1 - Theology and nation-building

Summary

A theology of nation-building raises the pertinent question: Are we not repeating the same mistake all over again? Critics of theology and critical theologians alike, draw attention to a range of theological debacles within which national ideologies have been theologically legitimated to the frequent destruction of the people whose destinies they seek to promote. The mission of those burdened with what they imagine to be a divine mantle cast across their shoulders, has invariably violated their own moral integrity and destroyed their chosen victims.

The history of Christian crusaders in the ‘old’ world, conquistadors in the ‘new’ and the sense of manifest destiny among North American settlers are different manifestations of a similar theologised mission of conquest. Each is closely related to a theology of empire or nation-building. In more recent times, the missionary arm of British imperialism came close to totally destroying the cultural and religious identity of millions of colonised people. Theological support for Hitler's Third Reich contributed to the annihilation of 6 million Jews. And, most recently, theological support for Afrikaner nationalism has resulted in a cauldron of chauvinistic white supremacy and black resistance that has ultimately brought the richest and most technologically advanced country in Africa to its knees. Whatever the complexity of events which may or may not have contributed to this particular venture – a heretical, doctrinaire theology of apartheid has been the inevitable outcome.

All of this is slowly becoming a part of past history as the world enters the last decade of the twentieth century.