Negotiating the crisis of success : contextual theology ten years into democracy : Theological Society of South Africa : papers read at 2004 conference

Contextual theology has faced something of a crisis since the advent of democracy and the new dispensation in South Africa. The roots of the crisis may be found in the fact that much of the contextual theology of the past was based on the political agenda of erstwhile resistance movements that have become dominant political parties. This essay probes the nature of the crisis and looks to its solution in the future. It does this by locating the crisis in the realignment of political groupings in the past decade, examining its major theological weaknesses in the eighties and early nineties, and revisiting the issue of methodology around some crucial theological issues at stake in the new dispensation.