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Verbum et Ecclesia
On-line version ISSN 2074-7705
Print version ISSN 1609-9982
Verbum Eccles. (Online) vol.32 n.2 Pretoria 2011
http://dx.doi.org/10.4102/ve.v32i2.507
ORIGINAL RESEARCH
Overcoming modernity's individualism: Becoming a community of peace in the face of violence
Andrew G. Suderman
Department Dogmatics and Christian Ethics, University of Pretoria, South Africa
ABSTRACT
Modernity's understanding of the primacy of the individual represents a significant challenge to a holistic understanding of the vocation of the church. Furthermore, individualism, that is the understanding of oneself as separate and apart from others, is often the foundation for violence against the other as the interconnectivity, and therefore the dependence and vulnerability inherent within a relationship, is lost. When the church is relegated to serve individuals as private and individualised belief systems, it is banished to a cold, dark cell of isolation. In order to respond to violence, the church needs to create communities that restore and reconcile relationships, thus embodying peace.
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Acknowledgements
Competing interests
The author declares that he has no financial or personal relationship(s) which may have inappropriately influenced him in writing this article.
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Correspondence:
Andrew Suderman
PO Box 100594, Scottsville
3209 Pietermaritzburg
South Africa
Email: aksuderman@gmail.com
Received: 03 Mar. 2011
Accepted: 31 Aug. 2011
Published: 16 Nov. 2011
Note: This article was prepared for the 'Violence in the Democratic South Africa: A Challenge to Theology and the Churches' Conference, held by the Centre for Public Theology, University of Pretoria, South Africa. Andrew Suderman is a research associate in the Department Dogmatics and Christian Ethics at the University of Pretoria, South Africa.