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Academic Articles

‘Housing’ as Christian Social Practice in..

Decent, affordable housing and secure housing tenure remain elusive for Africa’s urban majority. The urban majority is expected to live..

Centre Publications

African cities by 2063: Fosteringtheologies of..

Grounded in a postcolonial, liberationist urban vision, this article lamented the theological and political paralysis of urban denialism that fails..

Individual Publications

‘Pentecost of the city’Towards an African..

Migration is a growing phenomenon affecting African cities. This article engages the current reality of migrants in the City of..

Blog

Academic Articles, Stephan de Beer

‘Housing’ as Christian Social Practice in African Cities: Centering the Urban Majority Theologically

Stephan de Beer

Decent, affordable housing and secure housing tenure remain elusive for Africa’s urban majority. The urban majority is expected to live in self-help housing, reflected in the fact that 62% of African urban dwellers live in urban informal settlements. The inability to access safe, decent, and secure housing, and the reality that Africa’s urban majority is..

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Academic Articles, Centre Publications, Stephan de Beer

African cities by 2063: Fostering
theologies of urban citizenship

Stephan de Beer

Grounded in a postcolonial, liberationist urban vision, this article lamented the theological and political paralysis of urban denialism that fails African cities and African urban populations. Considering different possible urban trajectories towards 2063 – ranging from floundering to flourishing, implosion to explosion, and apocalyptic disaster to complete rebirth – it then proposed theologies of African..

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Academic Articles, Faith Based Organisations and Migrations, Individual Publications

‘Pentecost of the city’
Towards an African urban migratory theology

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Migration is a growing phenomenon affecting African cities. This article engages the current reality of migrants in the City of Cotonou, Benin, theologically. It re-imagines theological education for Cotonou to flourish by 2050, producing an African urban migratory theology that deeply engages the presence of migrants as contributors to socio-economic development. The central question is:..

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Academic Articles, Individual Publications, Uncategorized

Andrew Murray’s “Missionary Problem”: addressing the gap between the spiritual and the everyday lives of church Members

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The article compares two views on the missionary problem: one was expressed in Andrew Murray’s book The Key to the Missionary Problem, about 120 years ago. Murray emphasised the low level of the spiritual life of the church as the main missionary problem; the key to solving this problem is the revival of a strong..

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Academic Articles, Stephan de Beer, Urban Africa 2050

Constructing an Urban Theology of Liberation in South Africa Today: A Transdisciplinary Praxis-Approach in the Interface between (Urban) Faith, Politics and Planning

Stephan de Beer

Urban theologising in South Africa has to solidify its intentionality, commitment, rigour, and outcomes if it is to contribute in liberating, constructive and transformative ways to the shape and content of current and future South African cities. This particular contribution articulates the importance of constructing urban theologies of liberation, reiterating the ongoing importance of liberationist..

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Academic Articles, Urban Africa 2050

Repositioning Theological Institutions for Urban Ministry: A case for the kampala Evangelical School of Theology

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The unprecedented urbanization trends in Africa have not been matched with the corresponding theological formation and praxis that is consciously oriented towards the urban in terms of curriculum, pedagogy and spirituality. Nevertheless, theological institutions can be active stakeholders in their cities to the extent that they envision those cities theologically. The author used the Kampala..

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Pathways out of Homelessness – Development Southern Africa, Research Reports, Stephan de Beer

Everyone counted, counts! The first homeless count in the City of Tshwane, October 2022 Research report

Stephan de Beer

Every person counts. And everyone counted during the City of Tshwane’s first official homeless count, counts! This is a critical moral, political and theological assertion, and insistence. It is also a critical methodological reminder. Losing one survey form, or miscounting, or messing up data, is miscounting one person’s dignity, importance and information. Without such insistence..

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Faith Based Action and Urban Regeneration, Special Editions, Urban Africa 2050, Urban Public Theology in South Africa

Mending the broken city of Pietermaritzburg through a transformative urban theological programme: A challenge to Union Bible Institute

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Rapid urbanisation, globalisation, and the advancement of information and technology come as a challenge for theological education in South Africa, generally, and, specifically, in an emerging city like Pietermaritzburg. This is a city with a multitude of urban fractures: the contesting space between informal traders and the taxi industry; rife political violence; gender- based violence;..

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Faith Based Action and Urban Regeneration, Special Editions, Urban Africa 2050

Equipping Lay Leaders for Christian Ministry in the Anglican Church of Kenya through Theological Education by Extension

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The mission of ecclesia is to empower and equip its leaders for Christian ministry. This has been possible through theological education, particularly for the ordained ministry. Though laity form a substantial number in the Anglican Church of Kenya (ACK) ecclesiastical context, they are theologically ill-equipped for Christian ministry despite their integral roles in pastoral and..

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Academic Journals, Faith Based Action and Urban Regeneration, Urban Africa 2050

Decolonising theological education in urban spaces A reflection on the “Abantu Book Festival”

Julian Müller and Sheila Trahar

The article argues that “Abantu Book Festival” (Abantu) held in Soweto annually signifies a decolonising space for theological education in the urban areas surrounding Soweto. From the perspective of Black theology of liberation (BTL) paradigms, the clear focus on blackness as a methodological framework for the Abantu programme signifies Abantu as a festival reflecting critically..

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