Decolonising the concept of the Trinity to decolonise the religious education curriculum

HTS Teologiese Studies/Theological Studies

 
 
Field Value
 
Title Decolonising the concept of the Trinity to decolonise the religious education curriculum
 
Creator Verhoef, Anné H.
 
Subject — Trinity; decolonisation; religious education; theology; deconstruction; African Traditional Religions; curriculum
Description This article brings into perspective the need to decolonise the concept of the Trinity (as the specific doctrine and Christian name of God) as a crucial step in decolonising the religious education curriculum. It discusses the concept of decolonisation and its applicability to religious education, specifically Christianity, within higher education (e.g. in Teacher Education Programmes) in the South African context. God as the Trinity has throughout the history of Atlantic slavery and colonialism been employed to legitimise colonial rule and it, therefore, needs to be decolonised. To decolonise the concept of the Trinity is, however, highly problematic, as the historic relation between Christianity and African traditional religions (ATRs) indicates. Decolonising the concept of the Trinity can quickly develop into a tension between a position of either continuity or discontinuity (of ATR with Christianity).Contribution: This article argues for an alternative approach for the decolonisation of the concept of the Trinity, namely to allow for the deconstruction of the concept of the Trinity, and by implication of other concepts – like decolonisation and religion – as well. This approach is proposed to develop more openness and playfulness with regard to religious beliefs in general. I argue that this may provide a hopeful, open and just vision of life which should be part of the decolonised religious education curriculum.
 
Publisher AOSIS
 
Contributor
Date 2021-02-09
 
Type info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion — —
Format text/html application/epub+zip text/xml application/pdf
Identifier 10.4102/hts.v77i4.6313
 
Source HTS Teologiese Studies / Theological Studies; Vol 77, No 4 (2021); 8 pages 2072-8050 0259-9422
 
Language eng
 
Relation
The following web links (URLs) may trigger a file download or direct you to an alternative webpage to gain access to a publication file format of the published article:

https://hts.org.za/index.php/hts/article/view/6313/17152 https://hts.org.za/index.php/hts/article/view/6313/17151 https://hts.org.za/index.php/hts/article/view/6313/17153 https://hts.org.za/index.php/hts/article/view/6313/17150
 
Coverage — — —
Rights Copyright (c) 2021 Anné H. Verhoef https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
ADVERTISEMENT