Reimagining pedagogy for theological education at a South African university: An ethnographic exploration

Abstract

Curriculum transformation within Higher Education has been an ongoing process within South Africa Universities. For a long time, apartheid and the conception of race have shaped the education framework. Recently, decolonisation discourses have led to a rethinking about Curricula of Higher Education. Theological Education has been highlighted, as theological faculties within Universities perpetuate European epistemologies. In order to contribute towards curriculum transformation in South Africa, pedagogy for theological education within South African Universities is explored in this article, and a new praxis theory for a reimagined pedagogy is presented. This article presents only part of the research conducted within a South African University. A description and analysis of the empirical research are provided together with a reimagined pedagogy for theological education at a South African University. Intradisciplinary and/or interdisciplinary implications: The research was performed within the field of Practical Theology with a special focus on pedagogy; however, inter-disciplinary insights were gained from fields such as Education and History, and on an intra-disciplinary level, the research used qualitative methods from Cultural Anthropology and Rituals Studies to empirically study pedagogy as a practice.