God's wrathful children : toward an ethic of vengeance, retribution, and renewal for a post-apartheid nation

God's wrath results in divine acts of vengeance in favour of the powerless and the oppressed. This manifestation of anger is devoid of hatred and malice, for in the first epistle of John, love is equated with God in such a way that it is the personification of the divine Being (1 John 4:7-12). God's grace, forming the nexus between compassion and wrath, renders any suggestion of a contradiction in the divine nature untenable. Human vengeance is, however, an ambiguous concept. It emanates from human anger, which often includes hatred and malice. Nevertheless, this cannot simply be dismissed as a destructive force, as it can be a valid form of resistance. The crucial theological-ethical question arises: Can the wrath of God's children (human vengeance) legitimately reflect divine anger? The first part of the thesis deals with the historical content of God's wrathful children, focusing on the history of struggle in South Africa. The age-old history of injustices perpetrated against black people has generated a deep-seated anger, a dangerous socio-political rage that cannot be ignored. The central question is: How should black people handle their anger theologically? Given the multi-religious and -cultural South African context this issue needs addressing at an ecumenical level, while taking interfaith perspective into account. The Zealots of first-century Palestine, the late-medieval reformer Thomas Muntzer, and the African-American activist Malcolm X, wrestled with the interplay between faith and vengeance. Case studies of these revolutionaries are dealt with in the second part of the thesis, and assistance is sought from their experiences in clarifying our own theological formulation. The final part of the thesis argues that post-apartheid South Africa requires a comprehensive, inter-faith 'ethic of vengeance' to curb destructive black political rage.

Grantor dc:publisher.institution

Department of Religious Studies

Year dc:date.issued

1993

Author dc:creator

• Boesak, Willem Andreas

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Villa-Vicencio, Charles

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/11427/17354

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/17354