Redeeming Identity: A Theology of Recognition

Redeeming Identity Robert Vosloo focuses upon recognition as a crucial theological category for engaging questions of human identity and personhood. In light of the identity-distorting realities of misrecognition and uneven recognition, Vosloo affirms the promise of interpersonal recognition for human flourishing and societal well-being. But Vosloo also acknowledges that some forms of recognition might presuppose rather than challenge inherent pathologies within oppressive contexts. With this ambivalence in mind, the book argues--with reference to some historical and fictional examples--for an embodied theology of reciprocal recognition with three emphases. Firstly, such an account indicates that in our relationship with others we need to recognize our common humanity and our particular identity traits. Secondly, it is justice-orientated and grace-tinted. It should thus be situated within the creative tension between structure and gesture, justice and grace. Thirdly, a responsible theology of recognition amplifies the fundamental importance of "being recognized" (by God and others) and how this engenders an ethics of gratitude that enables new ways of seeing and acting. Since the book traces some contours for a theology of recognition, it also engage with biblical texts containing recognition scenes and key theological themes such as the imago Dei, the doctrines of justification and election, and the sacraments. 

Robert Vosloo is Professor of Systematic theology at the Faculty of Theology, Stellenbosch University, South Africa. His academic books include Reforming Memory: Essays on South African Church and Theological History (2017) and Reading Bonhoeffer in South Africa After the Transition to Democracy: Selected Essays (2020, with Nico Koopman).