Original Research

Absence, presence, remembrance: A theological essay on frailty, the university and the city

Stephan F. de Beer
Verbum et Ecclesia | Vol 34, No 1 | a855 | DOI: https://doi.org/10.4102/ve.v34i1.855 | © 2013 Stephan F. de Beer | This work is licensed under CC Attribution 4.0
Submitted: 04 April 2013 | Published: 13 September 2013

About the author(s)

Stephan F. de Beer, Centre for Contextual Ministry, University of Pretoria, South Africa

Abstract

This essay is reflecting on frailty, the university and the city, in relation to each other. It seeks to transcend the binary concepts of presence and absence, proposing remembrance as the frail work of making absence present, of reweaving what is dismembered, and of a politics of hospitality. It considers the task of remembrance in the ‘studio of life’, disrupting or transcending the confines of laboratory and asylum.

Keywords

absence; presence; remembrance; frailty; university; city

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