Getting to Know the Abrahamic Religions in South Africa

Reflections from Holy Week and a Study Trip to Cape Town and Stellenbosch

During Holy Week, my thoughts return to our study trip to South Africa earlier this year. It was a journey filled with learning, beauty, and contrast.

South Africa is a country of striking contrasts – visually stunning yet socially complex. Our course focused on the Abrahamic religions, and we had the opportunity to visit sacred sites and speak with representatives of Judaism, Islam, and Christianity. We also attended lectures and discussions at the University of Cape Town and Stellenbosch University.

The nature was breathtaking. I love being close to nature, and during our stay I had the opportunity to visit the Cape of Good Hope, climb Lion’s Head and Table Mountain, and swim in the ocean a few times. On our last morning, before sunrise, I hiked up a nearby mountain just outside Stellenbosch with Pekka Lindqvist and Mika Vähäkangas, the two teachers who accompanied us on the trip. The green hills glowing in the early light were unforgettable.

One of the most rewarding parts of the trip was meeting South African students from Stellenbosch University. Through them, we gained a deeper insight into the cultural and linguistic diversity of the country, and their openness helped us connect more meaningfully with local life.

Group of students. From the left: Mezmur Holmström and Aidan Fletcher. From the right: Jonathan Westergård and Mahle Msila. Pictures by Jonathan Westergård.

Still, it was the social contrasts that left the deepest impression on me. The legacy of apartheid and colonialism was present everywhere. South African society is still divided along racial and economic lines. One particularly eye-opening moment was learning about the racial composition of the various faculties at Stellenbosch University. The figures clearly showed how unequal access to education remains between black, colored, and white communities. It was also strange to see how the statistics still categorized students by skin color – something that felt both uncomfortable and outdated.

Together with some of our group, I also attended a church service that was packed with university students. The service was conducted mostly in Afrikaans, and almost everyone in the congregation was white. One of the South African students of color in our program joined us and later said how much it meant to him that we went together – it gave him the courage to return. That moment captured both the divisions and the potential for connection in South African society.

We also witnessed the stark contrast in living conditions. Just a few kilometers away from well-maintained, safe homes, there were sprawling informal settlements where people lived in makeshift shelters in difficult conditions, often under the influence of organized crime. These visible extremes were both sobering and difficult to forget.

Not all parts of the program lived up to academic expectations. Some presentations lacked critical depth or balance. For example, the the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was presented from a very one-sided perspective. At times, the tone became anti-Zionist, even bordering on anti-Semitic, which was both surprising and disturbing.

Now, during Holy Week – a time of tension between suffering and hope, darkness and light – I find these themes echoed in what we experienced. South Africa is full of beauty and resilience, as well as pain and inequality. This trip was more than a study tour. It was a journey into complexity, discomfort, and deeper understanding – one that will stay with me for a long time.

Jonathan Westergård

The theological course Abraham Goes Global is a cooperation between Åbo Akademi University and Stellenbosch University (South Africa) funded by the Finnish National Agency for Education and The Polin Institute 2023-2024 and 2024-2025. The aims are to widen the perception of theology to cross boundaries of religion at both universities, to exchange expertise on contextualised forms of religion, and to deepen the students’ and teachers’ understanding of interreligious and intercultural dynamics in religions. This blog text is the last of eight blog texts to present reflections of the Finnish students visiting South Africa in January-February 2025.