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CHRISTIANITY AND APARTHEID:
An Introductory Bibliography
IRVING HEXHAM
Copyright 1980
[First published in The
Reformed Journal, April 1980; republished in
The Journal of Theology for
Southern Africa, No. 32, September 1980]
South Africa is in the news,
and Christians are called upon to explain the relationship between Christianity
and apartheid. Critics of apartheid often blame Christians for its
existence claiming that racial oppression in South Africa is the fruit of
Christianity. How are Christians to respond?
This annotated bibliography is an attempt to remind the Christian
community that the question of the relationship between Christianity and
apartheid is hardly new, that already a large literature exists dealing with
the subject. It is written in the hope that Christians who are truly concerned
about South Africa will pause before rushing into print and will acknowledge
the work of others before them. It is also written to draw the attention of the
Christian community to writers who have al ready struggled with what is one of
the most pressing issues of today.
Few people have the time to
study the South African situation in detail. They therefore need to know where
to find up-to-date and reliable materials that will give them an overall
picture. A good place to begin is Leo Marquard’s The Peoples and Policies of South Africa (fourth edition. London:
Oxford University Press. 1969). This is a comprehensive introduction to South
African issues written by a well known liberal Afrikaner who exhibits great
understanding of all the peoples of Southern Africa. The 1)00k begins with an
historical introduction followed chapters dealing with race relations.
politics. education, religion ,and other issues. In discussing religion.
Marquard concentrates on the attitudes of white churches towards apartheid and
succeeds in giving the reader the feel of Afrikaner Calvinism.
A rarer, more scholarly, but less comprehensive book is Leonard
M. Thompson’s Politics in the Republic of
South Africa (Boston: Little, Brown, 1966). Written by a leading South
African historian, the book uses the latest interpretations of South African
history as well as the tools of modern political anlysis. At a more popular
level, G.H.L. le May’s Black and Whe in
South Africa (Poulton: Purnel and Sons, 1971) provides a superbly
illustrated and easily read introduction to South African affairs. For those
who want to hear the South African ease as stated by a supporter of apartheid,
David de Villiers’ The Case for South
Africa (London: Tom Stacey Ltd., 1970) is an excellent introduction.
The independent South African Institute of Race Relations
published a short booklet compiled by Muriel Horrell, South Africa: Basic Facts and Figures (Johannesburg: South African
Institute of Race Relations, 1973). This is invaluable for quick, reliable
information about modern South Africa. In addition, the Institute publishes an
annual Survey of Race Relations (S.A.I.R.R.,
Johannesburg), also compiled by Muriel Horrell and the research staff of the
Institute. This is indispensable for anyone seriously interested in keeping up
to date with events in South Africa. It contains information about trends,
wages, conditions of employment, political developments, religious affairs, and
a host of other issues as they verge on race relations. The approach taken in
the Survey is to preserve the
strictest neutrality by presenting well-documented facts while leaving their
interpretation to the reader. The South African Government publishes an Official Yearbook of the Republic of South
Africa (Perskor, Johannesburg). This appears In alternate years in English
and Afrikaans and contains a host of statistics, diagrams, and other valuable
information, including official interpretations of events in South Africa.
Finally, Edgar B. Brookes’ Apartheid; A
Documentary Study of Modern South Africa (Routledge and Kegan Paul, London,
1968) is a useful source for documentary evidence of the development of
apartheid and reactions to it within South Africa.
Two books which place the South African situation in a
theological context are Ernie Regehr’s Perceptions
of Apartheid (Kitehener, Ont.:Between the Lines, 1979) and John W. de
Gruchy’s The Church Struggle in South
Africa (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1979). Regehr’s work contains a vast amount
of information about South African society and the role of the churches in it.
It enables the reader to cover a lot of ground quickly in its highlighting of
significant movements and events. However, it lacks the depth of John de
Gruchy’s The Church Struggle in South
Africa, Dc Gruchy writes as a church historian who has been deeply involved
in many of the events he records. As a result he brings to his book an
understanding of the situation which is missing from most hooks about religion
and society in South Africa. Although more narrowly conceived than Regehr’s
book, de Gruchys is less confusing because of its concentration on church
history and more valuable for Christians wishing to gain an insight into the way
South Africans think. The books supplement each other and go a long way towards
meeting a very real need for reliable information about the reaction of
Christians to the system of apartheid.
III CHRISTIANITY AND RACE RELATIONS WITH PARTICULAR REFERENCE TO SOUTH AFRICA
Books dealing with race
relations in South Africa are legion. Those examining the relationship between
Christianity and apartheid in any detail are much fewer. These latter works may
be conveniently considered in the following groups: (a) those containing
position statements by churches or church-related organizations; (b) works by
leading South African theologians; and (c) books originating outside of South
Africa but written from a Christian perspective. But before looking at any of
these, we should consider three books by committed evangelicals which treat the
question of race relations generally.
The best known of those is All One in Christ, edited by Patrick
Sookhdeo (London: Marshall, Morgan and Scott, 1974). This work approaches a
variety of questions relating to race relations from an evangelical
perspective. It contains ten lively chapters, three of which have a direct
bearing upon South African issues. These chapters are Geoffrey Grogan’s “The
Biblical Doctrine of Race”; David Bronnert’s “A History of the Church’s
Attitude to Race”; and David Truby’s “InterRacial Marriage.” Both Grogan and
Truby deal in a interesting way with crucial biblical texts while Bronnert sets
the whole discussion in an historical context.
A lesser known work, which goes into far deeper biblical
exegesis, is Herbert Oliver’s No Flesh
Shall Glory (Nutley, N.J.: Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing Co., 1959).
This book is of particular interest because it is written by a black American
Calvinist. Oliver argues out of a deep respect for, and knowledge of, the
Reformed faith and has a burning desire to show that Christianity and all forms
of racial prejudice are incompatible. A particular valuable feature of this
book is its discussion of various theological views and the interpretation of
leading theologians. By implication the book also discusses issues arising from
nationalism as well as from racism.
Another Calvinist writer to tackle this issue is James Oliver
Buswell in his book Slavery, Segregation
and Scripture (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1964). This book is divided into two
sections. In Part One Buswell discusses the issue of slavery, and in Part Two
he discusses segregation. Buswell gives a lucid and well- documented account of
pro-slavery arguments, considering in some detail the claim that Negroes are
not fully human, He goes on to sympathetically treat the dilemma of Christian
slave owners and the activities of Christian opponents of slavery. Against the
background of these attitudes, Buswell goes on to discuss segregation, which he
argues must be seen in the light of both slavery and the social disruption
created by the slave system. Like Oliver he sees racial questions as not simply
issues of color but as arguments about the right of one group of men to dominate
and subdue another. He forcibly argues that such domination is totally opposed
to the teachings of the Gospel and completely unscriptural. At the end of his
book Buswell provides an excellent bibliography allowing the reader to pursue
his arguments in greater detail.
A Dutch Calvinist view of racism is to be found in Johannes
Verkuyl’s Break Down the Walls (Grand
Rapids: Eerdmans, 1973). It begins with a stimulating discussion of race and
the biblical understanding of racial differences. It then places modern racism
in the context of Western imperialism and discusses in general the response of
churches to racism. In his final section Verkuyl discusses the South African
situation at length and the role of Christian churches in combating apartheid.
This is a provocative, carefully argued work by a controversial theologian who
has been closely involved with the South African situation over a number of
years.
One of the first books to discuss the specific question of
Christianity and apartheid was Christian
Principles in Multi-Racial South Africa (Pretoria: Dutch Reformed Church
Publisher, 1953). This is a collection of papers delivered at a church
conference held in Pretoria in 1953 which involved leading Dutch Reformed
theologians and church leaders from other Christian traditions in South Africa.
The aim of the conference was to find a common Christian approach to racial
issues. It contains important and enlightening essays and is certainly the
place where any serious study of Christianity and apartheid must begin.
This volume opens with a most moving essay by B.B. Keet in which
he bares his heart as an Afrikaner seeking a truly Christian understanding of
social reality in South Africa. But if Keet rejected apartheid as a Christian
option, other theologians did not, and their case is well stated in essays by
C.B. Brink, M.W. Retief, and T.N. Hanekom. Closing the volume are thirty-five
pages of discussion which further illumine the issues and offer insight into
the thinking of South African Christians on race.
In 1954 another conference of church leaders from various
churches was held in Johannesburg, which led in 1955 to the publication of God’s Kingdom in Multi-Racial South Africa (Johannesburg:
Voortrekers). In tone these papers are more generalized than those delivered at
the Pretoria conference. Although they contain much implicit criticism of
government policies, the papers on both sides of the issue lack bite.
Nevertheless, the report contains some valuable remarks on racial issues
generally and interesting interpretations of biblical texts.
In 1958, David Paton published Church and Race in South Africa (London: S.C.M.). This collection
of documents relating to the development of the policies of the Nationalist
Government in South Africa contains many valuable items. In particular, it
reprints extracts from a report by the ad hoc Commission on Race Relations of
the Dutch Reformed Church, as well as a long, extract from a lecture by
Professor B.B. Keet in which he criticizes apartheid as unchristian.
A significant step forward in Christian criticism of apartheid
was taken with the publication of Delayed
Action (Pretoria: NC. Kerkboekhandel, 1960) by Professor AS. Geyser and ten
other leading Afrikaner churchmen. This work, which led to heresy trials against
its authors and the foundation of the Christian Institute, roundly denounced
apartheid as anti-Christian. So great was the potential impact among Afrikaners
that in his New Year’s message Dr. H. Verwoerd, then Prime Minister, warned
members of the ruling National Party that it was being attacked by “enemies
within.” But Verwoerd need not have worried, because external events overtook
South African developments, and the tragedy of the Congo unified white support
for apartheid.
Shortly after the publication of Delayed Action, the Cottesloe
Consultation (Johannesburg: Transvaal Printing Co., 1961) report was
published. The Cottesloe Consultation was a conference of leading South African
churchmen organized by the World Council of Churches and held in the Cottesloe
district of Johannesburg in December 1960. At this highly significant meeting,
church leaders from all major Christian traditions met for the last time trying
to reach a common policy on racial issues. The attempt was almost successful,
and the report is remarkable for the extent of agreement reached between
Nationalist and non-Nationalist theologians. Still, the Cottesloe Consultation
ultimately failed, and the Nationalists turned against the World Council of
Churches and all associated with them for their hostility to apartheid.
In the report are summaries of the discussions: “The Christian
Understanding of the Gospel and the Relationships Among Races”; “An
Understanding of Contemporary History from a Christian Standpoint”; and “The
Witness of the Church with Regard to Justice, Mission and Co-operation.” The
report raises many vital issues and presents important interpretations of
biblical evidence.
In 1967 the Lutheran Church in South Africa held its own
conference on politics and Christianity at its Pastoral Institute in Mapumulo,
Natal. The conference centered on the theme of “the two kingdoms as a basis for
a Lutheran participation in a possible socio-political witness Papers given at this meeting were later
reproduced in mimeographed form under the unrevealing title Lutheran Theological College (Mapumulo,
1968). This collection is divided into two sections: (a) Theological
Discussion, and (b) The Present Scene. A valuable aspect of the collection is
the publication of an enlarged version of a lecture given by Dr. W. Kistner on
“The Interrelation Between Religious and Political Thinking with Regard to the
South African Racial Problem, 1652-1967.” Other essays in the work tackle the
problem of church and state relations, missionary policy, nationalism, and
similar issues from a distinctly Lutheran viewpoint.
The most recent publication in this field is Human Relations and the South African Scene in Light of Scripture (Cape
Town: D.R.C. Publishers, 1976). This is an official translation of the
authoritative report Ras, Volk en Nasie
en Volkereverhoudinge die hg van die Skrif (literally translated “Race,
People and Nation and People: United in the Light of the Scripture”) which has
the approval of the General Synod of the Dutch Reformed Church. Clearly, this
is one of the most important documents available for a discussion of
contemporary attitudes among Christians in South Africa. The report has six
sections:
1. General remarks, which include a consideration of scriptural data on
race;
2. “The Church, the Kingdom and the Oikoumene”;
3. The Church and social justice;
4. The Church and missions;
5. Marriage and mixed marriage, and
6. Concluding remarks.
Much of the discussion is
unobjectionable even to hardened critics of apartheid. In fact the report goes
out of its way to be true to Scripture and to deny claims such as those which
seek to identify Africans with the children of Ham. It gives a balanced summary
of scriptural teaching on race and points out that in fact the Bible has very
little to say about race in our modern sense. Yet if it rejects crude
racialism, it does attempt to justify South African policies by an appeal to
cultural diversity and comes out strongly against the possibility of
interracial marriages in South Africa on the supposedly pragmatic grounds that
they are “unworkable.” Thus by its pronouncements this report strongly commits
Afrikaner Christians to supporting the policies of the Nationalist Government.
Moving away from works originating from a group effort to the
works of individual authors in South Africa we should note Professor HE. Keet’s
Whither South Africa? (Stellenbosch
University Publishers, 1956), a stunning denouncement of apartheid. Professor
Keet submits to close scrutiny various arguments used to support the policy and
rejects them one by one as unchristian and unjust. He then argues, from a
consideration of the nature of the church and the effects of apartheid on
social life, that apartheid not only threatens to destroy the Christian witness
in South Africa but that it will ultimately destroy those it is meant to
protect, namely, the Afrikaners themselves.
In the same year this attack on apartheid appeared, an equally
vigorous pro-apartheid booklet, Apartheid
— Racial Segregation — What Saith the Scripture (Vereeniging:
Ecclesia Evangelistic Group, 1956) was published by F.W.C. Meser. In this slim
work the author seeks to justify apartheid on scriptural grounds which will
appeal to evangelical Christians. A more scholarly attempt to do the same thing
is Professor S. Du Toit’s Holy Scripture
and Race Relations (Potchefstroom: Pro lIege, 1960). Here the argument
rests on the case for national identities as part of God’s providential care
for mankind. How successful du Toit is depends on how much weight may be placed
on the numerous references in the Bible to “nations” and what these references
mean. The most thorough defense of South African racial policies on a
scriptural basis is to be found in Professor J.C.G. Kotze’s Principle and Practice in Race Relations (Stellenbosch:
S.C.A., 1962). Biblical exegesis and reflection on Reformed theology are
combined with practical considerations to produce a guarded and critical yet
certain defense of apartheid.
Yet another scholarly attempt to defend South African policies on
Christian principles is WA. Landman’s A
Plea for Understanding (Cape Town: Ned. Geref. Kerk Uitgewers, 1968), which
was written in reply to criticisms of Dutch Reformed attitudes by the Christian
Reformed Church in America. Landman states his case with care, admitting areas
of difficulty and errors of judgment but pleading for a right to be heard and
attempting a positive response to outside criticism.
Many Christians outside of South Africa have indeed felt duty
bound to protest against South African policies. An early contribution to this
body of literature was an article by the Dutch Calvinist leader J.H. Bavinck in
the Free University Quarterly (Amsterdam:
Free University, July 1956) entitled “The Race Problem in South Africa.’
Bavinck gives an interesting analysis of the South African situation and
concludes that while Christians may argue about the merits of apartheid as a
theory, it is certainly objectionable in practice. An emotive response to this
sort of argument is to be found in Paul B. Smith’s The Question of South Africa (Toronto:People’s Press, 1961). Smith,
a well- known Canadian evangelical, defends apartheid on the basis of things he
had seen on a short visit to South Africa.
In 1965 the British Council of Churches issued its report The Future of South Africa (London:
S.C.M.) Here the South African situation is discussed and condemned as
unchristian. The report then goes on to suggest ways in which peaceful change
may be brought about in Southern Africa. This approach is revised in a second
report, submitted to the British Council of Churches in 1970: Violence in Southern Africa (London:
S.C.M., 1970). As the title implies, the hope of peaceful change has waned, and
violence is seen as a viable option for Christians to effect change in what is
seen as an unyielding situation of oppression.
Paul Schrotenboer, General Secretary of the Reformed Ecumenical
Synod, published his own interpretation of Southern African affairs in Conflict and Hope in South Africa (Hamilton:
Guardian Publishing, Co., 1969). The great value of this book is that it
presents a highly sympathetic account by a leading Calvinist who although
critical is essentially hopeful and pro-Afrikaner. An evangelical assessment of
modern South Africa is to be found in the American evangelical journal Inside (Boston: March/May 1972).
More recently, The Other
Side (Box 2236, Philadelphia, Pa., 19144, U.S.A., May 1977) produced a
challenging edition devoted to South Africa and the responsibility of American
Christians. Christianity and Crisis (537
West l2lst St., New York, December 1977) also challenged its readers with a
provocative issue on South Africa. Not to be outdone, Christianity Today (Box 354, Dover, N.J., 07801, June 21, 1978) had
its own number, with impressionistic accounts of the South African situation by
Christians. In a number of pieces the Reformed
Journal (255 Jefferson, SE., Grand Rapids, MI, 49503, U.S.A.) has given its
readers an understanding of Afrikaner society and insight into their ways of
thought. One article of interest is Nicholas Wolterstorff’s “Calvinists in
Potchefstroom” (November 1975), A highly moving account of an American
Christian’s experience of living as a missionary in South Africa is to be found
in Judy Boppell Peace’s The Roy Child is
Dying (Downers Grove: Inter- Varsity Press, 1978).
Five other books deserve mention in this section in The Two Faces of Africa (Pietermaritzburg:
Shuter and Shooter, 1964), Ben Marais, a leading Afrikaner theologian,
evaluates developments in Africa from a Christian perspective and criticizes
apartheid as unchristian. Ambrose Reeve’s South
Africa — Yesterday and Tomorrow: The
Challenge to Christians (London: Gollancz, 1962) offers a highly emotional
criticism of South African policies. Trevor Huddleston’s Naught For Your Comfort (London: Collins, 1956) is a classic. We
should also note a booklet by HE. Isherwood entitled Religion and Racial Controversy (Brighton: The Racial Preservation
Society, 1970). Isherwood defends apartheid and segregation on biblical grounds,
thus reminding us that Britain has its own supporters of this policy. Finally,
Albert van den Heuvel’s Shalom and Combat
(Geneva: World Council of Churches, 1979) is a moving testimony to the
struggle of one man against racism. In it the reader is shown how van den
Heuvel came to his own understanding of the duties of Christians in combating
racism. This book is valuable in helping Christians who feel uneasy about the
stand of by the World Council of Churches on racism to understand its position.
The Christian Institute of
Southern Africa was established in August 1963 as an attempt by 280 Christians,
many of them recognized church leaders, to present a Christian witness to South
Africans and to combat all forms of racism. Over the years, the Christian
Institute has been increasingly critical of the policies of the South African
Government and in turn has been harassed by South African security
organizations. The Christian Institute is dedicated to nonviolent change in
South Africa and to the creation of a critical Christian conscience. Its
critics claim that its policies are inspired by communism and that it confuses
religion and politics. The best way to judge such claims and counterclaims is to
read the Institute’s literature. In addition to a regular newsletter and the
annual Directors Report, the Christian Institute has published the independent
Christian magazine Pro Veritate and
established the Study Project on Christianity in Apartheid Society (Spro-Cas).
It has also been involved in various attempts to bring together and educate the
leaders of black African independent churches and has produced various topical
booklets.
Among the many booklets produced by the Christian Institute, My Decision (Johannesburg: Christian
Institute, 1963), which consists of three short sermons by the Director of the
Institute, C.F. Beyers Naude, is a good introduction to the thinking of its
leaders. Equally moving is the duplicated address by Naudé, Apartheid Morally Unacceptable, in which
apartheid is examined from a Christian viewpoint and found wanting. Another
stimulating booklet is Divine or Civil
Obedience by Naudé and others (Johannesburg: Raven Press, n.d.) in which
charges made by a team of government investigators against the Institute are
examined and the investigation criticized on biblical grounds. More provocative
is The Christian Institutes Viewpoint on
White Immigration to South Africa (Johannesburg: Zenith Printers, 1974),
where a call for an immediate immigration is made. A similar call to end
investment in South Africa was made quite recently by the Institute. Typical of
study-guide material prepared by the Institute for use in churches are Poverty in Abundance or Abundance in Poverty
by Rolf Meyer (Johannesburg: Raven Press, 1973), and Johannes Verkuyl’s The Message of Liberation Today (Johannesburg:
The Christian Institute, 1971). Both authors argue from biblical principles to
the social situation in South Africa, challenging Christians to cease their
complacency and take the gospel seriously.
Spro-Cas (the Study Project on Christianity in Apartheid Society)
was set up by the Christian Institute in 1969 and consisted of six expert
commissions on economics, law, politics, society, and the church. It involves
almost 150 leading South Africans from many different walks of life and
Christian traditions. The project was introduced by a short leaflet, Spro-Cas: Five Biblical Principles (Johannesburg:
Christian Institute, 1969), in which the need for change in South African
society was recognized and a basic perspective outlined, After this, the
project split into two phases: the study project proper and a special project
on Christian action in society. The whole project came to an end in 1973. As a
publishing enterprise, Spro-Cas produced eight major reports, edited by Peter
Randall, four occasional papers, numerous study guides, and a variety of books
supplementing the major project. The first publication of Spro-Cas was
Oeeasional Publication 1, Anatomy of
Apartheid (Johannesburg: Spro-Cas, 1970), which contained a number of
highly informative and instructive essays. This was followed by Occasional
Publication 2, South Africa~s Minorities (Johannesburg:
Spro-Cas, 1971), which included essays on both white groups in South Africa
(the English and the Afrikaners) and the Indian and Coloured Peoples
(“coloured” in South Africa refers to a person of mixed race). This book was
followed by the third Occasional Paper, Directions
of Change in South African Politics, which presented challenging essays on
South African politics and future possibilities. The final publication in this
series, Occasional Paper 4, appeared in April 1971 with the title Some Implications of Inequality (Johannesburg:
Spro-Cas, 1971). This concentrated
on the effects of apartheid on the African population 0of South Africa. It
contained essays on the problems of poverty, malnutrition, resettlement, and
distress in “the reserves.” With the banning of the Reverend Cosmos Desmond,
the final paper in this book, “African Resettlement,” was censored and the book
appeared with a number of highly significant blank pages.
The first full Spro-Cas report was published by the Education
Commission and entitled Education Beyond
Apartheid (Johannesburg: Spro-Cas, 1971). In it the South African
educational system is analyzed and found to be unjust in terms of Christian
principles. Having done this, the Commission suggests ways in which the
situation can be remedied -and outlines what the Commission would regard as a
truly just society. In essence the report argues that although all groups pay
taxes in South Africa, and all races create the wealth of the country, the
white population benefits disproportionately in education. They therefore argue
for massive investment to raise the standards of non-white education and for
equalizing all educational facilities and opportunities among the different
racial groups. The book ends with a very interesting appendix dealing with
Christian National Education (C.N.E.) in South Africa.
This rightly identifies the influence of Abraham Kuyper on the development of C.N.E. in South Africa but fails to do justice to the differences between the views of Kuyper and the ways in which Afrikaners have developed their own theory of C.N.E. in December 1971 the second Spro-Cas report was issued by the Social Commission Towards Social Change (Johannesburg: Spro-Cas, 1971) argues that South African society requires fundamental change if justice is to prevail. At the end of the report is a chapter detailing practical steps Christians in South Africa could take to effect nonviolent change. The next Spro-Cas publication to appear was Rick Turner’s The Eye of the Needle (Johanne.shurg: Spro-Cas, 1972), subtitled “An Essay in Participatory Democracy.” This work caused a storm of protest, not least because the author, a university lecturer, was alleged to be a Marxist and was known to be living with his nonwhite Indian wife in flagrant violation of South African marriage laws. (They were married under traditional Indian law.) But whatever Turner’s politics of religion, he produced a highly stimulating book which argues for a Christian society and tries to show what such a society might look like, Unfortunately, the author was soon banned by the South African government, and his book is no longer available except for a few copies in libraries outside of South Africa,
A month after the publication of The Eye of the Needle, Spro-Cas issued its third report, Power, Privilege and Poverty (Johannesburg:
Spro-Cas, 1972). This study by its Economics Commission offers a detailed
examination of the South African economy and suggests ways to create a “common
society” in which all the people of South Africa can share. The next report to
appear, from the Church Commission, was Apartheid
and the Church (Johannesburg: Spro-Cas, 1971). It discussed the effects of
apartheid upon the work of the church in South Africa and saw apartheid as
totally destructive of Christian values. Various attitudes toward religion were
scrutinized and recommendations made for South African churches to put their
own house in order and practice the peace and love they preached. It contained
several interesting appendices, including a paper on race relations. A month
after this report came out, Spro-Cas again broke new ground with Black Viewpoint (Johannesburg: Raven
Press, 1972). This was to be the first in a series of publications by blacks
giving their own perspective. It was followed by the first in a series of
annual publications entitled Black Review
(Johannesburg: Raven Press, 1972). The final report to be published in 1972
was that of the Legal Commission. Law,
Justice and Society (Johannesburg: SproCas, 1972) presents a number of
highly informative essays about law in South African society and again
concludes that apartheid created unjust laws which need to be changed. The
final Spro-Cas publication for 1972 was a collection of poems by James Matthews
and Gladys Thomas entitled Cry Rage Johannesburg:
Raven Press, 1972). These highly emotional poems, often with religious themes,
are about the injustice done to blacks by whites in South African society, as
the following extract vividly illustrates:
We watched the white man’s
arrival
in strange-shaped
ships we did not know
now we have become trespassers on the shores
of our land
he brought with him a book and spoke of a new
religion
of love, humility and compassion
to blind us to his deception.
Not unexpectedly, this book was also banned
(March 1973).
The beginning of 1973 saw the
publication of Migrant Labour (Johannesburg: Spro-Cas, 1973) by Dr.
Francis Wilson of the University of Cape Town. This study was issued jointly by
Spro-Cas and the South African Council of Churches and is a scholarly
examination of the South African system of migrant labor which includes
comparisons with migrant labour in Europe and other parts of the world. After
168 pages of carefully documented evidence, Dr. Wilson weighs the facts in a
careful and balanced way and argues that the system of migrant labour upon which
the economy of South Africa is based is fundamentally evil. He claims that it
destroys marriages and creates many other social and moral problems. After
this devastating condemnation of South African policies, Spro-Cas published the
first of what became a series of publications known as Contact. This was
a diary of events and a register of organizations intended to bring people of
good will, ~vhatever their race, into contact with each other and to facilitate
communication between racial groups. In March 1973 a series of essays entitled White
Liberation (Johannesburg: Spro-Cas, 1973) and cdited by Horst Kleinschmidt
was published. These assumed that apartheid is grounded in fear and that a
change in the system would not only improve the lot of
nonwhites but would also liberate whites from their selfmade prison. The South
African problem, the book argues, was not a black problem at all but a white
one. The final essay of the book is a challenging one by Rick Turner entitled
“Teaching Social Justice.” Hut in March 1973 Turner was banned and his writings
automatically censored.
The next major report to be published by Spro-Cas, which was now
under increasing pressure from the South African government, was South Africa~s Political Alternatives, produced
by the Political Commission. This suprising document began by establishing
certain Chris- tam ethical principles and then assessed the political situation
in South Africa. Having done this, it discussed various alternative political
systems and made a case for change based on ethical principles which accepted
much of what had already been created by the South African Nationalist
Government. No document could be less revolutionary, and yet its suggested
pluralistic alternative was designed to be a practical alternative to the
injustices the Commission felt were embedded in apartheid. Critics of the
report — like Professor Edgar Brookes, who submitted a minority report — felt
that the Commission conceded too much and was too pragmatic. Yet, it was
clearly an attempt to find a Christian solution to South Africa’s political
problems and to avoid a bloody revolution or the disturbances experienced
during 1976.
Following this, Spro-Cas published several other booklets: Management Responsibility and African
Employment (Johannesburg: Raven Press, 1973); Nadine Gordimer’s The Black Interpreters (Johannesburg: Raven Press, 1973),
on African writing; Peter Walsh’s Black
Nationalism in South Africa (Johannesburg: Raven Press, 1973); and
Professor D.C.S. Oosthuizen’s fascinating study The Ethics of Illegal Action Johannesburg: Raven Press, 1973), in
which the whole question of Christian obedience is discussed in a lively and
provocative way. One of the project’s last publications was Being Black in the World (Johannesburg: Raven
Press, 1973) by NC. Mangayi. This moving account attempts to communicate how it
feels to be black in South Africa and then to develop the meaning of the black
experience in Christian terms. Finally, the work of the whole project was
summarized in a report by Peter Randall called A Taste of Power Johannesburg: Spro-Cas, 1973), in which reactions
to the project are given and valuable documentation provided for a fuller
understanding of it.
Before ending this section on SproCas, we must add that many evangelicals disagree with the biblical exegesis used in these publications, and others disagree with the general assumptions made in them about Christianity. But whatever the reaction of the reader to these theological issues, there can be no doubt that this is a valuable body of information relevant to any interpretation of South African affairs.
An account of the founding and history of the Christian Institute
is found in George McLeod Bryan’s Naudé:
Prophet to South Africa (Atlanta: John Knox Press, 1978). Although this
book is helpful in supplying a historical framework to events, it is unreliable
and distorts its material by over radicalizing Naudé, particularly in the
earlier part of his career with the Institute. A more balanced assessment is to
be found in two excellent articles by South Africans in the Journal of Church and State (Box 380,
Baylor, University, Waco, Texas, 76703, U.S.A., Autumn 1977, vol. 19, no.3):
Peter Walshe writes on the Christian Institute and the growth of black
nationalism, and John de Gruchy discusses church-state relations in South
Africa 1968-1975. Naudé’s own position is clearly portrayed in The Trial of Beyers Naudé (London:
International Commission of Jurists, Search Press, 1975). This is an account of
Naudé’s refusal to appear before the Schlebusch Commission established by the
South African Government to investigate ‘subversive organizations.” At his
trial, the transcript of which forms the basis of the book, Naudé argued that
the Commission was conducting a witch hunt and that while he was willing to
defend his views and actions in open court he did not want to be tried in
secret by the Commission. All of these works provide background material for
assessing the publications and work of the Christian Institute and give additional
insights into the pressures which forged its distinctive Christian political
witness.
No major history of religion
in South Africa has been written. The best available short introduction to
South African church history is Peter Hinchliff’s very readable The Church in South Africa (London:
S.P.C.K., 1968). It is good on the history of the English-speaking churches,
Christian missions, and aspects of Dutch Reformed history,but it fails to fully
appreciate the influence of Abraham Kuyper on Afrikaner Calvinism. Hinchliff’s
other books, The Anglican Church in South
Africa (London: Darton, Longman and Todd, 1963) and John William Colenso, Bishop of Natal (London: Nelson, 1964), are
invaluable for understanding the development Anglicanism in South Africa. A
very different interpretation of Anglican history is to be found in Antony
Ive’s The Church of England in South
Africa (Cape Town: Church of England Information Office, 1966). Here the
claims of the small breakaway Church of England in South Africa are presented
to show that it, and not the generally recognized Church of the Province of
South Africa, is the true representative of the Anglican tradition in South
Africa.
A recent general history of Christianity in South Africa is Jane
M. Sales’ The Planting of the Churches in
South Africa (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1971), a very one-sided account which
makes many assumptions without supplying adequate evidence and which tends to
oven simplify complex events. Sales is Congregationalist and gives a history
biased in this direction. A history of Congregationalism in South Africa is to
be found in The Harvest and the Hope Johannesburg:
United Congregational Church, 1970) by DR. Briggs and Joseph Wing. A similar
work about Methodism is L.A. Hewson’s An
Introduction to South African Methodists (Cape Town: Methodist Church
Publishing House, 1951). The history of Lutheranism is recorded in Hans Florin Lutherans in South Africa (Durban:
Lutheran Publishing Co., 1967). Although a number of major works exist about
Afrikaans churches in South Africa, only a few pamphlets in English deal with
them. On the Dutch Reformed Church (Netherduits Gereformeerde Kerk), the
largest of the three Afrikaans Reformed Churches, there is W.A. Landmans Introducing the Dutch Reformed Church in
South Africa (Cape Town: D.E.C. Information Office, 1969) and Lest We Forget: The History of the Dutch
Reformed Church in Southern Africa, issued by the Andrew Murray
Congregation in Johannesburg(Johannesburg: Andrew Murray Congregation, nd.).
Both of these pamphlets press the claims of the Dutch Reformed Church as the
true representative of the Reformed tradition in South Africa. An alternative
viewpoint is to be found in P.C. Geertsema’s booklet the Reformed Church in Perspective. Deputies for Evangelism
Literature of the Reformed Church (Gereformeerde Kerk) are claimed as the true
representative of the Calvinist tradition. The third Afrikaans Reformed Church
(the Hervormde Kerk) does not appear to have published a history of its
development in English. An invaluable source for understanding the evangelical
wing of Dutch Reformed theology is to be found in Professor J. du Plessis’
biography The Life of Andrew Murray (London:
Marshall Brothers 1919).
The history of mission in
South Africa must also begin with du Plessis — his classic study A History of Christian Missions in South
Africa (London: Longmans, Green and Co., 1911, reprinted by C. Struik, Cape
Town, 1965). This work may usefully be supplemented by C.B.A. Cerdener’s Recent Developments in the South African
Mission Field (London: Marshall, Morgan and Scott, 1958) and also by
Groves’ The Planting of Christianity in
Africa (London: Lutterworth, 1948, four volumes).
African Christianity as distinct from mission history is dealt
with in Bengt Sundkler’s now standard text Bantu
Prophets in South Africa (London: Oxford University Press, 1961) and by his
more recent book Zulu Zion (London:
Oxford University Press, 1976). Both of these works deal with the growth of
African Independent churches — I.e., indigenous African churches which have no
links with missionary societies or mission churches. While Sundkler approves of
such developments, CC. Oosthuizen presents a much more critical appraisal of
independency in his Post-Christianity in
Africa (Stellenbosch: T. Wever, 1968). A thorough discussion of the effects
of Christianity in one African culture is to be found in BA. Pauw’s Christianity and Xhosa Tradition (Cape
Town: Oxford University Press, 1975). This book deals with what is largely a
rural situation, but Martin West in his book Bishops and Prophets in a Black City (Cape Town: David Philip,
1975) examines the role of African Christianity in the vast urban complex of
Soweto. An older approach to these issues is to be found in I. Sehapera, ed., Western Civilization and the Natives of
South Africa (London: George Routledge and Sons, 1934, reprinted 1967).
Another set of essays worth attention is Church
and Culture Change in Africa, edited by David Bosch (Pretoria: NC. Kerk-Boekhandel,
1971). This is the substance of a discussion held by the South African
Missiological Society.
Other important missiological texts have been produced by the
Lutheran Missiological Institute at Mapumulo. These are collections of
conference papers involving Christian leaders from all the churches in South
Africa. The most important of these are Our
Approach to the Independent Church Movement in South Africa, edited by H.J.
Becken (Mapumulo: Missiological Institute, 1965); Relevant Theology for Africa, edited by H.J. Becken (Durban:
Lutheran Publishing House, 1973), which contains a number of very important
papers on Black Theology; and Salvation
Today for Africa, edited by H.J. Becken (Durban: Lutheran Publishing House,
1974), which develops the potential for producing a relevantly biblical
theology reflecting the South African situation.
In 1972 the University Christian Movement (U.C.M.), which was the
South African equivalent of S.C.M., published a challenging work entitled Essays on Black Theology, edited by
Mikgethi Motlhabi. This book was quickly banned but has been republished in
Britain in a reedited form by Basil Moore under the title Black Theology The South African Voice (London: C. Hurst & Co.,
1973). In addition to this, the U.C.M. published numerous magazines and
articles in duplicated form dealing with South African issues; these are now
generally unavailable, having been suppressed by the South African censors. The
importance of U.C.M. and its publications was that it was led by a group of
dedicated men who were in the forefront of theological thinking and tried to
apply their radical theology to the situation in South Africa. More
importantly, it was out of the efforts of this group that the South African
black consciousness movement was born. (It would be going too far to say that
U.C.M. created black consciousness and the black student movement in South
Africa, but it certainly gave these movements a powerful thrust in the early
days of their development.) Significantly, in their introductory leaflet SASO 1972
— South African Students Organisation (Durban: S.A.S.O., 1972), this
organization credits U.C.M. with having played a crucial role in their
development and in the contemporary black-consciousness movement out of which
grew the protest movements of 1976.
The September-October 1975 issue of Vanguard (229 College St., Toronto, Ontario, M5T 1R4) contains an
interview with Beyers Naude, a version of which also appears in the Reformed Journal for December 1975 and
January 1976. The Reformed Journal of
December 1977 includes in full the last interview given by Steve Biko. The Biko
interview has appeared in several places, including Donald Woods’ Biko (New York: Paddington Press, 1978),
a book which is essential reading for anyone interested in the current attitude
of blacks in South Africa. Woods, a former South African newspaper editor and
opponent of apartheid who fled South Africa, gives a lucid account of the life,
death, and political significance of this black South African who after his
death became a symbol of resistance to white domination.
From an evangelical perspective, Michael Cassidy’s Prisoners of Hope (Morija, Lesotho:
Morija Mission, 1974) is an analysis of evangelical involvement in South Africa
and the story of the South African Congress on Mission and Evangelism held in
Durban in March 1973. This is a moving account of yet another Christian
initiative to bring the races together in South Africa and to find common goals
through the experience of a shared faith. The book is helpful on its own, but
when read alongside I Will Heal Their
Land (Morija, Lesotho: Morija Mission, 1974), edited by Michael Cassidy, it
takes on an even fuller significance. In I
Will Heal Their Land one is given the text of the papers delivered at the
Congress plus accounts of various discussions. Here one sees dedicated
Christians from all racial groups seeking to find ways of spreading the gospel
in South Africa and attempting to bring its benefits to all races with the hope
that spiritual revival will bring with it repentance and a sharing of the
land’s riches.
Two disturbing books are Rhonda Chuichill’s White Man’s Cod (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1962) and David
Welsh’s The Roots of Segregation: Native Polity in Natal
1845-1910 (Cape Town: Oxford University Press, 1971). Miss Churchill gives
an account of a visit to South Africa in which she sees South Africa as a
country ruled by fear. She identifies the root cause of that fear as the misuse
of Christianity by the white minority. Welsh tackles the problem of the origins
of segregation by examining the policy of segregation adopted in Natal by the
British administrator Sir Theophilus Shepstone. In this book many aspects of
African society are examined and the impact of Christian missions upon it discussed.
A balanced work of high historical scholarship, it throws doubt on many of the
actions by missionaries and shows how even well-meant endeavors often have had
very distressing effects on the African population.
For anyone who wants to
learn more about African life and religion in South Africa, Callaway’s The Religious System of the Zulu (Cape
Town: Struik reprint, 1970) is a valuable source of information. This can be
supplemented by Eileen Krige’s The Social
System of the Zulus (Pietermaritzburg : Shuter and Shooter, 1965) and the
recently published Zulu Thought-Patterns
and Symbolism by Axel-Ivar Berglund (Cape Town: David Phiip, 1976).
Another Nguni people which have been well studied by historians
and anthropologists are the Xhosa. John Henderson Soga’s The Ama-Xhosa Life and Customs (Alice: Lovedale Press, 1931) is
still the standard work on their religious beliefs. It is well supplemented by
Monica Hunter’s (better known by her married name, Monica Wilson) Reaction to Conquest (London: Oxford University
Press, 1961, first edition 1936), which deals with the effects of European
contact and the introduction of Christianity among rural African population in
the Transkei. The change from a rural to an urban lifestyle and the effect this
has on beliefs and social life is well recorded in two complementary books.
These are Townsmen or Tribesmen (London:
Oxford University Press, 1961) by Philips and Iona Mayer, and The Second Generation (London: Oxford
University Press, 1963) by BA. Pauw. In these works the impact of Christianity
upon African society is examined in a critical yet sympathetic way by three
leading South African anthropologists.
The major sociological study
of Afrikaner society is Sheila Patterson’s The
Last Trek (London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1957). Here again, the place
of religion within one social group is given considerable attention, but as
Moodie shows in his book The Rise of
Afrikanerdom (Berkeley: California University Press, 1975), Afrikaner
Calvinism is not as simple as Patterson thought. This latter work is perhaps
the best available work on the Afrikaners and is essential for an appreciation
of their religion and political views. A popular hut disappointing book is W.
de Klerk’s The Puritans in Africa (London:
Rex Collins, 1975). Here too many assumptions are made upon the basis of
present claims and apparent historical similarities. De Klerk jumps too quickly
from the time of Calvin to the Puritans and then on to the present, assuming an
unbroken historical chain linking present-day attitude to the past. Another
disappointing work dealing with religion and racial attitudes in South Africa
is Robert Buis’ Religious Relief and
White Prejudice (Johannesburg: Raven Press, 1975). This purports to be a
scientific study of the relationship between religious beliefs and racial
attitudes, but unfortunately it fails to carry conviction because of many
theological errors and a poor sociological methodology which allows the author
to compare two different linguistic groups as though they were a homogeneous
control group. A far more convincing study of the influence of religion in
South African affairs is to be found in Church
and Nationalism in South Africa (Johannesburg: Raven Press, 1975), edited
by Theo Sundermeier. Here a variety of views are to be found dealing with
different aspects of nationalism in South Africa. T. Dunbar Moodie presents a
sociological perspective in his perceptive essay “Sociological Aspects of
Nationalism in South Africa.” and Johannes Degenaar discusses the “Philosophical
Roots of Nationalism.” Other essays deal with British, Afrikaner, Coloured, and
various types of African nationalism. The collection ends with a moving essay
by Beyers Naudé on “Christianity and Nationalism in the Light of Pentecost.’~
A book difficult to
categorize is Alan Boesaks Farewell to
Innocence (Maryknoll, New York: Orbis Books, 1975). On the cover of the
hook Boesak is described as “a black South African’ who writes “out of the
anguish of the black experience in that nation.” This is highly misleading,
because Boesak is in fact not an African but a Coloured who has never been
closely identified with black theology in South Africa. The book reflects this
in its lack of South African material and concentration on American and Latin
American theologies of liberation. As such, it gives the reader a distorted
view of South African black theology, even though its discussion of black
theology generally may be illuminating.
Charles Villa-Vicencio’s The
Theology of Apartheid (Cape Town: Methodist Publishing House, nd.) contains
a strong theological attack on Afrikaner Calvinism. Although the author makes
some good points, too many issues are dealt with superficially. In his desire
to refute what he sees as a perversion of the Gospel, the author fails to
distinguish between different positions held by various Afrikaner theologians
and therefore never really comes to grips with any of them.
Finally, a historical study of the relationship between Calvinism
and Afrikaner society in the early years of the century is to be found in
Irving Hexham’s The Irony of Apartheid:
The Struggle for National Independence of Afrikaner Calvinism Against British
Imperialism (New York: Edwin Mellen Press, forthcoming).
The standard history of
South Africa is Eric Walker’s A History
of South Africa (London: Longman’s, 1964). This tends to he a colonial
history and needs to be supplemented with The
Oxford History of South Africa (London: Oxford Universitv Press, 1969 &
71, two volumes). The latter pays far more attention to general African history
and introduces evidence which brings into question many previous assumptions
about the occupation of South Africa by Africans, arguing for much older
occupation than that of the 17th century. This can be usefully compard with African Societies in Southern Africa (London:
Heinemann, 1969), edited by Leonard Thompson. Five Hundred Years (C.T.: Acedemica,
1969), edited by C.F.J. Muller, gives the reader an insight into
contemporary historical thinking among Afrikaners and demonstrates very vividly
the great gap between their understanding of South African history and that of
other scholars.
An Afrikaner interpretation of this century’s history is to be
found in D.W. Kruger’s The Making of a
Nation (London: Macmillan, 1969), and the rise of Afrikaner nationalism
isdocumentedinF.A. van Jaarsveld’s The
Awakening of Afrikaner Nationalism (Cape Town: Human & Rousseau, 1961).
Another valuable book by van Jaarsveld is The
Afrikaner Interpretation of History (Cape Town: Human & Rousseau,
1963). A book that helps us understand the role of Calvinism in the development
of South African political parties is The
Afrikaner Bond (Cape Town: Oxford University Press, 1966) by T.R.H.
Davenport. Although only a small part of the book actually deals with religion,
this section does show the influence of religious ideas and the ability of
secular politicians to manipulate them for their own ends. Another book which
deals briefly with Christian politics in South Africa and which contains some
very valuable information is the now scarce The
South African Opposition, 1939-1 945 (London: Longmans Green and Co.,
1947), by Michael Roberts and A.E.G. Trollip. A book which deals with the
development of African nationalism in South Africa is The Rise oJ African Nationalism in South Africa (London: C. Hurst,
1970) by Peter Walshe. African and Afrikaner nationalisms are compared in Afrikaner and African Nationalism (London:
Oxford University Press, 1967) by Edwin Munger.
William Henry Vatcher’s White
Laager (London: Pall Mall Press, 1965) is a well-documented account of
Afrikaner nationalism which pays considerable attention to religious issues,
though the author confuses the role of the different Afrikaner Reformed
Churches. For a highly sympathetic account of the Afrikaners, John Fisher’s
book The Afrikaners (London: Cassell,
1969) is invaluable.
A good introduction to the
South African political system is Lawrence Schlemmer’s Social Change and Political Policy in South Africa (Johannesburg:
South African Institute of Race Relations, 1970). Fuller treatment of the
political system can be found in South
Africa: Government and Politics, edited by Denis Worrall (Pretoria: van
Schaik, 1971).
The standard sociological intern pretation of South Africa is Pierre
van den Berhe’s South Africa: A Study in
Conjliet (Middletown, Ct.: Wesleyan University Press, 1965). This work is
criticized by Heribert Adam in Modernizing
Racial Domination (Berkeley: California University Press, 1971). Adam’s South Africa: Sociological Perspectives also
contains a number of valuable essays, including some which deal with religious
or ideological issues. Adam’s own work comes into severe criticism in an essay
by Ruan Maude, “The Future of an Illusion: The Myth of White Meliorism in South
Africa,” in Adrian Left~ich’s stimulating book South Africa: Economic Growth and Political Change (London:
Heinemann, 1974).
In Ethnic Power Mobilized (New
Haven: Yale University Press, 1979), Herihert Adam and Hermann Giliomee discuss
the possibilities for change in South Africa. This stimulating work contains a
short section on the church as a social institution in Afrikaner society.
Anyone seriously interested in the vexing question of boycotts and other
attempts to apply external pressure to South Africa should read this work.
Source material on white
political parties is available in D.W. Kruger’s South African Parties and Politics 1910-1960 (Cape Town: Human and
Rousseau, 1960). A communist view of the rise of the South African National
Party is to be fouud in the well-known The
Rise oJ the South African Reich by Brian Bunting (Harmondsworth: Penguin,
1964). A more sophisticated Marxist interpretation is to be found in J.J. and
RE. Simons’ Colour and Class in South
Africa 1850-1950 (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1969). Alexander 1-leple has
written a readable life of Verwoerd (Harmondsworth:
Penguin, 1967) and a number of the former Prime Minister’s speeches are
collected in Pelzer’s Verwoerd Speaks (Johannesburg:
A.P. Boekhandle, 1963). African politics in South Africa are treated in Mary
Benson’s The Struggle for a Birthright (Harmondsworth:
Penguin, 1966) and nA. Rotze’s African
Politics in South Africa I 964-1974) (London: C. Hurst, 1975).
Aselection of student
writings on South Africa is provided in Student
Perspectives on South Africa, edited by Hendrick van der Merwe and David
Welsh (Cape Town: David Philip, 1972). Political debate about South Africa is
to be found in N.J. Rhoodie, ed., South African
Dialogue: Contrasts in South African
Thinking on Basic Race Issues (Johannesburg: McGraw-Hill, 1972). Criticism
of a radical sort is given in Essays on
the Liberation of Southern Africa, edited by N.M. Shamuyatira (Dar es
Salaatn: Tanzania Publishing HOuse, 1972). This collection contains an
interesting article on “FanOu’s Theory of Violence: Its Verification in
Liberated Mosambique” by Yoweri Museveni. A selection of speeches by the Zulu
leader Gatsha Buthelezi is offered in Power
is Ours (New York: Books in Pocus, 1979). Two contrasting views of South
Africa are to be found in South Africa:
Two Views of Separate Development (London:
Oxford University Press, 1960) by S. Pienaar and Anthony Sampson.
Doubts about the morality of apartheid in practice, as opposed to the theory of
separate development, are expressed in Cosmos Desmond’s horrific book The Discarded People (Harmondsworth:
Penguin, 1971), while Ruth First, Jonathan Steele, and Christabel Gurney raise
other moral issues in The South African
Connection (Harmondswortht Penguin, 1973).
A number of other works
require brief notice, W.D. HammondTooke has edited a new edition of The Bantu Speaking Peoples of Southern Africa (London: Routledge & Kegan
Paul, 1974) in which the reader is presented with a wealth of information about
the African peoples of South Africa. Patrick van Rensburg’s Guilty Land (Harmondsworth: Penguin,
1962) jolts the reader out of complacency and contains a haunting chapter which
will grip any Christian “The God of Our Fathers.” In a similar way Laurens van
der Post presents a challenging vision of Southern African realities in The Dark Eye in Africa (London: Hogarth
Press, 1963). For those interested in education, AL. Behr and E.G. Macmillan
have written their standard work Education
in South Africa (Pretoria: van Schaik, 1971), while Freda Troop presents a
strong Case against apartheid in Forbidden
Pastures (London: International Defence and Aid Fund, 1976) in which she
studies the effects of apartheid upon South African education. For those
interested in Afrikaner reactions, the now rare Christian Civilization Against Communism (Potchestroom Herald,
Potchefstroom: National Congress to Combat Communism, 1964) is invaluable.
No survey of background material on Southern African issues would
be complete without mentioning the work of the nonpolitical, independent, South
African Institute of Race Relations. Although it sets out to simply “state the facts,”
this body presents a mass of evidence which cannot be ignored in any discussion
of South Africa and which generally predisposes the reader to be critical of
apartheid. A few books from this body will give some indication of the scope of
its interests: The African Homelands of South Africa by Muriel I-lorrell, 1973; Legislation
and Race Relations by Muriel
Horrell, 1966; The Afrikaner and Race Relations by Beyers Naudé; Prejudice
in the Classroom by Eleanor
Hawarden, nd.; Bantu Education to 1968 by Muriel Horrell. The Institute also produces a monthly
Race Relations News and a host of other publications.
For those who want both sides of
the picture, the Information Officer at the South African Embassy, Trafalgar
Square, London, is always pleased to supply enquirers with literature and to
speak to interested groups. Other information sympathetic to South Africa can
be obtained from the Britain and South Africa Forum, 91/93 Charterhouse
Street, London ECLM 6HB, while the Anti-Apartheid Movement is always willing
to give its side of the picture and can be contacted at 89 Charlotte Street,
London W1P 2DQ, England.
This bibliographic guide assumes that most readers will not be able to
read Afrikaans. For those who can or who think that their knowledge of German
or Dutch will enable them at least to scan works in Afrikaans, the following have been
selected as starting points for further study:
A general history of the Dutch Reformed Church is Ons Nederduitse Gereformeerde Kerk, edited
by T.N. Hanekom (Cape Town: N.G. KerkUitgewers, 1952). The Reformed Church is
dealt with by S.P. Engelbrecht in Geskiedenis
van die Nederduitsch Hervormde Kerk van Afrika (Cape Town: J.H. de Bussy,
1953); the history pf the third and smallest Afrikaner Reformed Church, the
Reformed Church, is recorded by J.P. Jooste in Die Geskiedenis van die Gereformeerde Kerk in SuidAfrilca 1850-1959) (Potchefstroom:
Potchefstroom Herald, 1959). An interesting Dutch study relating Calvinist
groups in the Netherlands, America and South Africa is H. Algra’s Het Wonder van die Negentiende Eeuw (Franeker:
T. Wever, 1966). T.\N. Hanekom’s Die
Liberale Rigting in Suid Afrika (Stellenboseh: C.S.V. Boekhandel, 1951). is
valuable for its criticism of a simplistic view of the development of the Dutch
Reformed Church in South Africa as an unbroken Calvinist tradition since the
sixteenth century.
Three political works dealing with Calvinism and Afrikaner
society are the seminal volumes of Koers
in die Krises (Stellenboseh: N. C. Bock- handel, 1935-1943, three volumes);
P.J. Nienaber’s Dr. O’kluli,sse
Oogdruppels vir Nasionale Siektes (Pretoria: van Sehaik, 1973); and
finally, Dr. AlP. Treurnieht’s Credo van
‘n Afrikaner (Cape Town: Tafelberg, 1975), important for the light it
throws on the thought of a leading right-wing Afrikaner politician who claims a
religious justification for his political views.