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Editorial Relaunch of South African Outlook
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| New South African Outlook, Vol. 1 no. 1 (January 1999) | |
| Relaunch of
SA Outlook! Many things have changed substantially in
South Africa, and some things have not. The same is true
of South African Outlook! It is being relaunched in a
completely new format, with a new editorial team,
designed to be of contemporary value for people who want
informed ecumenical comment on current issues. After
running out of steam, it seemed as if the more than 125
years of SA Outlook and its predecessors was coming to an
end. For two years now no issues have been produced and
finances were in the red. The Board had to decide: Close
down, or find a new vision and framework.
And there is a gap. No appropriate magazine exists for addressing Christians in various leadership positions, in professions, in government and public institutions of state and civil society, with informative, constructive and critical ecumenical comment about Christianity in the public sphere. The New SAO lies somewhere between a popular magazine like Challenge - with which it does not compete - and an academic publication like the Journal of Theology for Southern Africa. It addresses Christian intelligentsia: People who feel the need for some analysis and probing comment from the point of view of an open, ecumenical Christianity. People who want quick-but not superficial-takes on current affairs in public life. People who want accessible, appealing information and comment, enriching insights and useable material, in a readily available form. People who want a record of our times. Join us in this exciting relaunch. Subscribe now, if you are not a subscriber. Renew your lapsed subscription. Help us strengthen this venture and make it grow. Let me welcome you - old and new readers - to the New South African Outlook. |
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SA Outlook has a long and proud
history. Often, in the past, it provided incisive
commentary from a largely Christian, ecumenical
perspective on important public issues and debates. It
took risks, publishing informative, critical articles on
the massive removal and relocation of people under
apartheid, on land and poverty, on torture and detention,
on militarization and the illegal war beyond our borders,
on Black theology and political theology, on the
challenges of the ecumenical movement-one may go on and
on. At crucial times in the last thirty or so years, SA
Outlook was an important alternative source of debate and
information on South Africa for a great many people in
and outside of the country. Many people feel this history
should not be lost. The Board agreed. That is why the
magazine is being relaunched. It is too valuable an
instrument for public ecumenical communication to die.