(Pieter de Waal Neethling Trust, 2021-01-18) Havenga, Marthinus Johannes
Throughout history, works of art have often served as a prominent mode of theological
expression – also, importantly, here in South Africa. In, thus, revisiting the history of
theological inquiry in South Africa as part of a larger process of decolonisation, it is
important and necessary to also look to the arts, which is what this article will attempt
to do. It will begin with an exploration of the relationship between theology and the
arts, before looking at the emergence of the field of theological aesthetics. This will be
followed by some comments on the relevance of this field for South African theology,
especially when it comes to questions of decoloniality. The article will then conclude
with a brief discussion of the South Africa sculptor Jackson Hlungwani as an example
of someone who did theology through the arts.