CHRISTIANITY AND DEMOCRACY: UNDERSTANDING THEIR RELATIONSHIP

• John W de Gruchy Robert Selby Taylor Chair University of Cape Town

DOI: https://doi.org/10.7833/62-0-625

Abstract

In the new democratic society in South Africa both Christian faith and theology are facing the challenge to affinn democratic values and goals without selling out to a secular ideology in which Christian faith inevitably becomes privatised. With this challenge in view the relationship between Christianity and democracy is examined. The historic yet ambiguous nature of this relationship is described. Four trajectories within Christian tradition which have made significant contributions to the development of democratic theory and praxis are identified. An attempt is made to delineate more clearly what is meant by democracy. A distinction is made between democracy as a vision of what society should become, and democracy as a system of government which seeks to enable the realisation of that vision within particular contexts. The origins of the democratic vision in the prophetic vision of a society in which the reign of God's shalom will become a reality, are indicated. On the basis of this prophetic vision and the doctrine of the trinity the relationship between democracy and ecclesiology, the church's role within civil society and the tension between national sovereignty and global democratisation are submitted to critical theological reflection.