1. Introduction

The Religion and Social Change Unit (RESCU) is located in the Department of Religious Studies in the Faculty of Social Science & Humanities at the University of Cape Town. It was established in 1994 and co-ordinates the Institute for Comparative Religion in South Africa (ICRSA) and the Research Institute for Christianity in South Africa (RICSA).

RESCU has once again been very active during the past year in its various research activities. Apart from its regular research projects, including commissioned research, the major initiatives included two international conferences. The first, with the theme "diversity as ethos", involved researchers in the field of interreligious and intercultural education. The second was the holding of the Multi-Event 99, involving academic, political and civil society participants. Both Conferences have major publications pending, and have fostered the expansion of RESCU's focus into new areas such as training for diversity, religion and the courts, religion and science and faith and health. Alongside its ongoing work, these new initiatives demonstrate RESCU's commitment not only to expanding according to the needs of the broader society, but also to working in an interdisciplinary and collegial manner.

There can be little doubt that although the context of South Africa has changed dramatically since the early years of the Unit's existence, the need for research in the area of religion and social change has by no means diminished. This is particularly true in the area of public life. At a time when the Humanities generally are under threat because of the legitimate demands of our society for technological advance, it is important to keep in mind the important role which religion plays in both hindering and aiding social transformation. This is the role RESCU sees itself helping to fulfil, as displayed in this report.

2. Projects and Programmes

2.1 ICRSA

2.1.1 Religion Education Project

Work continued during 1998 in policy research, pilot projects, extension services, and expanding international contacts.

2.1.1.1 Conference, "International Symposium on Interreligious and Intercultural Education," September 1998

With the support of a grant from the Centre for Science Development, the Institute for Comparative Religion in Southern Africa (ICRSA) was able to host an international conference of researchers in the field of interreligious and intercultural education during September 1998. Over four days in Cape Town, this conference involved leading theorists and practitioners in the field from Great Britain, Norway, the Netherlands, Germany, Namibia, and South Africa. In keeping with previous conferences held in Hamburg (1994) and Utrecht (1996), the conference in Cape Town extended special invitations to researchers who had been working with the network. Consequently, ICRSA, which was represented by 7 delegates, hosted 2 delegates from the UK, 3 from Norway, 1 from the Netherlands, 5 from Germany, and 2 from Namibia. In addition, several South African delegates were invited from the universities in the Western Cape either as participants in discussion or as respondents to presentations. As in the earlier conferences, the mix of delegates was crucial to the success of the academic deliberations.

Intentionally small in number, this international working group has maintained close communication since 1994. Formed at a conference in Hamburg in 1994 and consolidated at a conference in Utrecht in 1996, this International Network for Interreligious and Intercultural Education has been a vital forum for communication, co-operation, comparison, and critique in the work of teaching and learning about religion and culture in public education. The existing communication network facilitated the planning and organisation of the conference. Things would not have gone so smoothly, however, if one member of the ICRSA family, the educational consultant, Dr John Stonier, had not volunteered his time and expertise to help with the logistics. The conference reminded us that academic outcomes could depend upon more subtle forms of motivation than those provided by funding. As the volunteer co-ordinator of a cohesive ICRSA research team, Dr John Stonier advised on the selection of the venue, accommodation, and other facilities. Although the primary venue was a Sea Point hotel that we discovered on the first day of the conference had just been raided by the police for suspected illegal activities, holding the sessions in what the local newspaper described as an "infested hole" did not interfere with the proceedings. Certainly, if our budget had allowed, we might have preferred a more upmarket venue. Nevertheless, the venue turned out to be adequate, although we had to be particularly vigilant about security.

For the conference in Cape Town, ICRSA researchers set the theme, "Diversity as Ethos," and challenged participants to address specific theoretical and practical issues in their presentations. After an introductory session outlining the rationale of the conference, the subsequent sessions involved researchers from different countries on the same panels addressing questions of power relations, social context, and methodological practice in interreligious and intercultural education. Each session featured insightful presentations, provocative responses, and lively debate on the problems and prospects of dealing with diversity in education.

In addition to providing these thematic sessions, the conference highlighted two collaborative projects. First, the "Narrative Project" focused on theory, method, and pedagogical practice in the use of stories and storytelling in religious education. Researchers from Norway and Namibia reported on their progress over the past two years on this project. Second, the "Video Project" explored the potential for analysing lessons in interreligious and intercultural education by recording them on video, playing the tape back to the pupils, and recording and assessing their responses. This project in "multiperspective" analysis was particularly developed by a team of researchers from the University of Hamburg, although researchers from ICRSA did make an attempt to apply the method at three schools in the Cape Town area and report the results.

Supported by an intercultural evening of food, music, and poetry, the conference programme of thematic and project-based sessions provided sufficient space for conversation on issues of common academic interest. Now entering its seventh year of existence, the International Network for Interreligious and Intercultural Education has provided a somewhat loose yet nevertheless sustained structure for facilitating communication and collaboration in research the crosses boundaries in both theory and practice. The conference proceedings, which are currently being prepared for publication under the title, Diversity as Ethos: Challenges for Interreligious and Intercultural Education, will hopefully make this work available to a wider audience of teachers and researchers with concerns for religion, culture, and education. The book includes chapters by researchers from South Africa (Chidester, Kwenda, Stonier), the UK (Jackson, Nesbitt), the Netherlands (Bakker), Norway (Breidlid, Leirvik, Nicolaisen), Namibia (Kotzé), and Germany (Weisse, Neumann, Leutner-Ramme, Knauth).

As many participants at the conference in Cape Town observed, the network has shown the advantages of working with a smaller, focused group of researchers from different countries on the different dilemmas and opportunities raised by diversity in interreligious and intercultural education. While South African researchers based in ICRSA have certainly benefited from these international connections, participants from Britain, Norway, Germany, the Netherlands, and Namibia have consistently observed that the struggle for working out new, post-apartheid, and transformative approaches to education in South Africa has represented a special case for their understanding of educational theory and practice.

2.1.1.2 Publication of Conference Proceedings

Diversity as Ethos: Challenges for Interreligious and Intercultural Education, edited by David Chidester, Janet Stonier, and Judy Tobler (Cape Town: Institute for Comparative Religion in Southern Africa, 1999). Selected presentations include:

• "A New Direction for Religious Education in South Africa? The Proposed New RE Policy", by Janet Stonier
• "Beyond Patronage: Negotiating Power Relations", by Chirevo V. Kwenda
• "Diversity as Ethos in Intergroup Relations", by Cok Bakker
• "Theology, Religious Studies, and Religious Education" by Oddbjorn Leirvik
• "The Inter-relatedness of Subject, Pedagogy, and Research Approaches", Robert Jackson
• "Reasons for an Ethos of Diversity: A Sermon to the Converted", by Marita Kotzé
• "Diversity as Ethos in Society: Negotiating Power Relations", by Eleanor Nesbitt
• "Running into an Ethnocentric Trap: Response to the Contribution of Eleanor Nesbitt", by Ursula Neumann and Wolfram Weisse
• "Stories and Storytelling in Religious Education in Norway", Halldis Breidlid and Tove Nicolaise
• "Religious Education in the Multiperspective View of the Participants: Introduction", by Wolfram Weisse
• "Religious Education in the Multiperspective View of the Participants: Methodological Constructions", Sibylla Leutner-Ramme
• "From Reconstruction to Interpretation: Steps for Analyzing RE Lessons Multiperspectively", by Thorsten Knauth

2.1.1.3 Policy for Religious Education

ICRSA researcher Janet Stonier, and former member of the ICRSA staff A. Rashied Omar, were selected by the Department of Education to serve on the commission that met for a month in September 1998 to draft a new policy for teaching and learning about religion in South African public schools. A good sense of the content (as well as the process) of the policy can be gained through Janet Stonier, "A New Direction for Religious Education in South Africa? The Proposed New RE Policy," Diversity as Ethos, 28-46.

2.1.2 Comparative Religion Project

2.1.2.1 Research Guide

The three volumes of annotated bibliography—African Traditional Religion in South Africa, Christianity in South Africa, and Islam, Hinduism, and Judaism in South Africa—were published in 1997 by Greenwood Press have been widely distributed internationally. Since the bibliographies only covered literature up through 1995, plans will need to be made to update these publications for the 21^st century.

2.1.2.2 History of Comparative Religion

Work on a second volume on the history of comparative religion from a southern African perspective, Empire of Religion: Imperial Comparative Religion and Southern Africa, has been delayed, but a first chapter and the basic outline of the project was presented to the Ford Foundation Seminar, "Colonial Constructions of Religions," at University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, March 1999.

2.1.2.3 Christianity and Comparative Religion

Commissioned by Penguin UK, an interreligious history of Christianity has been produced and is scheduled to appear in print sometime during 2000.

2.1.3 African Religion Project

2.1.3.1 African Religion in Practice

Work continues under the direction of Dr. Chirevo Kwenda on developing a volume on religions of Africa, African Religion in Practice, for the series, "Religions in Practice," with Princeton University Press.

2.1.3.2 Multi-media project

With UCT’s Centre for Higher Education Development, Dr Chirevo Kwenda has been developing multi-media, internet-based project, "Representations of African Religion."

2.1.4 South African Sacred Space Project

Beginning in 1997, ICRSA embarked on a three-year research project on the production, preservation, and contestation of sacred space in South Africa. As the project draws to completion in March 2000, the following research products are anticipated:

2.1.4.1 Case Studies

Journal for the Study of Religion, Special Issue: "Sacred Space in Southern Africa" (forthcoming 2000).

2.1.4.2 Urban Space

"Mapping the Sacred in the Mother City: Religion and Urban Space in Cape Town, South Africa," by David Chidester, invited presentation to international conference, "Religious Meanings of Urban Space," Tsukuba University, September 1999, scheduled for publication in English and Japanese in the conference proceedings.

2.1.4.3 Rural Space

Elizabeth Stites, "Land and Human Rights in South Africa," Forum: National Institute for Dispute Resolution 36 (December 1998), 24-29; and "Spirit of the Land: Politics, Memory, and the Sacred in South African Land Claims," MA thesis, University of Cape Town, 1999.

2.1.4.4 Religion Education

Sacred Places, by Janet Stonier and Tracey Derrick (Cape Town: Juta, 1997).

2.1.4.5 Bibliography

"Sacred Space in South Africa," by Elizabeth Stites and Darrel Wratten, manuscript.

2.1.5 Design for Diversity

During 1998, preliminary work was begun on redirecting the theoretical and applied research of the ICRSA Religion Education Project into the field of diversity training. Under the direction of Mr. Rico Settler, this project made progress in the following areas:

2.1.5.1 Diversity Training

During 1998, ICRSA researchers designed and conducted four regional and one national conference for magistrates on "Social Context and Diversity" in conjunction with the Law, Race, and Gender Research Unit at UCT. Out of this project, two further seminars were conducted for prosecutors. Work continues in developing and conducting diversity workshops.

2.1.5.2 Diversity Resources

In support of these interventions in training, resources were compiled relating to Diversity Management and Diversity Training with an aim to investigating, exploring, and clarifying the theoretical assumptions in this field. Information will be compiled into a substantial resource pack for students of diversity and practitioners of diversity training.

2.1.5.3 Religion, Law, and the Courts

Initial research that has been conducted into the theoretical and practical role of religion in the courts is being formulated into a series of publications that will provide useful and accessible information on religious diversity, outlining, for example, what magistrates need to know about Islam. The first publication is anticipated during the second half of 1999.

2.2 RICSA

RICSA’s projects are divided amongst five main programmes.

2.2.1 Africanisation Programme

The Africanisation and Christianity Programme aims to investigate the connection between Christianity and African culture, particularly the construction of African Christian identities. Operating under this Program is a Research Project entitled "Possibilities of African Christianity within mainline churches in South Africa". Project leader Malinge Njeza undertook the proposal for the project with the technical assistance of Jacques De Wet. Nomsa Hani is also working as researcher on the project. The Project is concerned with finding out how African Christians in mainline churches appropriate their Christian faith in a way that also expresses their Africanness. In the past, it has been common to confine expressions of Africanness within African Initiated Churches (AIC’s). However, the research seeks to prove in documentary form that this possibility exists in mainline churches as well. Fieldwork is being conducted in two Western Cape Presbyterian churches – one in Langa and the other one in Kaya-Mandi Township near Stellenbosch. Research findings will be documented and published through RICSA. The proposal is available on RICSA’s website.

2.2.2 Social History Programme

The Social History Programme is led by Stephen Martin and co-researched by Henry Mchlauli, Monique Viljoen and Kevin Davy. It consists of two interlinked projects: the location, collection and publication of key primary documents relevant to research on the relation between Christianity and South Africa and the production of three volumes. Plans are made for the documents’ wider publication on the Internet.

2.2.2.1 Volumes

The three volumes are entitled Christianity and the Colonisation of South Africa, Christianity and the Modernisation of South Africa, and Christianity and the Transformation of South Africa. These volumes present a fresh narrative account of Christianity in South Africa and will place it in socio-historical and political context. These volumes will be published by David Philip and Eerdmans Publishers, will include selections from the document collection. Contributions from leading South African scholars have been collected and catalogued for this volume. The first two volumes are presently being copy-edited for publishing.

2.2.2.2 Document Collection and Management

Document collection continues for volume three. The Mayibuye Centre and Gendendal mission have both been visited and anti-apartheid activists have been consulted.

The process of converting the database, which catalogues the documents into a relational format, is at a late stage and should be operational by the end of the year. Members of the UCT library have been consulted for advice. The database, which is a crucial part of the document collection and management process, will be available in some form to the wider public.

2.2.3 Public Life Programme

There are numerous ongoing and completed projects that fall under this heading, including the recent Multi-Event 99 project and other ongoing projects such as Eco-justice, poverty, and science and religion.

2.2.3.1 Multi-Event

The Multi-Event 1999 took place from 14-20 February 1999 with more than 200 delegates involved. In meeting its goal of putting religion, public policy and cultural values on the map, three interrelated areas were addressed: the task of constituting a civil public, the work of forming the cultural bases of a civil public, and the responsibility for shaping public policy. International institutions and individuals, including from Africa, participated. Politicians and policy makers formed a crucial component of the debate, as well as eleven Community Groups, which injected the voice of ordinary believers. ME99 focused on Christianity in South Africa, though not exclusively. Links were established with the Parliament of the World’s Religions secretariat, to meet in December 1999 in Cape Town. The daily newspaper that was produced for the delegates is available on the RICSA web site. Reports are currently being generated and will be made available soon.

2.2.3.2 Values Colloquium

12 papers are being prepared for publication by the end of 1999. The topics include: the politics of values, legal and religious values in the South African Constitution, values in the workplace, and discourses of difference and sameness.

2.2.3.3 Science and Religion

Science & Religion. The SA Science and Religion Forum, an independent group with a young and embryonic chapter in the Western Cape Region, and is being supported by RICSA. A workshop and special forum on science and religion in education in SA was included at the recent Multi-Event 1999 on Religion in Public Life. RICSA has also offered to host a web site.

2.2.3.4 Faith and Health

The Faith-Health Consortium is an initiative of a group of people from a variety of institutions. RICSA is represented by Charles Wanamaker of UCT’s Dept. of Religious Studies and Prof. Cochrane. Its goals are to establish a consortium, linked to similar initiatives in the USA and India, and will include developing cross-disciplinary curricula between health professional training institutions (in this case, UCT’s Medical School and the Nursing College at Groote Schuur Hospital), religious professional training institutions (RICSA and the Graduate School of Religion at UCT, with the possibility of including other institutions in the Western Cape). The essential element of these programs, however, will be their link to community based religious health care activities, and this is being pursued simultaneously. We hope our next bulletin will give specific details concerning the Consortium.

2.2.3.4 Poverty Project

The Poverty Project under the direction of Sam Silungwe, the project leader and his co-researchers, Monique Viljoen and Juan Garces, is currently focussed on the collection and dissemination of useful and accessible information on poverty. A special focus is the theological response to poverty and the role of faith communities in dealing with poverty. The project’s prime vehicle of dissemination is the RICSA web site, where users can access articles, links to other poverty-related web sites, and RICSA’s own research. It includes biblical material on poverty, papers on historical and contemporary theological approaches to poverty, and a paper on the theological basis of Jubilee 2000. A collection of articles and publications on poverty is now accessible via an electronic database. Future plans include conducting research at a grassroots level by engaging with churches and faith communities in the Cape Town area who are currently conducting poverty related projects, or wish to become involved in such projects.

2.2.3.5 Eco-justice

Headed by David Field of the University of Transkei, the aim of this project is to provide a critical reflection on the present and possible future participation of Christianity in the pursuit of eco-justice in South Africa, with a view to empowering and motivating the church to a critically informed praxis. A jointly authored book by Dr Field and Ernst Conradie of the University of the Western Cape, entitled Rainbow over the Land: A South African Guide to Church and Environmental Justice, will be completed by the end of July. It will provide a tool for church leaders wishing to mobilize Christians to become involved in the struggle for eco-justice. Further, a series of papers and articles dealing with specific eco-justice issues under the broad title of "Toward a theological ethic for eco-justice" is being prepared. These include: "Snakes in an African Eden" and "The Ethics of Sustainable Development".

Two further areas of research are under consideration: Toward an Ecological Ecclesiology: reflections on the self-understanding and mission of the church in the light of the Eco-justice crisis; and a critical reflection on government policy and legislation on the environment. The latter would focus on a critical theological evaluation of the ethical adequacy of policy and legislation. It would also investigate the space such legislation provides for the church to engage public policy and practice about environmental issues.

A research project officially funded by the University of Transkei entitled: "A critical evaluation of church based responses to environmental issues with particular reference to the Khanya Program of the Methodist Church of Southern Africa and The Diocese of Umzimvubu of the Church of the Province of South Africa". Some progress has been made on the project but it has been severely hampered by the financial crisis at the University of Transkei. The research budget is not accessible and work has proceeded based on Dr Field's personal resources.

The holding of workshops to bring together people engaged in similar eco-justice projects has been proposed. These would also link to the Ecumenical Earth conference and the Multi Event 99 follow up.

2.2.4 Christianity, the Arts and Transformation

This is a new program, led by John de Gruchy and Robert Steiner. It seeks to examine the role and relationship between Christianity and the arts in the transformation of South African society with implications for the church and theological reflection. An exploratory workshop around this theme during the February conference on Religion and Public life in Cape Town marked its beginnings. The immediate objectives include: becoming familiar with the terrain and the issues, initiating discussion with artists, students, and the church, and establishing a network via RICSA’s web-site. A postgraduate seminar course during the second semester and a workshop in September with Dr Jeremy Begbie from Cambridge University, involving artists, students, and churches, is planned. Based on the seminar and workshop, a position paper and a research plan will be formulated which will provide a base for fundraising for the future of the project.

2.2.5 Commissioned Research

2.2.5.1 TRC Report

November 1998 saw the release of the Final Report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, including a chapter on faith communities based on RICSA’s Report. The RICSA Report was also the basis for Faith Communities Face the Truth, published in April 1999 by David Philip and Ohio University Press. The full report is also available on RICSA’s web site. A review of the book by Denise Ackermann appeared in the March 1999 issue of the Journal of Theology for Southern Africa. That review, along with the material used to construct the Report are available on RICSA’s web site.

2.2.5.2 Anti-Corruption Conferences

As part of its "Christianity and Public Life" program, RICSA has become involved in various processes dealing with "the moral fibre of the nation". Besides contributing to background preparation for the Moral Summit held last year, in which religious and political leaders in South Africa signed a Moral Code, Prof. Cochrane has also been working with the Public Services Commission. The PSC was assigned the task of organising the Public Sector Anti-Corruption Conference held in Parliament in October 1998, and the National Anti-Corruption Summit held in parliament in April of this year. Besides evaluating the first meeting with John de Gruchy and Professor Annette Seegers of UCT’s Department of Political Studies, an article by Cochrane on "Corruption and the Role of Religion in Public Life" will shortly be published in a book of essays commissioned by the PSC. The evaluation itself has also now been published by the PSC. There are indications that this involvement will continue.

2.2.5.3 Religion and Health Services Survey

At the request of the Health Systems Trust (a leading NGO in the field, based in Durban), RICSA has put together a small team under the direction of Profs. Wanamaker and Cochrane to carry out a preliminary national survey of the contribution of religious bodies to health care systems, in particular district public health services. Barbara Schmid and Hajira Khalfe, with help from Lyn Holness, will investigate a range of questions about religious health care activities in order to produce a chapter for the Annual SA Health Review volume. The work should be completed by early August

3. Infrastructure

3.1 Staffing

3.1.1 Senior Researchers

Directors: Profs. John de Gruchy, David Chidester, James Cochrane

3.1.2 Senior Staff:

Dr Chirevo Kwenda
African Religion Project; Religion Education Project.

Ms Nokuzola Mndende
African Religion Project; Religion Education Project.

Dr James McNamara
Special Projects.

Associate Prof. Charles Wanamaker
Religion Education Project.

Dr Darrell Wratten
Comparative Religion Project, Sacred Space Project

3.1.3 Research Co-ordinators

Nomsa Hani (RICSA)

3.1.4 Programme and Project Leaders

Africanisation
Malinge Njeza
Research management; field research

Social History
Stephen Martin
Research management, editorial supervision, copy editing, and bibliographic support.

Poverty
Samuel Silungwe
Research management

Eco-Justice
David Field
Research management, editorial supervision, copy editing, and bibliographic support

Christianity, the Arts and Social Transformation
Robert Steiner
Research management

Values Colloquium
Bastienne Klein
Editing and co-ordination

Design for Diversity
Frederico Settler
Design for Diversity Project: Theoretical and applied research; workshops; conference organisation; office management.

Religion Education Project
Janet Stonier
Policy research, pilot projects, extension services, curriculum development, textbook design, production, and marketing.

Comparative Religion Project
Judy Tobler
Research management, editorial supervision, copy editing, and bibliographic support.

3.1.5 Research Staff

Kevin Davy
Social History Project, document management and processing; Coordinating bibliographic research, literature review, and fieldwork for volume three.

Juan Garcés
Theology, Churches and Public Policy Project: Bibliographic research, literature review, and fieldwork; web site maintenance.

Lyn Holness
Religion and Health Services Survey

Hajira Khalfe
Religion and Health Services Survey

Phumelele Koliti
Comparative Religion Project: bibliographic research, copy editing, proof reading, and photocopying.

Henry Mchlauli
Social History Project: database maintenance document management and processing; bibliographic research.

Barbara Schmid
Religion and Health Services Survey

Sam Silungwe
Theology, Churches and Public Policy Project: Bibliographic research, literature review, and fieldwork.

Elizabeth Stites
South African Sacred Space Project: Bibliographic research, literature review, and fieldwork.

Gcobani Vika
Theology, Churches and Public Policy Project: Bibliographic research, literature review, and fieldwork.

Monique Viljoen
Social History Project: database maintenance, bibliographic research, copy editing, proof reading, and photocopying; Theology, Churches and Public Policy Project: Bibliographic research, literature review, and fieldwork.

Gillian Walters
CPSA commissioned research; bibliographic research, copy editing, proof reading, and photocopying.

3.1.6 Special Consultants

Jacques de Wet
Christianity and Africanisation Project; CPSA Commissioned research.

3.1.7 Administrative Staff

Bastienne Klein

Thembi Mlonyeni

Hajira Khalfie

Eliza Getman

3.1.8 CSD Funded Researchers

Supported by CSD supervisor bursaries
Nomsa Hani, Sibusiso Masondo, Lyn Holness; Gcobani Vika; supported by special CSD capacity building grant: Henry Mchlauli.

3.1.9 Research Students under Supervision

Kevin Davy, Peter de Villiers, Nomsa Hani, Lyn Holness, Maserole Kgari, Stephen Martin, Henry Mchlauli, Clinton Minnaar, Sibusiso Masondo, Nokuzola Mndende, Clifford Mushishi, Malinge Njeza, A. Rashied Omar, Frederico Settler, Samuel Silungwe, Robert Steiner, Gcobani Vika, Monique Viljoen, Gillian Walters.

3.2 Equipment and Offices

Six computers and related equipment

Four offices in the Leslie Social Sciences Building

4. Visitors 1998-99

September 1998
Martin Conway, World Council of Churches; Prof. Graham Ward, University of Cambridge; Dr Gary Gunderson, Carter Center, Atlanta, USA; Prof. Douglas R. McGaughey, Willamette University, Oregon, USA; Drs. Robin Petersen and Russel Botman, University of the Western Cape; Profs. Tinyiko Maluleke, Gerald West and Philippe Denis, University of Natal (Pietermarizburg); Dr Madipoane Masenye (University of South Africa)

October 1998
Prof. Graham Ward, Cambridge University.

December 1998
Prof. Dwight N. Hopkins, University of Chicago; Prof. Linda Thomas, Garratt Evangelical Theological Seminary

January 1999
Dr Tracy Kuperin, Gordon College, USA; Dr Ralf Wustenburg, University of Heidelberg, Germany.

February 1999
Prof. Lionel Louw, School of Social Work, UCT; Dr Amy Marks, Graduate School of Business, UCT; Prof. Denise Ackermann, UWC; Dr H. Russel Botman, UWC; Prof. Bernard Lategan, Univ. of Stellenbosch; Prof. Sampie Terreblanche, Univ. of Stellenbosch; Dr. Mercy Amba Oduyoye, Trinity Theological College, Ghana; Prof. Anne Loades, University of Durham, UK; Prof. Graham Ward, University of Manchester, UK; Prof. William Johnson Everett, Andover-Newton Theological Seminary, Boston MA, USA; Prof. Robert Franklin, Interdenominational Theological Center, Atlanta GA, USA; Prof. Douglas McGaughey, Willamette University, Salem OR, USA.

March 1999
Prof. Tristan Anne Borer, Connecticut College, USA

September 1999
Prof. Jeremy Begbie, Cambridge University, UK; Rev. Alistair Keil, The Church of Scotland World Mission, Scotland

5. Implementation of Research (including staff activities)

5.1 Conference Participation and Special Lectures

David Chidester

"Setting the Scene: Religion, Education, and South Africa," "International Research Symposium on Interreligious and Intercultural Education," Cape Town, September 1998.

"Embracing South Africa, Internationalizing the Study of Religion," American Academy of Religion, annual conference, Orlando, Florida, November 1998.

Participation in the Multi-Event 99, Cape Town, 14-20 February 1999.

"Response," conference on "Indigenous Traditions and New World Religions," Syracuse University, March 1999.

"Classify and Conquer: Imperial Classifications and Colonial Constructions of Religion," Ford Foundation Seminar, "Colonial Constructions of Religions," University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, March 1999.

James Cochrane

Transformation. Plenary paper, National Initiative for Contextualizing Theological Education National Conference, Johannesburg, July 1998.

John de Gruchy

Consultant at the Eighth Assembly of the World Council of Churches, Harare, Zimbabwe, December 1998.

"The Chastening of the English-speaking Churches in South Africa", Paper at the Conference on Race, Ethnicity, and Reconciliation: a Multicultural and Comparative Dialogue, University of the Western Cape, January 14-16,

Participation in the Multi-Event 99, Cape Town, 14-20 February 1999.

Visiting Professor, University of Aarhus, Denmark, 5-16^th April. Also gave lectures at the University of Copenhagen.

Guest Lecturer at the Evangelische Kirchentag, Stuttgart, 16^th-20^th June

David Field

Participation in the conference "Ecumenical Earth: New Dimensions of Church and Community in Creation", Union and Auburn Theological Seminaries, New York, October 1998.

Participation in the Multi-Event 99, Cape Town, 14-20 February 1999.

Chirevo V. Kwenda

"Beyond Patronage: Negotiating Power Relations," given at International Research Symposium on Interreligious and Intercultural Education, Cape Town, September 1998.

Participation in the Multi-Event 99, Cape Town, 14-20 February 1999.

Stephen Martin

Represented RICSA at consultation on religious research into reconciliation, University of Pretoria, August 1998.

Concept Paper, "Religion and the Public Sphere", given at Academic Conference, preparatory for Multi-Event 1999, September 1998.

Frederico Settler

"Funerals: Sites of Conversion and Resistance" given at conference, Coloured by History, Shaped by Place: Identities and Cultural Practices in the City, University of Cape Town, June 1998.

5.2 Publications

David Chidester

Christianity (London: Penguin, forthcoming 2000).

"Christmas in July: Laughter, Pain, and Incongruity and the Study of Religion," in Dan Cohn-Sherbok and Christopher Lamb (Eds.) The Future of Religion: Postmodern Perspectives (London: Middlesex University Press, forthcoming 1999).

"The Church of Baseball, the Fetish of Coca-Cola, and the Potlatch of Rock ‘n’ Roll," in Bruce Forbes and Jeffrey Mahan (eds.) Religion and Popular Culture in America (Berkeley: University of California Press, forthcoming 1999).

"Colonialism," in Willi Braun and Russell T. McCutcheon (eds.) Critical Guide to the Study of Religion (London: Cassell, forthcoming 1999).

"Comparative Religious Studies," in Johann Mouton and Joe Muller (eds.) Theory and Method in South African Human Science Research: Advances and Innovations (Pretoria: HSRC, 1998), 100-13.

"Comprehending Political Violence," in Emile Boonzaier and John Sharp (eds.) Dealing with Diversity: Keywords for a New South Africa (Cape Town: David Phillip, forthcoming).

Diversity as Ethos: Challenges for Interreligious and Intercultural Education, edited with Janet Stonier and Judy Tobler (Cape Town: Institute for Comparative Religion in Southern Africa, forthcoming 1999).

"Embracing South Africa, Internationalizing the Study of Religion," Diversity as Ethos, 4-22.

"Forum: Interpreting Waco," Religion in American Culture: A Journal of Interpretation 8 (1998), 17-25.

"No First or Final Solutions: Strategies, Techniques, and Ivan Strenski’s Garden in the Study of Religion," Journal of the American Academy of Religion 66 (1998), 369-76.

"Stories, Fragments, and Monuments," in John de Gruchy, James Cochrane and Stephen Martin, eds., Facing the Truth: Faith Communities and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (Cape Town; Ohio: David Philip; Ohio University Press), 132-41.

"Une epistemologie (exotique) de la religion en Afrique du Sud," in Veronique Faure (ed.) Dynamiques religieuses en Afrique australe (Paris: Karthala/CEAN, forthcoming 1999).

James Cochrane

Facing the Truth: South African Faith Communities and the TRC. Edited with John de Gruchy and Stephen Martin (Cape Town & Athens, Ohio: David Philip & Ohio University Press, 1999).

"Constructing a Language of Religion in Public Life". Academic Conference of the Religion in Public Life Multi-Event 1999, 30 Sept—2 Oct, 1998, 93 pages.

"The Making and Unmaking of Public Life". Journal of Theology for Southern Africa 100 (March 1998), 86-103.

"Close Encounters of the Foreign Kind: Aliens and Others". Scriptura :4:67 (1998), 405-18.

"Constructing a language of Religion in Public Life in South Africa". With Stephen W. Martin & Gillian Walters. Journal of Theology for Southern Africa 103 (March 1999), 64-87.

"Introduction: Faith, Struggle and Reconciliation". With John de Gruchy and Stephen Martin. In Cochrane, de Gruchy & Martin (eds), Facing the Truth, 1-14.

"Wounded Healers". With John de Gruchy and Stephen Martin. In Cochrane, de Gruchy & Martin (eds), Facing the Truth, 170-4.

Evaluation Report to the Public Services Commission, on the Public Sector Anti-Corruption Conference, October 1998. With J. de Gruchy & A. Seegers. Published in Fighting Corruption: Strategies for Prevention, ed. S. Sangweni & D. Balia (Pretoria: UNISA, 1999), 177-91.

"The Struggle for Eco-justice in the South African Context". With C. Majiza, D. Field & E. Conradie. Forthcoming in a volume to be published in the USA.

"Corruption and the Role of Religion in Public Life". Forthcoming in a volume produced by the Public Services Commission of the Republic of South Africa.

John de Gruchy

The Cambridge Companion to Dietrich Bonhoeffer, editor (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998).

Facing the Truth: South African Faith Communities and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, edited with James Cochrane and Stephen Martin (Cape Town: David Philip, and Athens, Ohio: Ohio University Press, 1999).

Christianity and the Modernisation of South Africa (Cape Town: David Philip; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, forthcoming).

Sent from London: The Legacy of the London Missionary Society in Southern Africa, edited (Cape Town: David Philip, 1999).

Christianity, Art, and Transformation: A Study in Theological Aesthetics (Cambridge University Press, forthcoming 2000).

"Toward a Reformed Theology of Liberation: A Retrieval of Reformed Symbols in the Struggle for Justice," ed. David Willis and Michael Welker, Toward the Future of Reformed Theology, Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1998.

"The Future of the Ecumenical Movement in a Post-Ecumenical Age," Journal of Theology for Southern Africa, 102 (November 1998), 1-12.

David Field

"Ecology, Modernity and the New South Africa: Towards a South African Theology of Eco-Justice", forthcoming in Journal of African Christian Thought, vol. 1:2 (1999).

"On Being a Euro-African Theologian" Journal of Theology for Southern Africa 102 (November 1998), 45-60.

"Snakes in an African Eden: Towards a Theological Ethic for Ecotourism and Conservation", forthcoming in Scriptura, vol. 68 (1999).

Chirevo Kwenda

"Affliction and Healing: Salvation in African Religion", Journal of Theology for Southern Africa 103 (March 1999), 64-87.

"Beyond Patronage: Negotiating Power Relations," Diversity as Ethos: Challenges for Interreligious and Intercultural Education, edited by David Chidester, Janet Stonier, and Judy Tobler (Cape Town: Institute for Comparative Religion in Southern Africa, 1999), 47-57.

Stephen Martin

"Constructing a Language of Religion in Public Life", with James R. Cochrane and Gillian Walters, Journal of Theology for Southern Africa 103 (March 1999), 64-87.

Facing the Truth: Faith Communities and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, edited with James R. Cochrane and John W. de Gruchy (Cape Town; Ohio: David Philip; Ohio University Press).

"Introduction", and "Afterward", with James Cochrane and John de Gruchy, Faith Communities Face the Truth.

Malinge Njeza

"Response to Luke Pato", Journal of Theology for Southern Africa 102 (November 1998), 41-43.

Frederico Settler

"Funerals: Sites of Conversion and Resistance," in Zemitri Erasmus, ed., Coloured by History, Shaped by Place: Identities and Cultural Practices in the City (Cape Town, forthcoming 1999).

Elizabeth Stites

"Land and Human Rights in South Africa," Forum: National Institute for Dispute Resolution 36 (December 1998), 24-29.

Janet Stonier

"A New Direction for Religious Education in South Africa? The Proposed New RE Policy," Diversity as Ethos: Challenges for Interreligious and Intercultural Education, edited by David Chidester, Janet Stonier, and Judy Tobler (Cape Town: Institute for Comparative Religion in Southern Africa, 1999), 28-46.

Diversity as Ethos: Challenges for Interreligious and Intercultural Education, edited with David Chidester and Judy Tobler (Cape Town: Institute for Comparative Religion in Southern Africa, 1999).

5.3 Professional Society Memberships

American Academy of Religion

African Association for the Study of Religion

South African Academy of Religion

International Bonhoeffer Society

Theological Society of South Africa

6. Other Dissemination

6.1 Internet

Web Site. Since its inception RICSA’s website has provided information on almost all the research areas and their programs. These are described above under individual projects. The links page is currently being updated to include sites that offer information of interest for the kind of work the institute is involved in.

6.2 RICSA Bulletin

The RICSA Bulletin continues to be published annually and with special editions for events such as ME99.

6.3 New SA Outlook

New South African Outlook. The first two editions of this ecumenical Christian magazine were produced in February and May, focusing respectively on "Globalisation and the Debt Crisis" and "Religion in the Public Place" (with contributions from the Multi-Event 1999). One of the challenges facing editor Prof. James Cochrane is reviving NSAO’s subscriber base. The continued publication of NSAO will be reviewed late in 1999 in terms of the success of its Relaunch.