The Missionary Career and Spiritual Odyssey of Otto Witt
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THE MISSIONARY CAREER AND ·sPIRITUAL ODYSSEY OF OTfO WI'IT by FREDERICK HALE submitted in accordance with the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF'PHILOSOPHY in the subject RELIGIOUS STUDIES atthe UNIVERSITY OF CAPE TOWN PROMOTER: PROFF.SSOR JOHN W. DE GRUCHY JULY 1991 The copyright of this thesis vests in the author. No quotation from it or information derived from it is to be published without full acknowledgement of the source. The thesis is to be used for private study or non- commercial research purposes only. Published by the University of Cape Town (UCT) in terms of the non-exclusive license granted to UCT by the author. SUMMARY This thesis is a theological and historical study of the Swedish missionary and evangelist Peter Otto Helger Witt (1848-1923), who served as the Church of Sweden Mission's fjrst missionary and as such launched its work a.mongst the Zulu people of Southern Africa in the 1870S before growing disillusioned with his national Lutheran tradition and, after following a tortUOl;JS spiritual path through generally increasing theological subjectivity, eventually becoming a loosely affiliated Pentecostal evangelist in Scandinavia. Undoubtedly owing to the embarrassment he caused the Church of Sweden Mission by resigning from it while it was in a formative stage, but also to tension between him and its leaders, Witt has never received his due in the historiography of Swedish missions. For that matter, his role in Scandinavian nonconformist religious movements for nearly a third of a ) century beginning in the early 1890S is a largely untold chapter in the ecclesiastical history of the region. This thesis is intended to redress these lacunae by presenting Witt's career as both a foreign missionary and evangelist as well as the contours of his evolving religious thought and placing both of the5e emphases into the broader history of Scandinavian and other missionary endeavours amongst the Zulus, late nineteenth-century developments in Swedish Lutheranism, and the coming to northern Europe of those religious movements in which he successively became involved. As the copious documentation indicates, it is based to a great extent on little-used materials in the archives of the Church of Sweden Mission and other repositories in Scandinavia. South Africa. and the United States of America. Witt's own numerous publications also provide much of the stuff for it. The structure of this study is essentially chronological and, within that framework, thematic with clear precedents in previous missions and ecclesiastical historiography. The first chapter is largely a critical review of previous pertinent literature, professional and otherwise, emphasi sing its general misunderstanding and neglect of Witt. Chapter II covers his background in nineteenth-century Swedish Lutheranism, call to the Church of Sweden Mission, and role in establishing that organisation's endeavours amongst the Zulus. Chapter Ill deals with the trauma of the Anglo-Zulu War of 1819, particularly Witt's controversial but misunderstood role in it and the place of this in the existing historiography of that conflagration. Chapter IV surveys his part in re-establishing the Swedish Lutheran mission following the war and his co-operative and at times creative role in this major task. Chapters V and VI, on the other . hand, have as their respective themes Witt's consequential spiritual crisis of the mid-1 BBOs and resulting gradual departure from the Church of Sweden Mission. The seventh chapter is a consideration of Witt's Participation in and temporarily great impact on the Free East Africa Mission, a pan-Scandinavian free church undertaking which undertook evangelisation in both Durban and rural Natal in 1889. Chapter VIII treats Witt's generally independent career ·in Scandinavia from 1891 until his death, focusing on the new developments in which he became involved. The final c~apter is an attempt to assess his general place in the missions and ecclesiastical history of Scandinavia and Southern Africa. SUMMARY This thesis is a theological and historical study of the Swedish missionary and evangelist Peter Otto Holger Wrtt (1848-1923), who served as the Church of Sweden Mission's first missionary and as such launched its work amongst the Zulu people of Southern Africa in the 1870S before growing disillusioned with his national Lutheran tradition and, after following a tortuous spiritual path through generally increasing theological subjectivity, eventually becoming a loosely affiliated Pentecostal evangelist in Scandinavia. Undoubtedly owing to the embarrassment he caused the Church of Sweden Mission by resigning from it while it was in a formative stage, but also to tension between him and its leaders, Witt has never received his due in the historiography of Swedish missions. For that matter, his role in Scandinavian nonconformist religious movements for nearly a third of a century beginning in the early 1890s is a largely untold chapter in the ecclesiastical history of the region. This thesis is intended to redress these lacunae by presenting Witt's career as both a foreign missionary and evangelist as well as the contours of his evolving religious thought and placing both of these emphases into the broader history of Scandinavian and other missionary endeavours amongst the Zulus, late nineteenth-century developments in Swedish Lutheranism, and the coming to northern Europe of those religious movemerits in which he successively became involved. As the copious documentation indicates, it is based to a great extent on little-used materials in the archives of the Church of Sweden Mission and other repositories in Scandinavia, South Africa, and the United States of America Witt's own numerous publications also provide much of the stuff for it. The structure of this study is essentially chronological and, within that framework, thematic with clear precedents in previous missions and ecclesiastical historiography. The first chapter· is largely a critical review of previous pertinent literature, professional and otherwise, emphasi sing its general misunderstanding and neglect of Witt. Chapter II covers his background in nineteenth-century Swedish Lutheranism, call to the Church of Sweden Mission, and role in establishing that organisation's endeavours amongst the Zulus. Chapter Ill deals with the trauma of the Anglo-Zulu War of 1879, particularly Wrtt's controversial but misunderstood role in it and the place of this in the existing historiography of that conflagration. Chapter IV surveys his part in re-establishing the Swedish Lutheran mission following the war and his co-operative and at times creative role in this major task. Chapters V and VI, on the other hand, have as their respective themes Witt's consequential spiritual crisis of the mid-1880s and resulting gradual departure from the Church of Sweden Mission. The seventh chapter is a consideration of Wrtt's participation in and temporarily great impact on the Free East Africa Mission, a pan-Scandinavian free church undertaking which undertook evangelisation in both Durban and rural Natal in 1889. Chapter VIII treats Wrtt's generally independent career in Scandinavia from 1891 until his death, focusing on the new developments in which he became involved. The final chapter is an attempt to assess his general place in the missions and ecclesiastical history of Scandinavia and Southern Africa. PREFACE This thesis is a study of Peter Otto Roiger Witt, who opened the Church of Sweden Mission's field in Southern Africa during the late 1870s. It focuses on two overlapping aspe~ts of his career and religious thought The greater part is devoted to Witt's years as a missionary to the Zulus, first in the employ of the Church of Sweden Mission and later in affiliation with the Free East Africa Mission, a pan-Scandinavian, nondenominational organisation which existed from 1889 until 1899. Much of the thesis, however, is a tour of the spiritual road which Witt followed, beginning in the pietism of south-western Sweden to service in the strongly confessional Church of Sweden Mission and, after leaving the Lutheran tradition, through Christian perfectionism to Pentecostalism and pacifism. Witt was an internationally oriented figure in the history of Christianity, and this study is accordingly intended for readers in more than one country. In the first instance, I have written for readers in South Africa. Because of this, I have included more background material on nineteenth-century Swedish church history than specialists in Sweden may deem necessary. Yet it is also intended for use in the latter country and elsewhere by readers unfamiliar with missions history in South Africa. For the most part, I have employed internationally understandable academic conventions with regard to such technical matters as abbreviations and the forms of endnotes and biographical citations. These will presumably be self-explanatory to most readers. It should only be stressed that in deference to Swedish practice I hav~ employed the abbreviation 11 SKM11 (indicating Svenska Kyrkans Mission) in lieu of the more common ''CSM" for the translated name Church of Sweden Mission. I am deeply indebted to a relatively large number of other theologians and historians as well as to many archivists, librarians, and friends in four countries without whose assistance this modesfspecimen eruditionis could not have been completed. On my annual visits to South Africa I have made extensive use of the Natal Archives Depot and the library of the Natal Society in Pietermaritzburg, the Transvaal Archives Depot and the library of the University of South Africa in Pretoria, the Killie Campbell Africana Library in Durban, and the library of the University of Cape Town. In Sweden, I was 11 iii fortunate enough to be able to make great use of the Church of Sweden Mission Archives in Uppsala and the resources of the University of Uppsala Library between 1987 and 1990. In Norway I frequently employed relevant materials at the National Archives in Oslo, the archives of the Norwegian Mission Covenant in that city, the Norwegian Missionary Society in Stavanger, and the University of Oslo Library.