By: Shela Sullivan on October 7, 2025
Current Knowledge and Belief Colonialism was a global system of control that changed how power, wealth, and culture were distributed around the world. It involved taking land, labor, and resources—often justified by racist beliefs and imperial goals. Nigel Biggar points out that colonialism did not start with a single decision, but was a planned effort…
By: Glyn Barrett on October 7, 2025
This reflection examines slavery and colonialism through five key questions, drawing on history, theology, and personal leadership to grapple with uncomfortable truths and consider how Christian leaders can respond with honesty, courage, and faith. Current Knowledge and Belief When the topic of slavery surfaces in public discourse, the default narrative tends to revolve around the…
By: Debbie Owen on October 6, 2025
The legacy of colonialism, slavery, and religious empire stretches back to the earliest biblical narratives. From the beginning, human beings have wrestled with how to live faithfully under God without giving in to the temptation to dominate others. Abraham left his homeland in obedience to God; later his descendants would both suffer from and wield…
By: Adam Cheney on October 6, 2025
1. Opening Question – Current Knowledge and Belief In the last few years, I have taken a deep dive into the history of slavery and the racial issues that continue to plague our country. My NPO has been shaped by these realities, with racial challenges being one area that needs to be addressed in our…
By: Diane Tuttle on October 2, 2025
My mind has been swirling this week. Yet, the topic for our blog seems a synthesis of so many pieces that have been coming together over the last year. Unfortunately, I am left with more questions than answers. Violence has been a part of history since Cain killed Abel, (Gen. 4:3-8 ESV), throughout and beyond…
By: Jennifer Eckert on October 2, 2025
When I think about colonialism, slavery, and religious empires, I don’t see separate stories. Instead, they are overlapping systems of domination designed to disguise exploitation as human progress, faith, and nation-building. Their legacy is the trauma carried across generations: the removal of Native peoples in America, the transatlantic slave trade, South African colonization, and the…
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: 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: 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…
