Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-jn8rn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T06:22:17.988Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

South Africa: Prophetic Christianity and the Liberation Movement

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 November 2008

Peter Walshe
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

The struggle against racial discrimination in South Africa, as many have argued, is theological as well as political. This is so, in the words of Ben Marais, because ‘Apartheid erodes the very basis of humanity’. It is also because the great majority of South Africans have some Christian identity and church affiliation, yet their faith commitments are heavily conditioned by class interests and particular ideologies. Consequently, prophetic Christianity, in relating biblical values to the analysis of society and the search for justice, has divided Christian communities by confronting the established churches as well as the state.

Type
Articles
Information
The Journal of Modern African Studies , Volume 29 , Issue 1 , March 1991 , pp. 27 - 60
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1991

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1 ‘Reflection Evoked by the Publication of New Faces of Africa (UNISA, 1984) in Honour of Professor Ben Marais on his Seventy-Fifth Birthday’, in Journal of Theology for Southern Africa (Braamfontein), 48, 09 1984, p. 57.Google Scholar

2 These are explored in some detail in Walshe, Peter, The Rise of African Nationalism in South Africa: the African National Congress, 1912–1952 (London and Berkeley, 1970).Google Scholar

3 For a major example of this commitment, see the A.N.C.'s 1945 manifesto, ‘African Claims’, in ibid. pp. 272–6.

4 Mpumlwana, Malusi, ‘The Contextualization of Rights in South Africa. Is there a Unique Local Character to Rights?’, in Monitor (Port Elizabeth), 1989, p. 91.Google Scholar

5 Report of the South African Native Affairs Commission, 1903–1905 (Pretoria, 1905), pp. 499 and 799.Google Scholar

6 Walshe, op. cit. pp. 117–23.

7 Roux, Edward, Time Longer Than Rope (Madison, 1964 edn), p. 58.Google Scholar Also, Tatz, C. M., Shadow and Substance in South Africa (Pietermaritzburg, 1962), p. 3.Google Scholar

8 Walshe, op. cit. pp. 12–15.

9 Ibid. pp. 361–71.

10 ‘Dube to Chiefs and Gentlemen of the South African Native Congress, 2 February 1912’ Anti-Slavery and Aborigines Protection Society Papers, S19D2/3, Rhodes House, Oxford.

11 Report of the Sixth General Missionary Conference of South Africa, Johannesburg, June–July 1925 (Cape Town, 1925), p. 65.Google Scholar

12 Ibid. p. 88.

13 Carter, Gwendolen M. and Johns, Sheridan W. (eds.), The Good Fight: selected speeches of Rev. Z. R. Mahabane (Evanston, 1965), p. 128.Google Scholar

14 Johannesburg Joint Council, Minutes of Ordinary Meeting, 11 September 1944’, including ‘Address by President-General, A.N.C.’; University of the Witwatersrand Library, Johannesburg.Google Scholar

15 ‘Address at Unveiling of Sek Mqhayi Tombstone, 26 March 1951’, A. B. Xuma Papers, South African Institute of Race Relations, Johannesburg.Google Scholar

16 Karis, Thomas and Gwendolen, M. Carter (eds.), From Protest to Challenge: a documentary history of African politics in South Africa, 1882–1964, Vol. 2, Hope and Challenge, 1935–1952 (Stanford, 1973), p. 138.Google Scholar

17 Luthuli, Albert, Let My People Go (London, 1962), p. 119.Google Scholar

18 Moodie, T. D., The Rise of Afrikaner Nationalism (Berkeley, 1974).Google Scholar

19 Southern African Catholic Bishops' Conference, ‘Statement on Apartheid, 1957’, in Pastoral Letters (Pretoria, 1966), pp. 13–14.Google Scholar

20 Walshe, Peter, Church versus State in South Africa: the case of the Christian Institute (London and New York, 1983), pp. 76–8, and 210–11.Google Scholar

21 Huddleston, Trevor, Naught for Your Comfort (London, 1956).Google Scholar

22 Scott, Michael, A Time to Speak (London, 1957).Google Scholar

23 Regehr, Ernie, Perceptions of Apartheid: the churches and political change in South Africa (Scottsdale, PA., 1979), pp. 267–8.Google Scholar

24 Binns, John S. Pearl, Ambrose Reeves (London, 1973), pp. 121–5.Google Scholar

25 Paton, Alan, Apartheid and the Archbishop: the life and times of Geoffrey Clayton, Archbishop of Cape Town (New York and Cape Town, 1973), pp. 283–8.Google Scholar

26 Cochrane, James, Servants of Power: the role of the English-speaking churches, 1903–1930 (Johannesburg, 1987).Google Scholar

27 Walshe, Church versus State in South Africa, pp. 6–19.Google Scholar

28 Ibid. pp. 22–35.

29 Ibid. p. 61.

30 Ibid. pp. 149–72 and 188–90. See also Boesak, Allan, Black and Reformed. Apartheid, Liberation and the Calvinist Tradition (New York, 1984)Google Scholar; Tutu, Desmond, Hope and Suffering (Grand Rapids, 1984)Google Scholar; Lelyveld, Joseph, Move Your Shadow (New York, 1986), pp. 294–301, on Malusi MpumlwanaGoogle Scholar; and A Man for All People. The Message of Bishop Mandlenkhosi Zwane (London, Catholic Institute for International Relations, 1983).Google Scholar

31 Walshe, Peter, ‘The Evolution of Liberation Theology in South Africa’, in The Journal of Law and Religion (St. Paul, Mn.), v, 2, 1987, pp. 299–311.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

32 Walshe, Church versus State in South Africa, pp. 199–223.Google Scholar

33 The turbulent events of the 1980s, as outlined above, are concisely presented in Catholic Institute for International Relations, South Africa in the 1980s (London, 1987).Google Scholar They are also described and analysed in Frederikse, Julie, South Africa: a different kind of war (London, 1986)Google Scholar; Brewer, John D. (ed.), Can South Africa Survive? Five Minutes to Midnight (London, 1989)CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Murray, Martin, South Africa: time of agony, time of destiny (London, 1987)Google Scholar; and Wolpe, Harold, ‘Apartheid Crisis’, in Marxism Today (London), 01 1983.Google Scholar

34 The Kairos Document: challenge to the Church. A Theological Comment on the Political Crisis in South Africa (Johannesburg, 1985).Google Scholar

35 Baum, Gregory, Religion and Alienation (New York and Toronto, 1975), p. 107.Google Scholar Also, Mannheim, Karl, Ideology and Utopia (New York, 1964), pp. 194–6.Google Scholar

36 Walshe, Church versus State in South Africa, pp. 188–91.Google Scholar

37 Smit, D. J., ‘A Status Confessionis in South Africa?’, in Journal of Theology for Southern Africa, 47, 06 1984, pp. 21–46.Google Scholar

38 Charles Villa-Vincencio, ‘Church Unity and Political Diversity’, in ibid. 43, June 1983, pp. 35–45. These persisting tensions are recorded in Ecunews (Johannesburg), the news service of the South African Council of Churches. See the October 1983 issue, for example, re divisions within the churches over the new South African constitution.

39 Southern African Catholic Bishop's Conference, Pastoral Letter of the Catholic Bishops on the Proposed New Constitution (Pretoria, 1983).Google Scholar

40 Author's interviews in South Africa, 1990, inter alia with Rev. Buti Tlhagale, Director, Educational Opportunities Council, Johannesburg; Rev. Smangaliso Mkhatshwa, General Secretary, Southern African Catholic Bishops' Conference; Marilyn Aitken, Secretary, Justice and Peace Commission, Bishops' Conference; and Archbishop Denis Hurley, O.M.I., Durban. After years of preparation the Roman Catholic Bishops launched a pastoral plan in an attempt to remedy this malaise: Southern African Catholic Bishops' Conference, Community Serving Humanity (Pretoria, 1989).Google Scholar

41 Catholic Herald (London), 30 01 1987, and National Catholic Reporter (Kansas City), 28 April 1989.Google Scholar

42 Religious News Service (New York), 12, 16, and 20 09 1988.Google Scholar

43 National Catholic Reporter, 4 04 1986.Google Scholar

44 A major example of this is Evangelical Witness in South Africa. A Critique of Evangelical Theology and Practice by Evangelicals Themselves (Dobsonville, Johannesburg, 1986).Google Scholar

45 See South African Chrisitian Leadership Assembly, SACLA (Johannesburg, 1979), for an account of its origins, aims, programmes, and organisation.Google Scholar Also, De Gruchy, John W., ‘The Church and the Struggle for South Africa’, in Buti, Tlhagale and I., Mosala (eds.), Hammering Swords into Ploughshares: essays in honour of Desmond Tutu (Johannesburg, 1988), pp. 198–200.Google ScholarCassidy, Michael, The Passing Summer (London and Toronto, 1989), is the autobiography of the founder of Africa Enterprise.Google Scholar

46 Institute for Contextual Theology, ICT News (Johannesburg), December 1984; African Independent Churches Association, ‘Speaking for Ourselves’, Johannesburg, 1985Google Scholar; and West, Martin, Bishops and Prophets in a Black City: African independent churches in Soweto, Johannesburg (Cape Town and London, 1961), pp. 142–70.Google Scholar See also Sundkler, B. G. M., Bantu Prophets in South Africa (London, 1961).Google Scholar

47 Southern African Catholic Bishops News Service, Info (Pretoria), 2, 6, 23 03 1987.Google Scholar

48 Comaroff, Jean, Body of Power Spirit of Resistance (Chicago and London, 1985), a detailed study of the Zion Christian Church and its social context.Google Scholar

49 Ecunews, November 1982, p. 14, and Aprils 1985, p. 20. Also, The New York Times, 8 April 1985.Google Scholar

50 Author's interviews in South Africa, 1990: Moss Chikane, Southern African Catholic Bishops' Conference, and Sisa Njikelana, General Secretary, National Education, Health and Allied Workers Union.

51 Ecunews, 17 11 1978, p. 15.Google Scholar

52 Archdiocese of Pretoria Commission for Justice and Peace, The Catholic Defence League (Pretoria, circa 1980), pp. 1–8.Google Scholar

53 Catholic Secretariat, Catholic Commitment on Social Justice: the three statements made by the Catholic Bishops' Conference (Pretoria, 1977).Google Scholar

54 Evangelical Witness in South Africa, pp. 31–2.

55 Morran, Elda and Schlemmer, Lawrence, Faith for the Fearful: an investigation into new churches in the Greater Durban Area (Durban, 1984), pp. 5–17Google Scholar; Gifford, Paul, The Religious Right in Southern Africa (Harare, 1988), pp. 23 and 38–43Google Scholar; and Guardian (New York), 11 10 1989, p. 12.Google Scholar

56 Boesak, Allan, ‘Address to the South African Council of Churches’, in South African Outlook (Cape Town), 07 1979, p. 102.Google Scholar

57 Mothobi, Lutloatse and John, Webster (eds.), Hope and Suffering: sermons and speeches of Rt. Rev. Desmond Mpilo Tutu (London and Grand Rapids, 1984).Google Scholar Also, Boulay, Shirley du, Tutu: voice of the voiceless (London and Grand Rapids, 1988).Google Scholar

58 Peter, Randall (ed.), Not Without Honour: tribute to Beyers Naudé (Johannesburg, 1983)Google Scholar; Charles, Villa-Vincencio and De Gruchy, John W. (eds.), Resistance and Hope. South African Essays in Honor of Beyers Naudé (Cape Town and Grand Rpaids, 1985)Google Scholar; ‘The Most Trusted White Man in South Africa. An Interview with Beyers Naudé’, in Sojourners (Washington, D.C.), 02 1988, pp. 14–21Google Scholar; Diakonia News (Durban), 03 1985, p. 6; Ecunews, April 1987, p. 10; and author's interview in South Africa with Naudé.Google Scholar

59 Chikane, Frank, No Life of My Own (London, Catholic Institute for International Relations, 1988), and author's interview in South Africa, 1990, with Chikane.Google Scholar

60 South African Council of Churches, National Conference Report (Johannesburg) for the years 1980–8.Google Scholar

61 World Council of Churches, ‘Harare Declaration, December 1985’, and ‘The Implications of Harare’, in ICT News, March 1986, pp. 3–6; Programme to Combat Racism, World Council of Churches, The Churches Search for Justice and Peace in Southern Africa. Meeting in Lusaka, Zambia, 4–8 May 1987 (Geneva, 1987); and South African Council of Churches, ‘Report on Lusaka’, in Refugees and Exiles. National Conference Report, 1987 (Johannesburg, 1987), pp. 64–9.Google Scholar

62 Hurley, Denis E., The South African Situation and the Attitude of the Church (Durban, 1977), pp. 1–10Google Scholar, and ‘Evangelism and Social Concern’, in Grace and Truth (Hilton, Natal), 7, 4, 16 December 1986, pp. 162–74; Guardian of the Light. Tributes to Archbishop Denis Hurley, O.M.T., on the Golden Jubilee of his Priestly Ordination, 1939–1989 (Durban, 1989); and author's interview in South Africa, 1990, with Hurley.Google Scholar

63 Info, 20 July and 7 September 1987; ‘Onward Christian Soldiers’, in The New Nation (Johannesburg), 18–24 June 1987, p. 7, interview with Fr. Smangaliso Mkhatshwa, Secretary-General of the Catholic Bishops' Conference, after his release from detention; and author's interview in South Africa, 1990, with Mkhatshwa.Google Scholar

64 General Secretariat of the Southern African Catholic Bishops' Conference, ‘Statement on the Current Situation’, ‘Declaration of Commitment by the Church’, and ‘Statement on Conscientious Objection’, in Press Releases (Pretoria), 02 1977.Google Scholar

65 Southern African Catholic Bishops' Conference,Pastoral Letter on the Proposed New Constitution of South AfricaPretoriaJuly 1983,Google ScholarPastoral Letter of the SABC. The Municipal Elections of October 26, 1988 (Pretoria, 1988), Report on Police Conduct During Township Protests, August–November 1984 (Pretoria and London, 1984), and Report on Namibia (Pretoria, 1982).Google Scholar

66 South African Council of Churches and Southern African Catholic Bishops' Conference, Churches' Report on Relocations (Johannesburg, 1984), and ‘Minutes of the Meeting of the SACC Division of Justice and Reconciliation held on the 11th and 12th February 1986’, p. 4. For examples of protest liturgies, see Southern African Catholic Bishops' Conference, Inter Nos (Pretoria), February and November 1987; Ecunews, 2 April 1987, pp. 6, 13, and 28–29; ICT News, June 1988, p. 5; and Southern Africa Catholic Bishops' Conference, ‘Letter to Parish Priests, 9 May 1988’.Google Scholar

67 National Catholic Reporter, 16 October 1989, and Inter Nos, 12 1987, p. 16.Google Scholar

68 Southern African Catholic Bishops' Conference, Community Serving Humanity.Google Scholar

69 Starting in 1981, the Commission published a workers' newsletter, Church and Industry (Pretoria).Google Scholar

70 Young Christian Students, ‘Annual Report, 1986’, Johannesburg, and YCS News (Johannesburg), 5, 1, 1988.Google Scholar

71 Diakonia News, 08 1986, p. 15.Google Scholar

72 The New Nation, 1984–1990 editions.

73 ‘ANC/SABC Communiqué and Press Conference’, in Inter Nos, 05 1986, pp. 11–14.Google Scholar

74 Institute for Contextual Theology, ICT: what is it? (Johannesburg, 1987); ICT News, 1983–1989; and Annual Reports, 1983–1989.Google Scholar

75 The Kairos Document: challenge to the church.

76 Ibid. pp. 6–7.

77 Ibid. pp. 8–14.

78 Ibid. p. 20.

79 Ibid. p. 24.

80 The Christian Institute of Southern Africa, Pro Veritate (Johannesburg), 05 1975, pp. 23–4Google Scholar; and Diakonia, , Diakonia, 1976–1986 (Durban, 1986)Google Scholar, A Community That Serves: evaluation report, 1980 (Durban, 1980), Diakonia News, 1981–1989, and Annual Reports, 1988–1990.Google Scholar

81 For examples of this repression, see Ecunews, April 1985, p. 20; Info, 25 August 1986; South African Council of Churches, Annual Report, 1986, p. 152, and 1987, pp. 101–3; and Young Christian Students, YCS Report, 1986 (Johannesburg), p. 5.Google Scholar

82 Diakonia News, June 1986, p. 4; National Catholic Reporter, 21 October and 4 November 1988; and The New Nation, 13–19 October 1988.Google Scholar

83 Ecunews, June 1985, p. 15; South African Council of Churches, Annual Report, 1987, p. 102; The New York Times, 16 and 19 November, and 15 December 1988. Moses (not related to Frank) Chikane was also convicted. Having been Transvaal secretary of the U.D.F., he later worked for the Catholic Bishops' Conference.

84 Inter Nos, November 1986, and ICT News, December 1986, p. 11.

85 Ecunews, March 1986, special edition devoted to the Eloff Commission.Google Scholar

86 United Democratic Front, ‘National Launch’, Cape Town, 20 August 1983.Google Scholar

87 Diakonia, Cosatu and the Church (Durban, 1986), and Diakonia News, August 1986, p. 3.Google Scholar

88 The New Nation, 19 August 1987, pp. 11 and 14, and Ecunews, February 1988, p. 17.Google Scholar

89 Boesak, Allan, ‘The Black Church and the Future’, in South African Outlook, July 1979, p. 102, address to the South African Council of Churches.Google Scholar

90 Info, 2 February 1988; Community Serving Humanity; and ‘African Bishops Stress Formation of the Laity, Small Christian Communities and Christian Witness’, in SELAM Press Release, I, 14 October 1987, pp. 1–3, being a report on the Episcopal Conference of Africa and Madagascar, Rome.Google Scholar

91 Author's interviews in South Africa, 1990, with Marilyn Aitken, Smangaliso Mkhatshwa, and Bernard Ncube of the Institute for Contextual Theology; Beyers Naudé, Frank Chikane, Wesley Mabuza, and Saki Macozuma of the South African Council of Churches.Google Scholar

92 Ibid.

93 South African Council of Churches, June 16, 1986 Day of Prayer to End Unjust Rule of Apartheid: Call to Christians of the World Church (Johannesburg), and Southern African Catholic Bishops' Conference and South African Council of Churches, ‘Call to June 16 Day of Prayer’, in Ecunews, 05 1986, pp. 2–5.Google Scholar

94 South African Council of Churches, Annual Report, 1986 (Johannesburg), pp. 109–14, and Fieldworkers Reports on Township Turmoil (Johannesburg, 1985). Also, Diakonia News, June 1986.Google Scholar

95 ‘Soweto Council to Halt Evictions’, in The New York Times, 11 12 1988, p. 16.Google Scholar

96 Ecunews, 05 1985, p. 14.Google Scholar

97 ‘The Deaths of Matthew Goniwe, Sparrow Mkonto, Sicelo Mhlauli and Fort Calata’, supplement in Monitor, March 1988, being the final address to the court by Arthur Chaskalson, who represented the Goniwe family.Google Scholar

98 Catholic News Service (Boston), 9 08 1989, pp. 3–4.Google Scholar

99 The New York Times, 30 December 1985, 3 January 1986, and 2 May 1989; Diakonia News, March 1982, p. 1; Guardian (New York), 17 May 1989, p. 15; and Manchester Guardian Weekly (London), 14 May 1989.Google Scholar

100 Mayson, Cedric, ‘Converting Christian Subversion’, in Sechaba (London), 09 1989, pp. 27–30Google Scholar; Programme to Combat Racism, The Churches Search for Justice and Peace, Lusaka, 1987; South African Council of Churches, Annual Report, 1987, pp. 64ff; and ‘ANC/SACBC Communique’, in Inter Nos, May 1986, pp. 11–14.Google Scholar

101 Ecunews, March 1988, pp. 1–2, 6, and 10, and The New York Times, 1 March 1988.

102 South African Council of Churches, Senzenina? The Day 300 Church Leaders, Clergy and Laity Marched on the South African Parliament (Johannesburg, 1988), pp. 1–2.Google Scholar

103 Ecunews, March 1988, pp. 3–5, and April 1988, pp. 8–14.

104 Wallis, Jim, ‘Into the Crucible of Fire. The Church Steps Forward in South Africa’, in Sojourners (Washington, D.C.), 09 1988, pp. 14–17Google Scholar; South African Council of Churches, Emergency Convocation of Churches in South Africa, May 30, 31, 1988 (Johannesburg, 198), pp. 1–76; Ecunews, April 1988, pp. 23–5; ICT News, June 1988, pp. 2–4; and The New York Times, 1 June 1988.Google Scholar

105 The New Nation, 9–15 November 1988, pp. 6–7 and 12; The New York Times, 5 September 1989; and The Observer (London), 10 September 1989.Google Scholar

106 Southern African Catholic Bishops' Conference, Commission for Church and Work, ‘The 3 Day National Stay-Away and the New Labour Bill’, in Dossier (Pretoria), 29 06 1988, pp. 1–3.Google Scholar

107 The New Nation, 10–16 March 1988, and Chikane, Frank, The Church and the South African Crisis (London, 1988), pp. 7–10.Google Scholar

108 South African Council of Churches, Annual Conference, 1989 (Johannesburg, 1989), ‘Annexure “B”: the General Administrative Secretary's Report’, p. 6.Google Scholar

109 The New Nation, 16 February 1989, and National Catholic Reporter, 3 and 17 March 1989.Google Scholar

110 The Independent (London), 7 September 1989, and The Guardian (London), 3, 7, 14, 16, and 18 August 1989.Google Scholar

111 The New York Times, 15 and 30 October 1989; In These Times (Chicago), 27 September–3 October 1989, p. 9; and Guardian (New York), October 1989.Google Scholar

112 Southscan (London), 10 November 1989; The Guardian (London), 17 August 1989; The New York Times, 10 and 11 December 1989; The Africa Fund, ‘Conference for a Democratic Future’, 9 December 1989; and author's interviews in South Africa, 1990, with Marilyn Aitken, Southern African Catholic Bishops' Conference, and Frank Chikane, South African Council of Churches.Google Scholar

113 For example, Natal Mercury (Durban), 8 May 1990; Weekly Mail (Johannesburg), 9 November, 7 and 14 December 1990. Also, author's interview with Archbishop Hurley in May 1990.Google Scholar

114 Weekly Mail 21 September 1990, and Institute for Contextual Theology, Violence. The New Kairos (Johannesburg, 1990).Google Scholar