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Human sexuality has been on the agenda of the Uniting Reformed Church in Southern Africa (URCSA’s) General Synod since at least 2005. Since then, at each respective General Synod, the discussion has been set forth to theologise about the lives of members who are LGBTIQ+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex, queer and other sexual minorities). Yet, throughout this time no attention has been afforded to the denomination’s catechesis, specifically its sexual ethic. This essay, then, attempts to contribute to the present dialogue on human sexuality with a focus on catechesis, or faith formation. It does so by following a queer theological hermeneutic, informed by the cultural criticism tradition in the form of queer theory. In order to investigate the sexual ethic at work in URCSA, the primary text engaged is its catechetical literature, Children of God. The essay, as such, attempts to note how URCSA has constructed its sexual ethic as heteronormative; and therefore, against all other sexual orientations. In order to do this, the essay probes three questions. First, it questions the existence and identity of URCSA. Second, it questions how a queering of catechesis may be done and what value it may contribute to the denomination. Third, it asks the question: quo vadis, where to URCSA? By asking this question, an attempt is made to qualify what it is that URCSA may need in queering its catechesis. Still, it is important to note that this reflection is much informed by the author’s experience of the denomination as a gay man.

The recent publication by Adriaan van Klinken and Ezra Chitando, titled Reimagining Christianity and Sexual Diversity in Africa (2021), continues to garner much attention from the theological community. This publication is important on numerous fronts. At least two are noteworthy and inform the present appraisal. First, van Klinken and Chitando’s work speaks to the religious, particularly Christian, realities that beset contemporary Africa. Second, their work takes seriously the ways in which the lives of Africans are being rendered precarious because of the limited socio-political progress with regard to LGBT+ rights. This review article is offered taking seriously the ways in which LGBT+ lives are rendered precarious by the oppressive logic of forms of Christianity. This article has three movements. First, it offers an appraisal of the publication by van Klinken and Chitando. Second, the article critically considers the moment in which the publication was produced. Here an investigation into a particular Christian conservatism, which has led to fundamentalism, is provided. This reality, it is argued, renders this publication quite important. Third, it offers contemplation on the method that three queer theologians in South Africa are employing in their scholarship. Making this third move, the article responds to what is considered a limitation in the publication. This review article attempts to contribute and continue the work of re-imagining that van Klinken and Chitando invite readers to. Through their publication van Klinken and Chitando offer an invitation. This invitation is most clear: we are requested to re-imagine Africans who are LGBT+ as humans—fully human, and thus creatures of God. It is this invitation to which this review article responds.

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Academic theology remains male dominated, both in bodies present and in the research methodologies employed. It is a commonplace to refer to Mary-Anne Elizabeth Plaatjies-Van Huffel in terms of a foundationally Reformed theologian and church polity specialist. This is often done without adequate attention to the important role that gender played both in her biography and teaching. There is a need to centre our focus on the matter of gender to see how this had influenced her life’s work. The roles fulfilled by Plaatjies-Van Huffel were as an African feminist, decolonial thinker, ecumenist and Reformed theologian. It may be helpful, when considering her life’s work, to draw these orientations together through a study of her as a public theologian. An exploration into the contours of her intellectual life may thus be helpful for both understanding the life and work of Plaatjies-Van Huffel, and in analysing the continued development of public theology as an intellectual discipline. Such an analysis, nevertheless, must account for her centring of a particular gender politics in the public sphere as a black woman. Alice Walker offers a definition for “the womanist”: “A black feminist or feminist of colour … Appreciates and prefers women’s culture, women’s emotional flexibility (values tears as natural counterbalance of laughter), and women’s strength … Committed to survival and wholeness of entire people, male and female.” Plaatjies-Van Huffel embodied this definition by working for unity, reconciliation and justice in the three publics. How may a womanist and public theological reading of Plaatjies-Van Huffel enrich our understanding of her? This article employs womanist theory as a lens through which to read and understand Plaatjies-Van Huffel as a public theologian.