The book describes key socio-political reforms that helped shape post-apartheid South Africa’s mental health system. The author interrogates how reforms shaped public, community-based services for people living with severe mental illness, and how features of this care has been determined, in part at least, by the relations between actors and structures in the state, private for-profit health care, and civil society spheres. A description of the development of South Africa’s post-apartheid health system, and the contentions that emerge therein, sets the stage for an analysis of the country’s most tragic human rights failure during its democratic period, namely the Life Esidimeni tragedy. The roots of the tragedy are not only framed as a loss of life and dignity as a result of political corruption and administrative mismanagement, but as a power differential that ultimately highlights an unjust system that relegates its most vulnerable citizens to commodities, without voice and without agency. The book concludes that the commodification of severe mental illness has been a product of neoliberal discourses that have shaped the economistic ways in which the post-apartheid South African state have governed poverty and severe mental illness. This book will be of interest to scholars of health, social and economic policy in South Africa.

The book describes key socio-political reforms that helped shape post-apartheid South Africa's mental health system. The author interrogates how reforms shaped public, community-based services for people living with severe mental illness, and how features of this care has been determined, in part at least, by the relations between actors and structures in the state, private for-profit health care, and civil society spheres. A description of the development of South Africa's post-apartheid health system, and the contentions that emerge therein, sets the stage for an analysis of the country's most tragic human rights failure during its democratic period, namely the Life Esidimeni tragedy. The roots of the tragedy are not only framed as a loss of life and dignity as a result of political corruption and administrative mismanagement, but as a power differential that ultimately highlights an unjust system that relegates its most vulnerable citizens to commodities, without voice and without agency. The book concludes that the commodification of severe mental illness has been a product of neoliberal discourses that have shaped the economistic ways in which the post-apartheid South African state have governed poverty and severe mental illness. This book will be of interest to scholars of health, social and economic policy in South Africa.

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Description: What does it mean to be created in the image of God? How can the existence of evil be explained if we believe in a good and loving God? What is the precise meaning of the notion of original sin? How can God transfer the guilt of humanity to one innocent individual, or should we rather dispense with the notion of penal satisfaction? The first part of Created in the Image of God grapples in a concise manner with these and other elusive and controversial theological and anthropological issues. The second part proceeds to address societal issues that relate to dignity, equality, and freedom. How can human dignity and the dignity of the environment be reconciled? Are the values of freedom and equality natural enemies? When does theology become a tool of oppression? How should we evaluate neo-liberalist economic theory after the greatest recession since the Depression? This book cautiously attempts to provide some answers that might help modern society to re-invent itself in a tumultuous age. Endorsements: ""After decades in which quandaries dominated the field of ethical deliberation in an often depressing way, there is now a growing interest in the anthropological dimension of morality. Nico Vorster offers an attractive contribution to this approach by combining the discussion of theological themes like man as the image of God, and sin, with perspectives on values such as dignity, freedom, and equality. This is promising "" --Gerrit de Kruijf Protestant Theological University, The Netherlands ""In this timely and thorough-going study, Nico Vorster probes some of the core doctrines of Reformed theology-especially the relationship between God and humanity as established by the imago Dei, thwarted by sin, and restored by atonement. He not only comes up with some creative proposals for relating these classical doctrines to the contemporary scientific worldview, but also convincingly shows how the resulting theological anthropology is able to deal constructively with some of the most pressing ethical challenges of our time. This book is a must-read for everyone with an interest in Reformed theology as a living tradition of ongoing relevance."" --Gysbert van den Brink VU University, Amsterdam ""Nico Vorster draws deeply from the rich wells of scripture, reformed theology, and ethics as he reworks perennial topics in ways that are open to new understandings from the natural and social sciences and are creatively relevant to pressing issues of our time. This would be an excellent textbook for courses in theology, ethics, or theological ethics."" -Douglas J. Schuurman St. Olaf College About the Contributor(s): Nico Vorster is Extraordinary Professor of Systematic Theology at the Theological Faculty of the Northwest University in South Africa. He is the author of Restoring Human Dignity in South Africa (2007).