Fear, violence and racism : can religion help us outlive the past in South Africa?
When Beyers Naude, an anti-apartheid stalwart, asked in an open letter to ministers in the Dutch Reformed Church how it was possible to preach peace from the Gospel on Sundays without touching the heart of people, he touched a very sensitive hermeneutic nerve. The Bible played a central role to esta...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Interlibrary Loan: | Interlibrary Loan for the Fachinformationsdienste (Specialized Information Services in Germany) |
| Published: |
2003
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| In: |
Old Testament essays
Year: 2003, Volume: 16, Issue: 3, Pages: 690-716 |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (kostenfrei) |
| Summary: | When Beyers Naude, an anti-apartheid stalwart, asked in an open letter to ministers in the Dutch Reformed Church how it was possible to preach peace from the Gospel on Sundays without touching the heart of people, he touched a very sensitive hermeneutic nerve. The Bible played a central role to establish the policy of apartheid as a social model. The problem was that only a few elements were extracted from the stories that are rather full of undesirable elements. The question is how was it possible for religion to pacify the minds of people and to suffocate its faith community's moral vision? Fear played a central role, so it seems. This paper explores different aspects of fear, violence and religion. Firstly, the paper looks at Modernity and violent responses to the agenda of Modernity. Since fear of a threat appears to be an underlying concern, the next section takes a look at fear. This is done in three ways, namely a discussion of the film Bowling for Columbine, a brief look at fear for criminality that became racially compounded in South Africa and an analysis of the biological workings of fear in human beings. The paper then proceeds to link fear with religion via Rudolph Otto's concept of the mysterium tremendum et fascinans. This discussion logically leads to a brief look at the Old Testament concept fear of the Lord. Fifthly, the paper discusses the link between Jesus and violence. Lastly the paper expounds in a broad manner some aspects of the role of religion in violence. |
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| ISSN: | 2312-3621 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Old Testament essays
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| Persistent identifiers: | HDL: 10520/EJC85587 |