City-making, Space and Spirituality- A Community-Based Urban Praxis with Reflections from South Africa

By Stephan de Beer This book is about the soul of the city, embodied in its spaces and people. It traces dynamics in inner city neighbourhoods of South Africa’s post-apartheid capital, Pretoria. Viewing the city through its most vulnerable people and places, it recognizes that urban space is never neutral and shaped by competing value..

Read more

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

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..

Read more

Homelessness and Covid-19 in the City
of Tshwane: Doing liberation theology
undercover – A conversation with
Ivan Petrella

Ivan Petrella argues that the goals of liberation theology can sometimes be better served by doing it undercover. This article reflects on responses to homelessness during Covid-19 in the City of Tshwane, describing and reflecting upon itfrom the perspective of a researcher-theologian as well as activist-urbanist. It employed two lenses in its reflection: Petrella’s notion..

Read more

Demythologising social cohesion: Towards a practical

This article considers the topical issue of social cohesion. It seeks to demythologise the issue bringing it into critical conversation with eight related categories. It proposes that a vision of a socially cohesive society should employ all eight categories as parallel and complementary strategies. Secondly, it proposes a practical theological vision of social cohesion that..

Read more