„Doing theology“ in the face of intercultural challenges and in global diakonia

1. Preliminary remarks and introduction

FIT is a community of bridge builders, and we are grateful for the opportunity to contribute to volume in which we commemorate a special bridge builder: Our dear colleague Drea Fröchtling. Drea was a bridge builder and a networker between South and North.

Drea connected three of us in South Africa in 2008. Kenneth and Tsitsi lived on the campus of the Lutheran Theological Institute when Frieder visited South Africa and Drea introduced us. The connections became important: Tsitsi and Kenneth Mtata came to Hermannsburg in 2009 where Tsitsi participated in the Master programme “Intercultural Theology” – she was in the very first cohort. Kenneth was awarded a post-doctoral scholarship, and he contributed to the formation of intercultural theological programmes at Hermannsburg.

This is a while ago; today, Kenneth and Tsitsi live in Geneva, where Kenneth holds the position as the World Council of Churches programme director for Public Witness and Diakonia. Frieder Ludwig works now in Stavanger, Norway as Professor of Global Studies and Religion. However, we stayed connected and Drea’s networking skills also initiated a process of cross-continental interactions: Tsitsi’s and Kenneth’s time in Hermannsburg was their first longer stay in Europe. Frieder got connected to South Africa, a country which in the following years became more and more important to him: in 2015 he married Phuti Mogase from Pretoria, who had previously worked in Cape Town. She also knew Drea and therefore the four of us write this article together.

We also asked our Norwegian colleague, Kjell Nordstokke, for a statement on Drea – Kjell is one of the leading authorities on international diakonia and professor emeritus at VID Specialized University, Stavanger. He was a member of the commission which evaluated the candidates for the professorship at FIT Hermannsburg in 2012 which elected Drea. (Another member of the commission was Musa Filibus who is now president of the LWF.) We are grateful that Kjell also sent a statement.

The third source we include is an obituary about Drea by Simone Knapp from KASA – Kirchliche Arbeitsstelle Südliches Afrika – in Heidelberg; her reflections as a friend and colleague are also important and add to the perspectives. In addition, we used some of Drea’s publications and recollect memories and stories.

The following presentation is divided in three parts. First, under the title “Professionality” we will briefly summarize Drea’s background and (early) academic career. Second, under “Interculturality”, we will look into formation processes and Drea’s contributions, both in South Africa and in Germany. The third part is then entitled “Vulnerability, Boldness and Hope.”