Browsing by Subject "Church and state - South Africa"

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    An analysis of the socio-political role of the Roman Catholic Church in contemporary South Africa
    (1991) Law, Lois; Goldberg, Melvin
    This study attempts an analysis of the form and content of the opposition of the Roman Catholic Church in South Africa to the policy and practice of apartheid during the period 1948-1989. It is argued that the divisions, tensions and contradictions of the Catholic Church reflect the socially divided character of the broader society. It is suggested that some of the policies, teachings and social practice of the South African Catholic Church serve to reproduce and reinforce the existing societal relations of domination, thus contributing to the hegemony of the dominant social group, while others undermine the same and point toward a transformation of social relations in a democratic society. In some instances the Church has contributed to the nascent hegemony of the dominated group. Literature focusing on the Catholic Church during times of social upheaval is reviewed. Recent analyses of the role of the Christian Churches in apartheid South Africa are considered. Various approaches to the Sociology of Religion are discussed and the relevance of a contextual approach to the analysis of the Church is argued. Gramsci's concept of hegemony as a tool of political analysis is discussed. A brief .historical overview of the Catholic Church in South Africa is given. It is contended that the Catholic Church in South Africa must be understood in terms of its colonial, missionary and racist history. An ecclesiological overview of the Roman Catholic Church in terms of its - history, traditions, organization, authority structures, governing procedures and beliefs is sketched. The ·social Teaching' of the Catholic Church during the twentieth century is outlined. The importance of the Second Vatican Council, the emergence of the Theology of Liberation and the increasing centrality of social justice in Church teachings is discussed. The implications of these developments for the pastoral practice of the Church is emphasized. The response of the Catholic Church to the introduction and implementation of 'separate development' is considered. Content analysis is used as a research method. The study therefore falls within the realm of hermeneutic or interpretative sociology. The gradual transition from an attitude of paternalism to committed involvement in the anti-apartheid struggle is traced. The Catholic Church's response to the Bantu Education Act, which was the primary focus of its opposition to apartheid in the 1950's, is evaluated. The challenge of the Black Consciousness movement is acknowledged. It is argued that the realities of apartheid society have had a profound impact on the Church, severely compromising its unity. The related processes of reform, repression and resistance are examined. It emerges that while the Church's championship of human rights has been unequivocal, its support for some of the strategies employed in the struggle against apartheid has been more tentative. It is argued that the Catholic Church's participation in the anti-apartheid struggle has facilitated a growth in ecumenism and increased contact with secular organizations. The Catholic Church has become part of a broad anti- apartheid alliance. It is suggested that while there have been important changes in the Church's self-understanding and perception of its role in, and pastoral mission to, society, these changes have been uneven and ambiguous. They have not been reflected throughout the Church and have underlined the divisions within the Church. There has been considerable reluctance on the part of many white Catholics to endorse the anti-apartheid stance of the hierarchy. However, the S.A.C.B.C.'s commitment to social justice is in tune with modern Catholic social teaching. Finally, it is argued that the Catholic Church has challenged white domination and undermined the hegemony of apartheid in South African society.
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    The confrontation between the Archbishop of Cape Town, Joost de Blank, and the South African government on racial policies, 1957-1963
    (1978) Paine, Victor C; De Gruchy, John W
    This study arises partly out of a pre-occupation with a period covering six impressionable years of my life - the final year at school, university days and the commencement of a teaching career; and partly from a reading of Alan Paton's Apartheid and the Archbishop which in covering the political aspects of Geoffrey Clayton's archbishopric inspired me to attempt the same for the term of Joost de Blank. The racial legislation passed since 1948 is discussed at the outset as it is the backdrop against which the whole Confrontation must be viewed. The reader might stagger under the sheer weight of detail but this is my intention since it facilitates an identification with de Blank who was overwhelmed by a plethora of legislative acts. The Anglican background to the period under discussion is of moment in that it reveals how de Blank became embroiled in a Church-State relationship which had gradually, yet perceptibly, deteriorated. Much of the material here is based on my own study of Synodal Resolutions and the Charges of Geoffrey Clayton. The biographical chapters provide the reader with the necessary factual background and, at the same time, make an independent judgement possible. de Blank's theological insights detected in the works written before his Enthronement furnish the categories into which the Confrontation naturally falls. This must be stressed because it is my conviction that de Blank's attack on apartheid represents not a departure from, but an extension of his earlier views, In conclusion, the Assessment examines the achievement of the Archbishop largely, but not exclusively, in the light of his own theological criteria.
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    A contextual history of Christian institutional involvement in legal assistance to the victims of apartheid, 1960-1982
    (1988) Klaaren, Jonathan Eugene; Villa-Vicencio, Charles
    The perspective of this dissertation is one grounded in taking an option for the poor and the oppressed in the South African context. Ultimately, this perspective is a theological belief. The perspective is thus that of an explicit choice against apartheid and for social justice. This choice is made on the basis of a social analysis of the South African context. The attempt to write this dissertation from the perspective of the poor and the oppressed is unlikely to succeed completely. As a privileged white, the perspective of the author cannot be fully identified with that of the poor and the oppressed in South Africa. Nonetheless, the attempt is made to write this dissertation from a liberating perspective.
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    The divided roots of Lutheranism in South Africa : a critical overview of the social history of the German-speaking Lutheran missions and the churches originating from their work in South Africa
    (1989) Winkler, Harald E; Villa-Vicencio, Charles
    This study defends the thesis that the present social location of the Lutheran churches can be explained by examining the history of their internal divisions and their relation to broader struggles in society. The history of the Lutheran missions and churches is considered in relation to the political and socio-economic dimensions of South African history. Church history is conceived as an internal struggle between a dominant and an alternative theology (and their respective ecclesial bases), which affects the participation of the churches in broader social struggles. The development of the churches is divided into three periods, corresponding to the growing independence of the black churches from the mission societies. The thesis is examined by extensive reference to primary and secondary sources on the Lutheran church. Interviews with key informants from the various missions and churches provide additional information. The broader field of church historiography, as well as theoretical writings on church history are considered. The analytical aim of the thesis is to show how· the struggles internal to the Lutheran churches - including struggles around theological issues - have affected their ability to participate in the broader struggle for liberation in South Africa. In addition to this analytical aim, the thesis provides a narrative history of Lutheranism in South Africa. The findings of the thesis are that white Lutherans have been the dominant group in the Lutheran churches throughout their history in South Africa. White Lutherans produced the dominant theology of all the Lutheran churches for most of the history of Lutheranism in South Africa. This dominance of German-Lutheran theology was established in the missionary period. The social base of the missions was the German farming community. This community broadly formed part of the ruling classes of colonial society, and its interests converged at many points with colonialism. Lutherans were not allied to the dominant colonial power, the British, but from the end of the nineteenth century to the Boers. Their theological self-understanding as Lutherans, with their specific missiology, ecclesiology and doctrines (e.g. the Two Kingdoms Doctrine) gave them an identity distinct from others in the ruling bloc. This theology was the dominant theology of all Lutheran churches, black and white. This theological self-understanding, however, gave them only limited autonomy. They conformed to dominant values by dividing along racial lines. This dominant ecclesiology had its effect beyond the missionary period, and resulted in the separate development of black and white Lutheran churches. Although the black churches gained more independence through the formation of synods and later regional churches, they have internalized to some degree the dominant theology taught by the missionaries. The internal divisions within Lutheranism have continued to prevent effective engagement in external struggles for justice. Yet in the course of struggles for unity and a more effective political witness, an alternative Lutheran theology and ecclesiology has emerged, mainly among young black pastors and church members, but also among some white Lutherans. It is among these people that a Lutheran tradition of resistance to apartheid in church and society can be discovered. It is here that the hope of the church is found.
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    The Mixed Marriages Act (1949) : a theological critique based on the investigation of legislative action and church responses to this legislation
    (1985) Furlong, Patrick Jonathan; Webb, Colin de B; Villa-Vicencio, Charles
    The thesis is concerned with the nature of the interaction between church and state, and more generally between politics and religion, in the matter of so-called mixed marriages, and more particularly the debate surrounding the South African Mixed Marriages Act of 1949. The methodology of the study is interdisciplinary, dealing in detail with historical material as a basis for theological reflection and analysis. In the first chapter, marriage is dealt with generally from a theological viewpoint. Various approaches to marriage are considered, such as those in African society, the Bible, and in the Catholic and Reformation traditions. In contrast with the fertility-lineage, group-oriented ethic detected in the early part of the Old Testament and in many preliterate and patriarchal societies, a personalist and essentially 'sacramental' model of marriage is developed on the basis of New Testament teaching and later Christian theological reflection. The effects of a fertility-lineage and group-oriented ethic of marriage in South Africa are demonstrated in chapter two, which deals with the drive for anti-miscegenation laws in that country, with special reference to the role of the Afrikaans Reformed churches in this regard. The third chapter takes up this historical material, examining the nature of the initial debate on the Mixed Marriages Act in 1949-1950 and the aims of the Nationalist Government in introducing this legislation. The contrasting responses to the Act on the part of the Afrikaans Reformed churches and the more 'liberal', non-racial, mainly English-speaking churches are also considered here. In the fourth chapter the developments in the debate surrounding the Act since 1949 are discussed, with special reference to key points in the changing attitudes of the churches (especially the Afrikaans Reformed churches) to this legislation. This provides the background to the heated debate since the mid-seventies, when the Government began to show apparent signs of favouring a reformulation of apartheid which purportedly aimed at eliminating the most obviously racially biased aspects of that policy. The final chapter examines the theological assumptions of Afrikaans Reformed thought, and attempts to show how its roots in a particular view of Calvinism, Kuyperian Neo-Calvinism and the Bible result in the kind of fertility-lineage ethic which makes support for the Act possible. An effort is made to show the theological inadequacies of this thought from a Christian perspective, and to suggest an alternative, more dynamic theology, which recognizes the importance of individual choice and human rights. The impediments to such a fundamental reorientation are recognised, however, and it is argued that any major changes in position on the miscegenation laws on the part of either reformist government politicians or the Afrikaans Reformed churches in the near future will face major resistance.
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    Women, welfare and the nurturing of Afrikaner nationalism : a social history of the Afrikaanse Christelike Vroue Vereniging, c.1870-1939
    (1996) Du Toit, Marijke; Bradford, Helen
    This thesis focuses on the Afrikaans Christian Women's Organisation (ACVV), placed within the context of Afrikaner nationalist activity, and traces the variety of ways in which white, Afrikaans, middle-class women sought to construct a racially exclusive 'Afrikaner' people. Stereotypical portrayals of Afrikaner women as passive followers of an ideology constructed by men are challenged. The gendered construction of nationalism is initially examined by tracing the transition from a religious, evangelical, late nineteenth century gender discourse to an increasingly explicit Afrikaner nationalist discourse in the early twentieth century. The ACVV participated in the construction of a popular Afrikaner nationalist culture that portrayed Afrikaans women as mothers of the people or volksmoeders. The first ACVV leaders were acutely aware of the 'New Women' who abandoned conventional notions of femininity - they tried to construct a public, political identity for Afrikaans women that met the challenges of the 'modern' world, yet remained true to Afrikaner 'tradition'. The ACVV sought to fashion Afrikaans whites into 'Afrikaners' through philanthropic activity. At first, this was especially true of rural branches, but from the early 1920s, Cape Town's ACVV also responded to the growing influx of 'poor whites' by focusing specifically on social welfare work. One particular concern was the danger that women working together with blacks posed for the volk. Research on the ACVV's philanthropy is complemented by a study of the lives of landless and impoverished whites in the Cape countryside and Cape Town. Archival material and 'life history' interviews are used to explore the working lives of white, Afrikaans-speaking women who moved from rural areas to Cape Town during the 1920s and 1930s. Complex and contradictory strands made up the private and political lives of female Afrikaner nationalists. During the 1920s, they sought to create a political role for themselves by constructing a 'maternalist', nationalist discourse that articulated the notion of separate spheres for men and women -but extended vrouesake (women's issues). In many ways these were conservative women - yet they adjusted, even challenged, conventional gender roles in Afrikaans communities. In the 1930s, the four provincial Afrikaans women's welfare organisations sought to shape state-subsidised social welfare programmes. The ACVV and its sister organisations had increasingly fraught dealings with Afrikaner nationalist men in the state and church. who did not share the women's vision of female leadership in social welfare policy.