Enabling liminality prophetic witness to xenophobia: Proposing a missiological spirit response for the church in South Africa

Résumé 0

Missiological Spirit is a multidisciplinary approach to ecclesiology grounded in an understanding that all human knowledge, including secular disciplines, holds a degree of redemptive possibility because the Spirit of truth is actively engaged in every dimension of human existence. Particularly in this article, the approach intersects with anthropology, sociology, theology and ritual studies to explicate how these disciplines can interact to transform the Church in South Africa through reconceptualising some of the key Christian doctrines in the light of liminality theory. Through a case study of 2015 xenophobic attacks in South Africa that exemplifies the affinity between public speech and public violence, the article shows how a Missiological Spirit framework can inspire and empower South African Christians to respond adequately to the plague of xenophobia through consciousness-raising as prophetic resistance to violence.