The Kairos of karos: Revisiting notions of temporality in Africa

Historically speaking, many Christian traditions have been influenced in their liturgy and preaching by Western understandings of time, i.e. as a linear progression from past, to present, to future. Africans do have a strong sense, not only of the past, but also of the future - in contrast to what s...

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Bibliographische Detailangaben
1. VerfasserIn: Cilliers, Johan 1954- (VerfasserIn)
Medienart: Elektronisch Aufsatz
Sprache:Englisch
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Veröffentlicht: Stellenbosch University [2018]
In: Stellenbosch theological journal
Jahr: 2018, Band: 4, Heft: 1, Seiten: 113-132
RelBib Classification:FD Kontextuelle Theologie
KBN Subsahara-Afrika
VA Philosophie
weitere Schlagwörter:B Kairos
B rhythms of life
B Christian traditions
B preaching in Africa
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Beschreibung
Zusammenfassung:Historically speaking, many Christian traditions have been influenced in their liturgy and preaching by Western understandings of time, i.e. as a linear progression from past, to present, to future. Africans do have a strong sense, not only of the past, but also of the future - in contrast to what some scholars would advocate. But African notions of time also harbour a particular understanding of the present, as the experience of social events. In Africa, time is not so much duration as it affects the fate of the individual, as it is the rhythm of the breathing of the social group. Perhaps the image of a spiral depicts best what Africans understand as time - a spiral that includes both linear and cyclical dimensions, as it reflects the rhythms of life. In this paper, an attempt is made to reflect on the contribution of a decolonised understanding of time on preaching in Africa, in dialogue with keywords like memory, present, community, event, and movement.
ISSN:2413-9467
Enthält:Enthalten in: Stellenbosch theological journal
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.17570/stj.2018.v4n1.a06