Sawubona: (Mis)Recognition and the Task of Public Theology
Sawubona is an everyday isiZulu greeting: “I/we see you.” But what happens when politics teaches us not to see people? In the Netherlands and South Africa, political movements increasingly invoke religious language, symbols and identities to divide society between “our people” and threatening “others”, reducing human beings to migrants, foreigners or outsiders.
The lecture of University Research Chair (URC) of Public Theology and Ethics Dion Forster asks how religion is used to sanctify exclusion, who is made invisible, and who gets to decide. Yet faith can also offer powerful resources for recognising every person’s God-given dignity and worth. Human dignity is not something a state, party, religious community or political movement can grant or withdraw. Public theology seeks to expose the abuse of religion while drawing on religious traditions to help us see again: truthfully, critically and humanely, fostering justice, sustainable peace and human flourishing.
More information about the conference on October 19–21 can be found here.