January 17 - Stellenbosch University

Today, we spent the day at Stellenbosch University, where we spoke with Minister Alan Storey and professor Douglas Lawrie.

    Our morning started with meeting Alan Storey, an ordained minister of the Methodist Church of South Africa,

who is committed to peacemaking and social justice. Storey has been a member of the Gun Free South Africa

Campaign, and has started two organization: Banna Ba Modimo home for destitute children, and the Banna

Ba Modimo Clinic for people who are homeless.

    Alan Storey told us how the Bible has been skewed to support Apartheid while it was happening, as well as other forms of oppression. The two main themes of his talk were 1) who are the vulnerable, and 2) where are we a part of making the vulnerable vulnerable. He used these frames to ask questions about the general understanding of Biblical stories that have been used to oppress, and then provide different contexts to them that change their meanings.

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After a filling lunch in town, the group headed back to Stellenbosch University to meet Professor Douglas Lawrie. Previous professor at Stellenbosch, Lawrie currently teaches religion and theology at theUniversity of the Western Cape. He specializes in the Afrikaner identity and the influence of South Africa’s historical context on its development.

Professor Lawrie was able to provide us with insight into how the Afrikaner identity was formed through both the historical and the more contemporary influences. He also described the role of religion in the Afrikaner identity and how religious beliefs in South Africa have served as a means of justification for an oppressive societal structure. We had a compelling conversation with Lawrie about language, social consciousness, and victimization. Afterward, we were able to wind down our activities for the day with our daily reflection on the beautiful lawn at Stellenbosch University.