Christianity in South Africa: A Political, Social, and Cultural HistoryRichard Elphick, Rodney Davenport, T. R. H. Davenport Christianity, the faith of almost three-quarters of the diverse South African population, has long been pushed to the margins of historical writing on South Africa, yet for more than two centuries it has shaped South African society and its diverse subcultures. This tightly constructed and vigorously written book--a collaboration of thirty specialists working in seven countries--situates Christianity for the first time in the broad political, social, and economic context of South African history; it also traces a variety of religious movements and their histories both before and during apartheid. Perhaps nowhere in the African continent is the study of Christianity as fascinating, complex, or contentious as in South Africa. In the twentieth century South Africans have used Christian doctrine both to justify and to oppose doctrines of racial segregation, and Christian leadership provided much of the impetus for the founding of the African National Congress in 1912. But the history of South African Christianity is found for the most part in local, or "micro" narratives, while the highly elaborated "macro" narratives of colonialism, capitalism, and liberation--the backbone of the conventional histories of South Africa--assign Christianity a marginal role, or no role at all. This volume seeks to insert the Christian micro-narratives into the macro-narratives of South African history, providing for the first time an in-depth, cohesive look at Christianity in South Africa. |
Contents
Christianity in South African History | 1 |
THE TRANSPLANTING OF CHRISTIANITY | 16 |
Early Missions in the Cape Colony | 31 |
The Churches | 51 |
Christian Beginnings Among the Xhosa | 68 |
Christian Beginnings among Zulu | 89 |
Monarchs and Missionaries among the Tswana and Sotho | 107 |
The Spread of Christianity among Whites and Blacks in Transorangia | 121 |
The Pentecostals | 227 |
CHRISTIANITY IN SOUTH AFRICAN SUBCULTURES | 242 |
Conversion Slavery and Gender in | 268 |
Christianity among Indian South | 286 |
A Christian Music in the Western Tradition | 316 |
CHRISTIANITY POWER AND RACE | 337 |
South African Theology since 1948 | 370 |
The Prophetic Voice within | 383 |
Common terms and phrases
African Christian African Initiated Churches AICs American Anglican apartheid Bantu baptism became Bible Bishop Black theology Boer British Cape Colony Cape Town Catholic Church Christ Church in South clergy Coloured Conference congregations converts culture David Philip denominations Durban Dutch Reformed Church early eastern Cape English English-speaking churches established Ethiopian European evangelical evangelists faith founded frontier German groups Hermannsburg History Holy hymns Ibid Indian indigenous Jews Johannesburg John Journal Kat River Kerk Khoikhoi Khoisan labour later leaders liberation London Lovedale manyano Methodist minister mission stations Missionary Society Moravian movement Muslim Natal National Native nineteenth century Ntsikana organizations pastors Pentecostal Pietermaritzburg political preaching Presbyterian Pretoria prophetic Protestant racial religion religious schools settlers sionaries slaves Social Gospel Sotho South Africa Southern Africa spiritual struggle synod tion traditional Transorangia Transvaal Tswana University Press Wesleyan women worship Xhosa Zion Zionist Zulu