Land, liberation and prophetic witness: Re-envisioning land justice through Biko’s Black Theology

This article investigates the outstanding question in South Africa of the land, by way of Black Theology, honing in on it the liberative optic of Steve Biko (Stephen Bantu). It argues that today’s post-apartheid land clashes do not engage ordinary politics or law; they involve theological crises tha...

Celý popis

Uloženo v:
Podrobná bibliografie
Vydáno v:Hervormde teologiese studies Ročník 81; číslo 1
Hlavní autor: Jentile, Thembelani E.
Médium: Journal Article
Jazyk:angličtina
Vydáno: 18.11.2025
ISSN:0259-9422, 2072-8050
On-line přístup:Získat plný text
Tagy: Přidat tag
Žádné tagy, Buďte první, kdo vytvoří štítek k tomuto záznamu!
Abstract This article investigates the outstanding question in South Africa of the land, by way of Black Theology, honing in on it the liberative optic of Steve Biko (Stephen Bantu). It argues that today’s post-apartheid land clashes do not engage ordinary politics or law; they involve theological crises that expose the moral bankruptcy of both the Church and South Africa. The article juxtaposes the Reformed ethics of Jacobus Vorster, the eschatological perspective of Kelebogile Resane and the radical emancipatory paradigm of Black Theology with a view to highlight land as neither commodity nor property, but sacred inheritance, communal memory and spiritual root. Biko’s theology is informed by Black consciousness, the memory of ancestry and incarnational practice, which constructs a decolonial Christology that challenges Christian nationalism and spiritual responsibility for land dispossession. The analysis contends against white refugee claims and theological amnesia that reverses justice, arguing for a prophetic voice rooted in remembrance, restitution and ethical impetus. Contribution: It mobilises Biko, Mosala, Vellem and others to (re)imagine an African and African Christian identity by restoring the role of the Church as conscience of the nations. Land justice appears here as a theological imperative, as a site where liberation, self-expression and divine action meet. When people whose land was stolen from them regains that land, it is not, after all, just the land they are reclaiming but their testimony.
AbstractList This article investigates the outstanding question in South Africa of the land, by way of Black Theology, honing in on it the liberative optic of Steve Biko (Stephen Bantu). It argues that today’s post-apartheid land clashes do not engage ordinary politics or law; they involve theological crises that expose the moral bankruptcy of both the Church and South Africa. The article juxtaposes the Reformed ethics of Jacobus Vorster, the eschatological perspective of Kelebogile Resane and the radical emancipatory paradigm of Black Theology with a view to highlight land as neither commodity nor property, but sacred inheritance, communal memory and spiritual root. Biko’s theology is informed by Black consciousness, the memory of ancestry and incarnational practice, which constructs a decolonial Christology that challenges Christian nationalism and spiritual responsibility for land dispossession. The analysis contends against white refugee claims and theological amnesia that reverses justice, arguing for a prophetic voice rooted in remembrance, restitution and ethical impetus. Contribution: It mobilises Biko, Mosala, Vellem and others to (re)imagine an African and African Christian identity by restoring the role of the Church as conscience of the nations. Land justice appears here as a theological imperative, as a site where liberation, self-expression and divine action meet. When people whose land was stolen from them regains that land, it is not, after all, just the land they are reclaiming but their testimony.
Author Jentile, Thembelani E.
Author_xml – sequence: 1
  givenname: Thembelani E.
  orcidid: 0000-0002-6667-4812
  surname: Jentile
  fullname: Jentile, Thembelani E.
BookMark eNotkN9KwzAchYNMcJtee5sHsF2Spn_inRvqhIGgvS9J-uuarSYj6Sa78zV8PZ_Ebnp1OPBxOHwTNLLOAkK3lMScEjZblu_xoaCGxpQUGb9AY0ZyFhUkJSM0JiwVkeCMXaFJCBtCklRQOkZ6JW19hzujwMveOIuHjnfe7VrojcafprcQwj1-gwjswYQBMXaNuxO22YeBAdy33u3XLZ6brfv5-g543km9xWULrnPr4zW6bGQX4OY_p6h8eiwXy2j1-vyyeFhFuqA80lwLoYuMKdBa6VxCwVUmh6O5yjPIoE4FoaKpE5JkQkkFlCS6karRnMtaJVM0-5vV3oXgoal23nxIf6woqU6KqkFRdVZUnRUlv14-X6o
Cites_doi 10.1163/102308009X12561890523555
10.4314/actat.v35i1.10
10.1177/02637758211032975
10.1093/hwj/1997.43.53
10.7833/118-1-1526
10.1353/book.78282
10.1057/9780230613379_7
10.7833/122-1-2094
10.7833/115-0-1201
10.1177/00905917231199711
10.1111/j.1540-5842.1999.tb00012.x
ContentType Journal Article
DBID AAYXX
CITATION
DOI 10.4102/HTS.v81i1.10864
DatabaseName CrossRef
DatabaseTitle CrossRef
DatabaseTitleList CrossRef
DeliveryMethod fulltext_linktorsrc
Discipline Religion
EISSN 2072-8050
ExternalDocumentID 10_4102_HTS_v81i1_10864
GroupedDBID -OY
1RH
4JU
4QV
5VS
AAYXX
ABDBF
ABUWG
ABXHO
ACUHS
ADBBV
AFFHD
AFKRA
ALMA_UNASSIGNED_HOLDINGS
ANHLU
APOWU
AZFZN
AZQEC
AZXEI
BAIFH
BBTPI
BCNDV
BENPR
BPHCQ
BQOBL
BSCPQ
CCPQU
CITATION
CWDGH
DWQXO
EBS
EJD
ESX
GNUQQ
GROUPED_DOAJ
IAO
IRE
ITC
KQ8
KWQ
M2N
OK1
P2P
PGAAH
PHGZM
PHGZT
PIMPY
PMKZF
PQQKQ
PROAC
PV9
RFP
RNS
RZL
SCD
SCSAF
UXAQP
X4Q
ID FETCH-LOGICAL-c814-c4c99c862beccbc7ae84b6a0357b76e6ed59019fd30369babe103cfabfc44adb3
ISSN 0259-9422
IngestDate Thu Nov 20 00:50:48 EST 2025
IsDoiOpenAccess false
IsOpenAccess true
IsPeerReviewed true
IsScholarly true
Issue 1
Language English
LinkModel OpenURL
MergedId FETCHMERGED-LOGICAL-c814-c4c99c862beccbc7ae84b6a0357b76e6ed59019fd30369babe103cfabfc44adb3
ORCID 0000-0002-6667-4812
OpenAccessLink https://doi.org/10.4102/hts.v81i1.10864
ParticipantIDs crossref_primary_10_4102_HTS_v81i1_10864
PublicationCentury 2000
PublicationDate 2025-11-18
PublicationDateYYYYMMDD 2025-11-18
PublicationDate_xml – month: 11
  year: 2025
  text: 2025-11-18
  day: 18
PublicationDecade 2020
PublicationTitle Hervormde teologiese studies
PublicationYear 2025
References ref13
ref12
ref15
ref14
ref31
ref30
ref11
ref10
ref32
ref0
ref2
ref1
ref17
ref16
ref19
ref18
ref24
ref23
ref26
ref25
ref20
ref22
ref21
ref28
ref27
ref29
ref8
ref7
ref9
ref4
ref3
ref6
ref5
References_xml – ident: ref3
– ident: ref18
  doi: 10.1163/102308009X12561890523555
– ident: ref5
– ident: ref7
– ident: ref20
– ident: ref29
– ident: ref22
– ident: ref24
  doi: 10.4314/actat.v35i1.10
– ident: ref27
– ident: ref14
  doi: 10.1177/02637758211032975
– ident: ref9
– ident: ref19
– ident: ref32
– ident: ref4
  doi: 10.1093/hwj/1997.43.53
– ident: ref11
– ident: ref17
– ident: ref15
– ident: ref25
  doi: 10.7833/118-1-1526
– ident: ref13
– ident: ref1
  doi: 10.1353/book.78282
– ident: ref2
– ident: ref6
– ident: ref10
  doi: 10.1057/9780230613379_7
– ident: ref21
– ident: ref23
– ident: ref26
  doi: 10.7833/122-1-2094
– ident: ref31
  doi: 10.7833/115-0-1201
– ident: ref28
  doi: 10.1177/00905917231199711
– ident: ref8
– ident: ref30
  doi: 10.1111/j.1540-5842.1999.tb00012.x
– ident: ref0
– ident: ref16
– ident: ref12
SSID ssj0035911
Score 2.3297236
Snippet This article investigates the outstanding question in South Africa of the land, by way of Black Theology, honing in on it the liberative optic of Steve Biko...
SourceID crossref
SourceType Index Database
Title Land, liberation and prophetic witness: Re-envisioning land justice through Biko’s Black Theology
Volume 81
hasFullText 1
inHoldings 1
isFullTextHit
isPrint
journalDatabaseRights – providerCode: PRVAON
  databaseName: DOAJ Directory of Open Access Journals
  customDbUrl:
  eissn: 2072-8050
  dateEnd: 99991231
  omitProxy: false
  ssIdentifier: ssj0035911
  issn: 0259-9422
  databaseCode: DOA
  dateStart: 20090101
  isFulltext: true
  titleUrlDefault: https://www.doaj.org/
  providerName: Directory of Open Access Journals
– providerCode: PRVPQU
  databaseName: Middle East & Africa Database
  customDbUrl:
  eissn: 2072-8050
  dateEnd: 99991231
  omitProxy: false
  ssIdentifier: ssj0035911
  issn: 0259-9422
  databaseCode: CWDGH
  dateStart: 20110701
  isFulltext: true
  titleUrlDefault: https://search.proquest.com/middleeastafrica
  providerName: ProQuest
– providerCode: PRVPQU
  databaseName: ProQuest Central
  customDbUrl:
  eissn: 2072-8050
  dateEnd: 99991231
  omitProxy: false
  ssIdentifier: ssj0035911
  issn: 0259-9422
  databaseCode: BENPR
  dateStart: 20110701
  isFulltext: true
  titleUrlDefault: https://www.proquest.com/central
  providerName: ProQuest
– providerCode: PRVPQU
  databaseName: Publicly Available Content Database
  customDbUrl:
  eissn: 2072-8050
  dateEnd: 99991231
  omitProxy: false
  ssIdentifier: ssj0035911
  issn: 0259-9422
  databaseCode: PIMPY
  dateStart: 20110701
  isFulltext: true
  titleUrlDefault: http://search.proquest.com/publiccontent
  providerName: ProQuest
– providerCode: PRVPQU
  databaseName: Religion Database
  customDbUrl:
  eissn: 2072-8050
  dateEnd: 99991231
  omitProxy: false
  ssIdentifier: ssj0035911
  issn: 0259-9422
  databaseCode: M2N
  dateStart: 20110701
  isFulltext: true
  titleUrlDefault: https://search.proquest.com/religion
  providerName: ProQuest
link http://cvtisr.summon.serialssolutions.com/2.0.0/link/0/eLvHCXMwtZ1LT9tAEMdXhVaoF0Rf6oOiPfSAlDr4sfF6uVFElQONkJoDN2tflgyqg3BKOfZr8PX4JJ3ZXTsmUiV66MVy1snYyc-efWTmP4R8YsZCx2XyiPGsilhSMXjmrIxSrTKVmiIz2unMnvLZrDg_F2chiL115QR40xS3t-Lqv6KGNoCNqbP_gLs3Cg2wD9BhC9hh-yjwpyFU0QWOeLxeDAAVBFCe9Ve9RP_mQ-EizHRrw6IsRjmOLnx9r76Cz5f6ctGFRIh25Fb8XEp_vx4fxrZTcDswAjbwUXcQ9SecfO2DOMVmWfsIZjDxQ1k4ZT06GQ8XH9IJZuEN_SU0iUgwn1o8tq4tjTk42djryXZO1tdlGd5M676bJU4Ldjr_Pr4pkjpxNaDYqpvq_ppf6736mEKYzaCJEgyUzkDpDGyQpymfCHR439JZ10lnE-FKM_fX71Wf0MDB2hUMBiyDkcd8h2yHKQM98qhfkCe2eUm2uljyV0Qj8c90xZvCa9rzpoH3IX1ImyJtGmjTQJsi7fvfdy11nGnH-TWZfz2ZH0-jUDsj0kXCIs20EBpmq_iIKs2lLZjKJXxvrnhuc2sw51hUBkcwQkllkzjTlVSVZkwalb0hm82isW8JzQuW8NhmE4nagBnMyJjESo4yFuDAjXxH9rvfp7zyCinlX1i8f_xbP5Dnq_ttl2wur3_aj-SZvlnW7fWeWznZc0T_AFdQYAw
linkProvider ProQuest
openUrl ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&ctx_enc=info%3Aofi%2Fenc%3AUTF-8&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fsummon.serialssolutions.com&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=article&rft.atitle=Land%2C+liberation+and+prophetic+witness%3A+Re-envisioning+land+justice+through+Biko%E2%80%99s+Black+Theology&rft.jtitle=Hervormde+teologiese+studies&rft.au=Jentile%2C+Thembelani+E.&rft.date=2025-11-18&rft.issn=0259-9422&rft.eissn=2072-8050&rft.volume=81&rft.issue=1&rft_id=info:doi/10.4102%2FHTS.v81i1.10864&rft.externalDBID=n%2Fa&rft.externalDocID=10_4102_HTS_v81i1_10864
thumbnail_l http://covers-cdn.summon.serialssolutions.com/index.aspx?isbn=/lc.gif&issn=0259-9422&client=summon
thumbnail_m http://covers-cdn.summon.serialssolutions.com/index.aspx?isbn=/mc.gif&issn=0259-9422&client=summon
thumbnail_s http://covers-cdn.summon.serialssolutions.com/index.aspx?isbn=/sc.gif&issn=0259-9422&client=summon