IN SEARCH OF MEANING: MOVING FROM THE PROPHET’S VOICE TO PROPHECY IN COMMUNITY; A SOUTH AFRICAN PERSPECTIVE

• Ian Nell Practical Theology & Missiology Stellenbosch University

DOI: https://doi.org/10.7833/102-0-615

Keywords: Meaning, Prophetic Preaching, Embodied, Community, Theodramatic Paradigm, Belhar Confession, Local Performance, Regional Theatre, Congregational Action

Abstract

During the times of ‘Apartheid South Africa’ prophetic preaching played an enormous part in bringing about the changes this country experienced throughout the last three decades. The prophetic preaching of exponents such as Desmond Tutu, Allan Boesak and Beyers Naudé paved the way for the relatively peaceful transitions South Africans experienced. Within Christian communities it assisted people in their search for meaning and thereby created a framework of understanding for the necessity of socio-political change. Fourteen years into the new dispensation the question remains: Does prophetic preaching still make a difference? Also: Does such preaching help Christian communities in their search for meaning in these changing times? These questions will be addressed in the paper. It will be argued that prophetic preaching could and should play a part in a new search for meaning. This should however be practiced anew and under changed conditions. It will also be argued that a ‘theodramatic paradigm’ provides a helpful practical-prophetic framework in the search for meaning in this regard. Such a framework will be based on the theological model (theorems) provided by classical and recent studies and expanded by applying it to the notion of prophetic performance derived from the Belhar Confession.