By: Joel Zantingh on September 19, 2025
In Exploring Wicked Problems, Joseph Bentley and Michael Toth introduced us to the predicament of wicked problems. They state, ‘they are confusing, dynamic, ill-structured, and ambiguous; they are complex, many-faceted, intricate, and bewildering. They have no final solutions, only temporary arrangements. Yet most of the important problems we face in our lives are wicked rather…
By: Noel Liemam on September 18, 2025
Introduction. Waldmeir’s Anatomy of a Miracle: The End of Apartheid told a vivid story of the major changes and events that took place in South Africa. It told of how the government was changed to democracy from apartheid without a civil war which is unheard of. The ‘miracle’ refers to this peaceful occurrence. It was…
By: Chad Warren on September 18, 2025
South Africa is often celebrated for what many call a miracle—the end of apartheid without a descent into civil war. The story of Nelson Mandela walking free from prison in 1990 and leading the country into democracy by 1994 remains one of the most remarkable political transitions of the twentieth century. Yet nearly thirty years…
By: Daren Jaime on September 18, 2025
My uncle and aunt worked for the US Federal Government in Washington DC, and practically every year my family would make a visit to their home as we would spend the holiday together. These were some of the most memorable occasions, the laughing, sharing, bonding and game playing that makes for One year I will…
By: Julie O'Hara on September 18, 2025
Mrs. Lupton was my English teacher during the 1983-1984 school year, when I was in 11th grade. More than 40 years later, I still remember two sections of her curriculum. First, we watched the movie Gandhi over several class periods. Having personally experienced racial oppression in South Africa, Gandhi went on to lead the ultimately…
By: Ryan Thorson on September 18, 2025
I am so excited for Cape Town! As the final in-person advance of our doctoral program, I’ve been eyeing this moment since the beginning, and it’s hard to believe it is finally here. I love to travel and experience new places, to learn their history, culture, and people—and South Africa has no shortage of those…
By: Shela Sullivan on September 17, 2025
Introduction Anatomy of a Miracle: The End of Apartheid and the Birth of the New South Africa by Patti Waldmeir is a moral awakening, courage and cost.[1] This is one of the best books I have read. I have articles about apartheid; I have watched movies about apartheid but never read a book like one.…
By: Christy on September 17, 2025
In 1994, South Africa experienced a miracle. Apartheid officially ended, but the meaning of apartheid in Afrikaans, “apartness”, still lingers today. Apartheid was a government policy that favored the white minority in South Africa, sanctioned racial segregation, and politically and economically discriminated against the nonwhite majority. [1] This week’s readings each had their own unique…
By: Diane Tuttle on September 17, 2025
As I reflect on apartheid, I am convinced that my thoughts in this post can’t, possibly, fully address the complexed set of problems that officially drove a nation for 46 years to suppress the majority of its people. White people only made up 12% of the population yet, minority rule was the law. Was it…
By: Jennifer Eckert on September 17, 2025
The parable of the Prodigal Son is a well-known demonstration of God’s radical forgiveness. This father–son story charts the course of the son’s greed, his self-reflection, and eventual shame and repentance. Yet the father, mirroring our heavenly Father, runs to him with extended arms, offering unconditional love and restoration.[1] In this story, forgiveness is generous,…
By: Kari on September 17, 2025
“Oh, you live in Africa? Do you know so-and-so? They live in South Africa, too.” I do not live in South Africa. I have never even visited. Yet, you may be surprised to learn how many Americans think Africa is one big country—South Africa. Geography clearly is not their strength! For years, I have been…
By: Elysse Burns on September 17, 2025
Although I wasn’t able to access Patti Waldmeir’s Anatomy of a Miracle, I’ve focused instead on Alec Russell’s Bring Me My Machine Gun: The Battle for the Soul of South Africa from Mandela to Zuma, along with a personal choice, Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela’s A Human Being Died That Night: A South African Woman Confronts the Legacy…
By: Graham English on September 17, 2025
With Dr. Clark’s permission, I read Bring Me My Machine Gun (After Apartheid) by Alec Russell and Country of My Skull by Antjie Krog When I read Bring Me My Machine Gun by Alec Russell and Country of My Skull by Antjie Krog, in preparation for the Cape Town Advance, I found myself not only…
By: Jeff Styer on September 16, 2025
Historical Fear Anxiety, worry, and fear, these are concepts presented in the Scriptures over 100 times.[1] Microsoft Copilot states that the phrase Fear Not appears 71 times, 57 Old Testament, 14 New Testament.[2] They are normal human emotions, however when they reach certain levels the “reptilian brain takes over.”[3] Edwin Friedman suggests that during this…
By: Glyn Barrett on September 15, 2025
I first became aware of the word “apartheid” in 1989, at an open day at Sheffield University, Sheffield, South Yorkshire, UK. The student union building bore the name “The Nelson Mandela Building,” a defiant act of protest against South Africa’s system of racial segregation. I didn’t fully understand the politics at the time, but the…
By: Adam Cheney on September 15, 2025
My first trip to South Africa was not to Cape Town or Johannesburg but to Bloemfontein, a city near the border of Lesotho, where I had been visiting. Some in our group needed to make a visa run, and we also needed supplies unavailable in Lesotho. It was 2013, and what I encountered there shocked…
By: Debbie Owen on September 15, 2025
What apartheid South Africa can teach us about America’s fractures—and the miracle of turning toward love The assassination of Charlie Kirk is more than one man’s tragic death; it is a mirror held up to our nation’s unraveling. His assassination is horrific and inexcusable. Full stop. And…I thought his message was more than just controversial.…
By: Christy on September 12, 2025
“To the one who strikes you on the cheek, turn the other also. And to the one who takes away your cloak, do not withhold your tunic either”. (Luke 6:29 NIV) “For God does not show favoritism”. (Romans 2:11 NIV) “There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and…
By: Joel Zantingh on September 12, 2025
The past few years have seen a rise in Christian Nationalism [1], which works off of the premise that society, especially the secular West is antagonistic to the Gospel. There is something that has been lost or abandoned, and we must do all we can to reclaim it. Tom Holland, in Dominion, joins other theorists…
By: Noel Liemam on September 11, 2025
Tom Holland, in his writings of the book, “Dominion: How the Christian Revolution Remade the World,’ argued that is a major force behind the shaping of the Western civilization – both in the religious institution and the within the cultural setting as well. He argued that the Western thinking is deeply affected by Christian values.…
