About Me

Where I come from

I was born on 4 November 1960, in Belfast, Northern Ireland. In 1967 my family immigrated to Canada where I lived until moving to South Africa in 1993 to finish my Ph.D. I hold British and Canadian citizenships.

My faith affiliation

While at the end the day I wish to identified simply as a disciple of Jesus Christ, I understand and experience that discipleship in the social context of South Africa in transition, the liturgical context of the Anglican tradition and the philosophical context of Reformational Christianity. I began my faith journey in a charismatic/pentecostal context, something with which I continue to have a broad identification. I'm a member of St Paul's Church, Rondebosch and have served on the Parish Council for the past two years. I'm also Warden of St Paul's Anhouse, a small (12 residents) Anglican community on UCT campus.

My hobbies

Reading fiction and fantasy (currently into Stephen Donaldson—fabulous cosmologies) and other fiction (I've been ploughing through the works of Robertson Davies over the past couple of years or so—there's nothing like discovering the literature of your own country while in diaspora);

playing classical guitar, and

finding new ways to crash my computer.

I also sing first bass in the Symphony Choir of Cape Town (though I'm currently on Sabbatical)

Some of my "mountain-top" experiences
(here comes the bragging, sorry!)

Being part of a wonderful community of scholars, the Institute for Christian Studies, from 1989 to 1992.

Living in South Africa during its democratic transition, being involved with its Truth and Reconciliation commission and meeting the most remarkable human being of my generation, President Nelson Mandela, in 1995.

Cheering Manchester United to its historic treble victory in 1999.

Singing the Verdi Requiem in 1997 along with the Bach Choir of London and under the baton of Sir David Wilcocks.

Meeting two of my musical heroes, Bono and The Edge of U2, in March 1998.

Working with a dedicated and talented group of people at RICSA.

Serving the student community of St Paul's Anhouse as Warden from 1997

Academic Qualifications

B.Th. (Eastern Pentecostal Bible College, Peterborough, Ontario, Canada)

M.Phil.F (Institute for Christian Studies, Toronto)

Ph. D. (University of Cape Town)

Academic Publications

A careful reading of the social philosophy of a 1960s cultural critic, noted for his Pulitzer Prize-winning book The Denial of Death, who both heralded the promise of modernity and represented a foretaste of its end.

more information

Contains the report written for the Truth Commission on faith communities and apartheid, along with critical essays by important South African and international scholars dealing with the theme.

more information

Proceedings of the first meeting of the South African Academy of Religion in Pretoria in 1995. Includes a variety of essays on the theme from multi-faith and interdisciplinary perspectives.

more information

My RICSA Involvement

History

Came on staff in 1994 to supervise the office computer and facilitate the preparation of the annual RESCU report.

Appointed Research Co-ordinator in 1994 and served in that capacity until March 1999.

Involved with the Social History project from 1994. Currently I am Programme leader.

Projects

My main RICSA research responsibility concerns the Social History project. I have been responsible for co-ordinating the final bits of research for volumes one and two, and for preparing the texts for submission to the publisher, David Philip. I also am currently co-ordinating the workshopping and writing process for volume three, as well as co-writing the text with John de Gruchy and Kevin Davy.

From November 1997 to April 1998, I worked with John de Gruchy and James Cochrane in the preparation of the report on faith communities under apartheid for the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. My duties included soliciting input from a variety of sources—inside and outside RICSA, workshopping some of the more difficult issues that arose in the writing process, integrating the various comments received into a (hopefully!) broadly coherent document and liasing with the TRC office.

Other related involvements

I also work with Juan Garces on the copy-editing and DTP side of the Journal of Theology for Southern Africa and on the editorial team of New South African Outlook. Currently I serve as Assistant Editor of JTSA.

Research interests

My Masters work explored the margin between modernity and postmodernity through the writings of the 1960s social philosopher Ernest Becker. I am still interested in modernity/postmodernity issues, only in a more constructive way. Specifically, I am interested in the postmodern problem of negotiating identities, only in the context of a post-Apartheid and post-colonial South Africa.

My doctoral work is an attempt to read the theology of the American theologian H. Richard Niebuhr in a South African context. I have recently been exploring my own location as a non-South African (and with my many hyphens!) in exploring South African Christianity with Niebuhr's works tucked under my arm. My contextual reading of Niebuhr is therefore from a specific and unusual location--a singularity, a particular crossing or set of crossings. Most contextual readings are from the inside-out. Mine is from the outside-in (but also problematises the categories "inside" and "outside"). Watch this space as I hope to place a sample or draft chapter on this page for comment.

Some of My Stuff to Read

Articles

Here are a few articles I have written recently, reflecting my attempt to make sense (or perhaps needlessly complicate) South African Christianity:

South Africa: Where are We Now? Reprinted with the permission of the South African Baptist Journal of Theology.

Religious and Public Discourse: Sampling a Local Cuisine. Presented to the Multi-event Academic Conference, September 1998.

Constructing a Language of Religion in Public Life: Report of the Multi-Event Academic Conference (written with Gillian Walters and James Cochrane). It was also published in Journal of Theology for Southern Africa in March 1999.

Reports

A Report on a series of South African seminars at the 1999 Parliament of the World's Religions. I was involved helping organise these.

The TRC Report I prepared for RICSA and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission is available online. Also available is a more journalistic account of its preparation.

Contact Details

+27-21-650-3458 (office)
+27-21-689-7575 (fax)
+27-21-686-2394 (home)

email: smartin@humanities.uct.ac.za