HTS Theological Studies 2025 Special Collection: We invite you to submit

AOSIS calls on all authors to participate in the HTS Theological Studies 2025 special collection that will be published in the open-access scholarly journal. Submit your latest research for consideration, contribute to the open-access content available to everyone, and share your expertise with a wider audience.

Timeline:

• Submissions open: 30 September 2024
• Submissions deadline: 30 January 2025
• Expected publication date: 01 June 2025

Mission and Vulnerability in the African Context

Vulnerability is described as,

“…a human constant, shaping every human life. Yet vulnerability is also distributed differently across different human groups, part of ever-present inequalities and differences in power in human experience. Self-critical practitioners of the Christian mission embrace their own vulnerabilities as they share the missio Dei. They also seek to mitigate the vulnerabilities that render so many human lives precarious. In addition, mission has exploited and increased vulnerabilities of people at times, often in situations of unequal distributions of power”.

Not too long ago, countries across the world were under constant threat and uncertainty due to the prevalence of the COVID-19 pandemic. This brought travelling restrictions to most parts of the world and increased the dire economic conditions in which the most vulnerable in the developing world had to suffer.  Those in Africa could not afford a decrease in economic activity, in an already vulnerable part of the world and society.  In a political sense, the COVID pandemic further deepened the abyss between the rich and the poor.  ‘After’ Covid, economic activity picked up quite swiftly in the global north. Unfortunately, this led to other further ecological concerns because of the increased rate of economic activity that became essential to boost the economy in those economic desperate situations. This made Africa the most vulnerable in terms of exploitation, further dependency, and depletion of its minerals and resources. This further gave rise to political instability across the African continent in countries such as Gaborone, South Africa (UKZN), Mozambique and many others.

Objective:

Though in one sense vulnerability could be conceptualised as a position of weakness, it has often displayed the resilience of African societies to counter and sustain themselves during such difficult times. A place of vulnerability is thus differently projected in terms of biblical accounts, through the cross of Christ, and his victory over the spiritual and political forces of the day. In this way vulnerability became his potent weapon, subverting the powers that be. Therefore, this call is to invite reflections on mission, missiology, and mission studies in the context of vulnerability.

Recommended topics:

We invite paper submissions, relating to the conference theme, whilst possible subthemes and questions could include, but are not limited to:

1. Unmasking powers and systems which exploit Africa’s vulnerability.
2. Mission, Missiology as vulnerability: Reimagining Africa’s response.
3. Biblical mission in the context of vulnerability in Africa.
4. Mission in the context of ecological vulnerability in Africa.
5. Mission in the context of economic, racial, ethnic, and cultural vulnerability in Africa.

Manuscript information:

The author guidelines include information about the types of articles received for publication and preparing a manuscript for submission. Read the full submissions guidelines.

Submission procedure:

When submitting your article to HTS Theological Studies, choose ‘Mission and Vulnerability’ as the article type. You can access the submission portal on the journal’s website after logging in with your personal credentials. For further information on the submission process, visit the journal procedure page.

All submissions will undergo an anonymous review process to guarantee high scientific quality and relevance to the subject. The Editor-in-Chief will make the final decision on acceptance, revision, or rejection based on the feedback from the reviewers.

We will be happy to provide you with any assistance during the submission and application process. Kindly enquire at submissions@hts.org.za.

All submissions and inquiries should be directed to the attention of the guest editor:

• Prof. L Mangayi (University of South Africa) – mangal@unisa.ac.za
• Prof. Fohle (North-West University) – fohle.lygunda@tearfund.org

We would be honoured to receive a positive reply from you and look forward to receiving your article.