Johann-Albrecht Meylahn

• PhD
• Professor at Evangelische Hochschule Dresden

Colonisation continues to have a tremendous impact on large parts of the globe and not only on previously colonised countries. Many of the current geopolitical, economic and environmental challenges that the globe faces cannot be thought of without taking decolonial thinking into consideration. In his Preface to Fanon’s book, The Wretched of the Ea...

The master narrative of Apartheid South Africa created a specific identity for white boys and men and, together with this identity, a very particular role and place within the South African context. This identity was exemplified in the men who were conscripted into the military from 1967 until 1994, and who participated in operations on the border...

This article responds to Robert Tally, For a Ruthless Critique of All that Exists. It relates his ideas to practical and public theology. Tally bemoans the negative attitude towards critical theory within the humanities. This tendency, away from theory towards surface reading of contexts, phenomena, and texts, is something that the theological disc...

For most readers, myself included, the views and opinions on the Russian attack and consequent war in Ukraine are dependent on the main media houses, who present the situation in a certain language. In this article, Badiou’s understanding of democratic materialism (languages and bodies) will be explored within the context of the war, and how langua...

This article explores Professor T.F.J. Dreyer’s definition for preaching that he developed for preaching in the Netherdutch Reformed Church of Africa (NRCA) three decades ago. Dreyer’s own homiletical perspective towards preaching developed continuously through numerous philosophical paradigm shifts since 1989. His basis theory plays an important r...

In this article, Schleiermacher’s idea of a divine service as mitteilende Darstellung (communicative presentation) will be brought into conversation with Gräb’s homiletics as religious speech and then, adding to the conversation, Latour’s tormented religious speech. Latour’s religious speech will, in turn, be brought into conversation with Rancière...

In this article, Schleiermacher’s idea of a divine service as mitteilende Darstellung (communicative presentation) will be brought into conversation with Gräb’s homiletics as religious speech and then, adding to the conversation, Latour’s tormented religious speech. Latour’s religious speech will, in turn, be brought into conversation with Rancière...

It has been argued that most countries that had been exposed to European colonialism have inherited a Western Christianity thanks to the mission societies from Europe and North America. In such colonial and post-colonial (countries where the political administration is no longer in European hands, but the effects of colonialism are still in place)...

Humans live by experiencing various types of sufferings, directly or indirectly. For this reason, it is evident that one of the topics of great interest in congregations is the question of suffering. This study aims to present redemptive-historical narrative preaching as a homiletical strategy for preaching on suffering. Redemptive-historical narra...

The book is a reading of numerous contemporary continental philosophers (Badiou, Deleuze and Guattari, Laruelle and Derrida amongst others) and bringing them into conversation with each other around various ethical and political challenges of living in capitalist worlds. What can contemporary continental philosophy offer with regards to the questio...

Theopoetics (radical God-talk) and the poems of I.L. de Villiers. Is a postmodern God-talk possible and can poetry be used to execute the question? The article focuses on whether the term theopoetics can be applied to the works of De Villiers and whether they are only theopoetry. The building blocks (the terms from which theopoetics originates) of...

The novel coronavirus – officially named severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), causing a disease (Covid-19) which has flu-like symptoms – seems to be responsible for the current global lockdown or maybe one can even refer to it as a global event. Neither the virus nor the disease that it causes is truly novel, as the virus i...

In this paper, land will be interpreted as space, which, together with time, carries out the world in which to live, namely, to exist (Dasein). One is never alone in these time-spaces (Mitsein), as one shares these time-spaces with others, and therefore these time-spaces are conflictual or antagonistic. The main reason for this antagonism is the ro...

This chapter, in honour of Johan Cilliers, will not seek to engage his extensive oeuvre, but rather focus on a single text (2011), Fides Quaerens pulchrum: Practical theological perspectives on the desire for beauty, which I believe encapsulates something of Johan Cilliers' passion as well as fits into the theme of this volume. From his article cer...

This chapter, in honour of Johan Cilliers, will not seek to engage his extensive oeuvre, but rather focus on a single text (2011), Fides Quaerens pulchrum: Practical theological perspectives on the desire for beauty, which I believe encapsulates something of Johan Cilliers' passion as well as fits into the theme of this volume. From his article cer...

This study brings the thoughts of Derrida into conversation with François Laruelle’s non-philosophy or non-standard philosophy. Laruelle argued that Derrida is a philosopher of difference, thereby grouping Derrida together with Heidegger and Deleuze as philosophers of difference. The argument of this article is to explore Derrida’s work, bringing i...

Several congregations in the workspace of the Netherdutch Reformed Church of Africa are losing viability and sustainability. This can be attributed to various factors, the most prominent being isolation. Isolation is defined here as the inability of some congregations to move away from maintenance and an inward focus towards making necessary adjust...

Space is always situated in time, and time defines space. Therefore, in contemporary global geo-political time one could perhaps define space as contested space. European space is contested, NATO is contested, the world is being reconfigured into new spaces and blocs (for example BRICS). We are living in a time of post-and de-colonial thought, whic...

The Communist Manifesto begins with the words, 'A spectre is haunting Europe-a spectre of Communism'. Maybe with the death of the father of Black Theology one could argue that a spectre of Black Theology is haunting the globe. A Spirit of Black Theology is haunting the globe and particularly South Africa, and this spirit is seeking to become manife...

Living in global villages where different world-views and cultures daily traverse each other, and the hegemonic power of the West is being challenged by other powerful role-players, numerous political and ethical challenges emerge. This traversing of narratives is interpreted and developed into a trans-fictional praxis, as a praxis that takes this...

This article is based on a PhD study entitled: ‘Wellbeing and work performance of Christians in managerial positions: A Namibian case study’. The main aim of the study was to find out if there is a correlation between the well-being and work performance of Christian managers and support from their families, which would culminate into a model for us...

The focus of this chapter is the tradition of PT at the UP. We consider it as practiced in the Department of PT at the UP at the time of celebrating the centenary of the FT by looking at it from different angles in order to focus on its unique position and especially its future in its particular context. By looking at the history of the subject and...

There is a crisis in leadership throughout the world, but the focus of this article will be on the crisis in postcolonial Africa. How is this crisis constructed within the politics of the global village? The leadership crisis in Africa is often portrayed by Western-influenced media as leaders being beasts if they do not comply with the wishes and d...

A very simplified description of physics could be, according to Wikipedia, natural science that involves the study of matter and its motion and behaviour through space and time. In relation to this simplified description of physics, metaphysics would then be that which gives matter, or metaphysics would be the reflection on the space and time in wh...

This article represents a response to Andries van Aarde’s view on a ‘gateway to the future from a deconstructed past’, a paper presented as part of a conference, ‘Gateway to the Future from a Deconstructed Past’, commemorating the centennial anniversary of the Faculty of Theology at the University of Pretoria, 05–06 April 2017. The article argues t...

This article seeks to respond to the challenge of doing theology in multi-world contexts, by understanding how these multiple worlds appear. Understanding the role of power in the appearance of these different worlds helps in the deconstruction of dominant worlds, but it leaves one with relativism, and consequently apathy. The article presents a Ch...

Fossils and tombs in museums fascinate us and haunt us with their secrets. The discovery of the remains of Homo naledi, found, as argued by some, in an ancient burial chamber, promises to reveal secrets of an unremembered past, thus offering clues concerning our present-day humans and maybe influence our human future. The paper will not engage dire...

Is there anything outside the Christian Text or is the Christian Text all there is? The article will argue that the Christian Text has formed and shaped Western thinking to such an extent that it is impossible to think in the global world, co-created by various Western texts, without Christianity. The fact that the West colonised the world, and tha...

This article is a practical theological reflection on leadership practice. The study offers a critical reflection of the Church’s practice of leadership as it interacts with the practices of the world. The leadership has been focused upon conversation between ubuntu and servant leadership as presented by their respective theorists. The two concepts...

The unbearable lightness of diff�rance is in reference to Milan Kundera�s famous book, The unbearable lightness of being. Being is unbearably light, if interpreted as Heidegger did as either the meaning of Being or the truth of Being, yet in Derrida�s response to Heidegger he argues that diff�rance is �older� than the meaning of Being, even older t...

Previous research conducted on the topic of workplace spirituality seems to indicate that workers often associate spirituality in the workplace with their personal religious orientations. This article, however, presents an alternative approach to the understanding of workplace spirituality. In this article, the contemporary hospitality industry is...

The religious turn in continental philosophy has opened the door for postmetaphysical mystical theology. Postmetaphysical mystical theology seeks to understand the non-relation relation of language (text) to the Other. Yet, this non-relation relation to the Other, who is every other, can also be interpreted differently to the mystical understanding...

The essay will focus on the role of Derrida’s differance in opening a space for an alternative ethos in religious or cultural plural contexts. In postcolonial contexts individual human rights, as the universal norm, is challenged by religious and cultural traditional practices. Some of the traditional practices are incompatible with individual righ...

If one presumes that we are today living in the anthropocene, how does this challenge the doing of public theology? What is the calling of a public theologian in the anthropocene? To be able to answer these questions, this article shortly described the anthropocene and then sought to unpack a possible doing of theology in a particular local context...

Throughout the ages, menstruation and menopause have posed unique challenges in the life of women. In Biblical times, much was said about the impurity of a menstruating woman. In the past century, however, the focus gradually shifted to menopause and the effect thereof on a woman�s body, both aesthetically and physiologically. Freud went so far as...

Maybe, before we speak of time, or maybe whilst we are speaking of time, or maybe after we have spoken of time, in the various modes of time’s insistence to exist, one should give time to the talk of time. There are various different modes of time’s insistence to exist, such as quantum physics in conversation with relativity theory where time is co...

This article is part of a research project, Conversations after God. The focus of this article is to reflect on the theory and methodology of practical theology in a post-metaphysical (After God) context. It will be suggested that practical theology can redefine itself as public theology, but specifically as Christology by engaging the public texts...

The calling of the church is to follow Christ (imitatio Christi). What does this calling entail? Following Zizek's and Derrida's interpretation of Benjamin's interpretation of law and violence, the paper will argue that the call to follow Christ is not to subvert the law, but as Paul argues - Christ came to destroy the law. In this article, Christ...

The article focuses on the local worshipping community as a site for the spiritual formation of citizens to become agents of transformation in public life. How are citizens spiritually formed so that, through their witness and praxis, they become instruments of transformation, thereby challenging the dominant discourses by offering, through their c...

This article aimed to provide a critical appreciation of a postfoundational practical theology as developed by Julian Müller and a further exploration of this approach towards a public Christology. The logos of Christology is crossed out, but not erased as it is not a new theory or system or dogma, but rather a spirituality. Such a public Christolo...

'My city of ruins' is the title of a song by Bruce Springsteen and will accompany a public theological reflection of imagining alternative cities. A city of ruins is either a city of ruins in the sense that it is a city in ruins. Alternatively it is a city of ruins in the sense that it is a city that is built from ruins, like a phoenix rising from...

The last few years the young democratic South Africa’s history has been characterised by service delivery protests and industrial action which is becoming increasingly violent as epitomised by Marikana. Is the violence that accompanies industrial action and service delivery protests emblematic of a powerless frustration and a violent revulsion at t...

This article will argue that the recent turn towards lived theology or religion in practical theology can offer a useful hermeneutic to interpret the impact of the Harry Potter series on the spiritual formation and identity creation of adolescents. In practical theology there has been a turn towards lived theology or religion as lived religion has...

Like some fantasies (including Lord of the rings and the Chronicles of Narnia), the Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling makes a social comment on a particular dominant discourse within a particular sociocultural context. One of Rowling’s social comments is the dehumanising and fragmenting effect of the power and consumerist discourse in Western soc...

There is general agreement that the globe is facing a crisis of the Anthropocene. The crisis has taken on such dimensions that a new way of thinking has become necessary. Or maybe a new way of being has become necessary, or maybe a new way of being thought has become necessary. What transformations (Verwandlungen) are necessary to arrive at this wa...

In this article, Meillassoux and Laruelle were brought into conversation with Derrida concerning contingency, temporality, non-philosophy and God. The conversation between Derrida and Meillassoux focused on their respective views on trace and radical contingency, which opened towards reflections on God as either divinology (Meillassoux) or the endl...

The article will bring a reading of Agamben’s interpretation of horkos [oath] in the Sacrament of language, a reading of Derrida’s faith as the grammar of language, into conversation with Lacan’s interpretation of Poe’s ‘The purloined letter’ by taking into consideration the context of this reading: South Africa. South Africa is a multilingual cont...

This article proposes that South Africa, as multi-lingual country, has unique potential and that this potential is not to be found in some or other essence of what it means to be African, but in the daily struggles, frustrations and possibilities of life in a fragmented and divided multilingual society. In this fragmented and 'impossible' society t...

The article will focus on the role of faith in postfoundational epistemology and the extent to which our knowledge constructions are only possible in a context of faith. One inherits a language, a house of being, and this inherited language creates the world in which the various beings-of-one's-world find their place and have meaning. It is in this...

What is truth? What is reason? What is faith? These questions have been hotly debated and have been the cause of violence prior to the rise of the modern and so-called secular state. The rise of the modern �secular� state was founded on the distinction between reason and faith thus bringing to an end the religious violence which was inspired by the...

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This article sought to respond to Wessel Stoker's interpretation of transcendence, specifically his last type: transcendence as alterity. It explored the possibilities of this last type as it moves beyond categories, proper names, types and norms toward a fragile openness of différance, always from within the text. This transcendence of alterity pa...

The diverse and divided South African context of post 1994 is the context in which the texts of reality are read (knowledge is created and reality is interpreted). This particular diverse and pluralistic reading with and within the context is sensitive to the voice of the other and thus provides an inbuilt deconstruction thereby offering a vulnerab...

The concept of empire has re-emerged as one useful to interpret and describe the joining of dominant global themes that together construct a global homogeneous totality. Some of the main themes of this totality are: global finance/capitalism which goes hand in hand with consumerism, global media and communication technologies, security (including p...

This article will reflect on the role of legitimate and authorised violence in state-making. This violence in the name of the good defines the state (Benjamin�s law-making violence) by the exclusion of others (Benjamin 1996). Law-making violence together with the violence that coerces or binds [religare] the public into a common understanding of th...

It is twenty years since the publication of David Bosch's Transforming mission (1991). The question that inevitably comes to mind is: has the mission (identity and relevance) of the South African mainline churches embraced the paradigm shift and transformed to become a transforming agent within South African society or have cosmetic changes dominat...

This paper sought to investigate a possible grammar for a practical theological voice. The paper begins by reflecting on the different grammars currently dominating the voice of theology in South Africa and seeking a way beyond such dominating grammars towards a more playful grammar that is acutely aware of the incompletion and thus vulnerability o...

Seeking the good often authorises and legitimises certain forms of violence: violence that defines the state (Benjamin's law-founding violence) by the exclusion of others and the violence that coerces or binds (religare) the public into a common understanding of the good at the exclusion of other interpretations of that good (Benjamin's law-maintai...

The search for new paradigms and perspectives for practical theology in South Africa begins with the context, South Africa. What perspectives are given and what perspectives respond to the call of this context when this African context is brought into dialogue with the thoughts of a thinker who has to a large extent determined the paradigm of postm...

The grand narratives have all but gone – what is left are numerous narratives, each addressing a certain aspect of our lives; there is a different narrative for our professional lives, another for our family lives, for our social lives and yet another for our spiritual lives. We find ourselves in this ‘transit hall’, forever changing flights or tra...

This article is a response to the challenge of global citizenship in an age of global crisis. Citizenship has to do with where one feels �at home�, namely the space that gifts identity and life. What kind of narrative is necessary to transform global space into a home from where we can go beyond our borders to embrace the other in multidisciplinary...

The article seeks to respond to the question: What role can the sacred texts play in the construction of a Christian identity that is responsible to the Other in a pluralistic global world? The sacred texts of the Judaic-Christian tradition offer not only an understanding of the wholly otherness of God, but also form the basis of our understanding...

This article is a critical dialogue between postfoundationalism and deconstruction seeking a way of doing theology, specifically Practical Theology, without universal foundations, in the context of a discussion with Wentzel van Huyssteen. Can postfoundationalism, complemented by the critical contribution of deconstruction, pave a way for doing theo...

Within Postmodernity we are facing tremendous ethical challenges while upholding a strong sense of freedom. In this essay I argue that this freedom is often still interpreted within a modern paradigm as an essential freedom of presence which has its roots in Neo-Platonic thinking. In Paul� s letter to the Galatians there are insights to a different...

Thesis (PhD(Prakt. Teol.)--University of Pretoria, 2003. Includes bibliographical references (p. 534-559).