our sense of morality?

The African context has not been exempted from the advancement of global dynamics as our signposts abound, ranging from rape, terrorism, religious fundamentalism, discrimination, nepotism, racism, xenophobia, ethnophobia, kidnapping, regionalism and, of course, corruption (De Villiers 2012). Moreover, vulnerability to violence and crime, natural disasters and abusive cultural practices that perpetuate hopelessness define our continent (Koopman 2010). Our continent is plagued with these concerns that keep exposing human lives to formidable dangers whilst undermining their dignity at various levels. With these concerns in mind, although speaking from a different context, the author resonates with the above-mentioned views of both Schweiker (2004) and Hauerwas (1983) that we are indeed through the time of many worlds. These events continue to hamper our socio-economic and socio-political advancements, but the effects matter little to our democracies and leaders. Instead, our politicians, and perhaps our leaders, despite their professed solidarity with the poor, are more interested in enriching themselves once they are elected, by exploiting available public resources rather than improving the plight of the poor (De Villiers 2010). That puts the focus of most of our democracies on self-gratification, instead of the wellbeing of humanity and their societies. It is based on the abuse of power and opportunity rather than human and national interests. Sadly, an alarmingly high number of politicians and government officials become rich as soon as possible - willing to cross the line of immoral behaviour and become involved in corruption (De Villiers 2010). Also, some would dare to say that this is a continental problem that differs from one state to the other. So then, how could it be in Nigeria?

At a point in time, Nigeria was described as the giant of Africa. Its gigantic prowess was characterised in terms of capacity to give direction and serve as an example for other parts of the continent. By capacity, Nigeria was, and probably still is, the largest economy, with a strong military force that several wars within the African continent had got a boost from, until relative peace ensued (Ottuh 2015; Sodiq 2017). However, the trend has changed. The pendulum of clock has changed its direction. Perhaps we could argue that it is the fulfilment of scripture, 'The first shall be last and the last be first'. Once it was a country giving direction and support to other African nations, but now could barely help herself? Wars and their likes were not common in Nigeria as they have become now. The once cherished country has turned to an object of shame and ridicule within a span of a few decades. It is indeed true that the Nigerian nation has presently lost its sense of honour and respect that it once had. This is partly because of leadership failure both within and across the globe (Chayes 2015). Hence, the need to return to the height from which the nation has fallen and to question the reasons for the demise of its prestige. This would mean looking back retrospectively at how it was in the past and returning to how it should be whilst thinking of its future prosperity.

However, how do we move forward without remembering the past? What is it about the past that concerns the future realities that we need to know? Are there methods to adequately think about the past? In his writings, Nürnberger (1998) talks about gaining freedom for the future. To gain freedom for the future, he says, we must shake off the shackles of the past. To gain directions for the future we must understand how we got to where we are. We need to know what has worked and what has failed. We must decide what we want to achieve and what we want to avoid. Better still, we need to reflect on what humankind is supposed to strive for if true and full humanity is to be experienced. That suggests a form of leadership with a strong wheel to direct people from where they are to where they should be, which in this article is called 'responsible leadership'.

Based on Nürnberger's (1998) viewpoint mentioned above, we could agree that what is needed in the Nigerian leadership landscape is a responsible leadership model that is concerned with regaining and upholding its lost respect, protection of lives and property, and the promotion of human dignity. This kind of leadership moves beyond living and acting out principles - it authentically seeks the wellbeing of humanity. This sums up the main argument of this article. To this end, the sections below guide this exploration. In a nutshell, this article comprises three main parts: The first provides a brief overview of Nigerian governance. The second reflects on corruption and human dignity in Nigeria. The third argues for a new leadership ethics followed by a brief conclusion to wrap up the discussion.

 

Nigeria and democracy

One of the dramatic changes in the history of Nigeria in the 21st century has been the leadership swap from military leadership to a democratic system of governance, which Nigerians welcomed with a sigh of relief. This move brought freedom from the totalitarian and military dictatorship that ruled for decades (Asaju 2014; Ukase & Audu 2015). It was probably a similar feeling that occurred at the end of apartheid in South Africa, the end of colonialism and the end of the cold war, which had anticipations as Mugambi (1995) has stated in his theology of reconstruction. In the case of Nigeria, introduction of democracy brought with it anticipation, hope for privileges and dreams for better living, including 'freedom, equality, mass participation, and choice' (Asaju 2014:3; Ukase & Audu 2015). It also brought with it anticipation for peace, unity, progress and freedom from the militarisation of past dispensation. Others thought of a human-friendly system of governance that would be welcoming, integrative, receptive and open so that all may be heard and treated with dignity, equity and respect. A system that is liberating in nature by which humanity could be redeemed from both herself and the shackles of human cruelty. Unfortunately, these hopes have been dashed by the perils of the period we are living in. The author sometimes wonders whether democracy was the better option in the first place.

In the year 1999, after a long historical military dispensation, Nigeria returned to a democratic system of governance (Aleyomi 2013; Asaju 2014). This confirms a process of governance that allows a broad mass of people to choose their leaders and, in turn, guarantees them a wide range of civil rights and dividends as suggested by some of its features (Asaju 2014). Better still, democracy, having in its tenets 'the government of the people by the people and for the people', is enough to have raised high expectations at its emergence (Aleyomi 2013:9). However, these are true of an ideal democratic system which 'rests on good governance, and whose determinant and policies bring about growth, stability, and the wellbeing of the citizens' (Asaju 2014:4). This has not been true in Nigeria, with Nigerians passing the 20-year mark of democracy and still counting, they are left waiting in eager expectations.

The twist from the above has kept many Nigerians distant from actualising a Nigeria that our past heroes suffered, sacrificed, dreamt of, and strived for; the greatness that could attract global attention, and above all, ensure human flourishing. Those were perhaps the wishes of the heroes who fought for the Nigerian state from their colonial masters. These dreams are on the verge of being swept under the carpet of self-centredness, nepotism, religious fanatism, ethnophobia and uncontrollable militarisation of the innocent. This gives rise to questions such as, 'what has gone wrong with the leadership, particularly within the longest democratic era the country has experienced in curtailing these menaces?' Pervasive as these occurrences are becoming, it is difficult to maintain a good societal moral fibre because those at places of leadership 'have little sense of promoting good, as far as moral leadership is concerned' (Kretzschmar 2007:20). In part, they tend to make laws suitable to protect their interests and wants whilst thinking less of the effects on others. The result is evident in the increase of societal moral decay, which seems acceptable within a 'weak-willed leadership' ideology. Some of these include the inability to encourage others, lacking interest in inspiring others, hesitance to improve, poor or lack of vision, self-centredness and irregularities in their judgement. In summary, one could call such leaders immoral - as 'those who may lead others on a self-destructive path or a road that leads to misery' (Kretzschmar 2007:20). That said, the above indicates one of the features which is also the problem of leadership and how it has affected the Nigerian society.

Another feature of Nigerian democracy that has affected its growth is the problem of identity politics in praxis. For the sake of this article, 'identity politics' refers to a political approach and analysis that is based on people prioritising the concerns most relevant to their particular interest, including religion, race, ethnic, culture, amongst others, and forming exclusive political alliances with others within their group. Such a description of identity politics suggests that it has become a key concept explaining what is going on in the affairs of the world today. But this dilemma of identity politics could be explained using the concept of 'identity', which Fukuyama (2018) could help with. In his book, Fukuyama (2018) suggests that identity politics arises when there is a failure in a governing institution to fully solve the problem of people's inherent craving for the recognition of their selfhood. Rather, as Kumar (2018:250) observes, 'Many people are preoccupied with the attempt to fulfil their political aspirations by placing increasing emphasis on the particular group with which they are part'. That way of treating people has implications that are detrimental to human and societal wellbeing. This is affirmed by Kumar (2018), who insists that because of this type of treatment, citizens come to see themselves primarily as members of an exclusive group whose utmost concern is to enhance and enlarge their territories. This explains the present day politics of Nigeria, which, instead of regarding oneself as citizens of the nation, one's religious, tribal or political affiliation defines and determines what one can receive. Nigerian politics fuels such an ideology so much that those belonging to specific political parties, religions or ethnicities receive special treatment, whilst excluded are those with culturally diverse backgrounds and differing belief systems, ethics and affiliations. Borrowing from human dignity terms, one receives either honour, respect or welfare in proportion to their affiliation and not by their being human, and thus denying them their dignity.

Such an understanding of human dignity is merely obtainable through personal talents and achievements, which according to De Lange (2007:214) is determined by modern culture, making it far deeper rooted in personality than was the case in the aristocratic past. As human dignity is viewed as such by modern culture, it becomes easily quantifiable for personal contribution, rather than having dignity for simply being a human being. Hence, such perception makes the dignity of a human being susceptible to the consequences of societal vices such as corruption.

Following the above argument, inadequate leadership and identity politics were discussed as a microcosm showcasing the Nigerian democratic leadership. The two features have contributed to the promotion of self-interest, greed and ineffectiveness over national interests and protection of human wellbeing. This has immensely contributed to poor infrastructure that ensures a continuous undermining of human dignity.

 

Corruption and human dignity in Nigeria

Does it matter if dignity is mentioned amidst these circumstances in Nigeria? How does it affect Nigarians anyway? Corruption in Nigeria, as explained by Asaju (2014), Moyosore (2015) and Ogbonnaya (2018), has become an all-too-familiar term - a phenomenon that has reared its ugly head in just about every community and institution. Hence, it has received different interpretations such as being a bane characterising the Nigerian democratic state with detrimental effects on human dignity (Asaju 2014; Ogbonnaya 2018; Ukase & Audu 2015). In addition to the above-mentioned points, we could also mention that corruption has perverted justice in such a way that it has eradicated opportunities that would have otherwise enabled the flourishing of human lives and society. In this context, lack of provision of basic human needs resulting in the undermining of human dignity is so prevalent that human dignity has become, what Brand (1999) calls the 'fabulous ghost' in his reference to salvation in African context. But then, let us reflect on a trajectory between the perils of corruption and human dignity.

As humanity goes through various forms of violations, including the perils of corruption, there is a great tenacity in the quest for recognition and enhancement of its dignity. Such determination is fuelled by the human quest to live truthfully and with full dignity, which increases flourishing. As Volf (2015:ix) suggests, the following three phrases - 'the life as lived well', 'the life that goes well', and 'the life that feels good', refer to flourishing, and these three are intertwined inextricably. These phrases indicate the yearnings of humanity which relate to the call for their dignity. Everyone desires conditions of peace and prosperity where life is lived void of threats, which provides a sense of dignity. Not only is it the essence of being human in its wholeness but also human dignity speaks of inherent and intrinsic human worth which every human being has and has to be protected, respected and promoted. Hence, respecting humans as moral beings implies 'demand for the omission of certain acts that violate my humanity or that of every other' (Wolbert 2007:174). Put another way, it means to accept that being human suffices for having human dignity (De Lange 2007). It is an innate quality that befits every human being, a quality inseparable from its humanity belonging to its very essence, not acquired by special faculties or performance (Wolbert 2007). Hence, human dignity as such has no price, no equivalent and no quantitative dimension.

In his description of human dignity from an African context, Koopman (2010) emphasises the provision of basic human needs as a way to enhance human dignity. The provision of these needs, in his imagination, would ensure a more humane environment conducive and suitable for humanity to thrive. Some of these needs include health, security, shelter, food and education. The provision of these needs would become an indication of a realised society that upholds norms for the enhancement of 'integrity of human life before God' (Schweiker 1995:33).

The basic human needs that Koopman (2010) has referred to are helpful to consider the extent of corruption in Nigeria. Being a nation blessed with rich human and natural resources, Nigeria's poverty level has skyrocketed in recent times. This could be ascribed to the following reasons. Firstly, the rate at which poverty rises in a nation with abundant resources is caused by mismanagement and misappropriation (Jev 2014; Ogbonnaya 2018). Secondly, poor leadership has resulted in misappropriation by the incompetence of personnel, poor policies and poor implementation of the few surviving policies (Moyosore 2015; Ogbonnaya 2018). The two problems highlighted above - poor leadership and misappropriation - could be regarded as key factors in the uncontrollable level of corruption in Nigeria and the subsequent undermining of human dignity through the lack of provision of basic needs. The provision of these basic needs has become something like a nightmare in Nigeria as hope dwindles daily with lack of remorse from policymakers who lack morals and honour. These conditions, as suggested by Aleyomi (2013), Asaju (2014), Moyosore (2015) and Ogbonnaya (2018), are propelled by failure of leadership. As leadership in Nigeria has directed itself towards the gratification of selfish ambitions with complete disregard for human and societal wellbeing, the populace is left starving in poverty and compelled to live in derelict conditions, although they are a part of a country blessed with abundant human and natural resource. What ensues, however, is the abuse of human dignity. Thus, one could ask where the conscience is of those who took an oath of office to safeguard the dignity of human lives and uphold the statutes of the constitution. The answer exists in our earlier assertion that Nigerian leaders have sunk into the abyss of moral degradation - there is a complete 'loss of morals, conscience, and honour' - that once they acquired leadership, the needs of Nigerians no longer matter to them. Another crucial basic human need is security. As a feature of any modern and responsible nation, the security of citizens' lives and their property is an undebatable parameter. This, too, has been a major concern in Nigeria in recent times. Formally, it had the insurgency of the deadly Islamic fundamentalist group, Boko Haram, perpetrators of peaceful coexistence. More recently, however, the security challenge has taken a different dimension with a new terrorist group, the Fulani Herdsmen/Jihadists operating through kidnappings, raping and killings. In part, these two groups share some common features, namely, the killing of innocents, raping of women, destruction of places of worship, schools and homes, and leaving scores people in a desperate and pitiable state. Those barbaric activities leave the victims with intense insecurity with violation of human dignity. Thus, corruption is considered to be a threat for human dignity (Umaru 2019). Considering the current status quo, questions arise whether life matters anymore, but without having appropriate answers. With strength of its military and other security agencies, one is left wondering why these terrorist groups continue to operate freely in Nigeria with countless innocent lives lost daily.

In order to highlight the porous nature of Nigerian security agencies and the continuous spread of insurgency, Bappah (2015) highlights some noteworthy points. Firstly, he points out the 'erosion of professionalism', which he sums up as the recruitment of armed personnel without adequate skills and training to combat insurgency. Secondly, the poor handling of war by the military against the Boko Haram insurgency. This point is further supported by Ademowo (2015). Thirdly, as identified by Bappah (2016), is the lack of decisive leadership. The last point encapsulates the previous two because leadership is responsible for tackling the first two problems. Do these actions leave one questioning the interests of the nation's leadership in curtailing these menaces? Quoting Bappah (2016) again, whilst the security agencies are complaining about inadequate weaponry, the leadership is boasting of increasing the security budget. Whilst there are complaints about poor ammunition for the military, the armed bandits are parading in military uniforms with top-class, high-quality weapons (Bappah 2016). These scenarios beg the following questions - who is issuing military uniforms to these bandits? From where have they obtained better weaponry than the nations' security personnel? There is no doubt that this is because of porosity of leadership, which has failed to take its 'fundamental responsibility for the protection of lives and properties and to ensure the wellbeing of the citizens' (Ademowo 2015:224). An attitude that thinks less of developing the flourishing future because there are no substantial plans for the present. Leaders are short-sighted to ascertain the potentials and the will to develop them. It is such a leadership that has turned a blind eye to the cries and afflictions of the poor. Ajie and Gbenga (2015) attest that this type of short-sighted and corrupt leadership has brought Nigeria to a crossroad where every sort of ridicule is meted from within and outside the country. To say the least, it is this kind of leadership that has failed to inculcate rudiments of a better life, even when it is within its discretion. This form of leadership is referred to as 'irresponsible' leadership which disregards the enhancement of human life. In the context of this research, such leadership should be replaced by a 'responsible' model - one that intends to lead, is attuned to moral values and seeks to promote the good of common Nigerian citizenry. With these goals in mind, we claim that unless the ethos of irresponsible leadership are changed and replaced with a more responsible one, the nation would remain as it is today. This is argued next.

 

A different leadership ethics

In the last part of this article, the present author argues for a new leadership ethics in Nigerian context. Sound and responsible leadership promotes proactivity and arouses interest in its people. Such a leadership involves the concept of responsibility concerning the enhancement of human dignity. Gleaning from the previous sections of this study, the author argues for different leadership ethics - one that seeks human wellbeing above all else - to oppose all forms of corruption demeaning the dignity of humans. At its best, such a leadership engages, influences, inspires and promotes accountability and encourages active participation.

Leadership is an adventure that attracts interest and involvement. It has been defined differently by various authors but almost always with similar goals. A few of these are reviewed next. Sharma and Jain (2013) define leadership as a process by which a person influences other people to accomplish an objective and directs the organisation in a way that makes it more cohesive and coherent. Winston and Patterson (2006), after surveying disparities from existing definitions, provide an integrative definition of leadership. They see a leader as the one who selects, equips, trains and influences followers who have diverse gifts, abilities and skills and focuses them on the organisation's mission and objectives, and thus enabling them to willingly and enthusiastically expend spiritual, emotional and physical energy in a concerted coordinated effort to achieve the organisational mission and objectives.

One central feature of the above definitions is that leadership involves influencing for maximum productivity. Leadership as such calls for skills, the will to act, not to coerce others but to pilot the mission and objectives of the entity. This type of leadership is only achieved by humbly conveying a prophetic vision of the future in clear terms that resonate with the followers' beliefs and values in such a way that they would understand and interpret the future into the present period's action steps (Winston & Patterson 2006:7). At such a point, a leader has to be good not merely by accomplishments but by their ability to envision what best suits the wellbeing of the followers in applying their leadership knowledge and skills (Sharma & Jain 2013:310). Such a leader has different leadership ethics compared to those with no interest in human wellbeing or the protection of human dignity as goals to be achieved. Furthermore, the above definitions provide clarification on the process of equipping, training, influencing and selection as the responsibility of a leader who seeks development whilst envisaging the flourishing of both present and future realities.

From here we proceed to describe where different leadership ethics that are responsible fit into the ongoing conversation. In doing so, we employ perspectives from the ethics of responsibility and moral leadership to serve as a roadmap. This leadership ethos, as presented here, comprises responsible living and responsible action, but it also has a moral perspective. To address the perils that have been highlighted, it is argued that the current leadership ethos in Nigeria, in nature and praxis, is deficient. Furthermore, a responsible leadership ethos is open to accepting blame for wrong doings and praise for correct actions. Responsible leadership is concerned with the accountability of one's actions or inactions, whilst moral leadership is 'specifically leadership attuned to a moral value that promotes good' (Kretzschmar 2007:20).

In his ethics of responsibility, Bonhoeffer (2005) highlights what may be termed as 'responsible action' by using the concept of freedom. It is the freedom to act without the support of people, conditions or principles but considering all existing circumstances related to people, general conditions or principles. Simply put, it is a freedom from dependency where one is free to act from self-evaluation on the relevancy of issues. Such freedom enables them to create good of themselves and critically address all the issues. Some of these issues involve rightful decisions, examination of motives and the prospects of their outcomes. In some cases, these outcomes result in praiseworthiness, for instance, when the actions or inactions are fitting, or blameworthiness when the result of the actions or inactions disregards human intentions and wellbeing. When we consider Kretzschmar's (2007) idea of moral leadership, such freedom enables us to promote good, not evil, uphold justice over injustice and celebrate integrity over corruption; it also promotes human wellbeing over its destruction because these could, in moral terms, be classified as good actions. These could be termed good intentions and actions that warrant the agent to live a good life, as their actions lead to the good of others. In the context of this study, responsible actions refer to when a leader acts, speaks and responds when needed, to avoid being described irresponsible when they fail to act, as described by Bonhoeffer (2005). However, leaders that fail to act when they needed should be called 'immoral' because they are capable of leading communities on a self-destructive path heading to misery (Kretzschmar 2007). The action of a responsible leadership from the Nigerian context would include appropriate placement of correct people at fitting places for better performance whilst ensuring that rule of law is strictly adhered to. It would involve a hunger for national interest above individual identities; routine check and implementation of human-friendly policies; and working towards fixing infrastructure that enhances the wellbeing of citizenry and adheres to fixing porous security challenges. Adhering to the above proposal would ignite sensitivity in leaders who previously regarded only few to be more human than others.

Next to responsible action is accountability as a prerequisite for a new leadership model. It would interest us to know that accountability holds a substantive degree of space in human interaction. It tells how one manages both human and material resources under their care. It is the responsibility of one's actions towards others to inform who is responsible for certain actions and who is accountable for the consequences of those actions. This is known as a 'responsible sense of living' in this study. It determines one's attitude and demonstrates what they do. As ethics of living is portrayed in this article, it paves the way for innovation and builds individual mechanisms to respond to moral decisions, particularly those involving corruption and protection of human dignity. This article further argues indecisiveness as a failure of leadership, which adversely affects the development of policies. But even when the policies are made and implemented, a call for intentional adherence is another issue to be considered, thus making possible for a responsible living. In this case, leaders first ought to become beacons of the policies they have developed through their actions, and only then they would have moral ground to ensure that others follow suit. In other words, it is a call for leaders to live what they say.

Some of these actions include working, providing, leading, directing, coordinating, struggling and suffering for those whom one is responsible for, and leading them to where they should be. Kretzschmar (2007:18) describes people with such attitudes as 'leaders that take individuals and communities where they need to go towards wholeness of life'. Any attempt to stand aloof of these responsibilities is a denial of the fact that one is responsible (Bonhoeffer 2005). Inability to put this together is 'the cost of moral leadership that only a few are willing to pay the price', but this what is required of leadership (Kretzschmar 2007:18). To say the least, what is seen lacking is responsible action (ability to take right decisions at appropriate time) and responsible living (ability to give account for one's actions or inactions, and to lead by example). These two put together leads to responsible leadership ethics, required most now, particularly in the Nigerian context.

 

Conclusion

This article proposes a twofold responsible leadership model, namely responsible action (ethics of doing) and responsible living (ethics of living) for the Nigerian context. This model of leadership prioritises interests of the nation with respect to the wellbeing of its citizens and the future through adequate planning for the continuous flourishing of Nigerian society. This is carried out by briefly reviewing Nigeria's past and comparing it with what is happening now in terms of corruption and the ensuing impact on the dignity of its citizens.

Central findings allude to certain attributes being responsible for what we experience today in Nigeria. Firstly, this study reveals that indecisiveness of leadership results in 'irresponsible action'. This is the inability to act, speak, direct and motivate others towards a more proactive and productive pathway. Secondly, 'irresponsible living' is the attitude of not living by example as portrayed by Nigerian leaders. Such an attitude makes it difficult to ensure that others behave appropriately. These two attitudes of leadership, amongst other things, have resulted in the perpetuation and spread of corruption in Nigeria. The detrimental effects of this could be seen in the lack of provision of basic human needs for its citizenry resulting in the continual undermining of human dignity through different spheres. Such a leadership has neither succeeded in helping the Nigerian citizenry nor brought them to the brim of democratic era they have clamoured for. Thus, a leadership which is inclusive, integrative, appreciates and recognises the intrinsic worth of every human being, takes people from where they are to where they should be, is imperative for Nigeria.

 

Acknowledgements

Competing interests

The author declares that he has no financial or personal relationships that may have inappropriately influenced him in writing this article.

Author's contributions

K.U.K. is the sole author of this research article.

Ethical considerations

This article followed all ethical standards for a research without direct contact with human or animal subjects.

Funding information

The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of any affiliated agency of the author.

Data availability statement

Data sharing is not applicable to this article as no new data were created or analysed in this study.

Disclaimer

The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of any affiliated agency of the author.

 

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Correspondence:
Kefas U. Kure
umkefas32@gmail.com

Received: 31 Oct. 2019
Accepted: 18 May 2020
Published: 20 July 2020

 

 

1. This article is based on the paper presented at the annual conference of the Theological Society of Southern Africa (TSSA), entitled The Last Shall Be First Theological and Ethical Reflection on (Christian) Leadership, held in Pretoria, South Africa, 21-23 June 2019.

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ORIGINAL RESEARCH

 

African leadership and the kind of reality of the spirit world

 

 

Hermen Kroesbergen

Dogmatics and Christian Ethics, Theology and Religion, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa

Correspondence

 

 

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ABSTRACT

Leadership in Africa is inextricably connected to the spirit world. Leaders may be chosen through elections or other human processes, but ultimately, they are seen as appointed by God. Leaders may base their decisions upon science or intuition, but ultimately, they let themselves be inspired by revelations from the spiritual realm. Yet, what is meant by the spirit world in this respect? In this article, a new way is explored for investigating what references to the spirit world mean. Instead of discussing which theoretical concept applies to the kind of reality spirits have, or what analogy fits spirits, I demonstrate that we can discover what it means to speak of the spirit world by investigating what we already know about it before theoretical labels and comparisons. Such a Wittgensteinian approach in line with the re-emerging brand of ethnographically informed philosophy of religion enhances our understanding of what kind of reality the spirit world has. If you see leadership as being empowered by the spirit world, this is not a choice, option or interpretation, but you cannot see it any other way.
CONTRIBUTION: This article contributes to a better understanding of the kind of reality that the spirit world has, in particular in an African context. The topic of leadership in Africa is used here to illustrate how this kind of reality is often misunderstood. A clear understanding of the kind of reality of the spirit world is indispensable for a proper investigation of Christianity in Africa and religion in general

Keywords: Spirit world; Ludwig Wittgenstein; African leadership; Ethnographically informed philosophy; Reality.

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Introduction

In 2018, after his own political party had failed, Zambian politician Miles Sampa returns to the ruling party. He wants to serve the President, for he now realises that leaders are appointed by God. Sampa (cited in Ncube 2018) explains:

If you disrespect any leader, God will bring you down. If you kneel down to any leader appointed by God, God will uplift you […]. So I am coming to serve the President. (n.p.)

Earlier that year, the same President had initiated a Ministry of National Guidance and Religious Affairs, and the newly appointed Minister considers the President also to be 'a man of God, he hears God, he has been obedient to God to create the Ministry' (Kaunda 2018:236).

'Religion and politics have been linked throughout African history', Stephen Ellis and Gerrie ter Haar (1998:187) observe. In itself there is nothing special about this connection; in Europe or the United States, politicians use religion as well to gain popular support. There is something different in Africa, however. Ellis and Ter Haar (1998) continue:

In many cases [African politicians] also believe that access to the spiritual world is a vital resource in their constant struggle to secure advantage over their rivals in political in-fighting. (p. 188)

Religion or the spiritual world is more than a tool to mobilise people for African leaders; it is the resource for their power itself.

From the common African perspective, the spirit world, whether it is Christian, Muslim or traditional in nature, determines who will become a leader, and the spirit world inspires what this leader should do. In these two ways, the spirit world is even more important for African leaders than for European or American leaders.

The current Zambian President Lungu has been hailed as a 'God ordained leader' (Kaunda 2018:229), and the same has been said about one of his predecessors, President Chiluba. A church leader described Chiluba as God-sent, anyone who disrespected him was disrespecting God who put him there, and whoever disagreed with him, disagreed with God (Njovu 2002:58).

The connection with the spirit world makes leaders untouchable and unaccountable. No human being or structure can replace them for no human being or structure placed them in that position in the first place. No human being or structure can criticise them for their decisions are based upon knowledge from beyond. Superficially, African leaders may obtain their powers through elections or bureaucratic systems, but on a deeper level, the spirit world appoints them, so it is said. Superficially, African leaders may make their decisions based upon scientific research or what the people want, but on a deeper level, their decisions are based upon revelations from the spirit world. Scholar of African Pentecostalism Ogbu Kalu (2008:199) speaks of a 'magical substratum that underpins the political culture' in Africa. And Ellis and Ter Haar (2004:8) emphasise that 'communication with the spirit world is a key concern of African politicians'.

The spirit world plays an ambiguous role in the reception of African worldviews. Early European visitors noticed that people in Africa often referred to the spirit world without having a clear belief system concerning it. They concluded that Africans did not have religion (see Kroesbergen 2019a). Nowadays, most people follow the renowned African theologian John Mbiti in holding that Africa is 'notoriously religious'. Mbiti (1990:195) bases his claim on the fact that for Africans nothing happens by chance, but everything has a mystical cause in the spirit world. The spirit world in Africa is not very defined, but it explains everything. Therefore, this spirit world is also of crucial importance to understand leadership in many African contexts. The twofold connection to the spirit world mentioned above is what makes an African conception of leadership stand out. Yet, what does it mean to speak of the spirit world, in particular in as far as it is seen as the foundation of and guidance throughout leadership?

Firstly, I will explain why I do not differentiate between Christian and a non-Christian spirit world nor between different kinds of spirits, and I will explain the method I will use to address the question about the kind of reality that the spirit world has. Secondly, I will discuss the attitude that belongs to believing that the spirit world underpins leadership. Thirdly, I will discuss the content of this belief and how it contrasts with more factual beliefs. In conclusion, I will reiterate that if you see leadership in this way, you cannot see leadership otherwise.

 

Approach

When Miles Sampa said that leaders are appointed by God, he was referring to the Bible (Rm 13:1). Connecting the spiritual realm to leadership is both Christian and traditionally African. In this article, I will not differentiate between religions. Concerning leadership in Africa, the Christian God and the traditional spirit world fulfil the same function: appointing leaders and guiding them. Many Christians in Europe and the United States may have a different perspective; the Reformer Martin Luther, for example, already differentiated between two spheres, the kingdom of man and the kingdom of heaven. African theologian Samuel Waje Kunhiyop (2012:53-63) proposes to learn from the African traditional perspective on the spirit world, differentiating between many different kinds of spirits. However, so he (2012:53) says, 'Christians need to base their thinking about the spirit world on the Bible, rather than on traditions'. Yet, within the Bible different perspectives on the spirit world are left standing next to each other: in the synoptic Gospels, exorcism of evil spirits is very important, but in the Old Testament, John and Paul do not seem familiar with the practice. Therefore, I will not try to reconcile the African Christian perspective on the spirit world with the Euro-American one either.

Traditionally, the spirit world in Africa was ambiguous and very differentiated. This has changed. Already in the 1970s, Zambian Archbishop Milingo, hailed as 'one of Africa's leading demonologists' (Ellis & Ter Haar 1998:198), did not differentiate between different kinds of spirits. Ter Haar (1992) comments:

It seems that modern Zambians increasingly consider that there is only one type of spirit possession, namely that caused by evil spirits, although it may be called by different names depending on which language one speaks or from what part of the country one originates. (p. 113)

Milingo called all of them mashave. Since the 1970s, local differentiations between spirits have evaporated even more. There is discussion over whether Milingo considered ancestor spirits to belong to the same category of evil spirits (Ter Haar 1992:141) - most people I have met in Zambia do so - but for this article, it is not very relevant whether ancestors belong to the good spirits or the bad spirits.

In the conception of leadership that I will be discussing in this article, leaders are appointed and guided by the Holy Spirit or good spirits, whereas there are evil spirits who try to dethrone or misguide them. This conception applies to Christian and non-Christian contexts in Africa, but as the experiences I will rely upon are from the predominantly Christian country Zambia, most examples will be placed in a Christian setting. My aim is merely to understand this conception; I will not venture to evaluate it in terms of truth, superstition or orthodoxy.

The question of what it means to speak of the spirit world can be approached in different ways. Many theoretical concepts, categories and schemas have been used, in various attempts to take references to the spirit world seriously. It is assumed that the kind of reality that spirits have for those who speak of spirits is a factual kind of reality. African philosopher Kwame Appiah (1992:116ff), for example, follows Robin Horton who placed African traditional thought in the same category as Western science; both are 'explanatory systems of belief' that share the problem of underdetermination. Both the discourse about the spirit world and scientific theories introduce theoretical concepts to explain, predict or control the world around us. More recently, renowned historian Yuval Harari expressed a similar approach to classifying spiritual language. He (2015:144) speaks of 'a third level of reality: the intersubjective level'. Spirits - like money, or nations, or quarks - are intersubjective entities who depend for their existence upon the communication between many humans. Both Appiah and Harari treat language about spirits as referring to hypothetical objects. These objects were supposedly introduced to explain parts of our reality that remain obscure as long as we speak in plain ordinary language. 'Explanatory systems' or 'intersubjective entities' are theoretical labels that are introduced to classify and understand what speaking of and believing in the spirit world comes to.

A related approach is to look for analogies. If spirits belong to 'explanatory systems of belief in a context of underdetermination', then spirits may be analogous to quarks or leptons (Veldsman 2000:165). Others have drawn comparisons between the reality of spirits and the reality of the 'invisible hand' that Adam Smith introduced in economics, or the concept of 'capital', 'like a spirit, capital is an abstraction, a concept, that may acquire material form' (Ellis & Ter Haar 2004:115). Most of the proposed analogies are meant to account for the fact that even for someone who truly believes in spirits the spirits remain invisible. Although for this person spirits are some kind of objects, they are objects in a qualified and extended way. Many different analogies have been proposed, each, like all analogies, with their strengths and weaknesses.

A problem with both theoretical interpretations and analogies is that they often lead to a debate about labels and comparisons, rather than about what we wanted to understand in the first place, namely, what it means to speak of and believe in the spirit world.

Do people who believe in spirits, believe them to be real? Yes, but not in the sense that houses are real, and should we then still call it 'real'? Is it like quarks, but what are quarks exactly, and what is their reality status?

Elsewhere I have discussed the complexities of applying the concept of 'belief' to the context of religion in Africa (Kroesbergen 2019a). As will become clear when we discuss practical examples below, it remains necessary to distinguish between merely speaking of the spirit world and really believing in it. Yet, such distinctions are confused rather than clarified by theoretical discussions about what is 'real'. A discussion about what does and what does not deserve the label 'real' does not help us to understand what it means to speak of or believe in the spirit world. Therefore I propose a different approach in this article.

In response to the criticism that the philosophy of religion has focused too much on religious ideas, several directions of a more embodied investigation of religion have been proposed. One of these approaches is the re-emerging brand of ethnographically informed philosophy of religion in line with Wittgenstein (Burley 2016; Harrison 2018:4). Ethnography in this context does not refer to the classical quasi-objective descriptions of a particular tribe but to the form of ethnography that came in vogue during the 1960s, 'the self-reflective "fieldwork account"' (Clifford & Marcus 1986:14). This reflects how Wittgenstein did philosophy. In this article, I wish to show that Wittgensteinian philosophy can offer a valuable contribution to the debate about the spirit world as well. Often scholars of religion assume that it is clear what it is to speak of and believe in the reality of spirits and miracles. Wittgensteinian philosophy of religion, however, takes a step back and first attempts to show which concept of reality is at work in what people say about religious concepts like the spirit world. What Mikel Burley (2014:86) says about God's reality applies to the reality of the spirit world as well, '[t]he Wittgensteinian is claiming […] simply that we must look to language to see the sense of terms such as "God's reality"'. We need to investigate the kind of reality that the spirit world has. In this article, I will use my experiences in Zambia as an example.

As I (Kroesbergen 2014:190) have argued before, it is important to 'acknowledge both that our language is relative to the context in which we find ourselves, and that our language deals with reality' (see also Kroesbergen 2019b). This is a form of what could be dubbed 'ordinary realism' and it works by providing reminders of how language is used in everyday life. Instead of looking for the correct theoretical description, or the most fitting analogy, I wish to start at the other end: What do we know already about believing in the spirit world, before we start theorising about it?

 

The attitude in believing in the spirit world

The spirit world in Africa is not only connected to leadership but permeates every aspect of life. I am from the Netherlands, but for six years, I have been teaching at Justo Mwale University in Lusaka, Zambia. One of the most difficult topics I had to teach there was pastoral care when I had to stand in for a colleague. Throughout the course, the same pattern repeated itself; I thought the pastor should encourage his congregants to talk and have a conversation, whereas the students thought a powerful prayer by the pastor was both expected and more effective. If someone is possessed by evil spirits, so I was asked, or if someone is under attack from witchcraft, what good will it do to have a conversation? Is it not much easier and more efficient to simply pray the evil spirits away with a powerful prayer?

At first, I did not know what to do with such kind of comments. I was and still am not used to speaking of spirits or witchcraft. After a while, however, I decided to try to talk along, to use the language of my students to try to explain what I wanted to bring across. I started to say things such as, 'okay, maybe powerful prayers are more efficient to get rid of evil spirits, but would it not have a much longer-lasting effect if, instead of us as pastors solving our congregants' problems, we help them to solve their problems on their own? Through conversation, we may be able to give them the tools to ward off evil spirits for themselves in the future.'

This seemed to be accepted. I was glad to see that nobody appeared to question my way of speaking of spirits.

Now, this example is rather innocent, and after one term the lecturer practical theology returned, so I could retreat safely into systematic theology, ethics and philosophy again. Imagine, however, that I had continued teaching this course. That more and more practice would allow me to use the language of spirits and witchcraft in a way that was both acceptable to the students and enabled me to say what I wanted to say. Imagine I speak like this about spirits and witchcraft so often, that I start to use this language in my personal life as well. I speak of evil spirits when I encounter problems, I tell people I am bewitched when I fall ill. I start to drink the teas that are traditionally prescribed for healing and wear amulets to make sure I will not fall ill as easily again. Does this mean that I have started to believe in the spirit world? It could. But does it necessarily mean that I now believe in the spirit world? I do not think so. In fact, there might still be an enormous gap between me who speaks of the spirit world and someone who believes in the spirit world.

If I had become comfortable with speaking of spirits during class, I would have learned to use the language of spirits and witchcraft - it would now even come naturally to me. I would have accustomed myself to the practices surrounding this language, yet it may be that for me it is still no more than 'a way of speaking about and dealing with bad fortune'. It still does not need to be 'believing in the spirit world'. I may have learned to say that God appointed the president, but I would still think that it was actually the people in the elections and a bit of luck or corruption that made him president. Of course, it could change into really believing in the spirit world, but, in that case, what kind of change would that be?

There are no definitive answers as to whether someone truly believes in the spirit world. Someone may even at a later stage come to realise, 'I thought I believed in the spirit world, but now I see that before I never really believed in it' or, 'I thought I did not believe in the spirit world and that I was merely accommodating my students, but now I see that it has always been more real to me than I was aware of'.

And then again, one may at some point come to see these realisations themselves as misguided, and so on. Statements about really believing are themselves part of a perspective, they are not referring to plain facts that could be established in a laboratory setting, but they belong to a particular way of seeing things.

To discover whether someone actually believes in the spirit world, we look at their life, to the attitude that someone takes to their life. We may collect evidence to say 'yes' or 'no', but the evidence will never be conclusive. The evidence from someone's life can always be interpreted differently as well. To say that someone truly believes in the spirit world requires the observer to take a personal stand. Yet, we can make some neutral observations about what it is to believe in the spirit world as well, like for example, believing in spirits is not something positive to aspire to or something negative, but it is simply recognising that there are spirits out there and that we have to deal with them. One is, of course, aware of elections and bureaucratic systems, but ultimately the spirit world appoints the next president. One is familiar with the many reasons and considerations for a leader to make a particular decision, but ultimately, the leader's task is to discern the messages from the spirit world. People do not want to believe in the spirit world, they do not assume to benefit from believing in spirits, they are simply acknowledging their reality. Whether it is good or bad does not matter, it is a part of one's attitude to life. It is important to keep this in mind when we speak of how to identify whether someone truly believes in the spirit world: it is not a goal to reach, it is merely something someone finds themselves doing or not.

The shift from merely speaking of spirits to actually believing in spirits may happen in many different ways. It may happen suddenly, either triggered by a dramatic event, or for no reason in particular, 'now I know it is real. I always thought I was merely accommodating my students, but now I see that spirits really exist'. Or it may happen gradually, without me even noticing. Maybe after some years, a friend from the Netherlands notices, 'you really do believe in spirits, don't you?' - and, upon reflection, I may have to admit 'Yes, I actually do'.

I would say that in all of these cases, a fitting description of the change would be that 'My eyes have been opened'. That is to say the change is not something in reality, but something in me observing reality. Light dawns over a world. Although the change happened in me, the spirits do not depend upon me or anybody for their existence - they are out there in reality, whether someone notices it or not. Once I start to believe in spirits, I will see that spirits have been real all along. Before the opening of my eyes, I did not see spirits, but looking back, retroactively, I now notice that they have been there and played a role in the past as well. Spirits do not exist because a group of people have agreed that they do, but to believe in the spirit world is to know that, whether or not anyone acknowledges it, spirits are out there, causing events that nothing else can cause. Something similar goes for realising that spirits do not exist after all; in such a case, spirits do not cease to exist, but I would say that spirits have never been real at all. The reality or non-reality of spirits does not depend upon anyone's acknowledgement of these facts.

There is a choice involved in learning to speak of the spirit world. There is a choice involved in deciding to phrase one's descriptions of what happens in terms of spirits. However, there is not a choice involved in believing in the spirit world. A person finds themselves believing in the spirit world or not believing in the spirit world - there is nothing this person can do about it. Whilst I am fully aware that not everybody believes in the spirit world, and I am fully aware that I used to not believe in the spirit world, once I do, I cannot do otherwise. Spirits are there, it has nothing to do with me or my choice. I could try to deny it - indeed it has often been noticed that people in Africa deny emphatically that spirits exist in order to reduce the influence of spirits on their lives (see Kroesbergen 2019a:8) - but if I find myself believing in them does not matter, deep down I will simply know they are there. It is not someone's choice to believe in the spirit world, but for one who believes in the spirit world, the spirit world is simply part of the reality one has to deal with.

Coming from the West, one may be tempted to assume that spirits must be something outside reality, but for someone living in a world with spirits, they are simply what one sees when one opens their eyes. As Harari (2015) observes:

Few people put their faith in supernatural powers. For those who believe in demons, spirits and fairies, these beings are not supernatural. They are an integral part of nature, just like porcupines, scorpions and germs. (p. 211)

Just like we do not choose to see porcupines or germs, people who speak of the spirit world do not make an active choice - they simply report what they observe.

One's attitude towards the world and leadership changes, but not in the sense that one chooses one's attitude. When one begins to believe in the spirit world, one's eyes have been opened (that is: passively) to reality (that is: to something out there irrespective of oneself or one's acknowledgement). You see that the leader is appointed by God; you see that proper leadership decisions are based upon revelation. It is a matter of observation, not of choice. Yet, what is it that one sees, what is the content of believing in the spirit world?

 

The content of believing in the spirit world

To believe in spirits is to see things that people who do not believe in spirits do not see. However, what someone sees is generally not the spirits themselves. Spirits are invisible, that is an important part of what makes them spirits. Someone who believes in the spirit world in most respects sees the same actual reality, but they see spirits being active in it. They see the same things and the same events, but, according to their experience at least, they see this reality more truly. The content of believing in the spirit world has to do with what is beyond ordinary reality by definition. This is the first point I wish to make in this section. Secondly, beliefs about the spirit world can oddly enough not be mistaken. And, thirdly, the content of believing in the spirit world cannot be reduced to a substratum of plain facts.

Firstly, spirits are generally invoked when ordinary explanations are not available. When I learned to speak of the spirit world in daily life in Zambia, I learned to do so in those cases where I did not know why something happened. These were cases where I would have said previously that something was bad luck, a coincidence or, what Harari (2015:235) says is the motto of modernity, 'shit happens'. Spirits are seen to act where there are no ordinary causes available.

In politics this is no different. More people vote for person A than for person B, why? Most often, many reasons can be given, but these reasons are hardly ever conclusive. Why is A more likeable than B? Charisma, people may say in the United States. Why does one ideology appeal more to the people than the other? Zeitgeist, people may say in Europe. Yet, referring to 'charisma' or 'Zeitgeist' is in most ways no more than admitting that we do not know. Person A is likeable because they are likeable. Ideology X appeals because it appeals. These are the cases in which people in Africa speak of the spirit world. Once I truly believe in the spirit world, I see it as really the work of spirits, but these spirits will still be seen as active in those cases where ordinary explanations are not available. Even once I truly believe in spirits, even if talk of spirits for me no longer is a replacement for speaking of charisma or Zeitgeist and I really take spirits to be involved in what is happening to me, then spirits would still be active in this kind of rest category of what cannot be explained in an ordinary way. Both words like charisma and Zeitgeist and words referring to the spirit world are what I (Kroesbergen 2019a:12) called elsewhere 'left-over containers with respect to explanations'. To speak of these things is a way (Kroesbergen 2019a):

[T]o deal with what is not clear and certain. It is a response to the insecurity of the world. It is a normal part of life, but the part that remains insecure. (p. 12)

Whether one truly believes or not, speaking of spirits would still be speaking of the beyond, speaking of that what does not fit ordinary explanations.

If it is clear that John did something, someone who believes in spirits is not going to argue that a spirit did it instead. At the most, they might say that a spirit inspired John to do it or even guided John's hand. A spirit may be involved, but then as the cause of the cause. It is not because spirits are so extremely mysterious that science has so far never discovered them. It is part of how people speak of spirits that they ascribe to them what cannot be discovered by either common sense or scientific methods. It is part of the definition of spirits - both for people who do believe in spirits and those who do not.

Advice from spirits is asked in cases where the uncertainty that someone is facing cannot be solved in a calculating kind of way. Investigating the anthropology of magic, Susan Greenwood (2009:112) observes that it is used to address questions like 'Should I stay in my present relationship or should I go travelling?' 'Should I have another baby?' 'Should we stay together?' and 'Should I accept this job offer or not?' 'Should I tell the truth or better just leave it?' These questions for which straightforward determining mechanisms do not work are the kind of questions that are addressed to the spirit world. Similarly, concerning leadership, scientific and political advisors may tell a leader why they should do A or B, but ultimately in most cases, a decision needs to be made that cannot be fully justified. Several anthropologists have noted the similarity in subject matter for a spin-doctor and a witch-doctor in this respect (see for example Ellis & Ter Haar 2004:74). In Europe and the United States, people may say that the leader uses their political intuition in making such choices, in Africa one speaks of the spirit world. To speak of spirits is to speak of that which is beyond ordinary reasons or explanations.

In many parts of Africa, leadership belongs to the special category of professions that are supposed to need spiritual assistance. Johanneke Kroesbergen-Kamps (forthcoming) describes, for example, that in Zambia:

[B]ecoming a chief is not simply a hereditary matter. Although most chieftaincies are linked to a specific clan or lineage, birth is not the main criterion. There is usually a group of candidates for the succession of a chief. To be elected, some individual merit or support from invisible forces is needed. (n.p.)

Spirits or invisible forces are referred to when something is not completely determined. Who is the leader and how much power the leader possesses is ultimately explained by the machinations of the spirit world, that is, described from another perspective: it is ultimately unexplainable.

For Nigeria, Nimi Wariboko (2014) uses this to explain the often discussed practices of corruption in Africa:

Time is always running out. […] There is not enough time for politicians to steal before the next election because their invisible godfathers (politicians, native doctors, and babalawos) behind the throne may not allow them back into office. (p. 287)

Leaders represent the spirit world, but everyone is aware that this implies that leaders do not control their destiny, 'No one has a mastery of her world in this highly uncertain world' (Wariboko 2014:287).

Many things cannot be discovered by common sense or scientific methods. We could use phrases like charisma or intuition for those, but, once I believe in the spirit world, I know that the real cause of these events is spiritual. To believe in the spirit world means to be aware that nothing happens without a reason. People who do not believe in the spirit world may think of many occurrences as luck or bad luck, people who do not believe in the spirit world may learn to use the words 'spirits' or 'God' to accommodate their students, but that means they are still blind to an aspect of reality, to how nothing is a coincidence. To believe in the spirit world is to be aware of this aspect of reality itself.

Spirits belong to the beyond, and strangely enough, what people say about spirits cannot be mistaken. We may want to ask whether someone is right to believe in spirits. Were there really spirits behind person A winning the elections or leader B making that decision? Yet, we know that such a question will not do. Even if someone engages in serious scientific research and states in their final report, 'spirits indeed caused person A to win the elections', we would not take that as a research finding. Rather, we would take that as a confession that the scientist believes in spirits. If they did not believe in spirits before their research, we would take it as an account of their conversion, of how their eyes were opened. Vice versa, the same goes for 'It is not true that spirits caused person A to win the elections'. This would not prove anything to me if I believe in spirits, it would merely tell me about the personal beliefs of this particular scientist. If the scientist did believe in spirits before their research, as a believer I would say that the research has confused them, that they are no longer able to see something that is actually there.

If I say that I believe spirits caused person A to win the elections, I may be lying if I do not really believe that spirits exist. But in an important way, I cannot be mistaken about it. At some point, I may come to realise that there are no spirits after all. That, however, would again be more a case of my eyes being opened, rather than a case of discovering a mistake. From my new perspective - the one without spirits - I consider it to be wrong to ascribe the election result to spirits, but that is more like looking at what happened from a different angle.

If a person believes in the spirit world, they cannot say that, of course, not believing in the spirit world would be okay as well, but they just happen to believe in the spirit world. Not believing is not all right also because spirits happen to be a part of reality. Vice versa, the same goes for those who do not believe in the spirit world. Yet, neither of them is mistaken or can be mistaken. The concept of mistake does not apply here. One finds oneself believing or not believing, one cannot do otherwise than one does. To believe in the spirit world (or not) is the only thing that one can do. Nothing else is possible. One cannot be mistaken in believing in the spirit world, or in not believing in the spirit world for that matter. It is what this person believes, that is all. This obviously does not mean that we are infallible or that we must be right in what we believe, but the question of whether we are mistaken makes no sense here. If at a later stage in our lives we find that our beliefs regarding the spirit world have changed, we did not discover a mistake, but we now simply believe something else. If a person believes in the spirit world, not believing in it may be quite unimaginable, even if this person did not always believe, and vice versa, but neither is right nor is a mistake. It is what it is, it is what we personally cannot but see in reality.

For one who does not believe in spirits, it makes no sense to do experiments to prove that spirits do not exist, for they know that they do not beforehand. They could not even imagine otherwise. For one who does believe in spirits, experiments would not make much sense either; they know they are there, whatever the outcome of any kind of research. Both sides may use what looks like experiments to try to convince the other, but they know that their own belief or disbelief does not rest upon the outcome of such experiments, and they know that experiments in themselves will never convince the other. At best they may provide the occasion for the other to have their eyes opened to what is obviously the case or not the case. This would be a case of conversion, not of being convinced by reason.

Firstly, spirits belong to the beyond; secondly, beliefs about spirits cannot be mistaken and the third point, I wish to make here is that the content of believing in the spirit world cannot be reduced to some substratum of plain, objective facts. If I start to believe in the spirit world, I will be aware that there are people who do not believe in spirits - in fact, I will remember that I myself once did not believe in spirits. I will say that these other people are missing something, that they are not seeing something that is really out there in the world. Probably I would wish to open their eyes as well like my eyes have been opened, but I know that since it is a matter of seeing, showing them some new plain simple facts alone will not do the trick. Facts may trigger someone to open their eyes, but facts in themselves cannot force someone to see, to truly see. For everything, every fact or event could be either explained differently or left as something unexplainable by those who do not see. For me as a believer in the spirit world, it would be obvious that there have been spirits at work, but I would remember that the old me, before my eyes were opened, would not or not necessarily have seen spirits in such an event. Once a person starts to believe in the spirit world everything around this person has changed, and yet they are aware that in another sense nothing has changed.

By seeing spirits I would now know what is really going on, but there are no plain facts of the matter that could be proven in a laboratory setting that in themselves would show that there must be spirits. Once I believe in spirits, when asked why something happened, why now and why to me, I will consider 'Spirits did it' a much more likely and convincing answer than 'I don't know', but I will be aware that some people stubbornly prefer to hold on to 'I don't know' rather than to admit that there is a spirit world. I will remember I was once one of those people myself.

As long as I merely use the language of spirits and the practices that are connected to it, speaking of spirits is for me something that could be described differently as well. I used to say 'charisma' or 'intuition' for example, now I say 'spirits', but it refers for me to the same thing or event in reality. I used to say 'accident', now I say 'witchcraft', but what I take to have happened in reality is no different. Once I start to really believe in spirits, however, this is what changes. Now I see that it was really evil spirits who caused it. 'Bad luck' may have been a fairly adequate description back when my eyes had not yet been opened, but now I see what is really going on. 'Spirits' is no longer a description of what could just as well have been described otherwise, but now I see that spirits are really behind all that is happening. The spirits are out there in reality, they are there, for everyone to see, although I am aware that not everyone is actually seeing them. I now consider those who do not see them to be blind to a particular aspect of reality. Only the description of events that involves spirits truly describes what is going on. Any description that leaves out spirits misses an aspect of what is really happening.

For someone who believes, speaking of spirits is no longer an interpretation of reality, because an interpretation is always an interpretation of something: on the one hand, there are the plain facts of the matter; on the other hand, there is the interpretation of these facts. For someone who believes in the spirit world, there are no plain facts of the matter other than those that do already involve spirits. Therefore, for someone who believes in the spirit world, there is nothing that needs to be interpreted: someone just needs to open their eyes and see. Of course, leaders are ultimately appointed by God; elections and bureaucratic systems cannot explain everything. Of course, decisions by leaders should be based upon revelations from the invisible world; the arguments of their advisors will never be completely conclusive.

At the time, when I was still merely using the language of spirits, I could distinguish between, on the one hand, something that happened for which there is no common sense or scientific explanation, and, on the other hand, me speaking of this something as 'spiritual'. As soon as I believe in the spirit world, however, this distinction no longer applies to me; it is part of the plain facts that spirits are behind this or that. People who force the description upon me that I am interpreting something is merely showing that they do not believe in the spirit world. They think they are looking at the plain facts and observing that I add some further descriptions to those facts, but in reality, so I would say, they are not seeing what is really going on; it is part of the facts that spirits are causing this and that. What we take to be the raw or plain facts of the matter depends upon whether we believe in spirits or not. As a believer in the spirit world, one would say that others are blind to a certain, important aspect of reality.

 

Conclusion

To believe in the spirit world is not something to be commended or not, it is simply what one finds oneself doing whether one wants to or not. Whether we believe in the spirit world or not shows itself in the role that what we say about the spirit world plays in our lives, but there are no definitive answers to the question of whether one believes. To say that one believes or not is itself often a personal matter. To believe in the spirit world is not to apply some interpretation to the raw material world around us, but it is to discover that one's eyes have been opened to an aspect of reality itself. Someone who comes to believe in the spirit world now sees what is really going on in what used to be the unexplainable beyond of questions like 'Why is candidate A more likeable than candidate B? Why does everyone now support policy X and opposes policy Y?' By definition, spirits are not entities to be discovered scientifically; they are not objects we can be mistaken about or not, to believe in the spirit world or not is simply something we cannot do otherwise.

To return to the theoretical concepts that have been applied to believing in the spirit world, if someone wants to say that believing in spirits means believing in particular entities out there in the world, one needs to remember that spirits are in many ways beyond objects and entities by definition. If someone wants to say that believing in the spirit world is believing in particular matters of fact or something ontologically real, one needs to keep in mind that in the case of spirits there are no neutral plain facts of the matter that await interpretation, but both sides - belief and non-belief - already imply a personal perspective.

With regard to the analogies that have been used, a major difference between quarks or the invisible hand in economics and spirits is that spirits are not hypotheses; about spirits one cannot be mistaken. In practice, hypothetical scientific entities may be rendered immune to falsification as well, but scientifically this ought to be considered as a weakness or problem. Spirits are not like money in the sense that spirits are seen to exist in reality independent of human conventions; someone's eyes are being opened when they come to see spirits, one's eyes are not opened in that way when one starts using money. The analogy with beauty is quite promising, in the sense that beauty and spirits both are not traceable in a laboratory setting, yet they are experienced as being out there, in the world, open for anyone with eyes to see, although we are aware that some may be blind to this aspect of reality.

Discussions about what does and what does not deserve the label 'real', however, do not help us to understand what it means to believe in the spirit world. It may be tempting to some to try to build a system within which both Western and African ideas about reality and spirits are allocated a place (see, e.g. Ter Haar 2009; Turner 1992); however, to adopt such a system would not be to do justice to African belief systems, but it would be to introduce yet one more belief system. Nor should we try to build a neat system that allocates God, the Holy Spirit, angels, mashave, ancestors, demons and so on, each their own specific place (Heiser 2015; Kunhiyop 2012:53-63). To believe in this system would reflect yet one more personal perspective. Instead of building abstract systems, we ought to look at what we know before we debate theoretical labels or comparisons. This answers already what we want to know when we try to understand what it means to believe in the spirit world. Therefore, instead of discussing theoretical concepts and analogies, I have used a different approach in this article.

Leadership in Africa is inextricably connected to the spirit world. This does not imply that Africans give another interpretation to the same plain facts as Westerners do, or that we have to assume that they are mistaken. If we look at the role that the belief in the spirit world plays in people's lives, we see that for them it is simply a part of life for which their eyes have been opened. Referring to the spirit world to explain why someone is a leader or which decision they should make is not presenting a theory about mysterious forces out there, but it is to acknowledge, from within a particular personal perspective, how leadership and power belong to the beyond. This is what it means to both speak of and believe in the spirit world, this is the kind of reality the spirit world has.

 

Acknowledgements

Competing interests

The author declares that he has no financial or personal relationships that may have inappropriately influenced him in writing this article.

Author's contributions

H.K. is the sole author of this research article.

Ethical considerations

This article followed all ethical standards for research without direct contact with human or animal subjects.

Funding information

This research was funded by the Senior Postdoctoral Fellowship provided by the University of Pretoria.

Data availability statement

Data sharing is not applicable to this article as no new data were created or analysed in this study.

Disclaimer

The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect official policy or position of any affiliated agency of the author.

 

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Kroesbergen-Kamps, J., [forthcoming], 'The usual suspects: Accusations of Satanism against politicians in Zambia', in C.J. Kaunda & M. Hinfelaar (eds.), Competing for Caesar: Religion and politics in post-colonial Zambia, 1517 Media, Lanham.         [ Links ]

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Correspondence:
Hermen Kroesbergen
hermen.kroesbergen@gmail.com

Received: 12 Oct. 2019
Accepted: 25 May 2020
Published: 30 July 2020

 

 

Research Project Registration:
Project Leader: J. Buitendag
Project Number: 02402343
Project Description: This research is part of the project, 'University, Education and Theology'', directed by Prof. Dr Johan Buitendag, Department of Historical and Systematic Theology, Faculty of Theology, University of Pretoria.

^rND^sBurley^nM.^rND^sEllis^nS.^rND^sTer Haar^nG.^rND^sKaunda^nC.J.^rND^sKroesbergen^nH.^rND^sKroesbergen^nH.^rND^sKroesbergen-Kamps^nJ.^rND^sVeldsman^nD.P.^rND^1A01^nDion A.^sForster^rND^1A01^nDion A.^sForster^rND^1A01^nDion A^sForster

ORIGINAL RESEARCH

 

Reflecting on the nature of work in contemporary South Africa: A public theological engagement with calling and vocation

 

 

Dion A. Forster

Department of Systematic Theology & Ecclesiology, Faculty of Theology, Stellenbosch University, Stellenbosch, South Africa

Correspondence

 

 

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ABSTRACT

This article argues for a rediscovery of a theology of work in South Africa that is based on the Protestant notion of calling and vocation. Such a view has the primary intention of emphasising obedience and faithfulness to God rather than self-fulfilment or achievement as the intentions of work. Such an approach can empower and equip the church and individual Christians for effective and faithful living in all spheres of life - both private and public. The article shows that the influences of theological dualism, an unbalanced view of the clergy as primary agents of ministry and mission, and a structures-centred view of ministry and mission detracted from the importance of the church's ministry in numerous spheres of society. A consequence of this was the introduction of a subtle dualism between faith and work. In response to this, the article considers how the church could become an agent of mission and transformation in the world of work. The conclusion of this article is that the South African church could benefit from revisiting and rediscovering a theology of work that is based on the Protestant emphasis of calling and vocation in the public sphere.
CONTRIBUTION: While this article engages the traditional protestant theological notions of calling and vocation, it argues that reconsidering these notions in relation to the contemporary world of work can renew a theology of work and ministry for South African churches to serve their members in achieving God's will in society

Keywords: Work; Public theology; South Africa; Calling; Vocation.

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On work and life

Work must surely be one of the most important topics of our age, not only because a large proportion of the world's population is engaged in some kind of 'work' (some out of choice, others for mere survival), but the largest majority of the world's population are preparing for a lifetime of work through study or some form of training. Miroslaf Volf (2001), the Yale Theologian, said the following about the church and the academy's reflection on this very important topic:

Amazingly little theological reflection has taken place about an activity which takes up so much of our time. The number of pages theologians have devoted to transubstantiation - which does or does not happen on Sunday - for instance, would, I suspect, far exceed the number of pages devoted to the work that fills our lives Monday through Saturday. (p. 69)¹

Recently, some research was published that presented the first empirical engagement with faith and work in South Africa, Called to work: A descriptive analysis of Call42's research on faith and work in South Africa (Forster 2014). In the research, it was shown that a large majority of Christians in South Africa had never heard a single sermon on work or their work-life. Even fewer had been equipped to live faithfully as Christian disciples in the world of work. Stated plainly, the research found that the South African Protestant churches had somehow lost a clear and theologically responsible understanding of work (cf. Forster & Oostenbrink 2015:1-8).

Volf (cited in Smit 2003) further comments:

If Christian theology is to offer guidance for life in the contemporary world it will have to tackle [this] task: it will have to show how human work in complex and fast-changing industrial and post-industrial societies can be done in response to the gifts and callings of the triune God, the Reconciler, and the Redeemer. (p. 8)

What, if anything does Christianity, and particularly South African Christianity, have to offer in this situation?

This article will engage in a consideration of the importance of work through the lenses of calling and vocation in the Protestant tradition. It will then relate these theological resources to contemporary research on faith and work in the South African context. We shall begin by briefly asking why a public theological approach is helpful to engage this complex and important issue? Next, we shall discuss the Protestant notion of calling to understand something of the theology of work in that tradition. As part of this discussion, we will trace the historical trajectory that has led to the loss of understanding the central importance of vocation and calling amongst South African Christians, and so also the loss of a responsible theology of work. Finally, we shall ask in what ways the church can engage both theologically, and in its public witness and ministry, in the world of work?

 

Why a public theological reflection on work?

Work is a central, and important, part of contemporary human existence. Yet, its importance is not acknowledged or given priority in either historical or contemporary theological reflection. An extended version of Miroslav Volf's earlier quotation highlights this reality. He writes (Volf 2001):

[G]iven the paramount importance of work in both liberal and socialist economic and social theory, it is remarkable that in our world dominated by work a serious crisis in work had to strike before church bodies paid much attention to the problem of human work. Theologians are to blame for the former negligence. Amazingly little theological reflection has taken place in the past about an activity that takes up so much of our time. The number of pages theologians have devoted to the question of transubstantiation - which does or does not take place on Sunday - for instance, would, I suspect, far exceed the number of pages devoted to work that fills our live Monday through Saturday. (p. 69)

Why is this so? In the two sections that follow, we shall see that it was a subtle theological error that led to the current divide between faith and work. The content of the Protestant theological tradition set a very important initial direction for faith and work; however, it soon lost its way. Moreover, what we shall see is that theological content alone is not enough to bridge the gap between what we believe about work, and what we should do to be faithful to God in every aspect of life (which also includes faithfulness to God in the world of work).

The South African Ethicist and Theologian, Piet Naudé (who is the head of the Stellenbosch University Business School), recently commented in a public lecture that in his experience when Christians speak about issues of economics (or work) they 'look enthusiastic, but often sound stupid' (Winter School, Stellenbosch University, 04 June 2015). He went on to challenge the audience of theologians to take issues of economics, law, policy and labour seriously in their theological deliberations. His critique is a call to what Heinrich Bedford-Strohm identifies as the characteristics of multilingualism and inter-disciplinarity in public theology (Bedford-Strohm 2015:3-4; Smit 2017:75). Naudé is correct. Christians do not address issues of public concern, such as work, frequently enough in our formal theological research and reflection. In the few instances where we do so, there is a tendency to address the world of work with resources that are inadequate to engage the complexities and nuances of the issues at hand. We struggle to 'translate' our beliefs into a meaningful engagement with public life. Moreover, we struggle to translate issues of public concern into a theological language and theological approaches that can adequately engage our beliefs and convictions.

This is where a nuanced understanding of public theology may be of some value. Koopman (2010:134) notes a common misconception of public theology, namely, the simplistic understanding that public theology is anything that is contrasted with what might be considered a 'private' theology. Such a view is a mistake because we have seen in many instances that there is no such thing as a so-called 'private' theology. What people believe, if it is truly believed, will always have public consequences. Koopman rightly affirms that this is not the meaning of concept 'public' in contemporary public theologies.

Rather, what Koopman suggests is that public theology is concerned with the 'inherent public nature of God's love… the rationality of God's love for the world… and the implications of God's love for every facet of life' (Koopman 2010:124). He argues that each of these three affirmations approaches the theological task from a different perspective and with a different intention. In making this claim, Koopman draws upon the argument that David Ford makes in his book The modern theologians (cf. Ford 2005), namely, all theology addresses in some ways the content of our faith, the rationality of what we believe for the common good and the implications of that belief for all of life (both private and public).

Thus, what is needed is a more nuanced and carefully textured understanding of the notion of the 'public' in public theology. Koopman and Smit rightly point out, in the line of David Tracy (Ruiter 2007; Tracy 1975:287) and Jürgen Habermas (cf. Dreyer & Pieterse 2010:1-3; Habermas 1991; Smit 2007a:11-47), that a more helpful understanding of the notion of a 'public', in public theology, is to understand each particular theological contribution in relation to the different 'publics' of society. Habermas explains the development of the notion of the 'public' (as it has been used in contemporary public theological research) by relating it to critical discourse theory (cf. the excellent exposition presented by Smit 2007a:11-47). Habermas explains that the notion of circumscribed publics, which first emerged as particular public opinions, developed as persons in society began to cultivate agency that allowed them to hold and propagate views, and organise around those thought constructs, in opposition to the dominant publics of the monarchy and the church (which were the two publics of society until the late middle ages). Simply stated, as persons became economically and politically independent from the monarchy, and learned to think in ways that were not controlled by the church, they began to develop what we would call 'public opinions'. A consequence of the deconstruction of the class structures that were imposed by political power and religious beliefs, by means of increasing economic independence, was of course a measure of both individual freedom and identity, as well as economic and political agency. However, as Weber (2012:1-6) notes, this also played an important role in the establishment of what would later become free-market capitalism. No longer would the monarch, or the Bishop, dictate social standing, or values, increasingly capital and the free market would play this role. This is also not morally neutral, as we shall see in a later section. The increasing importance of economic independence, and economic agency, has also contributed to a social imagination that allows massive economic inequality, corruption, greed and inhumane working conditions to exist. At this point, however, it is simply important to note the emergence of the possibility for ideas, and 'public opinions' apart from the monarchy and the episcopacy - namely, 'public opinions'.

David Tracy developed these notions further by suggesting that there are at least three typological 'publics' in which contemporary theologians can, and should, make a contribution. These are the public of the church, the public of the theological academy and the public of society in general (Smit 2013:13-15; Tracy 1975:287-291, 2014:330-334). For example, the rules, expectations and intentions for how one does theology in the church may differ from the rules, intentions and expectations for how one does theology in the academy. What is helpful about such an understanding is that it shapes the theological discourse in such a manner that it maintains its coherence and sensibility as theological discourse within a particular public, whilst allowing it to be mindful of, and informed by, the discourse theory of the public it aims to engage, address or be addressed by. Thus, public theology translates meaning in a 'multilingual' manner between the three publics of the academy, the church and society at large (Smit 2017:75).

This article will offer a public theological engagement with the Protestant understanding of work and vocation that is intended for the benefit of the church, whilst considering the concerns of society at large, and being framed as an academic theological proposition.

 

Work and calling in the Protestant tradition - The loss of vocation

Smit argues that we cannot consider the notion of work within the Protestant tradition without first focusing on the notion of calling and vocation (Smit 2003:8). In his reasoning, Protestant theology must have God, and the will of God, at its very centre. Daniel Migliore (2004) says that theology:

[E]xists to remind us of God's gift and command, and thus to keep alive the question: What would it mean for us personally and corporately to bear a concrete witness to the crucified and risen Lord in our world today? (p. 15)

In essence, what does God require of me? This is not only a theological question, but also a vocational question. The historian Denis De Rougement (1963:37) suggested that, 'the great social and cultural maladies of the modern age all have this one common characteristic: they deny personal vocation'. As such, one could contend that the notion of 'calling' is important in relation to a theological consideration of work (cf. Forster 2014:6-9; Forster & Oostenbrink 2015:1-2, 7-8).

The Protestant Reformation radically changed the way in which Christians thought about the concept of God's call upon their lives. Leading up to the Reformation the notion of calling was understood primarily as a 'calling out of the world' into the cloistered life of the monastery (Smit 2003:8). Martin Luther, however, insisted that there is no ontological difference, or separation, between the clergy and the laity. All Christians are called by God, not only the monks and nuns who discerned a call to 'leave' the world. Rather, Luther asserted that every believer, by virtue of her or his baptism, is called by God into the world (Smit 2003:8). Luther was the first theologian to use the term calling in the contemporary sense of the word (Althaus 1972:39-40; Kolden 1983:382-390). In doing so, he appealed particularly to 1 Corinthians 7:20 in the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) 'Each one should remain in the situation which he was in when God called him'. We know from history that this view gained great acceptance amongst ordinary Christians because it allowed them to see their everyday existence with new meaning and purpose (Calhoun & Nelson 1954:82-115).

However, the ordained orders of ministry at the time confused some by making them believe that they must leave the world to fully honour God. No doubt some would have believed that by not entering a religious order they were either disobedient to God, or that God had no plan (or special plan) for their lives. The theological change that came as a result of Luther's radical understanding of calling to everyday life was that it recognised the importance of history and life in general. Smit notes that in contrast to Luther's notion of calling, those who were in religious movements and orders would at times sweep people up to their way of life, convincing them to give up on history and everyday life (as if God was not active, interested or present in daily life; Smit 2003:8).

This understanding remains a common theological problem in the contemporary church. South African Christians reported that their pastors and ministers often suggested that entering the ordained pastoral ministry was the highest form of calling (Forster 2014; cf. Greene 2001:9):

Because ministers 'run' churches, they often create the impression that their work is more important to God than the work of the church's members. The impression is created that pastors and missionaries do holy work, whilst doctors, teachers, and builders do 'profane' work. (p. 6)

Thus, the significant change that Luther introduced was that he included all Christians and their everyday public, political and economic lives within the 'one calling that comes from God' (Luther, Oswald & Lehmann 1964:17). Smit (2003) comments that:

God calls everybody, not only a select few, [according to Luther] and God calls them with a spiritual calling, and this spiritual calling is not a calling out of everyday life, rather it comes by way of everyday life, through the place and task in which persons find themselves. That is where they are called to be faithful and to honour God. (p. 9; [author's own translation])

One important point that must be noted is that Luther understood that calling as it relates to a Christian's work and life meant that they were to see their work and station in life as a vocation, and not as something that is to be done for gain, status or honour (Luther et al. 1964:17-20; Smit 2003:9).

What Luther emphasised was that, from God's perspective, society was structured with a need for every person, and all tasks and jobs, as necessary for its functioning. In the contemporary worldview, the esteem, status and economic value that we attach to certain tasks and jobs somehow do not reflect God's values, but rather our own (Smit 2003:10). Is a banker, or the work of banking, truly of higher value to God than that of a nurse, a teacher or a stay at home parent?

Luther thus maintained in accordance with 1 Corinthians 7:20 that the believer should remain faithful within the position or work to which God had called them and do their best to honour God in faithfulness, diligence and creativity in that place (Kolden 1983:382-390; Smit 2003:3). This was this attitude that eventually became known as the 'Protestant work ethic' with its two core values of obedience and faithfulness (Poggi 1983:3-4; Smit 2003:9; cf. Weber in Tawney 1958:62; Weber 2012:1-6). Of course, what needs to be remembered is that this was a call to obedience and faithfulness to God first and foremost and not obedience to an employer or a task. This is important because the notion of obedience has been used in manipulative ways by later pseudo-Lutheran theologies, such as in Germany during the rise of National Socialism, to force persons to obey unjust orders or participate in destructive activities (Gridley & Jenkins 2017:23-5; Hassing 2014:80). For Luther, God-directed obedience and faithfulness would have social and economic consequences in everyday life. However, social and political change was not the primary intention behind his view of obedience. His intention was faithful service to God and the achieving of God's will in the world through service.

In the time in which Luther wrote, the economy was less complex and varied than it is today. Most persons operated and 'worked' within familial or community settings (such as the home or the village market, etc.). Even in cities, work and the economy were still largely relational with barter and trade taking place with known parties for necessary goods and services. Thus, Smit (2003:10) suggests that in some senses the economy was personal rather an impersonal, as it is today. One dealt with persons for the goods and services one needed. This allowed for a full range of human capacities such as care, empathy, generosity, service, and of course also greed, anger, shame and deceit. Yet, the point is that work was not as impersonal as it is today.

Thus, we can understand Luther's view that work can be service or, as a modern commentator Ed Silvoso has said, 'work can be worship' (Silvoso 2006:191). From Luther's perspective, by doing one's work, whatever it was, one could honour God and serve one's neighbour - this was worthy of one's life. The vita activa of daily life almost became as important as the vita contemplative of spiritual life in the monastery (Parekh 1981:103-130).

Smit points out that it is important to note the 'almost' in that last sentence (Smit 2003:10-11). Of course, we only need to look around us today to be able to tell that work as an act of worship (or 'higher service'), as Luther envisioned it, did not take hold. The American commentator, Douglas Spada, has described this condition as 'Monday morning atheism'. That is, someone who believes in God (perhaps on a Sunday), yet engages in the world of work as if God does not exist, or has no will or intention for one's working life (Spada & Scott 2011:1-13). As a result, the false values of greed, pride, dishonesty and underserved leisure are more laudable today than hard work, service, humility, sacrifice and honesty.

Smit offers a fascinating historical insight into this shift that led to the divide between faith and work. He does so by tracing social, religious and economic shifts over time. Right at the centre of the problem, he proposes is a loss of the notion of call (Smit uses the Afrikaans word, 'beroep') (Smit 2003:11). He points out that the loss of vocation comes from a subtle theological shift, and not primarily a social or a political shift as we might assume.

The theological shift that he is talking about is a turn from the one who calls (i.e. seeing one's purpose in life as obedience and faithfulness to God's call), to the calling itself (i.e. seeing one's task in life as the fulfilling of a vocation). The Afrikaans, in which Smit writes, captures it beautifully: it is a turn from 'roeping' (calling) to 'beroep' (job or vocation) (Smit 2003:11-12). In this mistaken shift, a new social imaginary arises (Taylor 2004:23). Charles Taylor (2004) describes modern 'social imaginary' as:

[T]he ways people imagine their social existence, how they fit together with others, how things go on between them and their fellows, the expectations that are normally met, and the deeper normative notions and images that underlie these expectations. (p. 23)

Thus, as Smit points out, work shifted from being an activity that facilitated obedience (work as worship - work as a means of declaring the worth of the one who calls us to the task), it became an object of worship (work becomes the object of and end of faithfulness, sacrifice and devotion). Preece says something similar when he says that work as vocation is intended to be 'primarily a means and secondarily an end in itself' (Preece 1998:5). This is of course very different from the modern notion of vocation as expressed by Max Weber who says that today vocation is viewed as, 'labour… performed as if it were an absolute end in itself' (cited in Tawney 1958:62).

In A secular age, Charles Taylor explains that the social imaginary is an extremely subtle, yet powerful, force that shapes how we live. It is 'the way that we collectively imagine, even pre-theoretically, our social life in the Western world' (cf. Taylor 2007:159-211). Taylor suggests that it is out of this emerging social imaginary of vocation as calling that 'modern individualism' and 'Natural law theory' began to take hold of society (Taylor 2007:126-128, 155-156). Even Christians began to see themselves in relation to their calling in life as a primary orientation and responsibility. Calling started to take on an identity (i.e. to be an educator, doctor, farmer, lawyer, even a pastor, etc.) rather than being primarily orientated towards the Caller (God) (Smit 2003:10). Luther maintained that the aim of Christian discipleship is to become like Christ, not like our vocation (Mattes 2012:142-163). The combination of the rise of the impersonal order (Taylor 2007:270-298) and the modern social imaginary (Taylor 2007:159-211) that was directed to self-fulfilment through vocation, rather than the twin values of obedience and faithfulness to God's call, crept into our understanding of the nature and purpose of work. It was this subtle theological shift that led to an erosion of Luther's notion of calling in relation to vocation and work.

The result is that amongst contemporary Christians, and even more so within secular society, there is no longer a distinction between 'roeping en beroep' [calling and vocation]. So, where Luther (and the Reformer, John Calvin)² would have admonished the believer to live for the honour of God by means of faithful work, Christians now mistakenly adopt the identity of their vocation as an expression of faithfulness. In other words, the striving in life is no longer to honour God first and foremost in everything one does, but rather to become the mother, the lawyer or the teacher, through which, if there is some opportunity, one may seek to honour God (Smit 2003:11). The telos of such reasoning is the emergence of a dualism between one's faith life and one's work life.

So, this is where history has brought us. Such a dualistic view of faith and work is regarded as normal. Yet, just after the Middle Ages and the Reformation, when it began to develop, it was revolutionary. As Smit, Taylor and Sigurdson note, this view led, in large measure, to the sacred and secular divide that would lay the groundwork for modernity and Western secularism (Sigurdson 2013:361-362; Smit 2003:11; Taylor 2007:146-158, 221-299).

If one's life is no longer oriented towards honouring God (whatever one's function is in life, or social standing may be, as we have already established, all functions and social locations are necessary for society to function), but rather to honour God through a specific vocation, then the kind of work that one does becomes all the more important. In this context, persons began to look towards their abilities, gifts and affinity as indicators of the kind of work that they should do (of course, this is a form of Natural Law theory that Taylor speaks about giving rise to a turn from God towards creation and creativity) (Taylor 2007:90-145). Such a view of life, based on the discovery of talent, is in contrast to that of discerning the call of God as an act of divine revelation. This does not mean that talent does not matter, but simply that it does not matter more than calling. As John Wesley (cited in Sweeden 2014), the founder of the Methodist Movement, introduced in the Covenant Liturgy:

I am no longer my own but thine. Put me to what thou wilt, rank me with whom thou wilt. Put me to doing, put me to suffering, let me be employed for thee or laid aside for thee. (p. xii)

However, Smit notes that the talent and affinity-oriented view of work, and other similar views, led to the development of the modern concept of career guidance, psychometric testing and concepts such as work-fulfilment. These are very contemporary concepts and significant concerns in Western individualistic societies. Rather than the theocentric, Trinitarian structure to life that Wesley included in the Covenant prayer, or that Volf mentioned in our opening quote, society became structured on the principles of individual gain and fulfilment. The logical consequence of this approach to work is that people began to exercise both freedom, and power, in their career and work choices. Certain persons (with access to education, power, wealth and social mobility) were able to choose their work, whilst other tasks and stations were reserved for those who had less choice, less power and less social mobility (sometimes argued along the lines of gender, ability, education, race, etc., but at other times purely as an exercise of power and economic dominance). One can see how such a view has both ethical and theological implications because it impacts upon issues such as human dignity, economic inequality, gender roles and race-based prejudice. At the very heart of this, all is a loss of the concept of vocation as a response to God's call.

The social theorist Jacques Ellul has suggested that it is very difficult, if not almost impossible, to 'incarnate vocation in a society determined by autonomous techniques, multinationals' labor needs and propaganda that allows no autonomous choice of vocation' (Ellul in Preece 1998:2).

This prompts the important question: how many contemporary Christians take the principle of God's calling seriously for their life and work? Moreover, with rising secularism in the Western world, the challenge becomes greater because fewer and fewer persons in society will take seriously that they live for any reason other than self-fulfilment (at worst), or the common good (at best). However, it is not all bad news.

Zimmermann's (2012a:1) research³ suggests that the crisis of trust in the ideals of Western secular culture is a major factor in the resurgence of interest in humanism in general, and religious (and Christian) humanism in particular. The vacuum that was left by the exhaustion of Western secularism, and particularly the loss of transcendent and deeper meaning, has created an opening for the resurgence of frameworks of meaning, some of which are positive and life-giving, and others are challenging and even destructive (such as forms of religious fundamentalism) (De Gruchy 2015:196). In such contexts, persons of faith have sought a more just and constructive religious and theological position through the retrieval of '…an ancient [form of] Christian humanism for our time in response to the general demand for a common humanity beyond religious, denominational and secular divides' (Zimmermann 2012b:9-10). Sigurdson (2013:361) does, however, caution that this phenomenon does not necessarily mean there is a return to faith as such, but rather that it points towards a 'post secular' turn in some societies. By this is meant a search for meaning that is not necessarily religious in content, although it is deeply theological. Sigurdson (2013) comments that:

'[S]ecularization' was from the beginning a theological concept, meaning that something - a thing, a territory, an institution or a person - passes over from an ecclesiastically defined condition to a worldly defined condition, as when a Roman Catholic priest no longer lives in his religious community but in the 'secular' world or when a piece of land passes over from ecclesial to worldly possession. (p. 361)

Smit concurs with this notion, stating that the concept of calling has also undergone a form of secularisation (Smit 2003:12). It is not uncommon to hear persons, with little or no faith speaking of having 'found their calling' in life. This could cohere with what Zimmerman, De Gruchy and Sigurdson have mentioned, that is, that people have a deep, perhaps even ontological, desire to discover meaning and what is meaningful in everyday life. Moreover, the impact of global crises in economics (such as the 2008 economic collapse), morality (such as the wars in Africa, Europe and the Middle East), rising terrorism and national insecurity (such as the bombs in Paris, and frequent ISIS attacks across the globe), polarising populist geo-politics (such as Donald Trump in America), coupled with the effects of natural disasters such as the Covid-19 pandemic, the Haitian earthquakes and the South East Asian Tsunami, have caused many people to reconsider the meaning of life (and that all-encompassing aspect of life, work).

Perhaps, the church does still have a role to play, not only in the demarcated public of the church but also in the public of the academy (in shaping academic thought and research on the theology of work) and the public of general life (in supporting and shaping an orientation that values calling in relation to work)?

So, this review of the Protestant notions of work and contemporary challenges to this view brings us to the present day. We shall now move on to considering the role and function of the church and vocation, the case for this discussion emerges from the South African perspective for which there is some empirical theological research (cf. Forster 2014:1-9; 'Introduction to Call42' 2013).

 

Re-capturing the notion of calling in the contemporary church

In the section 'Work and calling in the Protestant tradition - The loss of vocation', an argument was presented that within Protestant theology there is an affirmation that God has a common calling for all persons (both laity and clergy). Hence, God has a purpose and will for persons at work, and for work itself. From a broad range of literature in contemporary scholarship and popular Christianity, this seems to be a finding that can be substantiated.⁴

Most persons will spend the majority of their waking hours engaged in formal or informal work. The workplace is also where they are likely to face their greatest level of stress and moral challenge, and also have the greatest opportunity to exercise their faith, explore their gifts, give expression to their abilities and make a positive contribution towards God's will for the world (Forster & Oostenbrink 2015:1-8). As discussed above, Luther saw obedience and faithfulness in all of life as a vocation, a response to God's call. Thus, one could contend that the public of the academy has an important role to play in developing theological resources for faith and work, whilst the public of church could guide its members to discover their calling and relating it to their life's vocation (Greene 2001:1-4). We shall now consider some theological resources that could be useful in these tasks.

 

Overcoming a flawed theology that upholds a dualism between faith and work life

A major area of concern that arises from the discussion about the loss of the Protestant emphasis on vocation is that we lack credible and rigorous theology on faith and work. In particular, the contemporary church seems to uphold a theology that presents a dualistic view of faith and work (Greene 2010:2-3). Such a theological perspective is a major hindrance to Christians discovering and living out God's calling for their lives, and responding in faithfulness and obedience to God's work in the world (Survey: Top challenges 2013b:6). In the 2014, Call42 research that focussed on South Africa Christians in the world of work, it was shown that the participants expressed a need, and an expectation for, theological formation, pastoral support and examples ('role models and success stories') that will aid them in discovering their calling in life and being faithful to that calling in the world of work (Survey: Top challenges 2013b:2, 6).

The London Institute for Contemporary Christianity has identified this theological inadequacy as one of the primary weaknesses of the contemporary church in relation to Christians in the world of work. Greene devotes a chapter in his book to describing 'How the workplace was lost' (Greene 2001:9ff.). He highlights five specific points, and one overarching failing, that have led to a dualism between faith and work and the loss of a sense of vocation in work. The result is that Christians in the world of work are under-supported and ill-equipped for their vocation and operate from an impoverished theology for faith and work.

As we suggested in the section 'Re-capturing the notion of calling in the contemporary church', Greene also concurs that there is a flawed theology on the status of a minister/pastor. Because the clergy take the primary responsibility for churches, they often create the impression that their work is more important to God than the work of the church's members. As was discussed, this is a return to the pre-Reformation and early post-Reformation impression that pastors, priests and missionaries do 'holy' work, whilst doctors, teachers and builders do 'profane' work (Greene 2001:9). Such dualistic views of work and vocation need to be reconsidered and corrected.

Secondly, Greene points out the flawed theology of the role of the minister. Increasingly, in the West, the minister (pastor or priest) has been seen to be responsible for enlisting the 'assistance' of the laity in executing and staffing the ministry of the congregation, rather than equipping the laity for works of ministry and service where they are (i.e. faithfulness to God in their everyday life). The question that needs to be asked is not 'What can this person do for the congregation?', but 'How could the congregation equip this person to be of service God in the world?' (Greene 2001:9).

Thirdly, Greene (2001:10) notes that we have fallen adopted a false ecclesiology. The emphasis of most contemporary churches is on the church as a gathered community. Few churches understand that they remain 'the church' when they scatter. As Forster and Power (2011:24) note, 'Monday is proof that Sunday is working'. In other words, God cares as much about what we do on a Monday morning as what we do on a Sunday morning. The ministry of the church should continue, through its members, in workplaces and homes. It should not only be confined to the location of the church building and the formal times of gathering for worship, teaching and service set aside by the congregation.⁵ The contemporary Western Church's obsession with buildings, and focus on performance in worship services has led to the development of an 'attractional' model of church, rather than a missional model of church. The church is seen as a place where people go at a certain time, rather than a community of persons who are scattered throughout the world and the week.

Fourthly, Greene contends that we have accepted a false theology of creation and money (production). We briefly discussed this in an earlier section. As persons found freedom from the Episcopacy (and the monarchy) through economic production, the church and the monarchy began to react. They were threatened by these emerging freedoms and differing 'public opinions', and so a theology emerged that overemphasised the evils of money and wealth production (cf. Smit 2007a:11-47). This does not mean that wealth and some economic systems do not present significant theological and ethical problems to certain Christian beliefs about justice, equity and temperance. Rather, it points to the historical emergence of the theological conviction that all wealth, and indeed, all of the creation of wealth, are sinful and un-Christian. In many contemporary Christian communities, wealth and wealthy persons are regarded with great suspicion and judgement. As a result, many people who have created some measure of wealth feel that the church is deeply suspicious of them, at times even rejecting them. Of course, the pursuit of money as a primary aim in life can be devastating to individuals and communities, and Greene concedes that such a focus is not in keeping with God's will for the Christian individual or society at large (Greene 2001:10-11). However, as Christians, we cannot deny that God created the world and has given each of us a role to play in it. Moreover, we are called to live faithfully and responsibly in the time and context in which we find ourselves. At times we may be required to withdraw from participating in evil social, political or economic systems. At other times, the faithful Christian will need to live a virtuous and ethical life within an imperfect social, political or economic system. We cannot deny that at present, some persons are called to preach, others are called to build, or serve, or create. The respondents to the Call42 survey, and the majority of literature that was studied in this area, agree that we can honour our Creator when we use our talents, abilities, passions and intellect in service of God's Kingdom and humanity (cf. Costa 2007:17-27; Forster & Power 2011:46-59; Greene 2001:4-8, 2010:17-23; Hillman 2005, chap. 2, 2011:7-40; Johnson 2011:113-139; Keller & Leary-Alsdorf 2012:pt. 1; Silvoso 2006:104-121, 2007:chap. 2; Spada & Scott 2011:20-41; Survey: Executive report Survey: Executive report 2012:4-7; Van Der Merwe et al. 2010:chap. 8).

The core principle that is at stake here is recognising that our labour, and our production, are not an end in themselves, but rather a means through which we can honour God and be faithful to working alongside God in achieving God's will in and for the world - which includes both human and non-human creation. The overarching theme that comes to the fore in the literature is that work is not intended as a curse to be endured, or avoided. In fact, it is given by God as a gift through which humans can participate in the missio Dei by transforming society in its various spheres (Bosch 2011:398-402). Moreover, work allows the Christian to give expression to the abilities, talents and gifts God has placed within each person. Note the direction of flow - work creates an opportunity for the expression of God-given talent, rather than talent being the creator of self-earned reward or recognition. Work also fosters the dignity of providing for the material and social needs of the individual and her or his community. As such, we need to be careful that we do not enforce the dualism that assumes that work is evil, a burden to be avoided and of no spiritual value. Work can be a gift and an expression of God's image within us. The wealth that is created through faithful work needs to be viewed with the same measure of moral responsibility as the tasks that led to its creation in the first place. It can be used unselfishly, and in service of God's will in the world.

Fifthly, Greene notes that the contemporary church has accepted a flawed approach to mission (Greene 2001:11). Many contemporary protestant and evangelical churches have focussed on evangelism and church growth, often to the exclusion of other forms of mission (such as social and economic transformation, engagement with social policy, transforming education, providing equitable healthcare, etc.). The laity, through their daily work, have many wonderful opportunities to transform, renew and strengthen social structures for the common good (amongst these are social, political and economic systems). These structures, which many of us encounter in our daily work life, are frequently the primary causes of suffering and sin in the world. Through our work, witness and service, we can contribute towards achieving God's justice, peace and flourishing for both human and non-human creation.

Greene suggests that the overarching failing of contemporary Christianity has been that it has enforced a 'great divide'. We have placed a division between the sacred and secular, between pastors and laity, between sacred spaces and profane spaces and between sacred times and profane times (Greene 2001:11, 2010:5-16). In short, we have inadvertently privatised our faith by primarily locating it within the home and the gathered church community. One way to rectify this is through re-imagining a public faith for Christianity and the church. Leslie Newbigin (1991) captures this concept very clearly and succinctly when he writes:

It should become part of the normal work of the Church to equip its members for the exercise of priesthood in the many different areas of secular [sic] life, and in terms of the specific powers that rule those areas. (p. 84)

An analysis of the Call42 survey in South Africa on faith and work showed the following (Forster 2014:5; 'The Survey' 2013:1-2):

· Christians in South Africa are struggling to find significant meaning and purpose in their work.

· There is a hunger for a deeper focus on God and the principles of God's Kingdom in every aspect of life (both those parts that are formed around the gathered church, and those parts that are formed around the 'scattered' church).

· It appears that Churches struggle to adequately envision, equip and support Christians in the world of work. There is not sufficient training and support for faithful and responsible Christian discipleship in the world of work.

· A professional career matters to God. So does work outside the congregation and within the home or community. Each of us has a role to play in advancing God's Kingdom in society.

This is an area of great opportunity for the church. It is here that we can recapture the Protestant notion of work as vocation.

 

Conclusion

This article has argued for the importance of a rediscovery of a theology of work that is based on the Protestant notion of vocation and calling. Such a view, it was argued, has the primary intention of fostering obedience and faithfulness to God. Secondarily, it can empower and equip the church and individual Christians for effective and faithful living in all spheres of life. The article showed that the influences of theological dualism, an unbalanced view of the clergy as primary agents of ministry and mission, and a structures-centred view of ministry and mission detract from the possibility of the church's ministry in every sphere of society. The conclusion of this article is that the church will need to revisit and rediscover its theology of work and vocation.

This focus on 'calling' or 'vocation' seems appropriate in light of the discussion above. Keller and Leary-Alsdorf (2012) write concerning the concept of vocation:

Today the word often means simply a job, but that was not the original sense. A job is a vocation only if someone else calls you to do it and you do it for them rather than for yourself. And so our work can be a calling only if it is reimagined as a mission of service to something beyond merely our own interests. (p. 19)

As Volf says: 'Our work can find its ultimate meaning when, in working for ourselves and community, we work for God' (Volf 2011:34).

 

Acknowledgements

With grateful thanks to Prof. Dr Wessel Bentley.

Competing interests

The author declares that he has no financial or personal relationships that may have inappropriately influenced him in writing this research article.

Author's contributions

D.A.F. is the sole author of this research article.

Ethical considerations

This article followed all ethical standards for research without direct contact with human or animal subjects.

Funding information

This research was funded in part by funding for rated researchers from the National Research Foundation.

Data availability statement

Data sharing is not applicable to this article as no new data were created or analysed in this study.

Disclaimer

The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of any affiliated agency of the author.

 

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Weber, M., 2012, The Protestant ethic and the spirit of capitalism, Courier Corporation, New York, NY.         [ Links ]

Zimmermann, J., 2012a, Humanism and religion: A call for the renewal of Western culture, Oxford University Press, Oxford.         [ Links ]

Zimmermann, J., 2012b, Incarnational humanism: A philosophy of culture for the church in the world, InterVarsity Press, Downers Grove, IL.         [ Links ]

 

 

Correspondence:
Dion A. Forster
dionforster@sun.ac.za

Received: 13 Oct. 2019
Accepted: 02 June 2020
Published: 20 Aug. 2020

 

 

1. See this very interesting reflection on Volf's work and the resurgence of interest in faith and work: Faith, work and beards, http://www.cardus.ca/comment/article/2845/faith-work-and-beards-why-abraham-kuyper-thinks-we-need-all-three (accessed 23 September 2013).
2. See, John Calvin's Doctrine of the Christian Life (Leith 2010:157).
3. John de Gruchy notes that there has been a 'critical retrieval of religious, theological and specifically Christian humanism …during the past decade' (De Gruchy 2015:195). Jens Zimmermann's two important works, Humanism and Religion (Zimmermann 2012a) which is addressed to secular humanists, and Incarnational Humanism (Zimmermann 2012b), which is more theological and so addressed to the Church and a Christian audience. These works have captured something of the importance of the rediscovery of humanism in general, and Christian humanism in particular.
4. Amongst others, Miroslav Volf has devoted much of his scholarly research to issues of faith and public life in recent years. He is the founding director of the Yale Center for Faith and Culture, and has published extensively in this field - his most recent book on this topic is A public faith: How followers of Christ should serve the common good (Volf 2011). Timothy Keller, another well-known clergyperson and theologian in contemporary western Protestantism, recently released a book with his colleague Katherine Leary Alsdorf which focuses extensively on the notion of work as a calling, Every good endeavor: Connecting your work to God's work (Keller & Leary-Alsdorf 2012). There are also many more accessible sources such as Doug Spada and Dave Scott's book Monday morning atheist: Why we turn off God at work (Spada & Scott 2011), and the South African book written by Dion Forster and Graham Power, Transform your work life: Turn your ordinary day into an extraordinary calling (Forster & Power 2011).
5. See the following article for a broader discussion of Smit's three forms of church (Forster & Oostenbrink 2015:6-8; Philander 2011:77). Also, see Smit (2007b:63-68) for a thorough theological discussion of the three 'forms' of church referred to in this article.

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ORIGINAL RESEARCH

 

The black church as the timeless witness to change and paradigm shifts posed by the Fourth Industrial Revolution

 

 

Hlulani M. Mdingi

Department of Religious Studies, Faculty of Humanities, University of Johannesburg, Johannesburg, South Africa

Correspondence

 

 

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ABSTRACT

The current technological and scientific developments of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) signal great leaps in human intellect and creativity. At the crossroad of great steps into the future, a future that will be determined by science and innovation, the smeared bond between theology and science recoils upon theological consideration of human intellect. Black liberation theology has stressed a change in paradigm, which takes oppression, class and intellect seriously. This research seeks to elaborate that a general acceptance of human intellect and science tends to ignore that modern-day science is part of Western civilisation. The Western world view remains dominant in the world. It will be argued that while the 4IR is important, the intellect, politics, economics and need for a 4IR, however, remain synonymous with the need of the West to 'civilise' the world. Institutions such as the World Economic Forum are Western institutions and still represent the goals of Western civilisation. This article argues that great leaps in science must be measured by the Christian church's commitment to eschatology and a building of an egalitarian society on earth. The article seeks to explore if the notion of a black church can be instrumental in the 4IR for focusing on the human condition and humanity of the oppressed in Africa and Latin America. The article argues that the church's role is to witness great change in society and it must be prepared to actively respond to great societal change posed by the 4IR.
CONTRIBUTION: This article focuses on theology and the Fourth Industrial Revolution, as such, cutting across disciplines. This allows engagements to occur in all disciplines, proving the relevance of theology today. The contribution of this research is its emphasis on the role of theology within techno-political development

Keywords: 4IR; Intellect; Black church; Technology; AI; Black theology.

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Introduction: Political and epistemological clarification

The subject of scientific inquiry and technological advancement that characterises the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) is not foreign to theology and in the history of the church.¹ The scientific and philosophical debates that occurred during the enlightenment between science and the church resulted in two approaches to understand reality: (1) a theistic world view with teleological acceptance of nature and intelligent design and (2) the material reading of the world without the need for a transcendent deity (Barret 2000; Gillespie 2008). As it appears, 4IR has no metaphysical inclination towards the nature of the world and human beings.² Perhaps, the philosophical undertones and epistemology that drive towards the acceptance of materialism in relation to the nature of reality and that are found in materialism are accepted as the school of thought that defines reality today.

The philosophical rejection of a metaphysical understanding of the world is visible in the impulse of human beings beginning to recreate, replicate and restructure biological systems. God is dead, not in the Nietzschean sense of morals and values but in application of redefining the world and all in it, a quest of 4IR. The most important aspects of 4IR, such as biotechnology, digitisation and transhumanism, and more importantly, the role of artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics, come in a direct confrontation with the more fundamental aspects of theology, which relates to human beings, nature and God. Whilst they may be good aspects of 4IR, the more important, fundamental and dangerous aspects of it require the church to be on guard.

For black liberation theology, the theological and epistemological underpinnings of the material reading of the world become important for politics, economics and an expression of faith of those who have been marginalised in the world. Mabasa (1984:56-57) remarked in an address to the Forum of National Unity that '[r]evolution cannot be imported nor exported'. Revolutions, including scientific revolutions, are aligned with national and continental demands of a particular society. Human solidarity for progress, oppression and intellect are ideals that can be shared across civilisations and societies. However, like previous revolutions, often occurring within the techno-political context of the West, it points to a revolution that is imported and imposed through an institution such as the World Economic Forum to affect the world. In short, technology has gone against the grain of political ideology and philosophy that wrestle with the existential reality and datum of a particular people and context, especially when liberation is a prerogative. As such, 4IR is not just viewed from a vantage point of great leaps in human intellect. Central to the argument of this research is to bring attention to the fact that definitions of human intellect and progress are woven by appendages of geopolitical contexts, which draw from the historical contestation of who is human. Africa and Latin America are still attempting to express its humanity through the desire to be liberated and self-authenticated. Technology is useful for humanity; however, it is not devoid of cultural influences. This research does not negate the use of Western technology for black people but instead seeks to move black people's technological development within their own prerogatives of liberation.

 

Human intellect and Africa and Latin America

Human intellect, which has been bequeathed by nature or God, should not lead humanity to a collective hallucination of reality that will result in devastation. In the Black World, 4IR should not be imported or at least not in its entirety. Artificial intelligence, which is fundamental for 4IR, requires serious scrutiny as it will influence humanity and the world. Tergmark³ noted that in the area of AI 'it might be the greatest invention for humanity or the biggest mistake in human history'. As such, any form of intelligence or intellect must be properly guided. Theology suggests that human intellect is bequeathed to us by the creator. However, the evolution and revolution occurring through 4IR are unparalleled. This is an evolution not decided by natural process; instead, it is an evolution guided by human intellect and the concentration of global political power. At a biological level, nature sees an evolution beyond biological systems - a blending of metaphysics or ontology and nature. This [r]evolution, 4IR, is ontological and influences biological, architectural, molecular and atomic systems. Schwab (2016) argues:

The word 'revolution' denotes abrupt and radical change. Revolutions have occurred throughout history when new technologies and novel ways of perceiving the world trigger a profound change in economic systems and social structures. Given that history is used as a frame of reference, the abruptness of these changes may take years to unfold. (p. 11)

Schwab (2016:8) further argues that '[t]he changes are so profound that, from the perspective of human history, there has never been a time of greater promise or potential peril'. The promise and peril noted by Schwab make black liberation theology the notion of a black church and position the church to bear witness to a possible beginning or end. The church has witnessed the historical unfolding of the modern world for two millennia. The ability of human intellect, interpretive aesthetics and expressions, such as language and symbols of mathematics, is galvanised to give a human language to natural phenomena. The point of argument highlights the fact that somehow intellect has been able to replicate biological systems through arrangement of natural properties, which proves to be a continual and communal blending of humans' consciousness (intellect) in re-arranging the world. Disciplines of humanities and the sciences have long been entangled, even beyond the debate of religion and science. The relationship between intellect and nature is proved in architectural structures that see a new birthing of humanity and nature by science and technology and science becomes the midwife moving humanity from biological and dialectical relationship of human and 'Mother Nature to mothering nature'.⁴ The leap to mothering nature raises fundamental epistemological, political and theological concerns for the church and its doctrines. Oxman (2016) further argues that:

If 'nature' is described as 'anything that supports life', and if life 'cannot be sustained without culture', the two belief systems collapse into singularity. In this singularity, Nature claims the infrastructure of civilization and, equally so, culture now enables the design of Nature herself. (p. 7)

There seems to be an epistemological crisis to scientific discovery. The singularity that Oxman (2016) refers to is an ideal that already existed in other non-European cultures not plagued by the slaughtering effect of the Enlightenment's rationalism, deduction and empiricism. The interconnectedness of all reality has always been cherished by beliefs systems (even Judeo-Christianity) that acknowledge God, human and nature. It seems plausible, considering Oxman (2016), to note that 4IR discoveries are late conceptions for the wholeness of life emerging from the West. Their sudden interest in the connection or connecting of nature and reality raises fear for the real intents of 4IR. The church must become a timeless witness even at moments of great scientific revolutions. Furthermore, it raises the hermeneutical and epistemological ambience for liberation theology and the notion of the black church in engaging the world.⁵

 

What is the Fourth Industrial Revolution?

The 4IR has been announced as development that will change human experience (see Schwab 2016). It draws from the three preceding industrial revolutions, which produced steam trains and printing press, electricity and the technological era, and these revolutions had little emphasis on the human being. Bloem et al. (2014) assert that:

The Industrial Revolution is a concept and a development that has fundamentally changed our society and economy. The term 'development' may seem to indicate some tardiness in the context of a 'revolution', which really signifies a rapid and fundamental change, but there is no doubt that major alterations occurred within a relatively short period. (p. 11)

Bloem et al. (2014:11) further note that the second and third industrial revolutions of the 20th century are usually typified by mass production, the conveyor belt and digital automation. Ferrari (2017:S2626) pointed out that the Second Industrial Revolution focused on mass production because of steam power and the Third Industrial Revolution was predominantly about electronics and information technology.

Unlike the previous revolutions, 4IR is based on AI, Internet of things (IoT), three-dimensional (3D) printing and genetic engineering (see Prisecaru 2016:58). The 4IR seems to be evolutionary in its unfolding as it continues from the gains that have come to classify the modern period and especially with regard to human intellect and moulding the world to a desired reality. It gives rise to scientific achievement such as robotics, nanotechnology, transport, IoT, virtual reality, biotech, blockchain, 3D and four-dimensional (4D) printing. Schwab (2016:31) asserts that '[t]he scale and breadth of the unfolding technological revolution will usher in economic, social and cultural changes of such phenomenal proportions that they are almost impossible to envisage'. What Schwab asserts is true as 4IR entails serious expectation of the future, such as the future of energy, which will be characterised by new solar energy and wind energy to introduce fossil-free energy (see Van Hooijdonk 2018).

The Fourth Industrial Revolution includes the role of AI in the future. Artificial intelligence and biotechnology seem to be the most eyebrow-raising topics of 4IR for the church because of their connotation to human beings in relation to intellect and genes without the role of a creator. There are two forms of AI, namely, strong AI and weak AI. Strong AI refers to machines having the ability to think as humans. Weak AI refers to machines being made to look as if they are intelligent (Kumar & Thakur 2012:57). The roots of AI are in the fields of philosophy, logic or mathematics, computation, psychology or cognitive science and biology or neuroscience (Kumar & Thakur 2012:58). Kumar and Thakur (2012:58) assert that '[a]n important goal of AI research is to devise machines to perform various tasks which normally require human intelligence'. The bond of biology and AI rests on the role of intelligence in the human brain. This bond is expressed in artificial neural networks that use AI as an application, which mimics human intellect. Kumar and Thakur (2012) assert that:

Generalization is the only ability that makes ANNs so powerful tool. How the human brain works, it learns to realise patterns and remembers them. Similarly, the neural networks developed have the ability to learn patterns and remember. (pp. 58-59)

Learning methods in neural networks are divided into three sections: (1) supervised learning that requires an external teacher, (2) unsupervised learning that requires an external teacher because of links to self-organisation and (3) reinforced learning that is set up as learning with a critic rather than a teacher (Kumar & Thakur 2012:59). Part of AI is the use of a brain-computer interface, which allows a human to control a robot with his or her brain (Kumar & Thakur 2012:60). Furthermore, robotics is a central feature for AI. According to Kumar and Thakur (2012):

Robotics is one field within artificial intelligence. The term 'artificial intelligence' is defined as systems that combine sophisticated hardware and software with elaborate databases and knowledge-based processing models to demonstrate characteristics of effective human decision making. (p. 65)

Kumar and Thakur (2012) further give insights into the variation in the strands of AI and their relation to autonomous robotics:

Traditional Robotics uses Artificial Intelligence planning techniques to program robot behaviors and works toward robots as technical devices that have to be developed and controlled by a human engineer. The Autonomous Robotics approach suggests that robots could develop and control themselves autonomously. These robots are able to adapt to both uncertain and incomplete information in constantly changing environments. It lets a simulated evolution process develop adaptive robots. (p. 65)

The importance of reflecting on AI is fundamental in discussions about human intellect. Artificial intelligence as proposed by 4IR has something to say about human beings and the human condition (Tergmak warning). Prisecaru (2016:57) notes that the previous revolutions resulted in change from a feudal society to an industrial and capitalist society and are leading to post-industrial societies without physical labour and mental efforts. Those revolutions did very little in uplifting the human condition because of profit. The discussions about the continuation of the third revolution into the fourth revolution are best expressed in Rifkin's (2008:4-7) expression of the goals of the Third Industrial Revolution (see Prisecaru 2016:57): (1) the shift from fossil fuel to renewables, (2) transforming the building stock to green microplants, (3) the use of hydrogen in all buildings, (4) the technology of the Internet to transform electricity network and (5) the ability to transform transport systems to using electricity. The Fourth Industrial Revolution is at a vintage point because of the nexus and connection caused by the IoT. Prisecaru (2016) asserts that:

The so-called Internet of Things will transform the world enhancing the labor productivity, making transport more efficient diminishing the energy needs, supporting dealing more effectively with climate change, as due to electronic means offered by Internet one may usually send and receive data from other devices or from individuals. (p. 58)

Prisecaru's (2016) analysis of human obsolescence in the workplace suggests a limit for humans despite the already existing low wage of the poor. Rifkin's (2008:4-7) proposal of renewables reflects the effects of a profit-driven society that has contributed to the destruction of the ecosystem - creation. These points of human value and nature become cardinal points for the church witness, especially considering the psychological, economic and cultural shift that profit-driven markets are capable of doing in the world. The Christian church must be rooted in creation and must have the moral responsibility of being Imago Dei.

Another aspect of the 4IR is its influence of design and nature.⁶ Ferrari (2017) states that design has transformed based on the environment or the influence of natural surroundings. Ferrari (2017:S2625) notes various periods that entail the relationship between human, nature and design. He points to the periods of Homo Faber (the maker of things in the Neolithic Age), humans as machine creators and the age of the Homo Gubernator (humans in an age of cybernetics, high technology and in the age of complexity). The insights from Ferrari (2017) point to the role of humans in development, and advancement decided upon by ecological prerogatives and existential needs. Oxman (2010) asserts that:

Nature is demonstrably sustainable. Her challenges have been resolved over eons with enduring solutions with maximal performance using minimal resources. Unsurprisingly, nature's inventions have for all time prompted human achievements and have led to the creation of exceedingly effective materials and structures, as well as methods, tools, mechanisms and systems by which to design them. (p. 81)

The Edenic setting is explicit in Oxman's view of the intervention and interconnection of nature and human creativity that sees human beings augment nature to work side by side with humans. The creative aspect in human beings has led humans to develop tools that could assist them in design. It is worth noting that despite the role of material and applied sciences in 4IR, the role of the mind, whether by human design or the mind behind creation, remains inextricable from creativity, creation and humanity. This point is important for metaphysical reflection on nature and the view of humans as Imago Dei. If natural selection or God allows human development to flourish on the basis of the environment, the Black World cannot ignore its own impulse for development. More so, the indigenous religions have moulded reality within the confines of a culture and as a testimony to creation. Daneel (1999:218) noted that Africans have always seen themselves as earthkeepers, and the earth becomes the sacramental table to African spirituality. This position of the metaphysical, in the form of thought behind creation and design, becomes extremely important for epistemological reasons.

Ferrari (2017:S2626) notes that Schwab (2016:12, 156) has described 4IR as a fusion of technology cutting across disciplines and blurring the lines between physical, digital and biological spheres. Epistemologically, this point is important in relation to the definition of reality that goes beyond the abstract - though linked by ontological leanings to abstraction - forcing perceptual and existential change. The West, at least through 4IR, is seemingly late in connecting reality or understanding the importance of a multidisciplinary⁷ approach. The Fourth Industrial Revolution is Western, just as previous industrial revolutions that occurred in Europe and America and for the benefit of superpowers. As such, the design of primitive humans extends the abstract connection to form, reality and needs. Doubrovski et al. (2015) assert that:

Form, structure, material, and function are intimately intertwined in Nature, complementing and relying upon each other. The evolution of both form and material occurs in tandem, informed by their environment and enabled by the process of material fabrication. (p. 3)

Doubrovski et al.'s (2015) view demonstrates the intersectionality of what is defined as nature, and by extension defines what is conceived as reality and natural processes. The change of epistemology is expressed by Oxman (2016:2) when she stated, '[a]t the dawn of the new millennium, the meme "antidisciplinary" appeared, yanking us out of Aristotle's shadow and into a new "Age of Entanglement"'. This entanglement, which is recent in Europe, has long been expressed in the indigenous people's natural theology and science (Ani 1994:66-67). If 4IR is true, then a part of it had long been anticipated in the world views of the black people of the world. People bound reality together without distinct or distant pockets of reality and truth (Ani 1994:67). The fact that nature has been at the core of aspects of belief systems suggests that Schwab (2018:12, 156) is late - the blurring lines across disciplines have been pervasive outside of Europe and Western civilisation. The interconnection of things is correctly expressed by 4IR although there should be anxiety about the culture to lead the world into this new dawn. This point then draws the discussion around 4IR to a geopolitical context of the West. Maynard (2015) noting a new framework being promoted in Germany and adopted in other countries asserts that:

This technological convergence is increasingly being referred to as the 'fourth industrial revolution', and like its predecessors, it promises to transform the ways we live and the environments we live in. (p. 1005)

Maynard (2015) located this shift in Germany and gives hermeneutical and epistemological insights that make the discussion of 4IR a cultural prerogative of a certain civilisation seeking to perfect technological know-how (Biko 1978:51). It is that cultural prerogative that liberation theology must safeguard against.

 

Why theology is important for this discussion

Gillespie (2008) provides theological roots of modernity because science and technology are the product of modernity. Modernity extends the projection of humanity and makes humanity cast out or postpone their conception of the end of day. Gillespie (2008:2) argues that modernity is a description of oneself in terms of time, one's own being, freedom and interaction with the world. He argues that the advancement of science and technology in relation to the modern world is closely linked to the scientific revolution. Barret (2000) notes that Greek natural philosophy and science brought challenges to the church authority and Aristotle. Barret (2000:4) gives historical phases of natural science, scientific century (14th century), Copernicus' heliocentricity (1543), Kepler's planetary motion (1596), Galileo's telescope (1604) and Newton's Principia Mathematica (1687). In philosophy, it was Descartes who stressed about deductive thought and Francis Bacon who emphasised the use of data. This period identified the role of human reason (the mind) and consciousness, especially in demonstrating the consciousness of matter. Gillespie (2008:4) notes that some Christian thinkers thought about modernity as 'standing on a threshold of eternity'. The human experience, which occurs through the channel of time, validates the fundamental difference between antiquity and the move to modernity, and Gillespie notes that the early generation of modernists such as Bacon saw the ideas of the Greeks as incomparable to his age, which was largely because of the human experience. Gillespie (2008) commenting on Bacon's view argues that:

What underlay this changed evaluation of antiquity was not merely a new notion of knowledge but also a new notion of time not as circular and finite but as linear and infinite. Change was pictured as a continuous natural process that free human beings could master and control through the application of proper scientific method. In this way they could become masters and possessors of nature and thereby produce a hospitable world for themselves. (p. 5)

The role of technology and science within the human experience, which sought to produce a hospitable world, has political implication. Marx's analysis of revolution was not the rejection of the great strides of human intellect demonstrated in the development of technology and science but on the gains of such developments shared by all (Gillespie 2008:7). This sharing of the gains has been impossible and raises questions for the future. Theology, although it has been ignored in the discussion of 4IR, is important to the rise of modernity. Barret (2000:10-12) noted that science, physics in particular, has revealed accurate measurements through experiments; it has proved the usefulness of mathematics. However, science and mathematics are limited. Barret (2000) asserts that:

In contrast, theology has a much wider scope. Its basic task is to seek the deepest level of understanding of whatever is the entire range of reality, taking into account the insights and knowledge derived from other disciplines. Therefore theology is encouraged to be an integrating discipline, drawing upon wide-ranging insights in the formulation of a metaphysical theory of all that is. Some physicists say confidently that a 'theory of everything' will be discovered one day, but it is to theology, not theoretical physics, that one should look for a genuine theory of everything, a meta-narrative which brings together the unfolding world-picture of science and the paradoxes of human experience and understanding. (p. 11)

One could argue that theology is important for its metaphysical or theistic emphasis on reality although (black) liberation theology proposes an existential activity of this metaphysical deity. Gillespie (2008:14) notes that the vigour and drive towards a scientific world view are because of this metaphysical position of theology and the church. He argues (Gillespie 2008) that:

The epochal question that gave birth to the modern age arose out of metaphysical/theological crisis within Christianity about the nature of God and thus the nature of being. This crisis was most evident as the nominalist revolution against scholasticism. This revolution in thought, however, was itself a reflection of a deeper transformation in the experience of existence as such. Scholastics in the High Middle Ages were ontologically realist, that is to say, they believed in the real existence of universals, or to put the matter another way, they experienced the world as the instantiation of the categories of divine reason. They experienced, believed in, and asserted the ultimate reality not of particular things but of universals, and they articulated this experience in a syllogistic logic that was perceived to correspond to or reflect divine reason. Creation itself was the embodiment of this reason, and man, as the rational animal and imago dei, stood at the pinnacle of this creation, guided by a natural telos and a divinely revealed supernatural goal. (p. 14)

The metaphysical influence on the modern scientific drive took seriously the concept of God and creation. Christian theology becomes important especially because the 4IR is an evolutional process that is guided not only by a divine mind or authority but also by human intellect, politics and scientific and mathematical tools. If modernity occurred within the confines of metaphysics, then in the age of the 4IR, God has been replaced as the divine mind or divine reason in the new era of evolution in order for the human mind to be the guiding force for change and development. The divine mind should be the mind of the God of the oppressed, which is a mind that grasps human intellect, greed, deceit and vulnerability to cause harm to the world and other species.

 

The black church: The ecclesia of disembowelled and disembodied

The method of describing the notion of a black church notes it as a religious experience of people of African descent. This theological expression links the experiences of Africans in North America and South Africa (see Maimela 2005:29). Furthermore, in Africa, Maluleka (2004) noted that theological innovation all stems from what is called African Christianity, which influences the aims of black theology and African theology. The notion of a black church is a religious experience for those denied of human intelligence and those subjected to dehumanisation. The notion of the black church has epistemological, hermeneutical and political concerns of the oppressed and black people. Boesak (2004:56) noted that black theology was bringing a message of the gospel to our people and in light of their situation. The role of bringing the gospel to the oppressed remains even in 4IR to stress the demand of the oppressed in great technological advancement.

The black church is central to the questions raised concerning human intellect and technology, especially with reference to 4IR. The black church can be described as the black religious experience shared by black people across denominational lines, in the continent and diaspora. The black church transcends church buildings and becomes a religious experience of those deemed as subhuman and thus enslaved for the enterprise of servitude to white and Western socio-economic, technological and cultural expansion. The role of a black church expresses liberation as central to articulation of faith and belief in a transcendent God, who is revealed intellectually, politically and existentially to black Christianity. Billingsley (1999:7) notes the historical African American black church, in the person of the black preacher: '[t]he preacher is the most unique personality developed by the Negro on American soil. A leader, a politician, an orator, a boss, an intriguer an idealist'.

The role of the black preacher or theologian in the 21st century should be modelled around the Negro preacher who is the 'idealist, politician and leader' in order to mould the spiritual and intellectual aspects of believers and context towards an egalitarian conception of freedom rooted in an intervening and community-based God, while protecting the intellect of its believers from carelessness and naivetés that are possible in blind faith and acceptance of 4IR. This carelessness and naivetés will be demonstrated by the gullibility of black people and the oppressed in believing that 4IR has their aspiration at heart. When South African leaders visited Davos during 2016-2020 (see World Economic Forum 2016), they were presented a picture of the 4IR as a given, without critique, to solve their historical problems as a society. However, there are good things that 4IR provides, for instance, in education (Xing & Marwala 2017), which should not ignore the human condition.

West (1999:62), in the American context, argues that '[b]lack people became Christians for intellectual, existential and political reasons'. If this can be argued to also be the case elsewhere in the world, black Christian encounter with the world and even in great leaps into the sciences requires clarity of their humanity, their intellect that allows the Black World, Africa and Latin America to decide on their sovereignty, future and aspirations. West (1999:70) notes that the humanity and equality of black people as humans are a recent discovery in the modern West and in sciences, and it is problematic as it underlines factors to be considered with regard to intellectual capacity.

Black liberation theology should understand that great leaps in sciences, especially engineered by advanced countries, pose a threat to human capacity. Technological progress must be judged in light of constantly evolving white supremacy (West 1999:70), with awareness that the oppressed do not remain servile to the dictates of Western intellectual and political needs. The Fourth Industrial Revolution, whilst seeking to advance humanity to a new reality of human existence, must seriously consider the effect of 400 years of oppression in underdeveloped countries, especially as an intellectual setback. The denial of the humanity of others includes the denial of their intellect. Great advancement hangs at the threshold of multiple possibilities. Averill (1974) explains the threshold as follows:

Existence 'on the boundary' - awareness at once of the stubbornness and the fragility of human life, of the possibility of an expanded humanness and humaneness beyond all our dreams, and yet of the possibility, too, of a dehumanization beyond all our nightmares - this boundary-line situation is probably the most pervasive themes of our present culture. (p. 13)

Averill's (1974) analysis provides the constant role that the notion of black church should continue to play, which is a deep commitment to the value of human fragility and the importance of humaneness, which should not be replaced by technology. The dispute of the 16th-century Europe between church and science witnessed a breakaway of those who wanted to make use of human intellect, which was negated by religious dogma. The religious and scientific players were both Western. Through historical processes, both the religious and scientific positions of Western civilisation converged in oppression and world domination. West (1999:63) noted that the black religious experience had and has its own intellectual prerogatives. These prerogatives, namely, liberation and sovereignty, will make black people become their own inventors inspired by their geopolitical context of the Global South (Hlatshwayo 2019:28).

Advanced technological development poses serious existential anxieties to blackness, black spirituality, justice, human condition and liberation. The dimension of Western science and black liberation shares a historical connection. The West sees scientific advancement as human progression. However, the black experience seems to see it as armoury of the Western domination of the world. The black experience creates the viewpoint that ideas and human beings are set against this armoury, veiled in scientific development and progress. Tiro (1972) validates this point by pointing out that Western weaponry or technology cannot prohibit liberation.

Tiro (1972) emphasised education and ideas operating within the political paradigm. Education cannot be isolated from political and economic progress, especially in the Black World or Africa and Latin America. Tiro also highlights strong themes that run deep in the black liberation struggle, black consciousness, black radical tradition and black theology, which are greatly against technological progress, usually demonstrated in armoury. Technology as used by the West has undermined being human. Biko (1978:51) points out, '[w]e reject the power based society of the Westerner that seeks to be ever concerned with perfecting their technological know-how while losing out on their spiritual dimension'. Throughout the prospects of black liberation, science, especially technology, has been viewed with scrutiny. There is a distrust concerning the real intents of Western civilisation and technology. Malcolm's speech The Ballot or the Bullet (1964) highlights distrust and willingness to fight against the technological odds. Mabasa (1983) argues that:

In our country, Black people are faced with the task of having to defeat an enemy armed to the teeth with destructive weapons of modern technology. We know that the outcome of our battle will not be decided by technology but by the will of our people. The final outcome will not be decided by the massive accumulation of weapons, however genocidal, but by the local and historical consciousness of the masses, the peoples involved and determined to resist the violence with whatever means available to defend themselves in an implacable contest. (pp. 136-137).

Black liberation, which often stresses humans above technology, reflects the irreconcilable reality of the oppressed with Western technology. Moreover, it highlights the dangers of science and its progress that is problematic when all forms of injustices against black people and the oppressed have not been equitably resolved. West (1999:115) notes how globalisation, which praises science, biology and technology, makes the effects of racism outdated.

West (1999:115) notes that race has been made irrelevant in the modern and materialistic context, contrary to the deep theistic vision of black theology and liberation. The fact that scientific and technological innovations and biology through globalisation make race irrelevant becomes a point of deep meditation and reflection for the black church. Modernity brought out the worst in human beings (Gillespie 2008:7) that those affected by the modern project usually are the downtrodden who are not even considered fully human by those who are already human and with multiple strands of power. Gillespie notes that Heidegger saw an ontological deconstruction of Western rationalism as a prerogative of this age in order to usher in a new beginning. He notes Heidegger's view of an ontological deconstruction and Nietzsche's pronunciation of the death of God, which is the death of Western Christian values, and he believes in the new openness of the world (Gillespie 2008:12-23). Whilst war and various forms of injustices can occur in the transformative pattern of the world, the room for possibility is open. Nietzsche and Heidegger represent the philosophical strand of thought away from classical metaphysics.

The universe, through the scientific revolution and the emergence of mechanical philosophy, proved to be a mathematical design and mathematically precise mechanism in the form of the universe. This approach in the sciences rejected and dispelled the metaphysical and the spirit-filled conception of the universe as an organism (Barret 2000). Whether there occurs an ontological destruction or change of values according to Heidegger and Nietzsche, the fact that these developments should occur in the West reflects the 'unique' position Western civilisation has. Western civilisation determines its changes contrary to the demands of Western civilisation and globalisations imposed on those it lords over. Barret (2000:16-21) provides a serious reflection and question on the scientific revolution. Barret asks why the scientific revolution did not occur in China, India and in the Islamic world because these three nations had advanced mathematics, science, astronomy and so on. Barret, however, gives insights into why this scientific revolution occurred in Europe and bases his argument on the fact that these three nations had a deep metaphysical doctrine embedded in their belief about the world and reality. Western civilisation easily rejects the metaphysical approach as intrinsic to existence and intellect (Ani 1994; Biko 1978). This point is important in understanding why Western civilisation through its advances easily tramples on the belief systems of those it oppresses.

The rise of scientific advancement should not ignore the fact that the poor are bound in their existence by a deep sense of vulnerability to existing systems dictated by the will of the powerful. The black church, which has its roots in invisibility and namelessness, becomes the openness for possibilities, which guides the intellectual achievements of the poor and the metaphysical presence that permeate the world. For black Christianity, with serious consideration of black dehumanisation, metaphysical conceptions of God re-ignite an ethical system based on something beyond the physiological self. The rise of applied and materials sciences should be kept in check by the intellectual and political strivings of the black church as the ambience of human expression and an encounter with the God of the oppressed. This ecclesiastical approach of the black church should be bound to a continual critique of humans' self-destruction or the destruction of others in the world, whilst expressing the constant anxiety and worry that scientific achievements have on the oppressed.

Scientific advancements require a religious and moral position, more so, because theology through the doctrine of hamartia has emphasised the fallen statue of human beings and the human condition. Human fragility and limitedness require moral agents. A moral standard perceives and conceptualises within science and becomes inseparable from science and guiding the 4IR. Gillespie (2008) asserts:

Faith in the modern project and idea of progress was shattered by the events of all the first of the twentieth century. The First World War in particular revealed that the progressive development of human power was not simply constructive but could also be hideously destructive, and that technical progress was not identical with moral progress or with increasing human well-being. (p. 7)

The idea of world wars and human power is political in its reference because of the superpower of the world that wills who lives and dies through technological weapons, economics and poverty. Gillespie (2008:15) has pointed out the replacement of an infinite God with a powerful God favoured by the nominalist. As such, a link can be drawn between the God of power and human power in the 21st century. The idea of a powerful God can serve the oppressed through relating the power of God in relation to liberation. That powerful God within the black experience transmits human love in the black church. Power transformed into love becomes a guiding force for liberation and should stimulate anew conceptions of the formulation of human intellect and science.

There is a great benefit, at least if some part of 4IR is seen as self-critique of the West, especially around the ecological crisis that affects the world because of profit and dehumanisation. Rifkin (2012:8-10) has lamented about the effects of fossil fuels on earth. Rifkin (2008:2) notes that there is a need for a different economic narrative that will lead the world into a new direction of renewed energy and use of technology, blending it with the importance of material ecology, which would cast off the burden of previous revolutions that detached the environment from the design of architecture (Oxman 2013). Hensel and Menges (2006:61-64) have argued for morphological intelligence, democratic space and sustainable design. Their definition of morphological intelligence relies on nature's own intelligence being part of the creative ingredient in forming infrastructure. Hensel and Menges (2006) assert that:

A remedy may be found in an understanding of architecture as ecology, involving dynamic and varied relations and mutual modulation between material systems, macro-and micro-environmental conditions, and individual and collective inhabitation. (p. 63)

The notion of a black church should be cognisant of the fact raised by Gillespie (2008:42): '[m]odernity has two goals - to make man master and possessors of nature and to make human freedom possible'. Unfortunately, nature has been subdued and the freedom of other human beings outside of the West has not been realised. Nature and its humanity have been bundled up as one. For the black church and the churches that saw nature as their sacrament (Daneel 1999:218), it becomes clear that the change in the world is because of existence on earth being a prerogative. Black Christianity accepts cultural fluency, intellectual vitality for Africa and black people to think on their own. The notion of a black church becomes a place of emphasising the value of being human. Hlatshwayo (2019) has been critical of 4IR, especially with regard to its relation with capitalism and replacing of humans by a system that dehumanises human beings in the world.

Ani (1994:29-30) has pointed out that the African world view has similarities with other people who are not of European descent. The role of origin and sacredness is deeply rooted in their conception of truth and reality. Ani (1994:67) argues that '[t]he definition of European science reflects European consciousness, and the style of thought generated by that consciousness has become ideological'. What Ani points to supports the epistemological, political and existential anxieties that black people and the black church should have concerning great scientific progress proposed by the West. The value of culture and indigenous world views need to be reaffirmed in the scientific project of great leaps of science in the Black World. This affirmation reminds black people, especially through black theology why it is important to continue stressing the value of humans despite technological know-how (Biko 1978:51). For black liberation theology, the role of Jesus is one of a liberator and a symbol of African metaphysics, which should inform the role of the divine and human in our sciences. Ani (1994) argues:

In the African World-view it is the eternal cycle of life that offers the possibility of transcendence of harmonious interrelationship of wholeness, integration, and organicity. The concept is spiritually satisfying. The European, on the other hand, is perceptually and phenomenally (experientially) limited by his linear conception of reality. There is no link between past, present, and future save a 'casual' link. There is no scared time. History is limited to the secular. Even the most meaningful religious image in the European tradition - that of Christ - is only seen to have value in so far as it can be placed within a 'historic' sequence. It does not have a sacred validity, but a secular one. The dominance of lineal models perhaps helps to account for the spiritual malaise of European societies. (pp. 67-68)

 

Conclusion

The Fourth Industrial Revolution is an important technological development; however, it threatens life on earth, as we know it. The notion of the black church accepts great change and participation with that change. However, drawing black use of technology around their prerogatives, black theology is an existential relation of black people to God, with important emphasis on their humanity and fragility. This aspect of Imago Dei and the God of the oppressed is important against a pure materialist development of the world, which might be worse than colonialism, slavery and all forms of injustices visited on the oppressed. Stewart (1999:103-104) noted that the black church represents empowerment, transformation and liberation for black people on various levels, which is a role that it should continue to play. The Fourth Industrial Revolution should not be taken as a given and black liberation theology, the notion of the black church, should safeguard against Africa, Latin America and the Black World being subservient to power through a technological advantage of developed countries.

 

Acknowledgements

This article is dedicated to the black church and the current changes which the church will face during the 4IR.

Competing interests

The author declares that he has no financial or personal relationships that may have inappropriately influenced him in writing this article.

Author's contributions

H.M.M. is the sole author of this research article.

Ethical considerations

This article followed all ethical standards for research without direct contact with human or animal subjects.

Funding information

This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.

Data availability statement

Data sharing is not applicable to this article as no new data were created or analysed in this study.

Disclaimer

The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of any affiliated agency of the author.

 

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Correspondence:
Hlulani M. Mdingi
btheology9@gmail.com

Received: 13 Mar. 2020
Accepted: 25 May 2020
Published: 03 Aug. 2020

 

 

1. In this research, church has two connotations: (1) it refers to a more 'catholic' vision of faith. (2) The broad or catholic definition of the church is replaced by a black church because of the role Western Christianity has played in oppression.
2. See John Lennox's talk on AI held on 09 October 2018 at Zacharias Institute in Alpharetta, GA.
3. Max Tergmark is a theoretical physicist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He discussed Artificial Intelligence (AI) in relation to Human 3.0 at MIT (see Fridman 2018).
4. See Neri Oxman TED Talks on Design at the Intersection of Technology and Biology.
5. I have not come across any material on black theology and 4IR.
6. Theologically, this approach ignites the parabolic Edenic setting of Genesis 1-3, with human beings given the responsibility of tilling the land. The role of design in 4IR is important for reflection in the black world, especially, with regard to the land question, the link between indigenous religion and the environment.
7. The use of multidisciplinary here is meant to convey the interrelatedness of all things and knowledge systems. An approach that an African world view holds close to a definition of reality, knowledge and religion (see Marimba Ani Yurugu 67-68).

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ORIGINAL RESEARCH

 

Transformational diaconia as educative praxis in care within the present poverty-stricken South African context

 

 

Smith F.K. Tettey; Malan Nel

Department of Practical Theology, Faculty of Theology, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa

Correspondence

 

 

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ABSTRACT

This article explores how ministerial and leadership formation could be enabled to adopt transformational diaconia in addressing poverty in South Africa, engaging in ways in which pastoral care and leadership formation can respond to the addressing of poverty. The fact that transformation aims at changing the worldviews, paradigms and approaches to life and problem solving informs the author's concept of transformational diaconia, which was proposed as an aspect of spiritual leadership capital (SLC), defined as, 'The inner virtues afforded individuals by their spirituality in formulating their leadership paradigms which contributes to social capital formation for addressing social problems'. Spiritual leadership capital is hereby argued to be a transformative spirituality that can enable an understanding and sustainable responses to poverty and other social problems. This is needed for Africa and particularly for the present day South Africa, seemingly a country with the best infrastructure in Africa; yet its poverty seems pronounced because the dregs of apartheid still lurk in the social fibre, where poor people blame rich people for their plight and vice versa. Bowers Du Toit's view that '[m]ost congregations respond to poverty by providing relief and not empowerment', re-echoes here. From a mixed-methods research, SLC is a theory recently advanced as a congregational development paradigm and a theology of poverty, which views public theology as an educative praxis that can respond to transformational needs in poverty-related contexts. The authors suggest that for a Church that is responsive to the plight of society, fresh empowerment approaches to address poverty are needed.

Keywords: Transformational diaconia; Spiritual leadership capital; Reconstructive compassion; Public theology; Pastoral care; Poverty; Educative praxis; South African context.

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Introduction

In this article, the authors discuss the role of diaconia as part of the church's role in the world, particularly focused on pastoral care as an educative praxis towards the addressing of poverty in South Africa.

Transformational diaconia as an educative praxis is a perspective argued as part of the spiritual leadership capital (SLC) theory advanced in a recent doctoral thesis by Dr Smith F.K. Tettey,¹ similar to but not the same as what the Lutheran World Federation described as transformative diaconia, which could further be traced to Nordstokke (ed. 2009) who presented a paper to the World Council of Churches (WCC), where it was suggested to help overcome the so-called helpers' syndromes, practices and relations that separate 'we' from 'they' (ed. Nordstokke 2009:43-44).

Spiritual leadership capital locates the pastoral praxis of transformational diaconia in missional congregational development and follows Malan Nel's view that ministries are communicative acts on God's behalf and as such its 'transformation engages and changes all who are part of it' (Nel 2018:11). The fact remains that God's people are called for engagement in the created world (Wright 2010:229). South African theologians need to decolonise their academic response to the needs of society. As Dreyer (2017) put it:

We also have to consider how we plan and implement our community service projects (with others or for others?) and our practices of academic citizenship (for example, who gets invited to do peer reviews). (p. 5)

The authors acknowledge Niemandt's (2016) article on the WCC, 'Together towards life: Mission and evangelism in changing landscapes'; the article shows an approach that states that 'mission spirituality is always transformative'. Thus the author views pastoral care in poverty-stricken contexts as a burden for public theology to address with missional spirituality. Spiritual leadership capital theory is hereby suggested as a transformative part of authentic spirituality which serves as a means of understanding and responding to poverty and other social problems.

This discussion is based on a reflection on the ongoing poverty in South Africa and how the church contributes to the improvement in people's lives. The following questions arise: how can we practise public practical theology through diaconia as an aspect of pastoral care that provides a responsive educative approach to poverty in the historically complicated South African context? How can the South African church live in the world for the sake of the world, without being of the world?

South Africa's development plan, 'vision 2030', calls for the use of resources, skills, talents and assets of all South Africans to adequately advance social justice and address historical disparities. It aims at 'facilitating the emergence of a national consciousness that supports a single national political entity, and helps to realise that goal' (National Development Planning Commission 2015:465). This implies inner transformation, because, as Buffel (2007:56) puts it, 'poverty so profoundly marks the context that one could say that the South African churches and caregivers carry out their pastoral work in a context of poverty'. Consequently, 'many pastors feel the desperation brought about by a lack of knowledge and the inability to give meaningful assistance to poverty-stricken people' (Janse Van Rensburg 2010:1).

 

Rationale for this discussion

Could a missional pastoral response to poverty by the church in South Africa be possible if diaconia, which fosters inner change, is taught and practised? History suggests that this is possible. As the Apostolic Church of Acts 6:1-7 epitomises an approach to diaconia to bridge the need-gap between the Hellenists and Jewish widows in the early Church, the writer believes that a strong diaconal presence in the early church saw problems and addressed them swiftly. Breed (2014:5) addressed the point that 'it must be kept in mind that the author of 1 Peter was equipping his readers to live in a world full of hardships', as he would do to us in the South African and for that matter African Church of today.

The rationale for transformational diaconia as an SLC way of educative pastoral praxis is that, diaconia being an aspect of congregational life, concentrates on service and helps. Spiritual leadership capital seeks to build people from within to address both internal and external problems. As such, it is deemed a potent paradigm shift that can address many human and social problems like poverty.

Various works in research have dealt with the role of diaconia in the missional conversation some of which are referred to here. But it seems much attention has not been given to transformational diaconia as an aspect of spirituality as regards missional congregational leadership formation. The commonest response from the Church towards poverty has been relief efforts. Relief involves '"Doing things for people" by providing assistance without addressing long-term needs or using assets found in the people or neighborhood' (ed. Rowland 2017:2). Pastoral care aims at alleviating and helping people cope with suffering, but has not addressed the issue of empowering them to overcome the causes of the pain and suffering to a great extent. This work brings forward an aspect of diaconia centred on the transformation of people served by diaconal leadership, going beyond alleviating their pain or need to transform their views and perspective towards that. This thrives on the incarnational ministry which is driven from servant leadership paradigm and 'The serving, caring, sharing and developing conduct of the leader are central in the servant leadership model' (Manala 2014:254-255). The trend of neglect of transformational focus in favour of the reactionary (relief) approach to diaconia can be traced to the type of theological education as well as the Church's public theology or orientation towards the world outside the walls of the congregation. In this way, the educative aspect of pastoral care (didache, paraclesis and diaconia fused) aims at empowering people to move from compassion consumers to producers of Christ's love as their inner lives are made resilient by the knowledge of God's truth.

This article locates a transformational perspective of diaconia as conceived using the SLC theory. The original study was conducted within the Ghanaian Pentecostal space in which the empowering of people needing relief from poverty to cultivate their spiritual abilities towards addressing their own care needs is proposed to be emphasised. In this view, poverty must be addressed in a broader light beyond philanthropy. It rests on the backdrop that congregants mostly have what it takes to face difficulties for which they seek pastoral care and compassion, but are almost oblivious of this fact. Building up local churches is a process of returning the ministry to God's people (Nel 2009a:2). In that building-up process, diaconia is being presented in this work as an aspect of the broader field of pastoral care which includes counselling, therapy and other helping activities (Magezi 2018:1).

 

Towards transformational diaconia to address poverty effectively

An encounter with a street beggar in Hatfield, Pretoria

One late afternoon while returning from the library to the university guest accommodation where I lodged, I was approached, as a common aspect of South African street experience, by a young man for some 'change' (coins or small cash handouts). I stopped, looked him in the eye and said to him, 'you do not belong here!' He asked, 'what do you mean?' I said, 'you do not want to be a beggar for the rest of your lifetime, do you?' Instead of a simple honest 'no' as the answer, he proceeded with reasons for being a beggar on the street. He told me that he was neglected and rejected by his family and siblings after the death of his mother when he was 25 years old. He said the whereabouts of his father were not known as he was from a single-parent home. Therefore, he had no option other than to leave home for the streets to beg.

I said to him, 'at 25 years, you were already old enough to think for yourself. You need to decide where your life takes you. You have left your life in the hands of people who are trying to live their own lives. If you stop to tell yourself, "enough of this hopelessness", you can begin to see other ways out'. After a long motivational conversation with him, including letting him recommit his life to Christ, I gave him a small amount of money and counselled him to consider going back home, get a clean shave and give a fresh start to his broken life and to allow Christ to help him do so. After making him understand the fact that no one owes him the good life he yearns to live and that he needed to create it himself, his eyes beamed with hope and he seemed to have breathed an air of relief on discovering life anew. He promised to go back home to make peace with his family. On my next visit, he was no more at that spot. I guess he had been able to carry out his new resolve.

There are numerous people and cases in South Africa whose situations are similar to that of this young man. Can the church respond appropriately to their real need? Public theology responds to matters of public concern.

 

The South African context

The Church in South Africa, like others elsewhere, ought to pay attention to how its Christian message affects public life - a public theology. Agbiji and Agbiji (2016:2) observed that, pastoral care as a professional discipline and practice has not received sufficient attention in development discourse. Perhaps this scant attention could be related to the narrow conception of pastoral care, limiting its practices to the ecclesial context. This can be seen particularly in the South African context where there is a fair amount of consensus that apartheid and its legacy lives and its consequences continue to impact negatively on our society (Buffel 2007:111). Cilliers (2008) notes that in responding to problems of South African society:

The unified, prophetic voice of (Reformed) churches in South Africa is absent: it is as if the church has lost its energy to protest against societal evils like poverty, corruption, crime, stigmatization, etc. (p. 16)

Magezi (2018:10) views practical theology as 'an open process of learning, unlearning and re-learning in the space of practical life where people yearn for disentanglement from colonial hangover'. This hangover affects economic policies of post-1994 South Africa; as Kgatle (2017:2) notes, '[t]hose policies have achieved some level of economic growth, yet the majority of people in South Africa still live in poverty'. Other studies show that 'a huge contingent of people living in poverty never experiences the benefits of economic growth; instead, they are facing new and ever-growing social problems' (Van Zeeland 2016:3). The biggest problem faced is a sense of loss of identity where the Afrikaners struggle with finding a new identity in post-apartheid society and the non-Afrikaners struggle with accepting this new identity (Cilliers 2008:9-11). How does the Church develop a homiletic that addresses this dilemma? It requires the church to develop new ways that build capacity and willpower to confront oneself with truth before doing so for others.

For most congregations, poverty lurks in their backyard. More seriously, a large number of people in the Church who are living in poverty is a factor going against Christ's transforming power. It seems to portray as though Christian spirituality is unable to transform people in reality. However, God's aim is to save us as a whole.

 

From comfort-centredness to transformational social action

The mission of the Church has always involved a 'process of teaching them to "observe all things" that Jesus commanded. Christians have assumed that this obedience would lead to the transformation of their physical, social and spiritual lives' (Pillay 2017:1). Spiritual leadership capital as a transformational tool stands on the premise that all humans have the tendency to be held captive by their homoeostasis. Poor people settle down in their poor states and are reluctant to confront their plight for want of ideas and a sense of direction. Homeostasis is the automatic tendency of the body to maintain a balance or equilibrium (Goldenberg & Goldenberg 1996:46). In that state, people adjust to circumstances without seeking to change, or push beyond the line of resistance or against the negative situation. This is similar to equilibrium SLC (discussed above). Not until the person develops a stronger inner strength beyond that point, can he or she make changes to the status quo. At this point, social needs equal the available SLC. That means a person has the emotional, intellectual and the spiritual capacity to face the challenge in question. And as such, a leader must have a personal SLC above equilibrium before he can lead with success. Stafford (2014:18) said that purpose, work and being must be integrated before leadership does not become dualistic.

 

A public theology

Thiemann (1991:20) described public theology as 'faith seeking to understand the relation between Christian convictions and the broader social and cultural context within which the Christian community lives'. More practically, Van Aarde (2008:1216) notes that 'public theology emerges in multifarious facets: in movies, songs, poems, novels, art, architecture, protest marches, clothing, newspaper and magazine articles'. In other words, we express what we believe in our lifestyle, in social intercourse and in the market place. By extension, spiritual perspectives inform these facets of life in tacit and silent ways.

 

Diaconia defined

Nel (2018) explains that:

Diaconia was a comprehensive term that denoted everything in which humans were involved in the name of God. … It [sic] is the umbrella term for all that the congregation does, for all its ministries. What we today call modes of ministry was, in the first century, simply the diakonia of the congregation. (p. 5)

In practice, the WCC (2013) describes diaconia as:

Service that makes the celebration of life possible for all. It is faith effecting change, transforming people and situations so that God's reign may be real in the lives of all people, in every here and now. (p. 108)

Stevens (1997:636) notes the Old Testament makes a stunning contribution 'pointing to the centrality of Pastoral care in making Jesus known'.

Hodge in his commentary on 2 Corinthians 8:4, notes (Hodge 2007):

The word diakonia ('ministry,' 'service') is often used in the sense of 'aid' or 'relief' (9:1, 13; Acts 6:1; 11:29). Paul had urged the Corinthians (1 Corinthians 16:1) to make collections for the poor saints. (cc8)

Nel (2009b:6) notes, the importance of the 'cared for' metaphors. 'They help us to understand that God has given us as the congregation everything we need in order to care for creation, his world'. In this vein, 'the nature of the church is no longer understood in imperial terms seeking to normalise Christianity in society' (Boshart 2010:18). The Church by mission has become God's agent for transformation. The Church through (Lutheran World Federation 2009):

Diaconia can only fulfil its call and play an active role in shaping a better future while initiating processes of transformation, when the unique giftedness, human dignity and daily experience of each person are respected. (p. 12)

In this way, people are not treated as mere objects of compassion but as agents of change who need empowerment to carry forward the needed change.

Ham (2013) suggested transformative Diaconal ministry:

[I]nvolves both comforting the victim and confronting 'the powers and principalities' (Ephesians 6:12). It must heal the victim as well as the one who victimizes. It is a radical spirituality of struggle and commitment for transformation of sinful social structures and for the liberation of their victims. (p. 6)

Transformational diaconia as this author understands it, extends beyond ending suffering and injustice. It rather seeks to build up people, to equip them so as to address the problems for which they need diaconal ministry by themselves.

Furthermore, Jesus was a transformational minister as Anderson (2011:49) observes, 'Jesus by his being the Son of the Father was a diakonos [servant] and a leitourgos [benefactor to the world]'. This fact is in agreement with Nel (2015:124) that 'Diaconia in all its forms lead to leitourgia (service to God) nourished by Christ's redemptive work'. Taking this as a point of departure, transformational diaconia is defined as a service and care aimed at the root causes of need rather than the symptoms, aimed at creating a lasting change in the recipient and society beyond temporal existential need-level compassion. Such an approach is needed as an educative pastoral approach to poverty, which is being advanced as part of the conception of the SLC theory.

 

Inner strength: A missional praxis in diaconal leadership and pastoral care

The role of the congregational leader in opening up individual vistas or people's potential to address their own situations is a gospel calling. Nel (2015:175) viewed the missional congregational leader as an equipper rather than an enabler. Service in the body of Christ should be geared at equipping the saints for service which edifies the body. Consequently, diaconia in this spirit aims to unravel a sufferer's inner possibilities hitherto relegated to the background for the lack of detailed self-introspection in the face of hardship. Heuser and Schawchuck (2010:30) refer to 'the inner life' of a leader as the basis of ministry, with lessons from Jesus's model of leadership. In their 16th chapter, they identify 'transformational change' as a matter of conscience rather than of force. Klenke (2007:70) also relocates the self to the centre of leadership and specifically, 'the role of the self in authentic leadership, through three identity lenses: (a) self-identity, (b) leader identity, and (c) spiritual identity'. In the conception of SLC, all the above three lenses, proceed from the spiritual authenticity of the leader or person. The spiritual permeates all three spheres as a matter of cause.

In this vein, the congregational leader as a diaconal practitioner builds bridges between the personal and social self of congregants with the mission of God driven from a person's spirituality. 'Building mutual community is about owning our own brokenness, no longer hiding or pretending, but standing alongside others experiencing God's love and his healing' (Ruddick & Eckley 2016:5).To respond to pastoral care needs of people, their spirituality must be given direction. That implies building up people with inner strength in order to sustain them in the face of life. Thus, the church's most basic operating system (heart) is missional, relational and incarnational (Sweet 2009:35).

By implying for theological education, emphasis is needed in the formation of leaders from their hearts in order to make them adequately responsive to the inner problems of people. This is important in an age where God is the last resort when people are weak and needy. Shallow Christianity practices what Van der Westhuizen (2017:147) describes, 'God is merely a "deus ex machina" brought onto the scene, "either to appear to solve insoluble problems" or to provide strength when human powers fail'.

Furthermore, our quality of life as a society has much to do with the condition of our hearts in view of Christ's ethos of neighbourliness. In Christ we become servants of one another. Dames (2017:1) agrees with Odhiambo (2012:158) that 'there is need for the enhancement of servant leadership to reconstruct pervasive poor living conditions by providing essential services to African communities in improving quality of life'. The quality of people's life starts from the quality of their spiritual states. Bosch ([1991] 2005) states:

The harsh realities of today compel us to re-conceive and reformulate the church's mission, to do this boldly and imaginatively, yet also in continuity with the best of what mission has been in the past decades and centuries. (p. 8)

A sound public theology can refocus the church towards its mission in the world.

 

Definition of spiritual leadership capital

Spiritual leadership capital is defined as the inbuilt advantage that moral and aesthetic devotion or spirituality forms in personalities which becomes the primary driver for formulating their leadership paradigms and approaches to problems of life in response to the ever-changing dynamics of their world. It is not limited to 'the religious' because spirituality can be found outside religiosity.

Its positive form is the substance, essence or strength of virtuous character and drive which a person cultivates from the tenets of his spirituality or faith, that builds the social capital (SC) for solving personal and social problems. In Christian congregations, it is basic to an authentic missional leadership paradigm, as it provides the inherent advantage of motivational influence which a leader (a person) exerts on his followers through the practice and application of the teachings of his faith virtues (spirituality). It is educative and transformative. This inner working virtue is what is perceived to add value to a person's leadership capability conceptualised as SLC. Woodward (2012:3) notes that 'more than a strategy, vision or plan, the unseen culture of a church powerfully shapes her ability to grow, mature and live missionally'. Spiritual leadership capital is that inner power which underlies the culture of a people.

This article does not intend to abolish the compassionate ministry of helps. It sees as the Christian's duty not only to be a proclaimer (Kerygmatic) but also a practical witness (diaconal) to the good news, and in so doing, to love neighbour and self and to be sensitive to issues in the world (Abale-Phiri 2011:247). The goal of missional leadership is 'the transformation of people and institutions to play a part in the Missio Dei, through meaningful relations and in the power of the Spirit, in God's mission' (Niemandt 2016:57). Christ's love should motivate us to move beyond simple compassionate service (diaconia) to a reconstructive motivation of people in need to wake up after receiving compassion to start putting together the broken pieces of their lives - transformational diaconia. Changed people are those who have discovered their true identity as children of God and who have recovered their true vocation as faithful and productive stewards of gifts from God for the well-being of all (Myers 1999:14). Therefore, this 'motivation should not be reduced to coercion but grow out of authentic inner commitment' (Bass & Steidlmeier 1999:186). That is authentic spirituality.

^rND^1A01^nSmith F.K.^sTettey^rND^1A01^nMalan^sNel^rND^1A01^nSmith F.K.^sTettey^rND^1A01^nMalan^sNel^rND^1A01^nSmith F. K^sTettey^rND^1A01^nMalan^sNel

ORIGINAL RESEARCH

 

Transformational diaconia as educative praxis in care within the present poverty-stricken South African context

 

 

Smith F.K. Tettey; Malan Nel

Department of Practical Theology, Faculty of Theology, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa

Correspondence

 

 

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ABSTRACT

This article explores how ministerial and leadership formation could be enabled to adopt transformational diaconia in addressing poverty in South Africa, engaging in ways in which pastoral care and leadership formation can respond to the addressing of poverty. The fact that transformation aims at changing the worldviews, paradigms and approaches to life and problem solving informs the author's concept of transformational diaconia, which was proposed as an aspect of spiritual leadership capital (SLC), defined as, 'The inner virtues afforded individuals by their spirituality in formulating their leadership paradigms which contributes to social capital formation for addressing social problems'. Spiritual leadership capital is hereby argued to be a transformative spirituality that can enable an understanding and sustainable responses to poverty and other social problems. This is needed for Africa and particularly for the present day South Africa, seemingly a country with the best infrastructure in Africa; yet its poverty seems pronounced because the dregs of apartheid still lurk in the social fibre, where poor people blame rich people for their plight and vice versa. Bowers Du Toit's view that '[m]ost congregations respond to poverty by providing relief and not empowerment', re-echoes here. From a mixed-methods research, SLC is a theory recently advanced as a congregational development paradigm and a theology of poverty, which views public theology as an educative praxis that can respond to transformational needs in poverty-related contexts. The authors suggest that for a Church that is responsive to the plight of society, fresh empowerment approaches to address poverty are needed.

Keywords: Transformational diaconia; Spiritual leadership capital; Reconstructive compassion; Public theology; Pastoral care; Poverty; Educative praxis; South African context.

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Introduction

In this article, the authors discuss the role of diaconia as part of the church's role in the world, particularly focused on pastoral care as an educative praxis towards the addressing of poverty in South Africa.

Transformational diaconia as an educative praxis is a perspective argued as part of the spiritual leadership capital (SLC) theory advanced in a recent doctoral thesis by Dr Smith F.K. Tettey,¹ similar to but not the same as what the Lutheran World Federation described as transformative diaconia, which could further be traced to Nordstokke (ed. 2009) who presented a paper to the World Council of Churches (WCC), where it was suggested to help overcome the so-called helpers' syndromes, practices and relations that separate 'we' from 'they' (ed. Nordstokke 2009:43-44).

Spiritual leadership capital locates the pastoral praxis of transformational diaconia in missional congregational development and follows Malan Nel's view that ministries are communicative acts on God's behalf and as such its 'transformation engages and changes all who are part of it' (Nel 2018:11). The fact remains that God's people are called for engagement in the created world (Wright 2010:229). South African theologians need to decolonise their academic response to the needs of society. As Dreyer (2017) put it:

We also have to consider how we plan and implement our community service projects (with others or for others?) and our practices of academic citizenship (for example, who gets invited to do peer reviews). (p. 5)

The authors acknowledge Niemandt's (2016) article on the WCC, 'Together towards life: Mission and evangelism in changing landscapes'; the article shows an approach that states that 'mission spirituality is always transformative'. Thus the author views pastoral care in poverty-stricken contexts as a burden for public theology to address with missional spirituality. Spiritual leadership capital theory is hereby suggested as a transformative part of authentic spirituality which serves as a means of understanding and responding to poverty and other social problems.

This discussion is based on a reflection on the ongoing poverty in South Africa and how the church contributes to the improvement in people's lives. The following questions arise: how can we practise public practical theology through diaconia as an aspect of pastoral care that provides a responsive educative approach to poverty in the historically complicated South African context? How can the South African church live in the world for the sake of the world, without being of the world?

South Africa's development plan, 'vision 2030', calls for the use of resources, skills, talents and assets of all South Africans to adequately advance social justice and address historical disparities. It aims at 'facilitating the emergence of a national consciousness that supports a single national political entity, and helps to realise that goal' (National Development Planning Commission 2015:465). This implies inner transformation, because, as Buffel (2007:56) puts it, 'poverty so profoundly marks the context that one could say that the South African churches and caregivers carry out their pastoral work in a context of poverty'. Consequently, 'many pastors feel the desperation brought about by a lack of knowledge and the inability to give meaningful assistance to poverty-stricken people' (Janse Van Rensburg 2010:1).

 

Rationale for this discussion

Could a missional pastoral response to poverty by the church in South Africa be possible if diaconia, which fosters inner change, is taught and practised? History suggests that this is possible. As the Apostolic Church of Acts 6:1-7 epitomises an approach to diaconia to bridge the need-gap between the Hellenists and Jewish widows in the early Church, the writer believes that a strong diaconal presence in the early church saw problems and addressed them swiftly. Breed (2014:5) addressed the point that 'it must be kept in mind that the author of 1 Peter was equipping his readers to live in a world full of hardships', as he would do to us in the South African and for that matter African Church of today.

The rationale for transformational diaconia as an SLC way of educative pastoral praxis is that, diaconia being an aspect of congregational life, concentrates on service and helps. Spiritual leadership capital seeks to build people from within to address both internal and external problems. As such, it is deemed a potent paradigm shift that can address many human and social problems like poverty.

Various works in research have dealt with the role of diaconia in the missional conversation some of which are referred to here. But it seems much attention has not been given to transformational diaconia as an aspect of spirituality as regards missional congregational leadership formation. The commonest response from the Church towards poverty has been relief efforts. Relief involves '"Doing things for people" by providing assistance without addressing long-term needs or using assets found in the people or neighborhood' (ed. Rowland 2017:2). Pastoral care aims at alleviating and helping people cope with suffering, but has not addressed the issue of empowering them to overcome the causes of the pain and suffering to a great extent. This work brings forward an aspect of diaconia centred on the transformation of people served by diaconal leadership, going beyond alleviating their pain or need to transform their views and perspective towards that. This thrives on the incarnational ministry which is driven from servant leadership paradigm and 'The serving, caring, sharing and developing conduct of the leader are central in the servant leadership model' (Manala 2014:254-255). The trend of neglect of transformational focus in favour of the reactionary (relief) approach to diaconia can be traced to the type of theological education as well as the Church's public theology or orientation towards the world outside the walls of the congregation. In this way, the educative aspect of pastoral care (didache, paraclesis and diaconia fused) aims at empowering people to move from compassion consumers to producers of Christ's love as their inner lives are made resilient by the knowledge of God's truth.

This article locates a transformational perspective of diaconia as conceived using the SLC theory. The original study was conducted within the Ghanaian Pentecostal space in which the empowering of people needing relief from poverty to cultivate their spiritual abilities towards addressing their own care needs is proposed to be emphasised. In this view, poverty must be addressed in a broader light beyond philanthropy. It rests on the backdrop that congregants mostly have what it takes to face difficulties for which they seek pastoral care and compassion, but are almost oblivious of this fact. Building up local churches is a process of returning the ministry to God's people (Nel 2009a:2). In that building-up process, diaconia is being presented in this work as an aspect of the broader field of pastoral care which includes counselling, therapy and other helping activities (Magezi 2018:1).

 

Towards transformational diaconia to address poverty effectively

An encounter with a street beggar in Hatfield, Pretoria

One late afternoon while returning from the library to the university guest accommodation where I lodged, I was approached, as a common aspect of South African street experience, by a young man for some 'change' (coins or small cash handouts). I stopped, looked him in the eye and said to him, 'you do not belong here!' He asked, 'what do you mean?' I said, 'you do not want to be a beggar for the rest of your lifetime, do you?' Instead of a simple honest 'no' as the answer, he proceeded with reasons for being a beggar on the street. He told me that he was neglected and rejected by his family and siblings after the death of his mother when he was 25 years old. He said the whereabouts of his father were not known as he was from a single-parent home. Therefore, he had no option other than to leave home for the streets to beg.

I said to him, 'at 25 years, you were already old enough to think for yourself. You need to decide where your life takes you. You have left your life in the hands of people who are trying to live their own lives. If you stop to tell yourself, "enough of this hopelessness", you can begin to see other ways out'. After a long motivational conversation with him, including letting him recommit his life to Christ, I gave him a small amount of money and counselled him to consider going back home, get a clean shave and give a fresh start to his broken life and to allow Christ to help him do so. After making him understand the fact that no one owes him the good life he yearns to live and that he needed to create it himself, his eyes beamed with hope and he seemed to have breathed an air of relief on discovering life anew. He promised to go back home to make peace with his family. On my next visit, he was no more at that spot. I guess he had been able to carry out his new resolve.

There are numerous people and cases in South Africa whose situations are similar to that of this young man. Can the church respond appropriately to their real need? Public theology responds to matters of public concern.

 

The South African context

The Church in South Africa, like others elsewhere, ought to pay attention to how its Christian message affects public life - a public theology. Agbiji and Agbiji (2016:2) observed that, pastoral care as a professional discipline and practice has not received sufficient attention in development discourse. Perhaps this scant attention could be related to the narrow conception of pastoral care, limiting its practices to the ecclesial context. This can be seen particularly in the South African context where there is a fair amount of consensus that apartheid and its legacy lives and its consequences continue to impact negatively on our society (Buffel 2007:111). Cilliers (2008) notes that in responding to problems of South African society:

The unified, prophetic voice of (Reformed) churches in South Africa is absent: it is as if the church has lost its energy to protest against societal evils like poverty, corruption, crime, stigmatization, etc. (p. 16)

Magezi (2018:10) views practical theology as 'an open process of learning, unlearning and re-learning in the space of practical life where people yearn for disentanglement from colonial hangover'. This hangover affects economic policies of post-1994 South Africa; as Kgatle (2017:2) notes, '[t]hose policies have achieved some level of economic growth, yet the majority of people in South Africa still live in poverty'. Other studies show that 'a huge contingent of people living in poverty never experiences the benefits of economic growth; instead, they are facing new and ever-growing social problems' (Van Zeeland 2016:3). The biggest problem faced is a sense of loss of identity where the Afrikaners struggle with finding a new identity in post-apartheid society and the non-Afrikaners struggle with accepting this new identity (Cilliers 2008:9-11). How does the Church develop a homiletic that addresses this dilemma? It requires the church to develop new ways that build capacity and willpower to confront oneself with truth before doing so for others.

For most congregations, poverty lurks in their backyard. More seriously, a large number of people in the Church who are living in poverty is a factor going against Christ's transforming power. It seems to portray as though Christian spirituality is unable to transform people in reality. However, God's aim is to save us as a whole.

 

From comfort-centredness to transformational social action

The mission of the Church has always involved a 'process of teaching them to "observe all things" that Jesus commanded. Christians have assumed that this obedience would lead to the transformation of their physical, social and spiritual lives' (Pillay 2017:1). Spiritual leadership capital as a transformational tool stands on the premise that all humans have the tendency to be held captive by their homoeostasis. Poor people settle down in their poor states and are reluctant to confront their plight for want of ideas and a sense of direction. Homeostasis is the automatic tendency of the body to maintain a balance or equilibrium (Goldenberg & Goldenberg 1996:46). In that state, people adjust to circumstances without seeking to change, or push beyond the line of resistance or against the negative situation. This is similar to equilibrium SLC (discussed above). Not until the person develops a stronger inner strength beyond that point, can he or she make changes to the status quo. At this point, social needs equal the available SLC. That means a person has the emotional, intellectual and the spiritual capacity to face the challenge in question. And as such, a leader must have a personal SLC above equilibrium before he can lead with success. Stafford (2014:18) said that purpose, work and being must be integrated before leadership does not become dualistic.

 

A public theology

Thiemann (1991:20) described public theology as 'faith seeking to understand the relation between Christian convictions and the broader social and cultural context within which the Christian community lives'. More practically, Van Aarde (2008:1216) notes that 'public theology emerges in multifarious facets: in movies, songs, poems, novels, art, architecture, protest marches, clothing, newspaper and magazine articles'. In other words, we express what we believe in our lifestyle, in social intercourse and in the market place. By extension, spiritual perspectives inform these facets of life in tacit and silent ways.

 

Diaconia defined

Nel (2018) explains that:

Diaconia was a comprehensive term that denoted everything in which humans were involved in the name of God. … It [sic] is the umbrella term for all that the congregation does, for all its ministries. What we today call modes of ministry was, in the first century, simply the diakonia of the congregation. (p. 5)

In practice, the WCC (2013) describes diaconia as:

Service that makes the celebration of life possible for all. It is faith effecting change, transforming people and situations so that God's reign may be real in the lives of all people, in every here and now. (p. 108)

Stevens (1997:636) notes the Old Testament makes a stunning contribution 'pointing to the centrality of Pastoral care in making Jesus known'.

Hodge in his commentary on 2 Corinthians 8:4, notes (Hodge 2007):

The word diakonia ('ministry,' 'service') is often used in the sense of 'aid' or 'relief' (9:1, 13; Acts 6:1; 11:29). Paul had urged the Corinthians (1 Corinthians 16:1) to make collections for the poor saints. (cc8)

Nel (2009b:6) notes, the importance of the 'cared for' metaphors. 'They help us to understand that God has given us as the congregation everything we need in order to care for creation, his world'. In this vein, 'the nature of the church is no longer understood in imperial terms seeking to normalise Christianity in society' (Boshart 2010:18). The Church by mission has become God's agent for transformation. The Church through (Lutheran World Federation 2009):

Diaconia can only fulfil its call and play an active role in shaping a better future while initiating processes of transformation, when the unique giftedness, human dignity and daily experience of each person are respected. (p. 12)

In this way, people are not treated as mere objects of compassion but as agents of change who need empowerment to carry forward the needed change.

Ham (2013) suggested transformative Diaconal ministry:

[I]nvolves both comforting the victim and confronting 'the powers and principalities' (Ephesians 6:12). It must heal the victim as well as the one who victimizes. It is a radical spirituality of struggle and commitment for transformation of sinful social structures and for the liberation of their victims. (p. 6)

Transformational diaconia as this author understands it, extends beyond ending suffering and injustice. It rather seeks to build up people, to equip them so as to address the problems for which they need diaconal ministry by themselves.

Furthermore, Jesus was a transformational minister as Anderson (2011:49) observes, 'Jesus by his being the Son of the Father was a diakonos [servant] and a leitourgos [benefactor to the world]'. This fact is in agreement with Nel (2015:124) that 'Diaconia in all its forms lead to leitourgia (service to God) nourished by Christ's redemptive work'. Taking this as a point of departure, transformational diaconia is defined as a service and care aimed at the root causes of need rather than the symptoms, aimed at creating a lasting change in the recipient and society beyond temporal existential need-level compassion. Such an approach is needed as an educative pastoral approach to poverty, which is being advanced as part of the conception of the SLC theory.

 

Inner strength: A missional praxis in diaconal leadership and pastoral care

The role of the congregational leader in opening up individual vistas or people's potential to address their own situations is a gospel calling. Nel (2015:175) viewed the missional congregational leader as an equipper rather than an enabler. Service in the body of Christ should be geared at equipping the saints for service which edifies the body. Consequently, diaconia in this spirit aims to unravel a sufferer's inner possibilities hitherto relegated to the background for the lack of detailed self-introspection in the face of hardship. Heuser and Schawchuck (2010:30) refer to 'the inner life' of a leader as the basis of ministry, with lessons from Jesus's model of leadership. In their 16th chapter, they identify 'transformational change' as a matter of conscience rather than of force. Klenke (2007:70) also relocates the self to the centre of leadership and specifically, 'the role of the self in authentic leadership, through three identity lenses: (a) self-identity, (b) leader identity, and (c) spiritual identity'. In the conception of SLC, all the above three lenses, proceed from the spiritual authenticity of the leader or person. The spiritual permeates all three spheres as a matter of cause.

In this vein, the congregational leader as a diaconal practitioner builds bridges between the personal and social self of congregants with the mission of God driven from a person's spirituality. 'Building mutual community is about owning our own brokenness, no longer hiding or pretending, but standing alongside others experiencing God's love and his healing' (Ruddick & Eckley 2016:5).To respond to pastoral care needs of people, their spirituality must be given direction. That implies building up people with inner strength in order to sustain them in the face of life. Thus, the church's most basic operating system (heart) is missional, relational and incarnational (Sweet 2009:35).

By implying for theological education, emphasis is needed in the formation of leaders from their hearts in order to make them adequately responsive to the inner problems of people. This is important in an age where God is the last resort when people are weak and needy. Shallow Christianity practices what Van der Westhuizen (2017:147) describes, 'God is merely a "deus ex machina" brought onto the scene, "either to appear to solve insoluble problems" or to provide strength when human powers fail'.

Furthermore, our quality of life as a society has much to do with the condition of our hearts in view of Christ's ethos of neighbourliness. In Christ we become servants of one another. Dames (2017:1) agrees with Odhiambo (2012:158) that 'there is need for the enhancement of servant leadership to reconstruct pervasive poor living conditions by providing essential services to African communities in improving quality of life'. The quality of people's life starts from the quality of their spiritual states. Bosch ([1991] 2005) states:

The harsh realities of today compel us to re-conceive and reformulate the church's mission, to do this boldly and imaginatively, yet also in continuity with the best of what mission has been in the past decades and centuries. (p. 8)

A sound public theology can refocus the church towards its mission in the world.

 

Definition of spiritual leadership capital

Spiritual leadership capital is defined as the inbuilt advantage that moral and aesthetic devotion or spirituality forms in personalities which becomes the primary driver for formulating their leadership paradigms and approaches to problems of life in response to the ever-changing dynamics of their world. It is not limited to 'the religious' because spirituality can be found outside religiosity.

Its positive form is the substance, essence or strength of virtuous character and drive which a person cultivates from the tenets of his spirituality or faith, that builds the social capital (SC) for solving personal and social problems. In Christian congregations, it is basic to an authentic missional leadership paradigm, as it provides the inherent advantage of motivational influence which a leader (a person) exerts on his followers through the practice and application of the teachings of his faith virtues (spirituality). It is educative and transformative. This inner working virtue is what is perceived to add value to a person's leadership capability conceptualised as SLC. Woodward (2012:3) notes that 'more than a strategy, vision or plan, the unseen culture of a church powerfully shapes her ability to grow, mature and live missionally'. Spiritual leadership capital is that inner power which underlies the culture of a people.

This article does not intend to abolish the compassionate ministry of helps. It sees as the Christian's duty not only to be a proclaimer (Kerygmatic) but also a practical witness (diaconal) to the good news, and in so doing, to love neighbour and self and to be sensitive to issues in the world (Abale-Phiri 2011:247). The goal of missional leadership is 'the transformation of people and institutions to play a part in the Missio Dei, through meaningful relations and in the power of the Spirit, in God's mission' (Niemandt 2016:57). Christ's love should motivate us to move beyond simple compassionate service (diaconia) to a reconstructive motivation of people in need to wake up after receiving compassion to start putting together the broken pieces of their lives - transformational diaconia. Changed people are those who have discovered their true identity as children of God and who have recovered their true vocation as faithful and productive stewards of gifts from God for the well-being of all (Myers 1999:14). Therefore, this 'motivation should not be reduced to coercion but grow out of authentic inner commitment' (Bass & Steidlmeier 1999:186). That is authentic spirituality.

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ORIGINAL RESEARCH

 

Transformational diaconia as educative praxis in care within the present poverty-stricken South African context

 

 

Smith F.K. Tettey; Malan Nel

Department of Practical Theology, Faculty of Theology, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa

Correspondence

 

 

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ABSTRACT

This article explores how ministerial and leadership formation could be enabled to adopt transformational diaconia in addressing poverty in South Africa, engaging in ways in which pastoral care and leadership formation can respond to the addressing of poverty. The fact that transformation aims at changing the worldviews, paradigms and approaches to life and problem solving informs the author's concept of transformational diaconia, which was proposed as an aspect of spiritual leadership capital (SLC), defined as, 'The inner virtues afforded individuals by their spirituality in formulating their leadership paradigms which contributes to social capital formation for addressing social problems'. Spiritual leadership capital is hereby argued to be a transformative spirituality that can enable an understanding and sustainable responses to poverty and other social problems. This is needed for Africa and particularly for the present day South Africa, seemingly a country with the best infrastructure in Africa; yet its poverty seems pronounced because the dregs of apartheid still lurk in the social fibre, where poor people blame rich people for their plight and vice versa. Bowers Du Toit's view that '[m]ost congregations respond to poverty by providing relief and not empowerment', re-echoes here. From a mixed-methods research, SLC is a theory recently advanced as a congregational development paradigm and a theology of poverty, which views public theology as an educative praxis that can respond to transformational needs in poverty-related contexts. The authors suggest that for a Church that is responsive to the plight of society, fresh empowerment approaches to address poverty are needed.

Keywords: Transformational diaconia; Spiritual leadership capital; Reconstructive compassion; Public theology; Pastoral care; Poverty; Educative praxis; South African context.

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Introduction

In this article, the authors discuss the role of diaconia as part of the church's role in the world, particularly focused on pastoral care as an educative praxis towards the addressing of poverty in South Africa.

Transformational diaconia as an educative praxis is a perspective argued as part of the spiritual leadership capital (SLC) theory advanced in a recent doctoral thesis by Dr Smith F.K. Tettey,¹ similar to but not the same as what the Lutheran World Federation described as transformative diaconia, which could further be traced to Nordstokke (ed. 2009) who presented a paper to the World Council of Churches (WCC), where it was suggested to help overcome the so-called helpers' syndromes, practices and relations that separate 'we' from 'they' (ed. Nordstokke 2009:43-44).

Spiritual leadership capital locates the pastoral praxis of transformational diaconia in missional congregational development and follows Malan Nel's view that ministries are communicative acts on God's behalf and as such its 'transformation engages and changes all who are part of it' (Nel 2018:11). The fact remains that God's people are called for engagement in the created world (Wright 2010:229). South African theologians need to decolonise their academic response to the needs of society. As Dreyer (2017) put it:

We also have to consider how we plan and implement our community service projects (with others or for others?) and our practices of academic citizenship (for example, who gets invited to do peer reviews). (p. 5)

The authors acknowledge Niemandt's (2016) article on the WCC, 'Together towards life: Mission and evangelism in changing landscapes'; the article shows an approach that states that 'mission spirituality is always transformative'. Thus the author views pastoral care in poverty-stricken contexts as a burden for public theology to address with missional spirituality. Spiritual leadership capital theory is hereby suggested as a transformative part of authentic spirituality which serves as a means of understanding and responding to poverty and other social problems.

This discussion is based on a reflection on the ongoing poverty in South Africa and how the church contributes to the improvement in people's lives. The following questions arise: how can we practise public practical theology through diaconia as an aspect of pastoral care that provides a responsive educative approach to poverty in the historically complicated South African context? How can the South African church live in the world for the sake of the world, without being of the world?

South Africa's development plan, 'vision 2030', calls for the use of resources, skills, talents and assets of all South Africans to adequately advance social justice and address historical disparities. It aims at 'facilitating the emergence of a national consciousness that supports a single national political entity, and helps to realise that goal' (National Development Planning Commission 2015:465). This implies inner transformation, because, as Buffel (2007:56) puts it, 'poverty so profoundly marks the context that one could say that the South African churches and caregivers carry out their pastoral work in a context of poverty'. Consequently, 'many pastors feel the desperation brought about by a lack of knowledge and the inability to give meaningful assistance to poverty-stricken people' (Janse Van Rensburg 2010:1).

 

Rationale for this discussion

Could a missional pastoral response to poverty by the church in South Africa be possible if diaconia, which fosters inner change, is taught and practised? History suggests that this is possible. As the Apostolic Church of Acts 6:1-7 epitomises an approach to diaconia to bridge the need-gap between the Hellenists and Jewish widows in the early Church, the writer believes that a strong diaconal presence in the early church saw problems and addressed them swiftly. Breed (2014:5) addressed the point that 'it must be kept in mind that the author of 1 Peter was equipping his readers to live in a world full of hardships', as he would do to us in the South African and for that matter African Church of today.

The rationale for transformational diaconia as an SLC way of educative pastoral praxis is that, diaconia being an aspect of congregational life, concentrates on service and helps. Spiritual leadership capital seeks to build people from within to address both internal and external problems. As such, it is deemed a potent paradigm shift that can address many human and social problems like poverty.

Various works in research have dealt with the role of diaconia in the missional conversation some of which are referred to here. But it seems much attention has not been given to transformational diaconia as an aspect of spirituality as regards missional congregational leadership formation. The commonest response from the Church towards poverty has been relief efforts. Relief involves '"Doing things for people" by providing assistance without addressing long-term needs or using assets found in the people or neighborhood' (ed. Rowland 2017:2). Pastoral care aims at alleviating and helping people cope with suffering, but has not addressed the issue of empowering them to overcome the causes of the pain and suffering to a great extent. This work brings forward an aspect of diaconia centred on the transformation of people served by diaconal leadership, going beyond alleviating their pain or need to transform their views and perspective towards that. This thrives on the incarnational ministry which is driven from servant leadership paradigm and 'The serving, caring, sharing and developing conduct of the leader are central in the servant leadership model' (Manala 2014:254-255). The trend of neglect of transformational focus in favour of the reactionary (relief) approach to diaconia can be traced to the type of theological education as well as the Church's public theology or orientation towards the world outside the walls of the congregation. In this way, the educative aspect of pastoral care (didache, paraclesis and diaconia fused) aims at empowering people to move from compassion consumers to producers of Christ's love as their inner lives are made resilient by the knowledge of God's truth.

This article locates a transformational perspective of diaconia as conceived using the SLC theory. The original study was conducted within the Ghanaian Pentecostal space in which the empowering of people needing relief from poverty to cultivate their spiritual abilities towards addressing their own care needs is proposed to be emphasised. In this view, poverty must be addressed in a broader light beyond philanthropy. It rests on the backdrop that congregants mostly have what it takes to face difficulties for which they seek pastoral care and compassion, but are almost oblivious of this fact. Building up local churches is a process of returning the ministry to God's people (Nel 2009a:2). In that building-up process, diaconia is being presented in this work as an aspect of the broader field of pastoral care which includes counselling, therapy and other helping activities (Magezi 2018:1).

 

Towards transformational diaconia to address poverty effectively

An encounter with a street beggar in Hatfield, Pretoria

One late afternoon while returning from the library to the university guest accommodation where I lodged, I was approached, as a common aspect of South African street experience, by a young man for some 'change' (coins or small cash handouts). I stopped, looked him in the eye and said to him, 'you do not belong here!' He asked, 'what do you mean?' I said, 'you do not want to be a beggar for the rest of your lifetime, do you?' Instead of a simple honest 'no' as the answer, he proceeded with reasons for being a beggar on the street. He told me that he was neglected and rejected by his family and siblings after the death of his mother when he was 25 years old. He said the whereabouts of his father were not known as he was from a single-parent home. Therefore, he had no option other than to leave home for the streets to beg.

I said to him, 'at 25 years, you were already old enough to think for yourself. You need to decide where your life takes you. You have left your life in the hands of people who are trying to live their own lives. If you stop to tell yourself, "enough of this hopelessness", you can begin to see other ways out'. After a long motivational conversation with him, including letting him recommit his life to Christ, I gave him a small amount of money and counselled him to consider going back home, get a clean shave and give a fresh start to his broken life and to allow Christ to help him do so. After making him understand the fact that no one owes him the good life he yearns to live and that he needed to create it himself, his eyes beamed with hope and he seemed to have breathed an air of relief on discovering life anew. He promised to go back home to make peace with his family. On my next visit, he was no more at that spot. I guess he had been able to carry out his new resolve.

There are numerous people and cases in South Africa whose situations are similar to that of this young man. Can the church respond appropriately to their real need? Public theology responds to matters of public concern.

 

The South African context

The Church in South Africa, like others elsewhere, ought to pay attention to how its Christian message affects public life - a public theology. Agbiji and Agbiji (2016:2) observed that, pastoral care as a professional discipline and practice has not received sufficient attention in development discourse. Perhaps this scant attention could be related to the narrow conception of pastoral care, limiting its practices to the ecclesial context. This can be seen particularly in the South African context where there is a fair amount of consensus that apartheid and its legacy lives and its consequences continue to impact negatively on our society (Buffel 2007:111). Cilliers (2008) notes that in responding to problems of South African society:

The unified, prophetic voice of (Reformed) churches in South Africa is absent: it is as if the church has lost its energy to protest against societal evils like poverty, corruption, crime, stigmatization, etc. (p. 16)

Magezi (2018:10) views practical theology as 'an open process of learning, unlearning and re-learning in the space of practical life where people yearn for disentanglement from colonial hangover'. This hangover affects economic policies of post-1994 South Africa; as Kgatle (2017:2) notes, '[t]hose policies have achieved some level of economic growth, yet the majority of people in South Africa still live in poverty'. Other studies show that 'a huge contingent of people living in poverty never experiences the benefits of economic growth; instead, they are facing new and ever-growing social problems' (Van Zeeland 2016:3). The biggest problem faced is a sense of loss of identity where the Afrikaners struggle with finding a new identity in post-apartheid society and the non-Afrikaners struggle with accepting this new identity (Cilliers 2008:9-11). How does the Church develop a homiletic that addresses this dilemma? It requires the church to develop new ways that build capacity and willpower to confront oneself with truth before doing so for others.

For most congregations, poverty lurks in their backyard. More seriously, a large number of people in the Church who are living in poverty is a factor going against Christ's transforming power. It seems to portray as though Christian spirituality is unable to transform people in reality. However, God's aim is to save us as a whole.

 

From comfort-centredness to transformational social action

The mission of the Church has always involved a 'process of teaching them to "observe all things" that Jesus commanded. Christians have assumed that this obedience would lead to the transformation of their physical, social and spiritual lives' (Pillay 2017:1). Spiritual leadership capital as a transformational tool stands on the premise that all humans have the tendency to be held captive by their homoeostasis. Poor people settle down in their poor states and are reluctant to confront their plight for want of ideas and a sense of direction. Homeostasis is the automatic tendency of the body to maintain a balance or equilibrium (Goldenberg & Goldenberg 1996:46). In that state, people adjust to circumstances without seeking to change, or push beyond the line of resistance or against the negative situation. This is similar to equilibrium SLC (discussed above). Not until the person develops a stronger inner strength beyond that point, can he or she make changes to the status quo. At this point, social needs equal the available SLC. That means a person has the emotional, intellectual and the spiritual capacity to face the challenge in question. And as such, a leader must have a personal SLC above equilibrium before he can lead with success. Stafford (2014:18) said that purpose, work and being must be integrated before leadership does not become dualistic.

 

A public theology

Thiemann (1991:20) described public theology as 'faith seeking to understand the relation between Christian convictions and the broader social and cultural context within which the Christian community lives'. More practically, Van Aarde (2008:1216) notes that 'public theology emerges in multifarious facets: in movies, songs, poems, novels, art, architecture, protest marches, clothing, newspaper and magazine articles'. In other words, we express what we believe in our lifestyle, in social intercourse and in the market place. By extension, spiritual perspectives inform these facets of life in tacit and silent ways.

 

Diaconia defined

Nel (2018) explains that:

Diaconia was a comprehensive term that denoted everything in which humans were involved in the name of God. … It [sic] is the umbrella term for all that the congregation does, for all its ministries. What we today call modes of ministry was, in the first century, simply the diakonia of the congregation. (p. 5)

In practice, the WCC (2013) describes diaconia as:

Service that makes the celebration of life possible for all. It is faith effecting change, transforming people and situations so that God's reign may be real in the lives of all people, in every here and now. (p. 108)

Stevens (1997:636) notes the Old Testament makes a stunning contribution 'pointing to the centrality of Pastoral care in making Jesus known'.

Hodge in his commentary on 2 Corinthians 8:4, notes (Hodge 2007):

The word diakonia ('ministry,' 'service') is often used in the sense of 'aid' or 'relief' (9:1, 13; Acts 6:1; 11:29). Paul had urged the Corinthians (1 Corinthians 16:1) to make collections for the poor saints. (cc8)

Nel (2009b:6) notes, the importance of the 'cared for' metaphors. 'They help us to understand that God has given us as the congregation everything we need in order to care for creation, his world'. In this vein, 'the nature of the church is no longer understood in imperial terms seeking to normalise Christianity in society' (Boshart 2010:18). The Church by mission has become God's agent for transformation. The Church through (Lutheran World Federation 2009):

Diaconia can only fulfil its call and play an active role in shaping a better future while initiating processes of transformation, when the unique giftedness, human dignity and daily experience of each person are respected. (p. 12)

In this way, people are not treated as mere objects of compassion but as agents of change who need empowerment to carry forward the needed change.

Ham (2013) suggested transformative Diaconal ministry:

[I]nvolves both comforting the victim and confronting 'the powers and principalities' (Ephesians 6:12). It must heal the victim as well as the one who victimizes. It is a radical spirituality of struggle and commitment for transformation of sinful social structures and for the liberation of their victims. (p. 6)

Transformational diaconia as this author understands it, extends beyond ending suffering and injustice. It rather seeks to build up people, to equip them so as to address the problems for which they need diaconal ministry by themselves.

Furthermore, Jesus was a transformational minister as Anderson (2011:49) observes, 'Jesus by his being the Son of the Father was a diakonos [servant] and a leitourgos [benefactor to the world]'. This fact is in agreement with Nel (2015:124) that 'Diaconia in all its forms lead to leitourgia (service to God) nourished by Christ's redemptive work'. Taking this as a point of departure, transformational diaconia is defined as a service and care aimed at the root causes of need rather than the symptoms, aimed at creating a lasting change in the recipient and society beyond temporal existential need-level compassion. Such an approach is needed as an educative pastoral approach to poverty, which is being advanced as part of the conception of the SLC theory.

 

Inner strength: A missional praxis in diaconal leadership and pastoral care

The role of the congregational leader in opening up individual vistas or people's potential to address their own situations is a gospel calling. Nel (2015:175) viewed the missional congregational leader as an equipper rather than an enabler. Service in the body of Christ should be geared at equipping the saints for service which edifies the body. Consequently, diaconia in this spirit aims to unravel a sufferer's inner possibilities hitherto relegated to the background for the lack of detailed self-introspection in the face of hardship. Heuser and Schawchuck (2010:30) refer to 'the inner life' of a leader as the basis of ministry, with lessons from Jesus's model of leadership. In their 16th chapter, they identify 'transformational change' as a matter of conscience rather than of force. Klenke (2007:70) also relocates the self to the centre of leadership and specifically, 'the role of the self in authentic leadership, through three identity lenses: (a) self-identity, (b) leader identity, and (c) spiritual identity'. In the conception of SLC, all the above three lenses, proceed from the spiritual authenticity of the leader or person. The spiritual permeates all three spheres as a matter of cause.

In this vein, the congregational leader as a diaconal practitioner builds bridges between the personal and social self of congregants with the mission of God driven from a person's spirituality. 'Building mutual community is about owning our own brokenness, no longer hiding or pretending, but standing alongside others experiencing God's love and his healing' (Ruddick & Eckley 2016:5).To respond to pastoral care needs of people, their spirituality must be given direction. That implies building up people with inner strength in order to sustain them in the face of life. Thus, the church's most basic operating system (heart) is missional, relational and incarnational (Sweet 2009:35).

By implying for theological education, emphasis is needed in the formation of leaders from their hearts in order to make them adequately responsive to the inner problems of people. This is important in an age where God is the last resort when people are weak and needy. Shallow Christianity practices what Van der Westhuizen (2017:147) describes, 'God is merely a "deus ex machina" brought onto the scene, "either to appear to solve insoluble problems" or to provide strength when human powers fail'.

Furthermore, our quality of life as a society has much to do with the condition of our hearts in view of Christ's ethos of neighbourliness. In Christ we become servants of one another. Dames (2017:1) agrees with Odhiambo (2012:158) that 'there is need for the enhancement of servant leadership to reconstruct pervasive poor living conditions by providing essential services to African communities in improving quality of life'. The quality of people's life starts from the quality of their spiritual states. Bosch ([1991] 2005) states:

The harsh realities of today compel us to re-conceive and reformulate the church's mission, to do this boldly and imaginatively, yet also in continuity with the best of what mission has been in the past decades and centuries. (p. 8)

A sound public theology can refocus the church towards its mission in the world.

 

Definition of spiritual leadership capital

Spiritual leadership capital is defined as the inbuilt advantage that moral and aesthetic devotion or spirituality forms in personalities which becomes the primary driver for formulating their leadership paradigms and approaches to problems of life in response to the ever-changing dynamics of their world. It is not limited to 'the religious' because spirituality can be found outside religiosity.

Its positive form is the substance, essence or strength of virtuous character and drive which a person cultivates from the tenets of his spirituality or faith, that builds the social capital (SC) for solving personal and social problems. In Christian congregations, it is basic to an authentic missional leadership paradigm, as it provides the inherent advantage of motivational influence which a leader (a person) exerts on his followers through the practice and application of the teachings of his faith virtues (spirituality). It is educative and transformative. This inner working virtue is what is perceived to add value to a person's leadership capability conceptualised as SLC. Woodward (2012:3) notes that 'more than a strategy, vision or plan, the unseen culture of a church powerfully shapes her ability to grow, mature and live missionally'. Spiritual leadership capital is that inner power which underlies the culture of a people.

This article does not intend to abolish the compassionate ministry of helps. It sees as the Christian's duty not only to be a proclaimer (Kerygmatic) but also a practical witness (diaconal) to the good news, and in so doing, to love neighbour and self and to be sensitive to issues in the world (Abale-Phiri 2011:247). The goal of missional leadership is 'the transformation of people and institutions to play a part in the Missio Dei, through meaningful relations and in the power of the Spirit, in God's mission' (Niemandt 2016:57). Christ's love should motivate us to move beyond simple compassionate service (diaconia) to a reconstructive motivation of people in need to wake up after receiving compassion to start putting together the broken pieces of their lives - transformational diaconia. Changed people are those who have discovered their true identity as children of God and who have recovered their true vocation as faithful and productive stewards of gifts from God for the well-being of all (Myers 1999:14). Therefore, this 'motivation should not be reduced to coercion but grow out of authentic inner commitment' (Bass & Steidlmeier 1999:186). That is authentic spirituality.

Interestingly, 'the church has struggled to balance or integrate social change and inner change. At times they over emphasised the one and at other times the other' (Bowers Du Toit 2015:np). Hirsch (2012) in his forward to Woodward's book creating missional culture, referred to the sociologist Alvin Toffler, who once observed that 'the illiterate of the future will not be those that cannot read or write. Rather, they will be those that cannot learn, unlearn and relearn'. As an educative praxis for the church, the time has come for us to unlearn stale old ways of conducting pastoral care and relearn missional transformative approaches to old and new problems in church and society. From a balanced view, diaconia is 'both an expression of what the church is by its very nature, and what is manifested in its daily life, plans and projects' (Lutheran World Federation 2009:29).

An SLC-filled person knows the right meaning to life and faces life's challenges with a constantly renewed sense of purpose. God's 'kingdom itself is a spiritual society, membership in which is absolutely impossible without a personal change of heart (Matthew 18:3)' (Oosterzee 1878:46). This change must make the practice of diaconia to transcend philanthropic compassion leading to a transformational one. Poverty is a system and we can agree with Nygaard (2017) that:

Social systems in which people live are multilayered. The system can be a macrosystem, as seen in political systems, a mesosystem as seen in institutions, or a microsystem, as seen in close relationships. People can beat the margins in one of these systems, but not necessarily in all of them. (p. 168)

Suffering and deprivations that we see are usually the effect that each system or an amalgam of these systems has on people. The people's relationship with their system determines whether they live at the margins or at the centre. Poverty has kept people at the margins of affluent societies because poor people have not been able to reconcile their reality with the world in which the affluent live. We see such interplay of affluence and poverty in South African society. The forgoing situation is partly external, yet mainly an internal problem that needs to be looked at from the inner lives of people suffering from poverty.

One goal of missional congregational development is to enable the process of building up of a Christian community which influences the congregants and the community at large in a radical way. This makes missional theology essentially a public one. Nel (2017:3) notes that, 'being transformed into a missional congregation may disturb the peace and may make "us" lose members and donors'. But that is the cost of our being Christ's disciples. This transformational influencing can be conducted by equipping people to realign their response to external and internal problems, to position them into the desired system or situation in life. Turning attention to an educative 'strategic public pastoral theology' that aims to foster both deep self-reflection and expansive global or even cosmic citizenry (Magezi 2018:2), is imperative if the South African and for that matter African Church, universities and seminaries want to develop leaders who measure up to the tasks of our day.

 

Spiritual leadership capital as a change agent

Spiritual leadership capital equilibrium (SLCeq) is the point at which a leader or person's faith-driven strength, skill and composure (spiritual virtue), equals a task or challenge that requires action or response. Practically, the extent of a leader's spiritual depth, mental stability, agility and courage to make the necessary moves or changes that are required for the status quo to change for the better, is depicted along the axis towards equilibrium.

By the idea of SLC, a person's spirituality inspires courage, hope and resilience. It grants him a sense of direction that must be consistently maintained to be creatively sustainable. Sternberg (2007:46) said: 'a leader who lacks creativity may get along and get others to go along. But he or she may get others to go along with inferior or stale ideas'. Spiritual leadership capital deals with this staleness because the basis on which spiritual character and leadership are formed includes unmovable stands of the individual's conviction and they are dynamic and renewable. Pastoral leadership that ignores its spiritual nature and context diminishes the ministry to a people pleasing force and the building of brick and mortar, consequently, reducing the congregation to a social gathering rather than a community of the Spirit (Akin & Pace 2017:70).

Authentic spirituality cannot get stale although religiosity may. If majority in a community have these virtues of authentic spirituality (SLC) inculcated, it informs their working norms and acts as the balancing object in the equation that makes action equal to need. Because human needs continue to expand, SLC of leaders or persons must be constantly enhanced to meet new needs that may arise. This makes SLC-informed transformation, a reformative continuum depicting a tension between need and resources or capacity to meet them.

In this sense, a grid described as the SLC transformation indicator grid that portrays how people move between need and solutions as their inner states change or are transformed, is illustrated in a grid below.

 

The spiritual leadership capital transformation indicator grid

The SLC transformation grid (SLCTG) puts need and spiritual virtue against each other. The grid indicates whether SLC is sufficient to address needs or it falls below what is required. Hence, these two factors in tension indicate whether SLC is in equilibrium or in disequilibrium.

Figure 1 depicts the process that leads to the formation of SLC. It shows that spirituality births beliefs which in turn create personal virtues such as faith, resilience, hope, stability and faith-relevance. Consequently, these develop character which has work ethic and other habits such as creativity, will power, poise, perseverance. These good virtues enable people to solve problems and influence other spheres of life, resulting in transformation. As such, an SLC-filled Christian life and leadership becomes a transformative incarnation of Christ in the world.

 

 

Spiritual leadership capital can either be negative or positive. The negative identified as disequilibrium (DISeqSLC), occurs when people's inner capabilities produced from their spirituality comes below what is required of them to rise above the challenges they are faced with. If a particular kind of spirituality fails to transform and improve its adherents, it suggests that that spirituality is not SLC efficient. Spiritual leadership capital makes people resilient and strong against problems they face.

The opposite of DISeqSLC is positive SLC (PIeqSLC) which is simply the point which lies above equilibrium (eqSLC). Positive SLC is the point beyond eqSLC. This supposes that SLC can be under-employed or over-employed. Figure 1 shows this.

In Figure 1, the SLC grid depicts social need which is a starting point in the cycle of a typical poverty situation (point 1). The ultimate is either at +4 or −4. SLC (Point 2), which is generated in the person(s) as spirituality is adequately and authentically lived out. When equal amounts of SLC (or hypothetically, force or quantum of it) are applied to social need, that should take the situation to eqSLC (point 3 which is a coping level). At this point, people draw on inner virtues that are barely enough to meet the demands facing them.

Where a person's SLC falls below eqSLC, the situation moves towards or is at point −4 (DISeqSLC), which can be a state of poverty, social inequality, corruption or not being generally fulfilled in life or being in an adverse state. On the other hand, if the person's spirituality is SLC efficient, one is able to move beyond the need (point1) through point 3 (eqSLC) which is beyond coping to point +4 (PleqSLC) which is the point of sufficiency, fulfilment or point of satisfaction or the desired state.

A leader over-employs SLC when he spiritualises matters without reflecting purposefully and knowledgeably on the human partnership with divinity in solving problems, hence, missing out on a missional approach to such cases. Spiritual leadership capital is under-employed when a person or group ignores the spiritual element until complications set in, a stage at which it becomes more complex to reverse the damage done because the basic principles are ignored. One of the ways in which negative SLC can result is in attempting to apply human capabilities pretending that there is no need for the contribution of divinity - the case with most apophatic spiritualities.

 

Spiritual leadership capital as a practical theology underlying social capital formation

The calling of the church as a missional community makes it imperative for each person in the congregation to be helped to discern their situatedness in the life which Christ offers, and how the mission of God affects all human circumstances. Theology is our expression of what we perceive to be God's view of action in the world and our response towards him (Haughton 1972:228). 'The task of practical theology is to question what the undergirding epistemology and beliefs are and to reinterpret them in the light of the gospel' (Dames 2013:3). In looking at poverty from an SLC perspective, it starts from the inner state of people. The people are colonised mentally by their inability to rise above poverty.

Therefore, leaders at (Dames 2017):

[A]ll levels of society are in need of the decolonising of the mind by unlearning the current pervasive poor service ethos by relearning a new service ethic, and in learning how to maintain and sustain a progressive service ethic for the common good of all. (p. 4)

The days are long gone for society to continue on its old ways, and change is needed regarding how practical theological education is focused. Practical theology needs to expand its scope from the Church to society and everyday life or its context if new problems in our society are to be addressed. This is because, 'religious institutions which are carried by intrinsic believers, are the ones to care for and help the oppressed in society in different ways' (Dreyer 2004:919-920).

The effects of that undergirding epistemology of spirituality on a person's leadership drive and its contribution to SC formation lies in understanding SLC. Its nature grows out of the inner meaning of our relationship with our source of spiritual strength. In Christian perspective, that is a theology. In pastoral care terms, the spiritual state of a person determines how and what he can make of life in turbulent times. Thus to aim at preventing people from 'suffering for the wrong reasons', as Mathews (2002:62) suggests as the aim of pastoral care, and taking the foregoing as a point of departure, SLC posits that transformational diaconia can alleviate suffering, build up suffering people and empower them to pick up their lives afresh thus weaning them off compassion. In applying the same to a poverty-stricken South African context, the Church has a role of solidifying people in a positive and authentic spirituality which enhances life.

This takes us to Dingemans's (2002:142) view of the Church (faith community) as a 'junction where God and people, tradition and the world, challenges and reality meet'. It is 'only when a congregation's spiritual practices are focused on missional faithfulness can it be equipped for its calling to be Christ's witness in our postmodern world' (Guder 2007:125). Mission therefore, is not primarily an act of the church but 'an attribute of God' (Bosch 1991:390). In this same light, a missional Church can arrest poverty and inequality in the current post-modern, post-apartheid South Africa, if the attribute of God is inculcated in the public conscience. The need for a public practical theology that offers pastoral care holistically cannot be over emphasised.

 

Concluding argument

So far, the authors have tried to argue that transformational diaconia with an SLC approach, builds up people's spirituality inspires courage, hope and resilience in the congregation and society. The resulting sense of direction from this transformation empowers people living in poverty-stricken contexts like South Africa to develop resilience and take a new approach to solving their social problems. This change must be bold, honest and a complete paradigm shift. This shift should make people in the church passionate about God's mission, what Fitch (2014:1) refers to as 'being present to Christ's presence'. It requires change in and out which is called deep change.

 

Deep change is transformational

Change is not manipulation. It is about constant, yet responsible, reformation (Nel 2015:208, 210). In general, human and cultural change is sustainable if it begins from within. This view stands strong in the conception of SLC. Osmer (2008:177, 206) talked of deep change in identity, mission and altered operating procedures of organisations. South African society needs such a deep change similar to what Kegan and Lahey (2009:57) observe, that 'once people have identified their competing commitments and the big assumptions that sustain them, most are prepared to take some immediate actions to overcome their immunity'. It is a long-term process, which must involve thinking of change and making series of changes until the desired transformation results (Steinke 2006:79). The presence of the Church in the world has brought about many transformations. The 17th century historian, Philip Schaff, described the transformation occasioned by authentic spirituality in the apostolic era of the Church as 'practical Christianity'. He detailed this as (Schaff 1882):

The manifestation of a new life; a spiritual (as distinct from intellectual and moral) life; a supernatural (as distinct from natural) life; it is a life of holiness and peace; a life of union and communion with God the Father, the Son, and the Spirit; it is eternal life, beginning with regeneration and culminating in the resurrection. It lays hold of the inmost centre of man's personality, emancipates him from the dominion of sin, and brings him into vital union with God in Christ; from this centre it acts as a purifying, ennobling, and regulating force upon all the faculties of man-the emotions, the will, and the intellect-and transforms even the body into a temple of the Holy Spirit. (p. §44)

Steyn and Masango (2011) also note that:

Pastoral problems cannot be separated from their urge to caregivers to find solutions in the praxis of the same. Furthermore, this understanding and interpretation should also provide the caregiver with the motivational means to offer this pastoral care from within his or her theological convictions. (p. 2)

For the church to be able to transform its people who will in turn affect society, SLC posits that the educative praxis should focus on developing pastoral leaders by cultivating their inner-strengths to enable them to respond to the challenges of their world which require internal capabilities to be addressed.

 

Spiritual leadership capital as an educative public theological response to poverty

One presupposition which the authors go with is that of Yancey (1990:161-162), where he argues that Jesus is tilted towards the poor and this can be found in his major teachings such as the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus appears so because his gospel is one that transforms people firstly, from their heart and secondly their situation in life. The power of the Christian gospel is seen and experienced in the transformation it brings in people both ways. Therefore, every gospel activity ought to be aimed at total transformation.

Furthermore, most African pastoral care approaches tend to be informed by denominational background and practice (Magezi 2016:5). Largely, denominations carve their pneumapraxis and chritopraxis from their history and traditions. Present social contexts are also shaped in the same way, and South Africa is no exception to this. Most African Pastoral care is hindered by backward African thinking (Lartey 2013:10-20). If we have a Jesus that is separated from public discourse and is filled with a spirit that only exorcises demons but does not teach responsible living, then we cannot expect a society different from our inner states.

To transform is to improve people inside out. In this enterprise, the congregation matches its mission and salvific action with Christ's nature and purpose in society. Boshart (2010:27) calls this 'transformational witness' which is trinitarian. Nel (2017) explains that:

This divine involvement makes the congregation special - a counter community, an alternative possibility for living life in communion with the One who called and with the other called ones or many. (p. 3)

As mentioned in the introduction to this article and from a Christian spirituality viewpoint, SLC-rich leadership cultivates what Roxburgh and Romanuk (2006:27) describe as 'the practice of indwelling Scripture and discovering places for experiment and risk as people discover that the Spirit of God's life-giving future in Jesus is among them'. This creates in people 'positive chaos', which spurs them to search for answers to difficult questions, resulting in mental stability born out of a spirit filled with discernment of times and events. The transformation process is a winding long road, which does not avoid the difficult questions. It rather develops the capacity to deal with difficult situations. This hangs on the premise that our faith gives us a sense of possibilities and by this we take risks, make decisions and do our strategic thinking. Yancey (1990:21-22) notes our modern aversion to pain and suffering. Yet Christ's transformation has everything to do with scars that have healed well, failures that have been redeemed, sins that have been forgiven and thorns that have settled into the flesh. Conversion is not limited to our private or religious life. It is an all-embracing and holistic salvation (Moltmann 1993:103).

A transformed people are those who have been empowered to rise from their fall. The victory that Christ gives the saved soul is the power to live in victory over sin and its effects. Spiritual leadership capital as spiritual virtue that produces resilience in people can include what Barnes (2005:3) calls 'gravitas', 'a condition of the soul that has developed enough spiritual mass to attract other souls'. According to Barnes (2005:3), 'This "condition" makes the soul appear old, but gravitas has nothing to do with age'.

Consequently, the author contests that, most cases requiring clinical pastoral care are largely the result of people being overwhelmed by circumstances and therefore, needing help to sustain them or reduce their burdens. This can be interpreted as a leadership shortfall on the personal level. Leadership must be equal to the task facing it. In this, a leader must be strong and simultaneously humble (Nel 2015:162-164). And if leaders lack the capacity to stand problems confronting them and their organisations which they lead, they are not qualified to be leaders of that group at that stage although they might have done excellently early on. To be up to scratch in caring for souls, congregational leaders need to constantly replenish their SLC and inspire followers to build the same to confront problems facing them.

One strong public theological input that SLC can make for economic systems is its potential to enhance pastoral care which in turn contributes to the growth and expansion of human capacity which builds what others call 'human capital' an aspect of SC. 'The place occupied by religion within the category of SC comes from its value in stabilising and clarifying the purposes around which people can build their willingness to cooperate' (eds. Berger & Redding 2010:4). Development occurs as people cooperate to solve their own problems.

Spiritual leadership capital holds that a people's quality of life stems from their systems and convictions which shape their thoughts and possibilities. Spiritual leadership capital harnesses the substance of such convictions for productive living. Leaders can build it in their own lives and their followers through intentional teaching, guiding and inculturation of those basic spiritual values. In this way, the SLC-based pastoral care becomes an educative praxis.

A person stabilised from within is able to stand the external fears and threats. It is people's core beliefs, values and skills which combine to produce their leadership substance. As such, pastoral care should focus on building personal capacity of people under care rather than providing them with soft pads to rest on.

 

Educative implications for South African public theology

At this point, we turn to the transformational implications of a public theology that addresses poverty largely fuelled by historical trauma in South Africa. Prior to the Dutch Reformed Church becoming a state Church, a wish from Alexander Mackay (Footprints in Africa 2019), one of South Africa's mission pioneers in 1878, resounds loud as an educative praxis needed in post-apartheid South Africa today:

Men have to be taught to love God and love their neighbours, which means the uprooting of institutions that have lasted for centuries, labour made noble, the slave set free, knowledge imparted and wisdom implanted, and above all true wisdom taught which alone can elevate men from a brute to a Son of God. (p. 26)

A new public theology is imperative, more so from a complex historical backdrop which needs to be reversed. For example, Niit (2015) notes:

By the time the Afrikaner government came to power in 1948 the Dutch Reformed Church had lost contact with the original teachings of Calvyn and in doing so conveniently provided the theological foundation for apartheid. Calvyn would never have condoned the virtual deification of the nation or the absolutism of the state or of race. The Nationalists' policies led to the elevation of apartheid to a civil religion in which the secular notions of the 'volk', culture and politics became prominent features. (p. 10)

The hurts and fears from traumatic circumstances can be passed on to generations unborn if not addressed in the present. Even after over a decade of officially ending apartheid in South Africa, traditions of feeling peeved and of being left impoverished continue to affect South African society. 'Traditions are transgenerational processes by which societies reproduce themselves' (Gassman 2008:517). In the South African context, the remains of apartheid though unwanted, continue to influence the way in which most people below the poverty line perceive their situation. Beakley (2016) notes:

Poverty is a very complicated issue in Africa, and every country on the continent has its own unique challenges. One reason South Africa is even more complicated than others is that the country recently broke free from the apartheid government in 1994.

It's a country with both western influences and African influences, first world situations and third world ones, all intermingled together.

Poverty is a reality in South Africa. Yet it's not going to be resolved by just providing food. In every situation, the poor desperately need a Christian worldview and biblical understanding of the sovereignty of God. Such an understanding lifts people up. (p. 1)

Many after a decade of officially ending apartheid, continue to blame the past for their present state of poverty. This is done oblivious of the fact that South African poverty is not confined to one racial or ethnic group but cuts across all (Kgatle 2017:2). Popular opinion notes that South African society is bedevilled by continuous moral decay that now threatens the very fibre of society and needs to be redressed decisively by all South Africans (Shongwe 2017:1). And he concludes; 'it is my belief that the church is still eminently placed to influence public opinion on matters affecting the nation' (Shongwe 2017:3). This is a challenge for public practical theology, particularly pastoral care within the congregation.

Tutu (1999) writes:

Harmony, friendliness, community are great goods. Social harmony is for us the summum bonum - the greatest good. Anything that subverts or undermines this sought-after good is to be avoided like the plague. (p. 35)

The self-understanding of each individual in the social machinery is crucial for the transformation of society. Besides, cultivating a sense of belonging as a transformational process takes place through many small steps' (Sider, Olson & Unbuh 2006:157). For the South African Church, simple conciliatory, trust-building gestures can be the initial missional steps towards developing a public theology that truly meets the larger South African populace at the point of Christ's transformation.

The need for transformational diaconia cannot be overemphasised. Practical theologians in South Africa should understand that the metaphorical dregs of apartheid are still with us. Therefore, the church ought to shape leaders who can address it.

Spiritual leadership capital as a concept should therefore be explored for its usefulness to this enterprise.

Theological education should focus on a clinical pastoral care model that takes seriously, the building up of inner spiritual state of people needing care, matters of lifestyle, tradition of racial biases and how these affect the fibre of society. In terms of poverty, this article motions the church to a field beyond just almsgiving and acts of mercy, it is an invitation to the shaping of lives that are strong enough to face all that the world throws at them.

 

Acknowledgements

Competing interests

The authors declare that they have no financial or personal relationships which may have inappropriately influenced them in writing this article.

Authors' contributions

S.F.K.T. is the main author contributing to the conceptualisation and writing up of this paper and is a research associate of M.N., the main research partner. M.N. was responsible for the monitoring of the article and offered guidance on its development.

Ethical considerations

This article followed all ethical standards for a research without direct contact with human or animal subjects.

Funding information

The research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.

Data availability statement

Data sharing is not applicable as no new data were created or analysed in this study.

Disclaimer

The views and opinions expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of any affiliated agency of the authors.

 

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Correspondence:
Malan Nel
malannelup@gmail.com

Received: 27 July 2019
Accepted: 31 Jan. 2020
Published: 03 June 2020

 

 

Project Leader: M. Nel
Project Number: 02331810
Description: This article forms part of the research project, 'Congregational Studies' of Prof. Malan Nel, Department Practical Theology, Faculty of Theology and Religion, University of Pretoria.
Note: This article is published in the section Practical Theology of the Society for Practical Theology in South Africa.
1 . This article was developed from a paper presented by Smith Francis Tettey to the Society for Practical Theology in South Africa (SPTSA) conference held at the North West University, Potchefstroom, South Africa from 16 to 19 January, 2019. In this article, authors introduce the spiritual leadership capital (SLC) theory, which was advanced in a PhD research completed under the leadership of Prof. Malan Nel in April 2018 in the Department of Practical Theology, University of Pretoria. The thesis was titled, 'Spiritual Leadership Capital: A Theology of Poverty in Congregational Development'.