Liberation Theologies | Bibliography | Africa
Chapter 5: African Theology
See also PeaceDocs, Texts, African.
Bibliographies
196. Parratt, John. African Theology. A Bibliography. Zomba: University of Malawi, 1983.
A brief typescript, arranged alphabetically by author, with approximately 300 books and articles.
Introduction
197. Abraham, K. C., ed. Third World Theologies. Commonalities and Divergences. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1990.
Essays by Bingemer, Carvalho, Battung, Míguez Bonino, Oduyoye, Balasuriya, Torres, James Cone, Tamez, Chikane, Pablo Richard and others on the liberation, contextual and integralist themes that unite all these forms of theology.
198. African Independent Churches. Speaking for Ourselves. Braamfontein: Institute for Contextual Theology, 1985.
Chapter 4 contains an outline of an independent African theology.
199. Amirtham, Samuel, and John S. Pobee. Theology by the People. Reflections on Doing Theology in Community. Geneva: World Council of Churches, 1986.
This is a collection of essays by Dussel, Kudadjie, Ian Fraser, Kwok Pui Lan, Elsa Tamez and others that describes and analyzes a theology born out of the people of God themselves: their concerns and their reception of the Spirit as equal ministers of God’s word. Thus base Christian communities, Minjung theology, black, African, feminist, and other forms of liberation theology are at base “theology by the people.”
200. Appiah-Kubi, Kofi and Sergio Torres, eds. African Theology en Route. Papers from the Pan-African Conference of Third-World Theologians, December 17-23, 1977, Accra, Ghana. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1979.
Essays on current trends in African religion, its theological sources in the Bible, African beliefs and black African arts. Part 3 presents essays on liberation currents, including women, the church and politics, liberation theology, and black American perspectives by Rose Zoé-Obianga, Constance Barratang Thetele, Kodwe E. Ankrah, Desmond Tutu, Allan Boesak, James Cone, and G. Wilmour.
201. Baëta, Christian G. Theology As Liberation. Four Contemporary Third World Programmes. Accra: Academy of Arts and Sciences, 1983.
Not seen.
202. Bakole Wa Ilunga. Paths of Liberation. A Third World Spirituality. Matthew J. O’Connell, trans. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1984.
Spiritual salvation goes hand-in-hand with Zaire’s gradual process of economic and social liberation.
203. Baltazar, Eulalio. The Dark Center. A Process Theology of Blackness. New York: Paulist Press, 1973.
Not seen.
204. Banana, Canaan. The Gospel According to the Ghetto. Rev. ed. Gwelo, Zimbabwe: Mambo Press, 1981.
Not seen.
205. —. The Theology of Promise. The Dynamics of Self-Reliance. Harare: College Press, 1982.
This is a call for post-independence Zimbabwe to live up to its socialist ideals and to establish justice in lines with the call of Christianity. At the same time, it is a call on the church to truly become a church of the people. With a preface by Prime Minister Mugabe, this book begs the question: are we forming a new Constantinian alliance?
206. Bavarel, Michel. New Communities, New Ministries. The Church Resurgent in Africa, Asia and Latin America. Francis Martin, trans. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1983.
This is a process of learning from the Third World, the end of our old notions of missionary religion, and a realization that the poor and marginalized can be, and are becoming, the subjects of their own history, their own theology. This book is a series of descriptions of newly emerging praxis in Africa, Latin America, and Asia. It includes descriptions of beliefs in the Peruvian Andes, lay pastors in Kinshasa, base communities in El Salvador, and Egyptian nuns ministering to the ragpickers of Cairo.
207. Becken, H.-J., ed. Relevant Theology for Africa. Durban: Lutheran Publishing House, 1973.
Not seen.
208. Bengu, Sibusiso. Mirror or Model? The Church in an Unjust World. New York: Lutheran World Ministries, 1984.
Not seen.
209. Buthelezi, Manas. Towards an African Theology. Stuttgart: E. Klett, 1974.
An English summary of his thought.
210. Dickson, Kwesi A. Theology in Africa. London: Darton, Longman & Todd; Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1984.
All aspects of its theological development and variety: African religion, colonial factors, theology’s remoteness from current realities, biblical continuity, the theology of the cross, and theology in seminaries, congregations and communities. The focus throughout is on developing black theology. Good bibliography.
211. Donders, Joseph G. Non-Bourgeois Theology. An African Experience of Jesus. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1985.
A collection of mostly previously published essays on religious life among Africa’s Christians. Topics include the nature of God, liturgy, the clergy among the people, mythology, the role of forgiveness and reconciliation, pain and suffering, prayer, politics and religion, and the role of the people of God.
212. Éla, Jean-Marc. African Cry. Robert R. Barr, trans. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1986.
Beginning with the actual heart of the liturgical and sacramental life: the rite of the Eucharist, Éla focuses in on the essential problem of Christianity in Africa: does it address the deepest urgings for salvation of the African people, or is it a hostile import, a relic of colonialism that seeks to maintain a spiritual bondage after political bondage has passed? Africans, the author argues, must seek out their own brand of Christianity by returning to the biblical roots of this religion and taking new meaning from the essential liberation texts: Exodus and the Gospels. The church in Africa must reject its indifference to the socio-economic and political realities of the continent, and must reveal a God who deeply cares for the sufferings of his people, as they exist. An important text of African liberation theology.
213. —. My Faith as an African. John Pairman Brown and Susan Perry, trans. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1988; London: Geoffrey Chapman, 1989.
This book takes its life from the reality of African rural poverty in the midst of a world, and national, economy of plenty. On a theological level Éla also begins from African roots: the inheritance of African religion, and the role the Christ figure can play in bringing meaning to these deeply religious myths and practices. Having come from the grass roots up, the author then asks whether God can be indifferent to the suffering of the African people, and so calls for a new activist Christianity that will both address the material needs of God’s children and reveal God in terms that African culture will approve.
214. Fabella, Virginia, M.M., and Mercy Amba Oduyoye, eds. With Passion and Compassion. Third World Women Doing Theology. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1988.
Essays by Rosemary Edet and Bette Ekeya, Dorothy Ramodibe, Thérèse Souga, Louise Tappa, Elizabeth Amoah, and Teresa Okure.
Particularly African conditions are the state of oppression left in the post-colonial period, the oppressive structures of African social and economic life, and the oppressive cultural burden that African women must contend with.
There are also strengths in the African religious tradition that make Christian faith viable. The role of women as prophetesses and priestesses has always been strong and equal to that of men. A revival of Mariology to confirm the feminine nature of God and the role of women is important. African religion itself is highly receptive to the notion of a suffering and then victorious Christ who brings health and plenty. Such directions have the full support of biblical texts and of Jesus’ own ministry.
215. Ferm, Deane William. Profiles in Liberation. Thirty-Six Portraits of Third World Theologians. Mystic, CT: Twenty-Third Publications, 1988.
Theologians from Africa, Asia and Latin America are discussed, including their lives, work and thought. Bibliographies of books and articles, as well as photographs, are provided for each. An excellent introduction. African theologians include Appiah-Kubi, Boesak, Buthelezi, Dickson, Fashole-Luke, Mbiti, Milongo, Mveng, Nyamiti, Oduyoye, Shorter, and Tutu.
216. —. Third World Liberation Theologies. An Introductory Survey. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1986.
Discusses the various forms of liberation theologies, their resemblances and differences, studies, and criticisms of this theology.
217. —. Third World Liberation Theologies. A Reader. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1986.
Selections from a host of liberation theologians, including Mbiti, Oduyoye, Tutu, Boesak, Widjaja, and others.
218. Fraser, Ian. The Fire Runs. London: SCM, 1975.
Not seen.
219. Frostin, Per. Liberation Theology in Tanzania and South Africa. A First-World Interpretation. Lund, Sweden: Lund University Press, 1988.
Frostin hopes to interpret for Western audiences two types of African liberation theology: in Tanzania and in South Africa; the one in a socialist state, the second among the oppressed and marginalized. Frostin’s emphasis is on the relationship between God and humanity, the analysis of social conflict, including the use of Marxist analysis, and the challenge of “modernity.” Frostin stresses the importance of textual analysis as a means of removing our own Western hermeneutic blinders, the “holistic” nature of these theologies of liberation, which see salvation of the soul, of the person, the community and society as one. Good bibliography.
220. Hadjor, Kofi Buenor, and Brian A. Wren, eds. Christian Faith and Third World Liberation. London: Third World Communications, 1985.
Not seen.
221. Healy, Joseph G., M.M. A Fifth Gospel. The Experience of Black Christian Values. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1981.
An introduction to base Christian communities in Africa.
222. Katjavivi, Peter, Per Frostin and Kaire Mbuende, eds. Church and Liberation in Namibia. London and Westminster, MA: Pluto Press, 1989.
A collection of essays on all aspects of the church’s role in the struggle for independence in Namibia, including the role of liberation theology. The book includes a collection of relevant documents and a brief bibliography on black and liberation theologies.
223. Kijanga, Peter A. S. Ujamaa and the Role of the Church in Tanzania. Arusha: Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania, 1978.
On the relationship between Christianity and politics, socialism and the need for change in Tanzania.
224. Magesa, Laurenti. The Church and Liberation in Africa. Eldoret, Kenya: Gaba, 1976.
The church and liberation theology in Latin America are paradigmatic for the African today. The message of liberation theology – that oppression, injustice, and poverty are not God-given – has powerful implications for African nations and peoples engaged in liberation struggles. Magesa examines the place of religion in overcoming Africa’s wounds and divisions, new liberating ecclesial structures, the role of violence and nonviolence, and the demands of liberation. Contains essays by S. Mkude, D. M. Mwasaru, and M. Giblin.
225. —. Liberation Theology in Africa. Kampala: Gaba Publications, 1976.
Not seen.
226. Mbiti, John S., ed. African and Asian Contributions to Contemporary Theology. Report. Céligny: Ecumenical Institute, 1977.
Essays and commentary by Mbiti, Philip A. Potter, C. Duraising, Kofi Appiah-Kubi, John Pobee, Gerald H. Anderson, John Ramadhani and T. K. Thomas on methods, Christology, the church and community and theologies in dialog.
227. McDonagh, Enda. Church and Politics. From Theology to a Case History of Zimbabwe. Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press, 1980.
McDonagh writes about the explicit meeting of theology and the new realities of the Third World and its revolutionary situation; yet her reflections are, ultimately and openly, about the situation in Ireland and the condition of the marginalized of the First World as well.
Topics in Part 1 include Christian faith and social justice, politics and violence in Christian perspective, prayer and politics. Part 2 surveys the transition from colonial Rhodesia to independent Zimbabwe, the liberation of a people and the role of armed struggle in that liberation, and the theory of just revolution.
The author then draws some conclusions for both Third and First Worlds: that while revolutionary violence may be justified, the just society that it proclaimed has not yet been achieved; that nonviolence must be the revolutionary means toward a just society, that the churches must become intimately involved in this process, and that a new ecclesiology of the church as a just society for its own people must be formulated. See also 152.
228. Mofokeng, Takatso A. The Crucified Among the Crossbearers. Towards a Black Christology. Kampen: J.H. Kok, 1983.
Chapter 1 discusses the emergence of black theology out of the black consciousness movement and its eventual focus on Exodus as central to the black experience. Chapter 2 examines the Christology of Jon Sobrino and its roots in liberation theology, in which text and context are intimately related. The author then goes on to clarify how a historical Christology lends itself to a radical theology of praxis in South Africa. Chapter 3 discuses Karl Barth’s theology as stemming from his praxis of crisis and powerlessness and its implications for the oppressed. After an examination of the differences in Sobrino’s and Barth’s hermeneutics, the author then makes an attempt to frame a black Christology of liberation, which is based on reconciliation with everything in their world: land, history, culture and value systems. An emphasis of Christ’s suffering love offers the key to changing an oppressed people into the subjects of their own history.
229. Muzorewa, Gwinyai H. The Origins and Development of African Theology. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1985.
Part 1 discusses the sources, in African traditional religion, the coming of Christianity to Africa in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, the African Independent Church movement, African nationalism, and in the All-Africa Council of Churches. Part 2 discusses the varieties of theology in sub-Saharan Africa, including traditional religions, African theology and black theology in South Africa.
230. Mwoleka, Christopher and Joseph Healey, eds. Ujamaa and Christian Communities. Eldoret, Kenya: Gaba Publications, 1976.
“Ujamaa” means “familyhood.” This is a theology, officially sanctioned by the government of Tanzania, that calls for a change of life-style: to self determination, life organized around base Christian communities, and a life meant to be lived in community. It is also a theology that is fully aware of the call of Vatican II for the laity to play an active role in transforming the world and bringing about full human liberation, to overcoming our old dichotomies, and to making the church an agent for the world and the clergy servants and educators of the community.
231. Nyamiti, Charles. African Theology. Its Nature, Problems and Methods. Kampala: Gaba, 1974.
Not seen.
232. —. The Scope of African Theology. Kampala: Gaba, 1973.
Not seen.
233. Parratt, John, ed. A Reader in African Christian Theology. London: SPCK, 1987.
This collection of essays discusses theological methods, aspects of doctrine, the church and the world, and current issues in African theology. Contributors include Harry Sawyer, Pobee, T. Tshibangu, Tutu, Charles Nyamati, Kofi Appiah-Kubi, Dickson, Buthelezi, Marc Ntetem, Julius Nyerere, Boesak, and Parratt. Each reading is followed by a series of study suggestions.
234. Perrin Jassy, Marie-France. Basic Community in the African Churches. Jeanne-Marie Lyons, trans. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1973.
The base Christian community in Africa set against the context of the church in North Mara, Tanzania and the Luo people. Examines the sociological, historical background in African religion and Christianity, and the doctrines and organization of the African church.
235. Pero, Albert and Ambrose Moyo, eds. Theology and the Black Experience. The Lutheran Heritage Interpreted by African and African-American Theologians. Minneapolis, MN: Augsburg, 1988.
Articles on many of the key tenets of Lutheranism and their relation to the black experience of religion in both Africa and the United States. Includes articles by Richard J. Perry, Simon Maimela, Judah Kiwovele, John S. Pobee, Pero, Cheryl A. Stewart, Vivian V. Msomi and others.
236. Pobee, J. S. Toward An African Theology. Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 1979.
African identity has been destroyed both by colonialism and by a Christianity that sees God and “man” in the white image. Africa therefore needs an African theology.
237. Setiloane, Gabriel. African Theology. An Introduction. Johannesburg: Skotaville, 1986.
A booklet that attempts a brief introduction. Chapters treat the sources of knowledge in African tradition, “genesis,” community, personhood, the human family, the nature of God, a definition of African theology, its claims and forms of expression.
238. Shorter, Aylward. African Christian Spirituality. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1980.
See Evans (686), item 440.
239. —. African Christian Theology. Adaptation or Incarnation? Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books; London: Geoffrey Chapman, 1975
A general survey of Christianity in Africa. Good background for African theology. See Evans (686), item 439.
240. Upkong, Justin. African Theologies Now. A Profile. Eldoret, Kenya: Gaba, 1984.
Not seen.
241. Wan-Tatah, Fon Victor. Emancipation in African Theology. New York: Peter Lang, 1989.
The subtitle reads, “An Inquiry on the Relevance of Latin American liberation theology to Africa.”
242. Witvliet, Theo. A Place in the Sun. An Introduction to Liberation Theology in the Third World. John Bowden, trans. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1985.
Attempts to refocus attention on liberation theology away from its roots in Latin America to demonstrate that it is a world-wide phenomenon that is giving voice to the poor and marginalized of all cultures and continents. Surveys the roots of the theology in modern conditions of socio-political and economic domination, imperialism, racism, and the quest for liberation. Examines Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Caribbean, and North America. An excellent brief introduction with a useful bibliography.
243. Young, Josiah U. Black and African Theologies. Siblings or Distant Cousins? Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1986.
Focuses on the disagreements between African-American and African theologians, and focuses on several leading figures: James and Cecil Cone, Major Jones, J. Deotis Roberts in the U.S.; and John Mbiti, Harry Sawyer and John Pobee in South Africa to discuss the historical background in both North America and Africa; black theologies of liberation and notions of God. Christology, African cultural categories, and relation to black feminism, Marxism and the Third World; African theology as one of indigenization; and differences between black and African theologians. A final chapter attempts to answer whether they are siblings or distant cousins and finds that the universal themes of enpowerment, context and liberation makes them siblings. Extensive bibliography arranged by topic.
South Africa
244. Biko, Steve. I Write What I Like. A Selection of His Writings. Aelred Stubbs, C.R., ed. London: Bowerdean, 1978; rev. ed., San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1986.
Biko was the founder of the black Consciousness movement, and his death at the hands of South African police in 1977 became a symbol not only of the lengths to which white South Africa would go to preserve its position but also of the martyrdoms faced by thousands of black South Africans every day in order to maintain their humanity and achieve freedom. Essays on black consciousness, black spirituality, the role of the churches and the need to change them in order to pave the way to liberation, the conditions of black South Africans, and strategies for liberation.
245. Boesak, Allan Aubrey. Black and Reformed. Apartheid, Liberation and the Calvinist Tradition. Leonard Sweetman, ed. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1984.
This is a collection of sermons, speeches, and essays on the place of a leader trained in the Calvinist traditions of the South African church that has justified apartheid on theological grounds. Boesak’s work traces his, and his nation’s, gradual shift from the inheritance of oppression to the new assumption of liberation.
246. —. Black Theology, Black Power. London and Oxford: Mowbrays, 1978.
A study of black theology and black power that sees both as integral parts of liberation theology, and all the theologies of liberation around the world as essentially one. It is also a book that stresses the unique situation of South Africa and the need of South African blacks to formulate their own theology and solutions, for whites to let go of their liberal innocence of “helping” the blacks in a remote situation and to instead work for liberation within their own contexts.
Themes include the coming of the black messiah in a black theology of liberation based on the Bible and Gospels of the poor; the necessity of facing the need for blacks to assume or take power themselves and to become their own subjects, which includes a critique of Martin Luther King’s apparent willingness to concede to the white powers that be; and then detailed discussion of black theology and black power, on ideology and theology, and the quest for a black ethic.
247. —. Comfort and Protest. Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1987.
Not seen.
248. —. Coming in Out of the Wilderness. A Comparative Interpretation of the Ethics of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X. Kampen: KOK, 1976.
Reflects the influence, and the interdependence of, the North American and African black theological movements. Models of both nonviolence and more aggressive empowerment are examined.
249. —. Farewell to Innocence. A Socio-Ethical Study on Black Theology and Black Power. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1977.
What is the meaning and relationship of North American black theology and black power, or secondarily of Latin American liberation theology, to the South African and African situations? Boesak here carefully analyzes these movements through a reading of the works of Cone (838-844), King (865-877), Roberts (896-902), and others.
250. —. The Finger of God. Sermons on Faith and Responsibility. Peter Randall, trans. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1979.
This collection brings Christian faith to bear on the responsibility of all people to bring about a society that is just and compassionate to all.
251. —. If This Is Treason, I Am Guilty. Grand Rapids, MI: W.B. Eerdmans, 1987.
Boesak, then president of the 709 million-member World Alliance of Reformed Churches, delivers a series of sermons of “holy rage” on racism in the reformed tradition, the church and politics, a Christian response to the new South African constitution, Jesus as the life of the world and a model for the fight against greed, exploitation, violence and the bringer of the good news for the weak, for peace and justice, and for action to overcome despair.
252. —. Walking on Thorns. The Call to Christian Obedience. Geneva: World Council of Churches; Grand Rapids, MI: W.B. Eerdmans, 1984.
Seven sermons and one letter growing out of the actual situation of oppression and Christian response in South Africa. Topics discussed include prophesy, the risk of division that such prophesy brings, faith in the struggle, God’s presence amid suffering, all based on the biblical insights of Exodus, the psalms, and Jesus’ prophetic mission.
253. — and Charles Villa-Vicencio, eds. A Call for an End to Unjust Rule. Edinburgh: Saint Andrew Press, 1986.
The European edition of When Prayer Makes News (254).
254. —. When Prayer Makes News. Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1986.
Prayer makes news in South Africa when it is said by blacks, in public and in church, on behalf of their own suffering and oppressed brethren. Then it is considered a subversive activity. Yet prayer is effective in seeking justice and overthrowing tyrants. Essays by Boesak and Villa-Vicencio, Alan Brews, Lionel Louw, Shun Govender, Albert Nolan, O.P., de Gruchy, William R. Domeris, and Gabriel Setiloane.
255. Bosch, David J. “Currents and Crosscurrents in South African Black Theology.” See 918, pp. 220-37.
Briefly traces the development of black theology in South Africa and then sums up the major elements of the theology: overcoming the slave mentality, eliminating white tokenism and the patronizing of white liberals. At the same time black theology calls for love of the white enemy, ecumenism, and a shift beyond the inner, pietistic elements of Christianity and toward an emphasis on the whole person.
256. Chikane, Frank. No Life of My Own. An Autobiography. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1989.
Chikane has long been a major leader of the church opposition to apartheid and was the chief inspiration behind the Kairos Document (see 269). This is an example of “narrative theology” in the form of autobiography. It is also a confession of faith in the tradition of the apologists and martyrs. Themes of this autobiography include the life of the Christian in South Africa, the secondary status of the black growing up in a “white man’s country,” the discovery of an African spirituality at the grass roots, finding the God of liberation, his detention and torture at the hands of South African security forces, Christian social action, and new forms of theology.
257. De Gruchy, John W. Bonhoeffer and South Africa. Theology in Dialogue. Grand Rapids, MI: W.B. Eerdmans, 1984.
Examines Bonhoeffer’s role in drawing the line between church, culture, and society and demonstrates its great importance for the Calvinist Afrikaaner church, the relevance of Bonhoeffer and his witness for conscience and civil disobedience in South Africa, among the privileged and comfortable, as well as among the oppressed today. De Gruchy is an important student of this German theologian; and he places him in the context of a theologian for the oppressed and their right to resist unjust authority. Examines loyalty to Jesus as a major liberating action. Includes the Barmen Declaration as an appendix. Bonhoeffer’s theology of the cross is also of major importance.
258. —. The Church Struggle in South Africa. 2d ed. Grand Rapids, MI: W.B. Eerdmans, 1986.
Examines the historical origins among the black and white churches; the place of apartheid in the various churches; the conflict over racism; the black renaissance, protest, black consciousness and theology; the role of Soweto and white evangelical liberation. His final chapter deals with the meaning of the kingdom of God in South Africa. Good bibliography.
259. —. Cry Justice! Prayers, Meditations, and Readings from South Africa. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1986.
A collection of readings from scripture, literature, history and current events brought to bear on the religious meaning of apartheid and the struggle for liberation.
260. —. Doing Christian Theology in the Context of South Africa. Or God Talk Under Devil’s Peak. Cape Town: University of Cape Town, 1986.
Human life cannot be understood without reference to God, and our talk about God without reference to very real human conditions.
261. —. Theology and Ministry in Context and Crisis. A South African Perspective. London: Collins; Grand Rapids, MI: W.B. Eerdmans, 1987.
This is an examination of Christian ministry in the context of liberation theology and the praxis of a suffering and oppressed people. Discusses the theological and practical aspects of ministry and the life of the minister, the prophetic role of the minister and its biblical basis, and the context of suffering and oppression in South Africa today. De Gruchy also pays close attention to the role of the people themselves as the source of theology, as the people of God, and the theological significance of pastoral work, liturgy and the hope that grows from community.
262. —, and Charles Villa-Vicencio, eds. Apartheid Is a Heresy. Grand Rapids, MI: W.B. Eerdmans, 1983.
This book celebrates the World Alliance of Reformed Churches condemnation of apartheid as a heresy from Christian faith at the 1982 meeting at Ottawa. Essays by Boesak, Chris Loff, David Bosch, Tutu, Simon Maimela, Villa-Vicencio, De Gruchy, Willem Vorster, Douglas Bax. Also presents documents from the South African churches. Examines apartheid as heresy in the sense of unorthodoxy, in current anthropological thought, in its ecclesiological sense, and on biblical grounds.
263. Donders, Joseph G. Non-Bourgeois Theology. An African Experience of Jesus. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1985.
A survey of current African theological movements for a North American audience.
264. Dubb, Alice A. and A. G. Schutte, eds. Black Religion in South Africa. Johannesburg: Witwatersand University, 1974.
Not seen.
265. Du Boulay, Shirley. Tutu. Voice of the Voiceless. Grand Rapids, MI: W.B. Eerdmans, 1988.
A biography based on Tutu’s writings, letters, interviews, newspaper reports, speeches, and the work of other South African religious leaders. Includes a brief bibliography.
266. Goba, Bonganjalo. An Agenda for Black Theology in South Africa. Hermeneutics for Social Change. Johannesburg: Skotaville, 1988.
Not seen.
267. Hope, Marjorie, and James Young. The South African Churches in a Revolutionary Situation. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1983.
Examines the role of all the South African churches today and devotes a good deal of attention to the Catholic church there. Catholicism entered South Africa as a minority religion, pushed off to the margins. This, and its linguistic and anthropological methods of evangelization, brought it success among the oppressed blacks and gave root to the creation of an indigenous leadership. Not part of the ruling establishment that created apartheid, it thus has an easier time colliding with it.
The Catholic church thus maintained school integration after the Bantu Education Act of 1953 prohibited it, and it continued its policy after the Group Areas Act of 1960. Catholic bishops’ condemnations of apartheid first appeared in 1948 and were repeated in 1952, 1957, and 1960, when the hierarchy urged the Catholic laity to obey God’s law above human law. On the parish level, however, Catholics have been more hesitant to break with their neighbors; but strong leadership, especially that of Archbishop Denis Hurley of Durban, has begun to change attitudes. In 1976 the bishops’ announcement that they would integrate the Catholic schools despite the law saw lay and government opposition collapse. Catholics polled were 85% in favor of integration.
Within the church itself, however, things have been slower to change, as few blacks have won high positions. In 1977, however, the bishops vowed to speed up this process.
Another of the church’s most significant acts has been to urge the provision of a conscientious objector status for the military. This would, in effect, allow the young Catholic to refuse the military service that defends apartheid. The church has, significantly, thus put itself behind a nonviolent revolution among South African whites. Questions remain, however: what has the church’s effect been among blacks? Can nonviolence, a word looked on with scorn in South Africa today, win the race against apartheid’s increasing oppression, and against the counterviolence of the oppressed?
268. Hopkins, Dwight N. Black Theology USA and South Africa. Politics, Culture, and Liberation. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1990.
Traces the roots of black theology in the black power and black consciousness movements and makes an essential link between black culture and black theology in both the U.S. and South Africa as essentially deriving from the biblical messages of liberation. At the core of Hopkins’ liberation theology is a “holistic humanity” – the insight that salvation and liberation are one: that freedom from slavery and oppression is also a liberation from sin and that one must involve the other, that the inner person cannot be removed from the outer, that culture, politics, and religion are all aspects of a single world, creation, and revelation.
This is an excellent work, based on exhaustive reading, analysis, and interviews with the leading black theologians on both sides of the Atlantic. Part 1 deals with the historical contexts of black theology in both the U.S. and South Africa, including the civil rights and black power movements, and civil disobedience and black consciousness movements in South Africa. Part 2 surveys black theology in the U.S., including the thought of Cleage, Cone, Deotis Roberts, William Jones, Wilmour, Long, Cecil Cone, and Harding on politics, culture, and theology. Part 3 examines black theology in South Africa, including a survey of the work of the black consciousness movement, of Buthelezi, Boesak, Maimela, Chikane, Goba, Mosala, Mofokeng, and Tutu. Part 4 discusses the dialog between the two forms, both through printed influence, and in direct dialog among the leading thinkers. It then goes on to draw some implications for the future. Extensive and excellent bibliography.
269. Kairos Theologians. The Kairos Document. Challenge to the Church. Stony Point, NY: Theology Global Context, 1985; Grand Rapids, MI: W.B. Eerdmans, 1986.
The text of the document. In the words of its preface, the document “is a Christian, biblical, and theological comment on the political crisis in South Africa today.” It emerged from the people of Soweto and South Africa themselves in the midst of pre-revolutionary crisis. It includes a critique of state theology: the national security reading of Romans 13:1-7, a critique of church theology, that is, from the white, European, colonial churches that have underpinned apartheid, including their ideas of reconciliation, justice and nonviolence; and the progress toward a prophetic theology based on the liberation texts of the Bible and the reality of oppression in South Africa. The document concludes with a call to action.
270. Kameeta, Zephania. Why, O Lord? Psalms and Sermons from Namibia. Geneva: World Council of Churches; Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1986.
Meditations and prayers on apartheid, oppression and liberation in the form of reworked psalms from this Lutheran minister. Apartheid has long enjoyed the bolster of South African churches’ strict adherence to Romans 13: the obedience to secular authority stressed in Reform churches. Now, however, religion is being confronted by the need to address oppression. Texts include a song of questioning God over the present state of injustice, the role of the mission as an act of liberation and cooperation with ongoing creation, and a black theology of liberation as a potent and threatening combination. Other texts include an examination of the Magnificat (Luke 1:46-55), a Christmas meditation on Isaiah 9:2-6, and Zechariah’s prophesy in Luke 1:68-79.
271. Kleinschmidt, H. White Liberation. A Collection of Essays. Johannesburg: Ravan Press, 1972.
Essays by Clive Nettleton, J. Metz Rollins, Jr., Larry C. Coppard and Barbara J. Steinwachs, by John Krige and Rick Turner. The central theme of the collection is that now that blacks have decided to take liberation into their own hands, with their own organizations, whites must now turn toward themselves and uproot their own structures of oppression. Includes discussions of the role of religion in this liberation.
272. Kretzschmar, Louise. The Voice of Black Theology in South Africa. Johannesburg: Ravan Press, 1986.
Chapters include discussion on the rise of South African black theology from both African, European and American roots, the Africanization of Christianity, the African Independent Churches, the relationship between black theology and black consciousness movements, black liberation and black theology and white theological responses to both apartheid and black theology. Good bibliography, containing many articles on the topic.
273. Logan, Willis H., ed. The Kairos Covenant. Standing With South African Christians. Oak Park, IL: Meyer Stone Books, 1988.
Part 1 includes the text of the Kairos Document, along with a collection of essays on the meaning and importance of the document and the covenant that has grown out of it.
Part 2 is a series of essays on each section of the document. Writers include Frank Chikane, Karen Bloomquist, Sheila Briggs, Malusi Mpumlwana, Cornel West, Albert Pero, and Harold Washington. Each section of essays concludes with a Bible study by Thomas Hoyt, Jr. The book concludes with the Kairos Covenant by U.S. Christians, discussion guides, and a listing of anti-apartheid organizations in the U.S. See also 269.
274. Mayson, Cedric. A Certain Sound. The Struggle for Liberation in Southern Africa. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1985.
An autobiographical reflection on the role of the Christian minister in speaking up and acting against injustice and oppression.
275. Motlhabi, M. Essays on Black Theology. Johannesburg: University Christian Movement, 1972.
This is the original version of Basil Moore, ed. Black Theology. The South African Voice, 1973. See 276.
276. Moore, Basil. Black Theology. The South African Voice. London: C. Hurst, 1974.
Includes essays by Adam Small, Manas Buthelezi, Steve Biko, James Cone, Nyameko Pityana, Sabelo Ntwasa, Mokgethi Motlhabi, Ananias Mpunzi (on “Black Theology as Liberation Theology,” pp. 130-40). Topics include defining a black theology, African vs. black theology, black consciousness, black theology and black liberation, African Christianity, the church in black theology, training ministers, and the theological ground for an ethic of hope.
277. —. The Challenge of Black Theology in South Africa. Atlanta, GA: John Knox Press, 1974.
The U.S. edition of the preceding.
278. Mosala, Itumeleng J. Biblical Hermeneutics and Black Theology in South Africa. Grand Rapids, MI: W.B. Eerdmans, 1989.
Part 1 discusses the use of the Bible in black theology and the varying hermeneutics of oppressors and exploiters and social-scientific approaches to the Bible. Part 2 discusses the experience of blacks in South Africa as the starting point of a new exegesis. Part 3 is devoted to “materialist” readings of Micah and Luke 1 and 2; and the black hermeneutical appropriation of praxis in Luke 1 and 2.
279. —. and Buti Tlhagale, eds. Hammering Swords into Plowshares. Essays in Honor of Archbishop Mpilo Desmond Tutu. Trenton, NJ: Africa World Press; Grand Rapids, MI: W.B. Eerdmans, 1987.
This is a collection of essays by over two dozen leading South African theologians who seek to spell out clearly the nonviolence of this fighter for black liberation against his maligners. Themes addressed include personal tributes, theological tributes, African theology, prophetic theology, the struggle in South Africa, and black theology in South Africa.
280. —. The Unquestionable Right to Be Free. Essays in Black Theology. Johannesburg: Skotaville; Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1986.
A collection of essays by black South African theologians on the relationship of African theology to U.S. black theology, to liberation theology, feminist theology and on the need to find a common ground for all struggling for liberation.
281. Motlhabi, Mokgothi, ed. Essays on Black Theology. Johannesburg: UCM, 1972.
Not seen.
282. Nolan, Albert, O.P. God in South Africa. The Challenge of the Gospel. Cape Town: D. Philip; Grand Rapids, MI: W.B. Eerdmans, 1988.
Nolan is a noted theologian in South Africa and a major force behind the drafting of the Kairos Document (see 269). Religion is central to South African life; and preaching the Gospel in South Africa has never been neutral. When the church therefore legitimizes change, that change becomes possible. This book is an attempt to preach a gospel of liberation to spur that change. Topics include the nature of the Gospel, sin in the Bible, a crucified people, unmasking apartheid, sin and guilt in South Africa, salvation in the Bible, signs of hope, the struggle for liberation, the good news of salvation, the challenge to, and the role of, the church.
283. —. Jesus Before Christianity. The Gospel of Liberation London: Darton, Longman & Todd, 1977; Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1978.
Jesus as the prophet for the poor and the outcast. Chapters include new perspectives on Jesus, prophesy in John the Baptist, the poor and oppressed in Jesus’ time, Jesus’ work of healing and forgiveness, the kingdom of God, solidarity, prestige and power, and politics and religion. Nolan also examines the cleansing of the Temple, the temptation to violence, the role of suffering and death, and the trial of Jesus. Faith in Jesus is a revelation of what God means to us and who our God is. Nolan insists that we must deduce all that we know about God from Jesus and not vice-versa.
284. —. The Service of the Poor and Spiritual Growth. London: Catholic Institute for International Relations, 1985.
Not seen.
285. —. Taking Sides. London: Catholic Truth Society, 1985.
Not seen.
286. —, and R. Broderick. To Nourish Our Faith. Theology of Liberation for Southern Africa. Santa Barbara, CA: Cornerstone, 1987.
Not seen.
287. Paton, Alan. Apartheid and the Archbishop. New York: Charles Scribner’s, 1973.
The subtitle reads The Life and Times of Geoffrey Clayton, Archbishop of Cape Town. Paton is probably South Africa’s best-known novelist; and his fiction has long dealt with the full humanity of both black and white Africans.
288. Regehr, Ernie. Perceptions of Apartheid. The Churches and Political Change in South Africa. Scottsdale, PA: Herald Press; Kitchener, ONT: Between the Lines, 1979.
Outlines events and attitudes of the churches toward South African society and the state, with some attention to the Catholic church. While the church is not as actively opposed to injustice as in Latin America, it did begin to voice its protests as early as the 1950s, and in response to black pressures it began to speak out against bannings, restrictions, pass laws, and eventually for the nonviolent overthrow of the apartheid system itself. Despite this, the church still has much progress to make in a very short time. In a church overwhelmingly black, blacks still represent only a small minority of the church hierarchy.
289. Tutu, Desmond B. Crying in the Wilderness. Grand Rapids, MI: W.B. Eerdmans, 1982.
Tutu is the Nobel Peace Prize winner for 1986, the archbishop of Cape Town and hence primate of the Anglican church of South Africa. He is and has been for two decades a leading voice in the nonviolent struggle against apartheid and a champion for Nelson Mandela and the other prisoners of conscience in South Africa. This is a collection of his writings. Part 1 focuses on the emerging church, on Jesus, the church and the world, politics and religion, the theology of liberation. Part 2 discusses the struggle for justice in South Africa; Part 3 individuals and current events; Part 4 the certainty of freedom; and Part 5 the challenge of the 1980s.
290. —. Hope and Suffering. Sermons and Speeches. Grand Rapids, MI: W.B. Eerdmans; Johannesburg: Skotaville; London: Collins, 1983.
Essays on several themes. Part 1 discusses South Africa and the seamless garment of politics and religion; Part 2 liberation as a biblical theme; Part 3 current concerns; and Part 4 the divine intention for South Africa and all its people.
291. —. The Nobel Peace Prize Lecture. New York: Anson Phelps Stokes Institute, 1986.
The themes of oppression and liberation through nonviolence in South Africa.
292. —. The Words of Desmond Tutu. Naomi Tutu, compiler. New York: Newmarket Press, 1989.
Tutu’s writings on a variety of topics, including faith and responsibility, apartheid, violence and nonviolence, the family, the community both black and white, and his hopes for a new South Africa. Also included is the text of his Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech.
293. Villa-Vicencio, Charles. On Reading Karl Barth in South Africa. Grand Rapids, MI: W.B. Eerdmans, 1988.
Not seen.
294. —. Theology and Violence. The South African Debate. Grand Rapids, MI: W.B. Eerdmans, 1988.
Essays by Cuthbertson, Durand and Smit, Boesak and others on the issue of violence in South Africa history; by Tutu, Tlhagale and Mpumlwana on the present context; whether violence is seen as terrorism or legitimate counter-force; and by Bax, Mosala, Mosothoane, Dwane, De Gruchy on the traditions of violence and nonviolence from the Old Testament prophets to the early church and the Anabaptists. Essays by Petersen, Nolan and Armour, Villa-Vicencio, Ackerman, Duncan and Law, Lund, and Winkler also address the contemporary debate, including the various religious traditions’ attitudes toward armed revolution. Paul Germond’s presents “Liberation Theology: Theology in the Service of Justice” (pp. 215-32). A concluding essay by Frank Chikane seems to dismiss the entire validity of the book by dismissing the entire debate: violence is the condition in which South African blacks unwillingly find themselves; there is no other choice but to resort to it.
295. —. Trapped in Apartheid. A Socio-Theological History of the English-Speaking Churches in South Africa. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1989.
Even those supposedly “anti-apartheid” churches must face up to their own histories and practices of elitism, racism, and paternalism if they are to become truly liberating vehicles. Good background.
296. —, ed. Between Christ and Caesar. Classic and Contemporary Texts on Church and State. Cape Town: David Philip; Grand Rapids, MI: W.B. Eerdmans, 1986.
A collection of readings with the editor’s introductions. Part 1 covers the classical period from the early church through the medieval, Reformation and radical Protestant texts. Part 2 treats the contemporary world from the crisis of the Third Reich, the Barmen Declaration, Barth, Bonhoeffer, Vatican II, Medellin, the U.S. black church, the African church, and the eastern Orthodox church under persecution and in cooperation. Part 3 highlights South Africa from 1914 to the present. Included are statements by the South African Council of Churches, Boesak, Tutu, the Kairos Document, and the South African Catholic bishops. An excellent collection from the viewpoint of South African liberation theology.
297. —, and John W. De Gruchy, eds. Resistance and Hope. South African Essays in Honor of Beyers Naudé. Grand Rapids, MI: W.B. Eerdmans, 1985.
Not seen.
298. Voices From the Third World.
Not seen.
299. Walshe, Peter. Church vs. State in South Africa. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1983.
Despite its open condemnations of apartheid in 1957, 1960, and 1962, the Catholic church has a long, slow way to go in living up to its words. Only in 1973 were its own seminaries integrated, and Archbishop Denis Hurley has had to face the criticism of his own colleagues, clergy, and laity for his opposition to apartheid. Despite this, Hurley has called on fellow Catholics to join him in a nonviolent revolution to overthrow the South African system. This and other pressures, including the Soweto Massacre, have spurred the hierarchy to admit its own failure to pursue peace and justice actively enough and to commit itself to the poor and the oppressed, to ally with the black consciousness movement, and to call for true conversion. Despite these moves, however, time continues to run out in South Africa.
300. Wallis, Jim, Joyce Hollyday and others. “The Church Confronts Apartheid.” Sojourners 17, 8 (1988) Special Issue. Reissued, Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1990.
A collection of essays and interviews by and with Wallis, Hollyday, Boesak, Tutu, Chikane, Villa-Vicencio, among others.
301. West, Martin. Bishops and Prophets in a Black City. African Independent Churches in Soweto, Johannesburg. Cape Town: David Philip, 1975.
An analysis and survey of the nearly 3,000 independent black churches and their role on the prophetic mission to call for justice and decry the oppression of their people. Describes many of the beliefs and practices of the churches as well.
302. Wink, Walter. Violence and Nonviolence in South Africa. Jesus’ Third Way. Philadelphia: New Society Publishers and Fellowship of Reconciliation, 1988.
On first encounter this seems like the worst scenario of “liberation” theology: a North American, white, middle-class academic preaching to the people of South Africa to refrain from violence as a means of overcoming their oppression. Wink frankly admits the dangers of his endeavor, and with those caveats his analysis of both violence and nonviolence from ethical, theological and pragmatic approaches is deep and thought-provoking.
Wink clearly holds that neither structural nor spiritual change alone in South Africa will bring about any real change: the approach must be integral. Nor are the extreme opposites of passive obedience and violent revolution likely to bring about any change. Wink makes it very clear that neither is Jesus’ way; instead he offers Jesus’ “third way,” of nonviolent, militant revolution.
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