Challenges in moral formation for ministerial training

Abstract

The purpose of this book is to engage challenging issues that are called into question during ministerial training. This is a volume presenting eleven contested issues that attend to concerns related to structures, processes, knowledge and practices within theological education. Contributors offer keen insights about how to think differently and more complexly about these matters within a changing South Africa. It is an affirmation of the multiple voices, locations, identities and positions within South African theological education, as a starting point for transformative theological education. It is hoped that these reflections can enable future ministers to confront the question of how to be in the world with the required competence, integrity and professional identity to meet the needs of church and society.

Full text

Contested issues in
in South Africa
training ministers
Contested issues in training ministers in South Africa
Marilyn Naidoo
The purpose of this book is to engage challenging issues that are called into question
during ministerial training. This is a volume presenting eleven contested issues
that attend to concerns related to structures, processes, knowledge and practices
within theological education. Contributors oer keen insights about how to think
dierently and more complexly about these matters within a changing South Africa.
It is an armation of the multiple voices, locations, identities and positions within
SouthAfrican theological education, as a starting point for transformative theological
education. It is hoped that these reections can enable future ministers to confront
the question of how to be in the world with the required competence, integrity and
professional identity to meet the needs of church and society.
This book is a must for all who are engaged in theological education and who question its
relevance in contemporary South Africa. It is well researched and well presented and raises all
of the serious issues that constantly engage and frustrate theological educators.
Prof. Graham A. Duncan, Church History & Church Polity
StellenboschUniversity
Postmodern cultural changes aect the Northern and Southern church in dierent ways.
While the church in the North is in decline, the church in the South is growing. Theological
education, however, is based on the premises of the North and as such is dominating
ministerial formation in the South. The book is an important contribution to nd answers
to many of our questions on how pastors and lay leaders should be trained.
Prof. Jurgens Hendriks, Practical Theology & Missiology
Stellenbosch University
Marilyn Naidoo
9780992 236007
ISBN 978-0-992236-00-7
Editor
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101
challenges in MoRal foRMaTion foR
MinisTeRial TRaining
John Klaasen
Introduction
The formative years of ministers are very important for the sustainability of eective
ministry in a transforming society such as South Africa’s. The South African nation is not
only struggling with the disintegration of a united nation – however limited the unity may
be – and with the widening gap between rich and poor, but, more importantly, also with
corruption amongst leaders that is spiralling out of control. Shutte (2001:1) sums up the
moral vacuum in South Africa:
In recent time there has been much talk in South Africa of a ‘moral vacuum’.
Something has gone and nothing has replaced it. Our President and other public
gures, religious and community leaders with various outlooks, all express concern
at the absence of a moral sense. Increasing crime, callous and often gratuitous
violence, corruption in public oce and private nancial aairs, self-centred retreat
into private security, the equally self-centred ‘culture of entitlement’ or rampant
consumerism taking the place of traditional family values – these are some of the
things they mention.
The rst democratically elected government under the leadership of the late President
Nelson Mandela, reacted with the establishment of the Moral Regeneration Movement.
“The origins of the Moral Regeneration Movement (MRM) date back to a meeting in
June 1997 between former President Nelson Mandela and key faith-based organisation
leaders, the then Deputy Minister of Education, Father Smangaliso Mkhatshwa, and the
SABC, to discuss spiritual transformation. At that meeting, former President Mandela
spoke about the role of religion in nation-building and social transformation, and the
need for religious institutions to work with the state to overcome the ‘spiritual malaise’
underpinning the crime problem.”13 Since its ocial launch, the MRM has had various
national and regional events to address the scourge that was threatening the moral bre of
the South African nation. The results of this movement is dicult to measure, as corruption
is still rife, violence is escalating, the gap between the rich and the poor is at its worst since
the birth of democracy, and abuse of power is common practice.
Division, materialism and greed are not limited to government ocials or corporates,
but is also prevalent amongst church ministers. Child abuse, nancial scandals, substance
abuse, abuse of power, and extra marital aairs are some of the serious moral issues that
13 Moral Regeneration Movement. The history of the Moral Regeneration Movement. Viewed on 31 August 2014,
from http:www.mr m.org.za/index.php?option-com_contentand view=articleandid=1219@itemid=592
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102
Contested issues in training ministers in south afriCa
have confronted the Church in post-apartheid South Africa. The landscape of ministry
has shifted drastically since the dawn of democracy. Communities are disintegrating,
societal structures are changing, traditional societal roles are shifting, and social problems
are increasing in both types and levels. For the most part, these problems have become
the concern of the Church and, to a large extent, that of those in Christian ministry.
The church community is part of society and is exposed to the same moral challenges as
other communities.
Moral formation is important if the South African society wants to overcome the increasing
moral failures of leaders and the broader members of society. Christian ministers are not
exempted from the moral decay in society. To a large extent they are regarded as part of the
custodians of the moral bre of society. For many the restoration of society and the moral
vacuum that is evident in the South African society since the dawn of democracy, is even
further complicated by the lack of moral leadership by church ministers. The lack of moral
formation of ministers makes the moral task of ministers more dicult.
The problematic issue addressed in this chapter is whether church ministers are receiving
the necessary moral formation to do eective ministry, and whether these programmes
are adequate. To put the question dierently, one may ask whether the theological training
at universities and colleges provides the kind of moral leaders that are associated with
Christian ministry. To answer these questions, I will rstly give a brief overview of what
moral formation is and engage with the two dominant approaches of moral education.
These two approaches give rise to contestations that are both within the conceptualisation
of moral formation, and the institutions of training and formation of ministers. The
contestations refer to the use of abstract reason as a meta-narrative in the teaching of
moral formation, as well as the practice thereof. The individual (as autonomous rational
being) and the self (as social being) are another contestation that I will address. The third
contestation is about the absence of community within the curricula, and the distance of
the theological institution from the Church as moral community. The nal contested issue
is the lack of ethical leaders that can serve as mentors for ministers.
Understanding moral formation in a society characterised by a moral vacuum, moral
plurality, and a society undergoing transformation, has its challenges, to say the least. I will
highlight important issues rather than prescriptions, since moral formation of ministers
at universities and seminaries is a complex process. In addition to the complexity of
the nature of moral formation, is the South African nation with its manifold diversities
and pluralities.
Since 1994, the curricula for the training and formation of ministers changed from the
narrow Christian approach of theology to the broader religious approach. Archbishop
Ndungane, the former archbishop of the Anglican Church of Southern Africa, challenged
the curriculum for Anglican ministers and caused reform within the curriculum of The
College of Transguration (1998:113):
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103
Challenges in moral formation for ministerial training
The way in which we develop theological formation must not only give attention
to the multiplicity of expressions of our Christian faith, but also to the importance
of ubuntu and the dominance of African traditional religion in the region, and the
growth of eastern faiths such as Islam and Buddhism. We also cannot ignore the
presence of other faiths such as Judaism and Hinduism.
Another example is found in the formation and training of ministers at the University of
the Western Cape. The change at this University is partly because the Faculty of Theology
has been incorporated into the Faculty of Arts or the Departments of Humanities. At the
University of the Western Cape, the once vibrant Faculty of Theology amalgamated with
Biblical and Religious Studies to form a Faculty of Religion and Theology in 1995. In
2000, this Faculty underwent another transformation due to drastic decline in student
numbers in the whole university, and became a department within The Faculty of Arts.
This, in turn, resulted in a change in the approach towards the teaching of ethics, since
the overwhelming majority of students are from other departments and other faculties.
At Stellenbosch University, where training and formation for ministers is still within the
Faculty of Theology, the shift has been less drastic. This shift in training and formation
intensies the tensions between the approaches of moral formation of ministers within
a context such as South Africa where moral degeneration amongst secular and religious
leaders and the broader society is worsening. Instead of trying to present a comprehensive
approach towards moral formation, which is beyond the scope of this chapter, I hope that
the ideas rather than solutions will contribute to a more eective approach towards moral
formation and training of ministers.
Moral formation: The use of reason and individual freedom
Moral formation can be explained by two complementary terms, namely ethics and
morality. These are so closely related that they are sometimes used interchangeably. Ethics
is a branch of moral philosophy and is dened as “rational inquiry into how to act and
how to lead one’s life” (Pojman 2005:xv). Unlike social sciences and the humanities which
deal with the question of how life is lived, ethics asks the more important question, namely
how we ought to live our life. Whereas social sciences and the humanities are descriptive,
ethics is a normative enterprise (eds. Johnson and Reath 2004:1). Notwithstanding the
importance of reality with regard to how people actually live, the main aim of morality is
to give direction to moral conduct and responsible decisions. Ethics has two sides, namely
ethical theory and applied ethics. One side is the theoretical aspect (ethical theory) which
deals with theories about the good life, what is right or wrong, and what is appropriate
or inappropriate. The other side of ethics (applied ethics) deals with moral problems such
as euthanasia, abortion, the death penalty, war, and armative action. Practice and theory
goes hand in hand (Pojman 2005:xv-xvi).
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How do I make the right, appropriate, or responsible decisions? What is right, appropriate
or responsible must be substantiated with reasons. The Greek roots of reason date back to
Plato’s theory of human nature. Plato explains human nature as that which is the essence
of being human. And that which is the essence of being human sets human beings aside
from other living beings. Reason is the one quality that is both common to all human
beings, and sets human beings aside from animals (Shutte 2001:37-38). Plato’s student,
Aristotle, built on this theory and came up with the idea that ethics is the theory of how
to live or develop our full humanity. The implication that we can draw from Aristotle’s
theory, is that if reason is the core of what it means to be human, then living in accordance
with reason would be the most satisfying and fullled life (Shutte 2001:39).
Reason, as a system of morality, has reached its climax in the fteenth century with the
philosopher Rene Descartes. Descartes’ famous argument, dubito ergo cogito, cogito ergo sum
(I doubt, therefore I think; I think, therefore I am), became the catalyst for what it means
to be human (Shutte 2001:45). Another modern attempt to argue for the normativity of
reason for moral formation, is Immanuel Kant’s ‘Copernican revolution’. Kant argued that
knowledge is not something that was caused from outside of the human being, but was
part of the human being. Since every human being has the capacity to reason and since
reason is the source for a fullled life, rational decisions and actions are judged to be good
(Shutte 2001:46).
Good decisions and right actions are supported by logical and persuasive reasons. If
an action cannot be rationally supported it is accepted as wrong or inappropriate. The
consequence of rational action can be applied universally or beyond the boundaries of
the person. What is rationally supported is right for you as much as it is right for me.
“People who engage in oral inquiry and discussion of ethical questions do say what they
believe. But they are expressing the beliefs that they think are best supported by reasoned
argument, and believe that the reasons that persuade them to accept these conclusions
should be rational for others as well” (eds. Johnson and Reath 2004:2).
When we apply this theory to religion it raises the question about the role of Christianity
in the process of determining what is right or wrong. We could argue that when we apply
reason to Christianity we conclude that, since reason is part of the nature of human beings
and every human being has the potential to free itself through natural means, God and
Christianity is not essential for the freedom of the person. This means that the individual
does not develop through a predetermined pattern of behaviour, that of the supernatural,
but rather through the ability to perform abstract reason.
The Enlightenment, as a project of modernity, has elevated rationality to a position
of superiority. Van Huyssteen (1999:2) observes that, “We are indeed the children of
modernity, and the often stellar performances of the sciences in our time have again
managed to elevate this mode of human knowledge to a status so special and superior
that it just had to emerge as the paradigmatic example of what human rationality should
be about.”
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Challenges in moral formation for ministerial training
Coupled with reason is the centrality of the individual. The distinctiveness of the individual
was a clear breakaway from the Medieval period characterised by tradition, the authority
of institutions, and a sacral worldview (Shutte 2001:43). The Modern period made the
individual the centre of everything and in control of everything. “Society was now seen
as made up of atom-like individuals, and politics was the study of the forces necessary to
form them into a harmonious whole” (Shutte 2001:44).
Individualism refers to the “moral emotions, motives, attitudes, virtues, or decisions of
the individual function as the springboard for reections on moral education” (Van der
Ven 1998:21). This can mean three things. Firstly, the individual takes its own perspective
and experience as the starting point for moral reection. Secondly, the individual can be
observed without attachments to any outside authority, which is typically the approach
by Kant. A third and probably combined view has to do with the individual’s spiritual or
material needs (Van der Ven 1998:22).
This breakaway from the Medieval period to the Modern period spilled over into the
Church. The authority of the pope and the Church was questioned by reformers such
as Luther and Calvin. Luther rejected the notion that Christians are bound by external
works or authority for their salvation. The individual does not have to pray through the
priest or nd absolution in the authority of the priest. The individual has direct access to
God. Wogaman (1993:111) makes this analogy to illustrate Luther’s ethics:
Luther might agree with an analogy drawn from educational experience. We do
not become educated by virtue of receiving good grades; we receive good grades
as an eect of becoming educated. Education itself – which occurs within us – is
primary; evaluation by our teachers is secondary. While bad grades may goad us into
greater eort, what really counts is our love of truth and our faith in the possibility
of knowledge.
Transmission as mode of moral education in universities and seminaries
Van der Ven (1998:182) describes seven modes of moral education. The rst kind of
moral education is in the form of discipline. This is usually in the case of a child who
internalises habits through reciprocal and open communication with parents. The second
approach, socialisation, like discipline, is also a form of informal education. Socialisation
is the internalisation of values and norms of a community. A third approach is called
the ‘cognitive development’ which refers to education as development, “… in which
development is seen as passing through a sequence of three levels, each consisting of
two stages, beginning with the concrete and specic principles and moving to more
abstract and inclusive ones” (Van der Ven 1998:182). The fourth approach, the clarication
approach, emphasises the process of how people come to value what they experience
and to act on those values (Van der Ven 1998:182). The fth approach is about emotions
as a vehicle to come to what is good and right. Van der Ven’s (1998:379) own approach,
the sixth one, is called ‘education for character’. Van der Ven’s approach is dened as based
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Contested issues in training ministers in south afriCa
on the three-way interrelatedness of passions, goods, and reasons, as we learn from the
ancients, especially Plato and Aristotle. Then this interrelatedness must be interpreted from
the perspective of interactionism between person and situation. This interactionism, being
linguistic in nature, has to be understood in terms of its narrative structure.
The seventh approach of Van der Ven (1998:379) is transmission which applies to educational
institutions like colleges and universities. Here the teacher transmits the values, which
students might know, to the students on two levels. The rst level of transmission is on the
level of the curricula which is prescribed, and forms part of the ocial teaching material.
In the university, school and seminary curricula, the notions of morality, individualism
and reason have been the norm. Where ethics is taught as a major or elective to students
of theology, rational theory forms part of most approaches to morality. Transmission is the
process whereby unconscious rules, laws and moral assumptions – that form the basis of
moral formation – are taught by the teacher and intentionally received by the student. This
intentional learning makes it possible for the student to use the basis of moral formation
in dierent situations and contexts (Van der Ven 1998:126).
This educational approach to moral formation usually consists of a set of propositions
and conclusions that is widely accepted as the norm. The content is found in uncontested
documents such as doctrines, canons and texts which interpret the primary sources. These
can include accepted commentaries that have reached authoritative status by the particular
community or group (Van der Ven 1998:129). The content is also given authority through
organs such as synods, councils or religious leaders (Van der Ven 1998:130). The goals of
transmission are threefold: cognitive, aective and volitive. Cognitive goals on the level
of developing knowledge are the memorising of the values, rules and laws that have
been transmitted. Cognitive goals involve four qualities, namely comprehending, applying,
analysing and syncretising. Aective goals include motivation and attitude development.
The volitive aim is to bring the student to such a point where the will is used to uphold
the value propositions in both the personal and social life (Van der Ven 1998:131-132).
The second level of transmission as a mode of moral education, is rationality. In addition
to the above forms of rationality described, there is also the kind of rationality that uses
the values in dierent moral traditions to determine which become substantive (Van der
Ven 1998:136). In this instance the dierent traditions are compared in order to determine
which of the values can be taken as normative. This form of reasoning raises the questions,
by what criteria do we select the traditions, which traditions, and why? Another form
of rationality that can be added to the above forms refers to procedural rationality. The
determining factor here is to decide what procedural principle the tradition is linked with.
The question is, to what extent does tradition acknowledge the autonomy of a specic
kind of rationality? The diculty with this approach is to decide which rationality to use
in the process (Van der Ven 1998:137).
While transmission is widely used in tertiary education as a form of moral formation, there
are – due to moral plurality – some serious questions with regard to the appropriateness
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Challenges in moral formation for ministerial training
of this form. The various Christian traditions also contribute to the diculties that arise
from transmission as a mode of moral formation.
Contestations in moral formation of ministers
The rst contestation links directly to the question, which reason should be taken as
normative? The formation of ministers at universities must take the superiority given to
reason, as a meta-narrative approach in the transmission of values, seriously. In the context
of South Africa with its social challenges and moral problems, the moral formation of
ministers must take cognisance of the limitation of the rational approach in ethics. In this
country’s context, morality is more complex than the mere application of substantive,
procedural or abstract reason as a meta-narrative approach. How one comes to moral
decisions, moral judgments, and ethical decisions cannot be adequately determined
without taking the history of South Africa seriously. Separate development and race
classication resulted in the loss of human dignity and basic human rights. Historical
facts, events, persons and periods are important for moral decision-making, judgments and
moral formation. These phenomena impact on the present and how the future is shaped.
The experiences of colonialism in a pre-apartheid South Africa as well as the apartheid era
itself contributed to the current worldview of plurality of truths, practices and morality in
a post-apartheid South Africa.
Reason is not only scientic, though this has become the norm amongst those who use
reason for moral formation. Another type of reason, namely practical reason, is a more
appropriate use of reason for moral formation of ministers in a society characterised with
moral plurality. Practical reason is the critical engagement with or reection on experience.
Reason becomes only one of the factors for determining what is right and wrong,
appropriate and inappropriate, good and bad. “This prudential process makes syllogistic
reasoning open, dynamic, and exible. It does not prevent prima facie ideas, intuitions, and
emotions, which clearly condition concrete problems in concrete situations, from coming
into play” (Van der Ven 1998:150). For example, in the South African context one needs
to consider the level of poverty when assessing whether or not stealing and violence is a
means to an end. If someone steals to feed their family, or reacts with violence as a result
of a violent socialisation, one should consider the role given to the circumstances of the
specic person with regard to the stealing or the violence.
Practical reason does not reject principles for moral formation. However, principles
on its own are insucient for moral formation of ministers who regard tradition(s) as
an important tool for their formation. By principles I mean a set of rules or laws that
predetermine how one gets to what is right or wrong or good or bad. It can usually be
used in dierent contexts. When such principles are used as a means of moral formation,
it borders on indoctrination and prescription. Practical reason, on the other hand, engages
with the experience of each situation or community or tradition as an authentic partner
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in moral formation. Dierences are tolerated and taken into account, and through open
dialogue, peaceful co-existence of moral plurality is possible (Klaasen 2012:115).
Unlike abstract reasoning that is deterministic and isolated from traditions and concrete
experience, practical reason takes into account the plurality of religious traditions,
experiences, and beliefs of the ministers. The prospective minister does not come to the
university as an empty vessel, but with a wealth of knowledge (informal) and experiences
that impact on their own moral formation as well as on those in their pastoral care. While
tradition, experience and beliefs do not determine moral formation, they engage with
principles, laws and moral propositions in a critical way in the formation of ministers.
Ministers must acknowledge the situation in which they nd themselves. By ‘situation’ I
refer to their emotional state. The upbringing of ministers, their past and their narrative all
play a signicant role in their leadership. Erickson’s (1980) stages of moral formation show
that one’s earlier years determine the kind of relationships with others which, in turn,
inuence the virtues that one upholds. Instead of holding on to abstract rational theories
about rules or utility, non-rationalism is as important for the leader to be morally sound
and virtuous in its execution of leadership. Moral leaders make an eort to discover the
self and accept who they are. Moral leaders do not seek armation through coercion or
domination, but serve with integrity and sometimes unpopularity.
The second contestation relates to ministers being caught up between what it means
to be an individual and what it means to be part of a community. According to Alasdair
MacIntyre, the compartmentalisation of the self is one of the most devastating eects of
abstract reasoning. MacIntyre (1981:204) claims that any attempt to view human life as a
whole, has social and philosophical diculties:
The former is the tendency to think atomistically about human action and to
analyse complex actions and transactions in terms of simple components… Equally
the unity of a human life becomes invisible to us when a sharp separation is made
either between the individual and the roles that he or she plays.
Communitarian ethicists are amongst those who were inuenced by classical gures such
as Aristotle (1962) and Aquinas (1928), as well as more contemporary scholars such as
Richard Niebuhr (1941) and James Gustafson (1975). Alasdair MacIntyre (1981) and
Stanley Hauerwas (1983) are two of the contemporary ethicists who arm the critique
of contemporary philosophical ethics and the alternative that the community is important
with regard to both methodological and social ethical questions. This approach points
out the weaknesses of individualism and argues that the community is central for moral
formation. The individual does not live isolated from other persons, and moral formation
takes place in an interdependent relationship with others. Instead of the autonomous
individual of modern ethics, the community becomes the harbinger of morality.
Moral formation of ministers happens within a community, and the formation and
training process must take the community serious for eective ministry. Ministers are not
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Challenges in moral formation for ministerial training
just social beings; they are part of a specic community with a specic history, and are,
furthermore, characterised by denite virtues that dierentiate the community from other
communities. When they adopt a distorted view of who they are, for example as merely
individuals connected for certain purposes, they fail to respond to the need of the other
and ultimately fall into sin. When the minister trusts the other to challenge him/her,
character is formed. In other words, the other becomes the initiator of character.
One of the most signicant resurgence in the theological landscape, has been the focus on
the Trinity. There is a renewed interest in the reciprocal relationship of God as the Father,
Son and Holy Spirit. This focus has also spilled over to critical engagement about what it
means to be human. Does being human mean to be a person with a mechanical nature,
or does it refer to being made in the image and likeness of God? The former refers to the
modern, independent individual, while the latter refers to personhood in a relationship. To
be in a relationship means to be inter-dependent. Moral leadership means to be faithful to
the Christian moral code to love your neighbour as yourself. At the heart of personhood
is self-sacrice, grace, respect for the other, and humility.
The third contestation with regard to moral formation of ministers at tertiary institutions,
is the lack of involvement of the Church as part of the formation process. This conict
has come about partly because of the theoretical orientation of moral formation at
universities, which resulted in the distance between the Church (as moral community)
and the tertiary institution, as well as the shift in moral formation within the Church’s
ministerial formation processes. With regard to the latter, this is as a result of a move away
from a comprehensive formation process, as found in residential training to non-residential
training and distance learning.
For centuries, training was exclusively centred on the model of the Middle Ages, where
priests lived in community for the whole duration of their training and obeyed a monastic
spirituality characterised by work, pray and service. Training was not without tensions,
caused by the formalisation of orders. Although persons were trained in community, their
local community did not have the authority to arm or conrm their calling. Formal
‘orders’ began to emerge with the closer relations of the Church with the Roman Empire
(Gill 1990), and in the Medieval period, this formalisation took its most rigid character.
Schillebeeckx (1990:82) argues that the “Third Lateran Council of 1179 and the Fourth
of 1215 were the occasions of fundamental change, whereby men were ordained without
being put forward for ordination by a particular community.” This was a diversion from
the early Patristic view of the minister, when the community could lay claim to ordination.
This process of ordination, characterised by medieval legalism and feudalism, had serious
ramications for ordained ministers. Ordained ministry became a status symbol instead
of service to the community. The minister was separated from the laity with absolute
authority. Ministers were able to misuse their position in society without meaningful
accountability. The misuse of authority resulted in immoral acts that could hardly be
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challenged by the laity who have, by then, become subordinate to the ordained person.
Such notions of priesthood led to the questioning of the calling and vocation of those set
aside for ministry and contributed to the Reformation (Gill 1990:83).
With challenges such as escalating costs, the growing number of married candidates for
ministry, non-stipendiary ministries, and curriculum changes at universities, traditional
training became less practical. While the community, through the parish council or church
board, has a role in the initial discernment process, the authority to ordain resides with
the bishop, board or council. For example, in the Anglican Church in Southern Africa,
the worshipping community is part of the initial stage of discernment. The candidate
rst approaches the local priest, who after some informal discernment discusses the
intentions of the candidate with the parish council. The parish council writes to the
bishop, recommending the candidate to be considered for the ocial discernment process.
Although the parish council “does not decide on the progress of the candidate, their
support can help the broader church with the discernment of a call on the person”
(Klaasen 2012:56). Until the candidate is ordained, the worshipping community does not
have any authority in the rest of the discernment process. At ordination, the worshipping
community merely witnesses the authority of the bishop.
The lack of community is not only in the discernment process, but also in post ordination.
Because of the medieval paradigm of ordination that is prevalent in many processes of
ordination, clericalisation is still a major problem for eective ministry. The canon law
of many denominations is used as the justication for the legalistic formulations of
relationships between clergy and laity, as well as bishops and clergy. These relationships
are expressed in hierarchical forms and place the ordained in a class above the laity. This
separation is contrary to the early Church’s acceptance of the equality of all the baptised
and that all the members of the community are ministers by virtue of their baptism. It
is perhaps not community per say that is lacking, but the self-appointed position which
the clergy occupies in relation to the rest of the members. The lack of community in the
training and formation of ministers subsequently results in dissociation and irresponsible
moral decisions and actions.
The status that is associated with ministry can become a gateway for abuse of power,
whereby the minister has complete control over the ministry that God initiated and
which the community armed. This leads to corruption, all kinds of abuse, and negative
autocracy. Ministers become an authority unto themselves when they take on a position
isolated from the community who arms their calling from the very early stages of
their discernment process. Good moral leadership is reected in the model of leadership
that is exercised by the leader. The shepherd-sheep model is usually associated with the
leader taking on a superior role and the ecclesia a submissive one. This usually results
in clericalism. On the other hand, ministers – who view their calling as part of the body,
yet distinctive in nature – take on a Body of Christ approach. Within the Body of Christ,
Marilyn Naidoo (ed). Contested Issues in Training Ministers in South Africa. Stellenbosch: African Sun Media
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Challenges in moral formation for ministerial training
the minister exercises particular gifts within the context of the gifts and skills of the church
community. From a moral perspective the minister treats the congregation as equals and
fellow ministers within the mission of God.
Suggested ideas for effective moral formation of ministers
The curricula of universities and theological colleges should aim to balance abstract
reason and practical reason, in addition to the individual and the communal within moral
communities. About this, Gill (1989:64) says:
Pointing out the importance of moral communities in fashioning and sustaining
values in our society, need not become an excuse for irrationality. It is rather a claim
that individual, isolated rationality is quite simply, in it, an insucient resource for
a profound morality. Moral communities without the critique of rationality can
become tyrannical, arbitrary and perhaps even demonic. But atomised rationality
without moral communities seems incapable (despite many attempts) of fashioning
and sustaining goodness beyond self-interest.
The eighteenth century emphasis of the centrality of the individual for moral formation
has taken on a universal signicance. Freedom is perceived as the extent to which the
person is independent from outside forces such as tradition and institutions. The individual
is atomistic and is the source of his/her own freedom. On the other hand, the individual
is part of a community and cannot be isolated from others in the community. The self
cannot be understood apart from its social roles and attachments.
Ministers ought to guard against the status attached to ministry that was evident in the
Medieval period. It is this notion of ministry that has allowed ministers to act legalistic
‘canonised’ (Gill 1990:82). This interpretation of the authority of ministers contributes
to the abuse against the vulnerable members of the community and the structures and
procedures of the institution.
The university curricula should also take cognisance of the role of the family and society in
the formation of ministers. Moral formation is not restricted to rules or principles, but the
inuence of the family through socialisation, which is another way of transmitting values
and forming character. Coupled with socialisation – by entities such as the family – is the
important role of the media, especially social media, in not only contributing to moral
formation, but also in transmitting values. However, it has both positive and negative
aspects when it comes to transmitting values, and while social media is benecial for easy
access of information, it still carries with it some dangers. The media should be used as a
critical tool of moral formation.
Marilyn Naidoo (ed). Contested Issues in Training Ministers in South Africa. Stellenbosch: African Sun Media
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112
Contested issues in training ministers in south afriCa
Conclusion
Ministers are confronted with the challenges evident of the Medieval period as well as
modernity. Feudalism and legalism can lead to dissociation from the community. It can also
lead to ministry being a status rather than being a service to the church community and
society – or being a calling by God and not by any earthly structure or authority (council
or bishop). The community, through its communitarian nature, forms the minister into a
morally responsible human being who has a common humanity with other selves within
the community as well as with those beyond.
Universities and theological colleges must make the community of learning an important
role player in the academic curricula of those being formed for ministry. Curricula will
be enhanced when consideration is given for the correlation between various modes of
moral formation. Therefore, moral plurality and dierent traditions should form part of
the content of such curricula.
An example of moral leadership is found in one of the most humble Christian leaders
in contemporary South Africa, Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu. Lombard (2014:15)
writes of him as:
His leadership was transformative, it was denitely a form of servant leadership, it
was inclusive and arming of his co-workers, but it also had a much disciplined
side to it, including prayer and meditation and real dedication to the task. He trusted
people to do their own thing, he could delegate various tasks, but importantly
decided to write his own sermons, speeches and letters, and he spent much time
writing to South African leaders (the ‘enemy’), whom he approached on the basis
of their own faith commitment, bringing in the moral dimension of politics and
whatever the issue was … Tutu’s leadership rested on a vision and understanding
of God’s dream for humanity, and thus rested not on managerial gimmicks, but on
deep spiritual roots, including his belief in the power of the resurrection (coming
from the Community of the Resurrection), but also fed by his strong belief in what
Khoza calls African Humanism or ubuntu.
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Marilyn Naidoo (ed). Contested Issues in Training Ministers in South Africa. Stellenbosch: African Sun Media
https://doi.org/10.18820/9780992236014/07
Copyright 2015 African Sun Media and Marilyn Naidoo