Beyond Western Ways: A White Afrikaner's Journey in African Initiated Christianity (Review Article)

All Things Hold Together: Holistic Theologies at the African Grassroots. Selected essays by M L Daneel; Pretoria: Unisa Press, 2007; Pb. xvi+408 pp; ISBN 1-86888-429-5.

Martinus (“Inus” to friends and colleagues) Daneel’s life as a theologian has led him from his conservative Dutch Reformed roots into a deep and profound engagement with the theology and spirituality of African Initiated Churches (AICs, sometimes called in earlier literature African Independent Churches), particularly the AICs of Zimbabwe, where Daneel has lived and worked for decades. Indeed his work has led to him being made “Bishop Moses” by one group of Zimbabwean Zionists,

and he has gained wide renown and respect among ecologists for helping to develop ‘earthkeeping’ projects in collaboration with leaders of a number of AICs.

This book is a collection of Daneel’s (mainly) academic writings – I say mainly because there is included a section from Guerilla Snuff [1], a novel (written psuedonymously) about the complex and risky experience of AICs in the Chimurenga, the Zimbabwean guerrilla war. Daneel’s articles trace the history and development of AICs and their theologies, of salvation and healing, creation and ecology, and of ecumenism. On the latter he explores their complex relationship with both modern western Pentecostalism and African traditional religions. Central to this is his view of AICs as a particularly African interpretation of the Christianity brought to them by the missionaries.

As one who started off solidly within the Calvinist tradition and with a deep concern for mission, Daneel has found himself constantly having to acknowledge his own worldview as he has delved into this new tradition. Missiologists (and anthropologists for that matter) can often miss the nuances of AI Christianity; the trick is to try to understand such faiths from inside, while acknowledging that one is in some sense still an ‘outsider’. One sees in many of these essays, one of which goes back to 1974, Daneel’s own evolution in understanding and true empathy for those he has studied. The degree to which he has managed to become an ‘insider’ can be seen in his adoption as a bishop in the Ndaza (Holy Chord) Zionist Church.

Daneel challenges many assumptions (or more bluntly prejudices) made by western churches of the AICs. The prophets of these churches have often been caricatured by westerners are ‘living gods’ to their members. Not so, replies Daneel. From his research in southern Africa, such ‘divine men’ are a product of fertile western imaginations – what one can say is that the prophets have the same elevated spiritual status as westerners often give to their church leaders, whether charisamatic pastors or popes. They are not divine in themselves, but are seen as mediators of the divine to believers, with considerable personal authority.

The author also highlights tensions between AICs and the western-founded churches [2] as well as between different AICs. Classical ecumenism has been difficult with western churches, though some steps have been made in eciumenical ventures in theological education and cooperation over ecology, another central theme of Daneel’s writings. The ‘African Earthkeepers’ project [3] in which Daneel himself was involved has become an important dimension of ecumenical Christian activism among AICs in Zimbabwe – and has often been cited by Christian ecologists as an example of how the churches can contribute to ‘greening’ the planet.

Healing is a central theme in AIC worship and spirituality, as Daneel and many others have noted. Closely tied to healing is the question of evil spirits (often seen as the source of sickness), witchcraft and exorcism (often tied – dramatically – to baptismal rites [4]). Here too we see the ties and tensions with African tradition religion where spirit possession often plays a part.

In an Afterword, Allan Anderson – profession of mission at Birmingham University, a former student of Daneel’s, and no mean scholar of African and Pentecostal Christianity himself [5] – pays tribute to Daneel and considers his contribution to theological study. He sees Daneel’s ‘thick descriptions’ of AICs as an excellent way of expressing their theologies – which are seldom clearly systematised. His “supreme contribution is that he has made available to the wider world the creative and practical ways in which AICs in Zimbabwe” have created a truly inculturated Christianity (p. 388).

This book is powerful testimony to the success of Daneel’s academic project. By bringing a range of his papers together we too are offered the opportunity to look into a religious world that is seldom prominent but nonetheless a dynamic new dimension to (post)modern Christianity, one that those of us outside this tradition seldom know, nor understand, but see regularly at weekends as we drive (perhaps to our western-style churches) past open-air gatherings of people wearing smart white or blue uniforms.

NOTES AND REFERENCES:
[1] Mafuranhunzi Gumbo, Guerilla Snuff (Harare: Baobab Books, 1995).
[2] The old term ‘mainline churches’ is problematic today. AICs and Pentecostalism has grown dramatically in southern Africa. Today, for example, the largest single church in South Africa is the Zion Christian Church (ZCC) followed by the Catholic Church. AIC/Pentecostals are growing; some scholars are suggesting that for southern Africa they are now (or will soon be) the ‘mainline.’
[3] See: M.L. Daneel, African Earthkeepers: Interfaith Mission in Earth Care Vols 1 & 2 (Pretoria: Unisa Press, 1998, 2000).
[4] This should not surprise Catholics here. Minor exorcism is a part of the baptism rite too.
[5]. See, inter alia: Allan H Anderson, Spreading Fires:The Missionary Nature of Early Pentecostalism (London:SCM,2007); An Introduction to Pentecostalism (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,2004); African Reformation: African Initiated Christianity in the 20th Century (Trenton, NJ: Africa World Press,2001), etc etc...