Documenting Christianity's Complex History in South Africa (Review Article)

CHRISTIANITY AND THE COLONISATION OF SOUTH AFRICA: A Documentary History Volume 1, by Charles Villa-Vicencio and Peter Grassow (Pretoria: UNISA Press, 2009), Pb, xvii + 360pp; ISBN 978-1-86888-399-8.

CHRISTIANITY AND THE MODERNISATION OF SOUTH AFRICA: A Documentary History Volume 2, by John de Gruchy (Pretoria: UNISA Press, 2009), Pb, xix + 388pp; ISBN 978-1-86888-440-7.

Twenty years ago, as a Master’s student in History at the University of Cape Town, I was recruited by John de Gruchy and Charles Villa-Vicencio to find and collect documents on the history of Christianity in South Africa. It was part of a project they had started with a range of graduate students, all the rest of whom were in Religious Studies, to set up a comprehensive data base on church-state relations, the foundation for what became the Research Institute for Christianity in Southern Africa (RICSA).

Already a candidate for the Jesuits, I did my job assigned, sending back a few trees worth of photocopies from a number of South African archives, finished by own thesis (not directly related to what they were doing) and packed my bags for the novitiate in Birmingham. I never forgot that time and the great friendships I developed with fellow academics and graduate students, but only now do I see the fruits of all our labours.

I say this to make it clear to the reader that though I have absolutely no direct connection with the results of that project I write from a certain instinctual, even emotional bias. Though I have no direct role in these books’ production I have a certain connection to their sources. This, though this may not suggest strict objectivity, is not uncommon in the academic world, however. Scholars know each other, argue with each other, share biases, read and review each others’ books. Scholars are human. Welcome to the real world.

Having noted my emotional biases, let me say that – for what it’s worth – these are two very important books that make a considerable contribution to the scholarly understanding of the history of Christianity in South Africa. Not necessarily because they offer new insights, let me add, but because they are an excellent resource, particularly for students who want a taste of the richness of what archival sources and obscure church publications offer in the study of South African church history.

Though their content and themes occasionally overlap, these two volumes are divided into two broad epochs: colonisation of South Africa (1487-1883) and its modernisation (1867-1936). They are almost identical in format – short histories (roughly 140-180 pages) written by the author-editors in which they refer extensively to the second parts, the documents that form the bulk of each book (roughly 200-250 pages). The approach the authors take is thoroughly ecumenical, moving between Christian traditions that had an impact on the South African political economy: Dutch Reformed, Moravian, Anglican, Methodist, Catholic, African Initiated – all get mentioned in the study.

What is striking about these volumes is the way in which the authors never simply give an account of a church’s development in isolation. These are not denominational histories writ ecumenically, but accounts of how the establishment and growth of these churches reflected and sometimes impacted upon political, social and economic events in wider South Africa. Thus for example the growth of Anglicanism is seen in relation to changing political power in the 19th century – the colonisation of the Cape by Britain, the tensions between Boer and Brit (symbolised in attempted toenadering between Anglican and Reformed churches) and the different understandings of race, assimilation and segregation among white colonists.

Similarly the authors highlight how the churches had an impact (for good and ill) on the many social and cultural forces that formed modern South Africa: the expanding frontier, the assimilation and subjugation of African communities, the struggle over land itself, the mineral revolution caused by the discovery of gold and diamonds, the wars between British and Boer states, culminating in the Anglo Boer War and its aftermath – the creation of a segregationist, white-ruled Union of South Africa. The 20th century, which culminates in volume 2 in 1936, shows too how Christianity contributed to the ideologies of both Afrikaner and African nationalism, and how the churches were deeply divided over segregation, racism and the emergence of both capitalism and an organised working class.

Within the broad sweep there are also numerous accounts of shifts in Christianity itself . The ambivalence of Africans to Christianity – which was after all part of the colonial project – gave rise to both a ‘loyal elite’ of Africans and (among the same group) the leadership that would create an African nationalist movement. Within the churches this ambivalence was shown in the emergence of African Initiated Churches and in disputes over understandings of Christianity, many of which – like inculturation of indigenous culture in the faith, critical biblical scholarship, and religious syncretism – are still a source of theological debate (at times even acrimony) today, both here in South Africa and throughout the world. The way in which the authors sum up these themes and events in their narratives is nothing short of masterful in their brevity.

Most impressive of all, and what makes these such important books, is the selection of documents. As one of about ten researchers who collected material all those years ago, I know how much was collected. To make a viable selection, to get a balance between themes and denominations, to translate texts from French, German, Dutch, Afrikaans and local African languages, often from photocopies of handwritten manuscripts, must have been a truly mammoth task. But the task has paid a marvellous dividend.

We have here letters of archbishops, dominees, missionaries and government officials; manifestoes of Afrikaner and African nationalists; travel journals and theological disputes; editorials and articles from Catholic, Reformed, Anglican and Methodist newspapers; government proclamations and synodal statements. These are the ‘living words’ of history placed at our disposal for scrutiny and reflection.

Maybe, as I reflected, I am a little biased, but I think this is potentially two of the most important books to come out in recent South African church history. No university or seminary library in the world should be without them, nor should anyone who considers themselves a historian of South Africa be without them.

It is worth mentioning too that these are publications in UNISA Press’ “Hidden Histories” series, a project aimed at publishing aspects of our history that may get overlooked in the big mass-market histories that we see. The Press is to be praised for this enterprise.

I hope that there is a third volume to follow these two, covering the period from 1936 to 1994 perhaps. And the sooner the better. I don’t want to review the volume when I am 63!