To the question ‘why does Africa not flourish?’, there is no shortage of solutions being offered. One of humanity’s main facilitators that promote international cooperation, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), came, in 2016, to the conclusion that to flourish sustainable development requires spiritual transformation on individual, societal, global and ecological levels (UNFPA 2016:2, 7). Implementation was only on methodological, structural and strategic transformation levels though (International Peace Institute 2016:1–23) and the emergent construct spiritual transformation was left behind. It is not a surprise. Rarely the Bible and Africa are seen in tandem as a source of theory for flourishing. Even among theologians (Pennington 2015b), pastors (Adams & Bloom 2017:254–259), economists (Crespo & Mesurado 2015:931–946), psychologists (Fredrickson & Losada 2005:678–686) and politicians (Sypnowich 2018:314–332), know how to precisely go about promoting human flourishing which is still a matter of debate. To detect flourishing, I will propose an overarching framework that ‘can respond profoundly to the aspirations for and the dilemmas of human flourishing’ (Lincoln, McConville and Pietersen 2013:xiii), namely Qohelet¹ and modern² African³ spiritual transformation. I will lastly examine cross-sectional associations. My purpose is not to rescue either of the two, Qohelet or African spirituality, but to propose, not unlike a sfumato⁴ artist, a more nuanced approach to flourishing. Spiritual transformation through joy can enrich, rebreathe and amplify the discourse (United Nations 2015:1–29) on human flourishing.

How is Qohelet and African spirituality interested in flourishing? To the question of human flourishing, Qohelet is no stranger. To help us understand the concept more clearly, as I will be talking about ‘flourishing’ throughout this article, ‘flourishing’ in Hebrew, shalom, means:

(For a complete account of the flourishing construct in the Old Testament, see McConville 2013:57–58. Flourishing as resilience is outside the scope of this article). Considering the above rich context, Qohelet (as part of Biblical wisdom literature) addresses readers accordingly, not as a ‘specialized boutique interest’ (Pennington 2015a) but as grass roots spirituality. ‘To forsake what is harmful to one’s well-being and embrace a way of life that will enable one not only to cope with perplexing realities but to flourish as human beings’ (Lee 2005:10,126) is Qohelet’s ultimate objective. This view stems from Qohelet’s own spiritual journey. Based on this observation, the theoretical framework of spiritual transformation will be followed in order to relate ‘flourishing’ and ‘joy’ to its African relevance.

Although Qohelet’s journey to flourishing was deeply transformative,⁵ his journey was not formatted, parcelled or complete but an ‘unfolding experience’ (Lombaard 2015:3). The author(s) moved through stages or movements characterised by subtle adjustments. An example is the unfolding of his understanding of joy because of his unfolding understanding of God (Sekine 1999:118). How did he understand God? In earlier Jewish thinking (Old Testament – OT), institutionalism (temple) and legalism (torah) guaranteed God’s rewards or punishment (Sekine 1999:126). Salvation was synonymous with slavish obedience. God was rituals and rules (Perdue 2008:252) (see Figure 1). Then a series of new outer horizons⁶ came into view. Israel became, over many decades and under the auspices of various empires (Assirian, Egyptian, Babylonian, Persian and Greek), a sort of ethnic province or colony.⁷ As each horizon brings its own scenery, each empire brought its own adversities, possibilities and trauma for the local inhabitants. For Israel the changing sceneries of different colonisers brought death in many forms. At this point, before addressing the effect of trauma, I will indicate the levels of death that they experienced. Firstly, they experienced a variety of collective losses (follow the Babylonian exile). Secondly, the socio-economic order capsized (3:16; 10:7). Thirdly, people were oppressed in the courts (3:16; 5:8). Fourthly, the colonial beneficiaries drowned the local citizens’ capacity through narrow prescriptiveness, that is, ‘since you are in the dark, I will decide about opportunities, where, who and for how long’ (4:1; 8:7–9). The locals’ voices were, for instance, silenced and their influence was diminished by the official language of the state – Aramaic under Babylonian and Persian rules (Spolsky 2014:39–44), and later Greek under Ptolemaic rule. It set into motion the gradual loss of identity to such an extent that they ‘could no longer read their own Scriptures’ (Lewis 2018). In fact, Jesus’ home language was centuries later, according to Ong (2012:67, 93) probably (Babylonian inherited) Aramaic. Fifthly, the new indigenous elite exercised their power to victimise, divide, depress and oppress others (8:9) through new rules, ideas (3:9, 5:15, 7:27) and values of ‘wealth, possession, money and riches’ (2:1–8, 18–21; 4:7–8; 5:8–10, 12–15; 6:1–2, 7–9; 7:12). Sixthly, the new dispensation brought about new social dynamics like spies, and labourers gossip (10:20), but also surprising opportunities (9:11, 13–15) and shocking outcomes (5:7–8; 6:2; 7:15; 8:10; 9:16) (for more details, see Seow 2008:198–255).

Now we can deal with trauma as part of an inner shift towards spiritual transformation. To understand the deep effect trauma had on Israel, we have to look at the evidence of their deformation. Qohelet mentions an ‘inability to form meaningful relationships’ (3:18–19) that indicate an inner woundedness and trauma not only existentially (Christianson 2007:136) but also as being emotionally stuck in a profound way. In the psychoanalytic method and discipline, it is described as a ‘psychic disturbance’ (Zimmermann 1973:xiii, 8), namely, an ‘incapacity to move beyond cynicism and skeptical recommendations’, and an aloofness that forms a ‘barrier to real touch and genuine affection’ (Fontaine 2000:114). It came in many forms. Firstly, human activity in Israel (1:14) was full of madness and folly (2:12). Riches hurt the ones who possess them (5:13). There was no ability to enjoy one’s wealth (6:1–2). Class conflict was a common occurence (5:8–20). There was undoubtedly the fact that people were dying (12:3) (McCabe 1996:94). Some act out their brush-with-death (4:10). Noteworthy is how Israel became stuck in self-preservation through injustice in courts (3:16; 7:15). In the seventh place, labour produced rivalry (4:4), unexpected victors (9:11) and, finally, inappropriate leadership (10:7) (McCabe 1996:94). Qohelet’s readers and listeners experienced a world seemingly out of control. As a result, some Israelites encountered deformation.⁸ This anaesthetised state was preferable to the endurance of ‘continuous emotional pain’ (Fontaine 2000:114). The underlying layer beneath the text indicated by the repeated leitwörter of death and hebel [vanity] signifies the deformation (1:11; 2:2, 14–16, 3:2, 19–20; 6:6, 12; 7:2; 7:17; 8:13; 9:5; 12:6–7). Qohelet’s description of Israel’s spiritual aftershock is scientifically described by Fitzgerald’s (2009) conversation with the psychosocial realities, particularly as they ‘interface with memory and past experiences’:

With so much emotional turmoil, the restoration of the fragmented poor, poorly educated and agrarian nation was understandably slow, despite reverence for the Torah, and religious revival efforts (follow Nehemia). Pain is ex post facto layered, unseen, inaudible, sticky. This ‘muted’ experience made space for perceived finite straight lines to subtly cross and interweave. This gradual insight in the scenery(ies) or perceptions of pain set a different spiritual current in motion. It dawned on Qohelet that change takes time. Self-evaluation followed, then exploration, suddenly wonder, and subsequently new insights. An understanding developed that outer adjustments are inoperative. Rules guarantee nothing (Sekine 1999:126). Love for myself is vanity. Joy is not in things. God is not just rules (torah) and ritual (Lohfink 2003:57; Perdue 2008:253; Sekine 1999:26). God is joy. An inner reorientation followed. Qohelet began to commend joy while we are alive (McCabe 1996:110) in a transformational sense.

So far we have traced that during Qohelet’s spiritual transformation, his experiences led to the shedding of previous orthodox or traditional beliefs. They previously formed him, but no longer transformed him. Stagnant and obsolete opinions that attenuated his inner horizon shifted to his outer horizon (Steenkamp-Nel 2018b). His text (religious convictions which are supposed to transform a person) became his context. To follow his journey I will use the leitwort, ‘joy’. Although ‘many different terms in the Bible related to happiness, joy, flourishing, well-being, and fulfillment’ (Pennington 2015a), cognisance was taken in delimiting the boundaries of the study to one particular category of texts within the domain of wisdom literature, that is, Qohelet’s ‘joy texts’, in order to gain some insights into the spirituality that lived behind Qohelet’s ‘textual veils’ (Lombaard 2011:223). It is based on the following pathways, firstly, on a statement by Lombaard (2003:433–50) that the OT is ‘itself a substantive part of present Christian spiritualities’. Secondly, a note was also taken that during the past two decades more attention has been given to the possibility that the Biblical wisdom or proverbs originated among the ordinary people and that their tribal context and indigenous wisdom are remarkably similar to many rural societies in Africa (Golka 1993:1, 6, 15, 16, 55). In the third place, Qohelet’s spirituality of joy ‘stemming from the life experiences of ordinary people’, provides ‘practical and compassionate ways on how a person may achieve the greatest human flourishing’ (Lee 2005:125–126) in a time-bound and laborious (Enns 2011:55) world beyond human control (Lee 2005:124–126). Here is where the fourth pathway appears, namely, that the ‘joy texts’ (as lived expressions of faith) is the type most favourable to investigate the link between Qohelet and African spirituality because during Qohelet’s ‘intense spiritual experience’ he arrived at new horizons, and reordered the ‘great axes’ of his spirituality ‘in terms of his contemporary experience’ (Peters 2013:79). Fifthly, that African spirituality and wisdom literature is both experiential means that ‘like the Hebrews, the African perspective is experiential and holistic’ (Long 2000:20). Moreover, wisdom literature draws from the well of experience (Lombaard 2015:90). A further delimiting of my subject follows from a sixth pathway, namely, that the joy kernels as part of the human experience occupy a central place and play a central role in Qohelet’s meaning making (Fox 1989:11; James 1984:89). In the seventh place, joy is particularly appropriate because ‘joy’ is a poetic and wisdom-related word (Longman & Enns 2008:80). The last pathway is that the process of spiritual transformation through joy can be applied to any subject and is especially suited for practical aspects of a subject.

We can say that as far as spiritual transformation is concerned, the construct of joy, as a ‘metaphorical frame of reference’, had undergone profound transformation in the book. What spurred Qohelet’s re-alignment to God (reformation)? On the basis of the foregoing, I settled for two distinct joy experiences: joy experienced in a devotional sense and joy in a sensorial sense. This matter will now, in the following two sections, be taken into review, hoping that I will convey something of the essence of spiritual transformation’s theoretical framework.

So far, we have focused on how joy as an aspect of spiritual transformation effectuates Qohelet’s flourishing. The aim of this section is to explore how the construct of spiritual transformation effectuates the African concept of flourishing. Before I touch on joy, a look at recent research, primarily conducted in Africa, on spiritual transformation and flourishing is necessary. The following reflection will render some key potentialities and enriching twists, at once surprising and familiar, to the spiritual pathways, adding value and refinement to our understanding of spirituality. I will use light and shade rather than lines to define the African spiritual landscape.

Human flourishing in Africa is a multi-faceted concept. There are many different terms related to flourishing, that is, ‘interconnectedness’ (Ubuntu), ‘transformation’ and ‘joy’. In contrast to individualistic Western cultures, flourishing in African cultures does not hinge on living conditions. The sacred and secular worlds rather mutually influence each other (Mulago 1991:119–120), are extensions of one another (Beattie 1980) and are intricately intertwined (Ngong 2010:1). As Favor states: ‘God is woven into the texture of my life’ (2004:244).¹³ This interconnectedness has an additional horizontal relational aspect. Formal and informal caring and connectedness between humans enhance human flourishing (Marais 2016:237). ‘One can empathically imagine the deep joy of another only to the degree to which one can access the grace and love of God in one’s own experience’, says Moschella (2012:8). For an African to take note of this interconnectedness is to flourish.

There are gaps between rhetoric and reality. Although the ‘different areas of life, like the religious and the secular, the spiritual and the material’, can in Africa ‘never be compartmentalised and understood in isolation from one another’ (Brand 2002:103), for ordinary South Africans the continuous changing scenery of different outer horizons over the centuries brought deformation in different forms. Focusing on the present, I would explain a few modern examples. Firstly, the outer horizon of everyday illness and brokenness decreases life daily. The collapsing health system (eNCA 2018; Steenkamp-Nel 2018a:261–277) contributes to deformation by reducing patients’ participation in healing and impairing wholeness and growth (Steenkamp-Nel 2018c, Dube 2006:134). Secondly, one in three South Africans has a lifetime mental disorder.¹⁴ Thirdly, one in three illegal drivers’ licenses contribute to the country’s rising death toll (Hlatshaneni 2018; TimesLive 2018). Fourthly, the decline of infrastructure (Van Zyl 2017) hinders productivity and growth. Fifthly, death in and of neighbourhoods (ExpatCapetown.com 2018) as crime ‘refugees’ flock to the ‘safer’ southern provinces (Property 24, 2018). In the sixth place is the deformation of fairness. Considering that post-colonial South Africa has a conflict-ridden and polarising socio-political and historical background, many sectors of the society resort to oversimplified solutions and lofty, progressive policies. Allow me an example. In pursuance of the ‘undoing’ of painful past policies (with a view to gear the nation towards supporting and managing diversity) is the adoption of Anglicisation in the legal system. Although the alleged decision was made public in a national newspaper, and not in the government gazette (Batt 2017), this arrangement leads to the fact that the poor and the poorly educated have to pay for the translation of sections of court records to English for judges of the Appeal Court if they want their cases to be heard (Chabalala 2017). It is to the detriment of the development of indigenous languages’ ‘modern scientific legal vocabulary’ (Harms 2012: 23, 24) and contributes to deformation. Seventhly, the present intended and unintended colonial linguistic miasma (in spite of the decolonisation discourse) is enervating education. To give an illustration of what I mean, let’s look at the case of pedagogical research that found that most pupils who want to get access to the progress and privileges of the black elite through English (Sakati 2016:3) have difficulty in coping. Eighthly, the government’s romanticisation of English, notwithstanding the unfavourable outcomes of other than mother tongue education in primary schools (Desai 2012:ii, 226–227, 2016:350; Nomlomo 2008, 2009; Sakati 2016:113), high school and tertiary institutions, has ‘dire life-long economic and social consequences, both for the individual and communities’ (Van Staden & Howie 2012:96). This is the case in spite of the state’s noble intention to integrate society and redress past inequities. In the ninth place, there is deformation through fundamentalism, injustice and interpersonal violence. The recent higher education mother tongue debate is a case in point. African students have the assumption that the academic playing field would be levelled by preventing minority language speakers from studying in their mother tongue (AfriForum and Another v University of the Free State 2017; Jansen 2013:4).¹⁵ This linguistic clone-colonialism sets, as a visual non-sequitur, deformation (as retracting human potential) in motion, as illustrated by Mosibudi Mangena:

The interconnectedness between the secular and the sacred is indeed broken (Masango 2006:932). Amidst much turmoil and pain, and anticipated future pain, the flourishing of the poor, and poorly educated, is and will be understandably slow despite reverence for the spiritual. God seems indeed to be lurking behind everyday life. This should not derail us. Spiritual transformation towards flourishing (as unlinear process) takes place at the frontiers of ‘partial visibility, misunderstandings, reciprocal fetishisms, unwritten agreements, unruliness, protean arrangements’ (Comaroff & Comaroff 2012:116), and forceful techniques. The fusions of opposites, on the other hand, can fuel creativity and innovation, and can as such be a perfect petri dish for flourishing (follow Steenkamp-Nel 2019).

The main question to ask is how the trauma tattoos, on young and older bodies and minds, causing the scratching and acting out of deformation against others, can be overcome? Rocky backgrounds will not be overcome by stereotypical, lifeless caricatures and mundane portraitures. What South Africans need is perspective, and well-rounded arguments. Perhaps there is, like sfumato, no neat boundary but rather a blending of smoky tones and smudging edges. To glimpse effectively (inasmuch as it is possible) through the smoke and mirrors, it becomes necessary to balance bright contrasts of gaudy tints with soberer subtlety. Keeping in mind that Africa does not need putrid renarration, hard lines, catch-up or tired solutions and that possible (re)solutions lie deeper than the obvious, it is necessary to understand the African person processually.

So far we have traced that African spiritual transformation is not linear. Deformation takes place in many forms. A different spiritual current is albeit already in motion. Reformation takes place in many forms. Some texts are already their context. Firstly, it is simultaneously dawning (Chung 2018) and inspiring that change in Southern Africa takes time. Follow the African saying, in line with ancient traditional belief, from Zaire:

Secondly, the African perspective, since antiquity, embraced the process of flourishing as multi-dimensional (understood as wholeness). By way of illustration, let us consider the African holistic approach regarding healing. Healing is regarded as curative but not just curative. Death itself can also be regarded as a form of healing when a suffering person dies with a sense of inner peace and reconciliation with God. Healing in that sense can be understood as shalom (Mashau 2015:7). In the same trajectory, from a medicinal perspective, Kolk confirmed the above, namely, that the use of just powerful medications to lower the score of brokenness pharmacologically is obsolete (2015:e118–e119), pointing to the African integrated belief that the spiritual is also important. Thirdly, instead of closing, some Africans are opening themselves up to change. This openness is verbalised by a domestic worker. Ann (57 years, single) indicated: ‘I thought they would reprimand me if I break something … but I got the good people … they say “No, it was an accident” … they were friendly’ (Marais 2016:242). Africans transformed are indeed more flexible, and with a vision wider than the seemingly present deformation. Let us have another example. Azania expressed a concern for fellow-humans and motivates others to act on that basis. She says:

Fourthly, to unravel trauma is not a quick fix. Africans embrace the very essence of the gradual nature of flourishing and use it interchangeably with salvation (Brand 2002:104). Salvation, in turn, acquires a ‘gradualist’ or processual quality – for therein ‘[o]ne is not “saved” or “unsaved”’, but ‘participates in salvation to a greater or lesser degree’ (Brand 2002:106). Much the same can be said about spiritual transformation – here understood within Manala’s (2006) concise formulation of the healing process:

This section has shown that to understand the African person is to understand him or her processually. Therefore, although South Africa bears the imprint of varied outer horizons, and coarse-grained dispensations, flourishing will not be achieved through hard lines, and detailed realism, but rather by the above nuanced sfumato of spiritual transformation, that is, gradual inner change. Borrowing knowingly or unknowingly from Qohelet’s ‘interpretation frame’ (Frederiks 2005:108), some Africans hitherto do that already through a process of experienced existential transformation. Although many different terms in African spirituality relate to flourishing, cognisance was taken in delimiting the boundaries of the study to one particular term, that is, ‘joy’, in order to gain some insights into their spirituality. This will be discussed now in the following two sections.

The aim was to effectively deconstruct and interpret Qohelet’s concept of joy in order to effectuate a comprehensive and integrated understanding of the African concept of flourishing. Having outlined joy in, or more to the point, behind, Qohelet and African spirituality, some possibilities for comparison now present themselves. It cannot be done exhaustively within the usual constraints applicable here, but at least the door is hereby opened to the conclusion reached after indicating the following parallels: firstly, although the contexts differ strongly, spiritual transformation relates to: the African holistic/wholeness perspective which fits into and mirrors Qohelet’s gradualist approach to life. Secondly, Qohelet’s audience being bound to the past, remembering wrongs, hampered moving on. In African spirituality collective memory of emotional trauma, it has to be acknowledged, leads to deformation and is hindering human flourishing. Thirdly, deformation does not imply permanent ‘stuckness’. In both cases, spiritual transformation effectuates a progressive disconnection of the self in ‘exchange’ for God. Fourthly, an African person relates closely to flourishing per Israel’s definition of ‘shalom’. God is for both the raison d ’être [purpose] for devotional joy and a reverent acknowledgement of God puts them en route to a flourishing life. Joy is therefore grounded happiness. Fifthly, Qohelet’s Hebrew and African audience draw on their experience of joy as revelation, not in a linguistic or exegetical sense but rather as a participatory opening up of possibilities until full(er), deep(er) knowledge and articulation begin to appear. Sixthly, in both cases joy is a devotional as well as a sensorial part of life, which is an indication of the interconnectedness between the sacred and the secular. To eat, drink and enjoy is sensorial reformation on its way to spiritual transformation. For Africans everyday joy in a devotional and sensorial sense becomes ‘Scripture’ (Schneiders 2005:5, 11).

By comparing aspects of Qohelet and African spirituality, insight was gained into the dynamics of spiritual transformation evident in both African and Qohelet’s spirituality. The two are indeed mutually conversant with one another. The implications are far-reaching. Diverse societies, individuals, families, biological bodies, social groups and political institutions in South Africa need a reference that will help them to think and understand with integrity the origin and ongoing dynamics of their own spirituality and spiritual reflection. In our post-modern world where God is experienced as mostly ineffable and unworded, these two spiritual journeys’ re-alignment to God can be experimentally tried and tested, followed and practised until the ‘joy texts’ become one’s context. The sensorial aspect of joy must be explored in Liturgy and Practical Theology to assist churches on how to accommodate joy ritually as well as liturgically. Church planting and missionary thinking is good. It has however to be followed up with spiritual transformation towards individual flourishing on its way to congregational and community flourishing. This will subsequently provide insights into ways people can optimise joy and more consciously accommodate merriment in their get-togethers. A spiritual transformation framework without the usual borders will be constructive decolonialisation, which can suitably accommodate dimensions valued by African spirituality so that Africa and the world can flourish (more). Sustainable (spiritual) flourishing requires ‘spiritual transformation’ on individual, societal and global levels. A journey through joy is a jo(urne)y.