A Colonial-Decolonial Critique of Theological and Religious Research in South Africa (1975–2025)

Abstract

Marking 50 years of UNISA's Research Institute for Theology and Religion, this article traces how South African theology moved from being a tool of apartheid oppression, through Black Theology and the Kairos Document, to today's decolonial and "reconstruction" theologies. It's a compact history of how faith itself has had to be liberated from the colonial and racial ideologies once used to justify it. The article recounts how, during apartheid, the Dutch Reformed Church actively legitimised segregation as a kind of civil religion, while Black Theology — drawing on Steve Biko's Black Consciousness movement — reclaimed the Christian gospel as a message of liberation for the oppressed rather than a tool of control. It also traces the 1985 Kairos Document, in which South African theologians formally declared apartheid a heresy, showing how faith communities have previously found the courage to name and confront injustice within their own institutions rather than simply accommodating it.
It's a useful reminder that reimagining faith heritage isn't new — South African theologians have been doing this work for half a century. The article closes by calling for a theology of unity in diversity fit for a plural, post-apartheid society, celebrating many traditions coexisting and correcting one another.