Contextual Theology and Its Radicalization of the South African Anti-Apartheid Church Struggle
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University of Central Florida STARS Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2004-2019 2012 Confrontational Christianity: Contextual Theology and Its Radicalization of the South African Anti-Apartheid Church Struggle Miguel Rodriguez University of Central Florida Part of the History Commons Find similar works at: https://stars.library.ucf.edu/etd University of Central Florida Libraries http://library.ucf.edu This Masters Thesis (Open Access) is brought to you for free and open access by STARS. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2004-2019 by an authorized administrator of STARS. For more information, please contact [email protected]. STARS Citation Rodriguez, Miguel, "Confrontational Christianity: Contextual Theology and Its Radicalization of the South African Anti-Apartheid Church Struggle" (2012). Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2004-2019. 4470. https://stars.library.ucf.edu/etd/4470 CONFRONTATIONAL CHRISTIANITY: CONTEXTUAL THEOLOGY AND ITS RADICALIZATION OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN ANTI-APARTHEID CHURCH STRUGGLE by MIGUEL RODRIGUEZ B.S. University of Central Florida, 1997 A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in the Department of History in the College of Arts and Humanities at the University of Central Florida Orlando, Florida Spring Term 2012 © 2012 Miguel Rodriguez ii ABSTRACT This paper is intended to analyze the contributions of Contextual Theology and Contextual theologians to dismantling the South African apartheid system. It is intended to demonstrate that the South African churches failed to effectively politicize and radicalize to confront the government until the advent of Contextual Theology in South Africa. Contextual Theology provided the Christian clergy the theological justification to unite with anti-apartheid organizations. Its very concept of working with the poor and oppressed helped the churches gain favor with the black masses that were mostly Christian. Its borrowing from Marxist philosophy appealed to anti-apartheid organizations. Additionally, Contextual theologians, who were primarily black, began filling prominent leadership roles in their churches and within the ecumenical organizations. They were mainly responsible for radicalizing the churches and the ecumenical organizations. They also filled an important anti-apartheid political leadership vacuum when most political leaders were banned, jailed, or killed. iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I dedicate this work to my late father, Miguel A. Rodriguez. I inherited my revolutionary spirit from him. I also dedicate this work to the Central Florida peace and justice community. You are the current liberation movement. I wish to thank my professors throughout my graduate studies at the University of Central Florida for their encouragment and support, and for making me a historian: Dr. Ezekiel Walker, Dr. John Sacher, Dr. Hong Zhang, and Dr. Vladimir Solonari. Dr. Charles Killinger, thank you for telling me twenty years ago that I should consider the study of history. I’m so glad I finally took your advice. Thank you Ms. Nancy Rauscher for starting me on the right study path. Finally, I would like to thank my wife, Alita, for her support and patience, and for understanding the constant long nights of study, writing, and revising. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................................................... 1 Historiography ............................................................................................................................ 3 Outline of Chapters ................................................................................................................... 12 CHAPTER 1 ................................................................................................................................. 16 Origins of Apartheid ................................................................................................................. 16 Overview of the Missions’ Influence among Native South Africans ....................................... 20 The Early DRC and the Formation of the DRC Mission Churches .......................................... 26 The Rise of Religious Apartheid in the Twentieth Century ...................................................... 30 The Rise of Political Apartheid in the Twentieth Century ........................................................ 37 CHAPTER 2 ................................................................................................................................. 44 Early and Limited Resistance to Apartheid in the English-speaking Churches ........................ 44 The Ecumenical Response: The 1960s ..................................................................................... 56 The Dilemma of Major Political Movements – ANC and BCM .............................................. 64 CHAPTER 3 ................................................................................................................................. 77 The Rise of Contextual Theology ............................................................................................. 77 Christian Radicalization and the Fall of Apartheid ................................................................. 101 CONCLUSION ........................................................................................................................... 129 REFERENCES ........................................................................................................................... 142 Primary Sources ...................................................................................................................... 142 Secondary Sources .................................................................................................................. 145 v INTRODUCTION South African apartheid was not only a political system; it was also a religious system.1 Apartheid incorporated both political and theological ideology and practices to achieve social and economic gains for its white minority population. Although much is documented regarding the political rise and fall of apartheid South Africa in historiographical scholarship, little attention is paid to the theological dimension that both contributed to and dismantled the segregationist government system.2 Although it is true that talented individuals such as the immensely popular Nelson Mandela and his African National Congress (ANC), as well as trade unions,3 played instrumental roles in abolishing apartheid, it is equally true that the churches greatly influenced the final outcome of South Africa's political and social oppressive system. Of course, political and economic factors were always in play, but religion and moral authority mattered. Contextual Theology provided the hermeneutical reasoning, moral force, and prophetic mandate required to confront and dismantle the apartheid system. Contextual Theology is usually referred to as “prophetic theology” because it depends upon biblical “exegesis” – or critical interpretation – and places its emphasis on the biblical themes of liberation and the prophets’ teachings. The biblical prophets appeared in times of social, spiritual, and political turmoil. In 1 Peter Walshe, “Prophetic Christianity and the Liberation Movement,” The Journal of Modern African Studies 39, no. 1 (1991): 1. Walshe, in his opening sentence, contends that the struggle against apartheid was both theological and political. 2 Tristan Anne Borer, Challenging the State: Churches as Political Actors in South Africa, 1980-1994. (Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 1998), xiii. 3 John Allen, Rabble-Rouser For Peace: The Authorized Biography of Desmond Tutu (NY: Free Press, 2006), 233. Journalist John Allen contends that although the churches provided “an unrivaled array of platforms at a time when few others were available in the black community” in the late 1970s and into the 1980s, trade unions “became more a powerful institutional force for liberation than church denominational structures.” However, he contends that Desmond Tutu, a Contextual theologian, “made a powerful and unique contribution to publicizing the anti-apartheid struggle abroad…” 1 this regard, Contextual Theology also studies the current times with regard to the gospel teachings. Therefore, “the gospel becomes contextualized in an attempt to understand its meaning in the situation of crisis and conflict.”4 These understandings of biblical exegesis led late twentieth-century Liberation theologians in Latin America and Contextual theologians in South Africa to focus on the conditions of the poor and oppressed, and attempt to remove all social and economic barriers that are deemed oppressive. This theology became a significant driving force used by mostly non-white influential religious leaders and activist theologians to help end the apartheid government.5 Although the Afrikaner Dutch Reformed Church (DRC) and its theology contributed substantially to the government’s apartheid policies, its non-white mission or “sister” churches together with many English-speaking – former English missionary – churches helped dismantle the apartheid system.6 Many times working with anti-apartheid political groups, foreign nations, and international organizations, the churches fought a two front war against the South African government – one religious and the other political. Ecclesiastical forces played no small role to end apartheid.