Christianity in South Africa

Christianity, the faith of almost three-quarters of the diverse South African population, has long been pushed to the margins of historical writing on South Africa, yet for more than two centuries it has shaped South African society and its diverse subcultures. This tightly constructed and vigorously written booka collaboration of thirty specialists working in seven countriessituates Christianity for the first time in the broad political, social, and economic context of South African history; it also traces a variety of religious movements and their histories both before and during apartheid.Perhaps nowhere in the African continent is the study of Christianity as fascinating, complex, or contentious as in South Africa. In the twentieth century South Africans have used Christian doctrine both to justify and to oppose doctrines of racial segregation, and Christian leadership provided much of the impetus for the founding of the African National Congress in 1912. But the history of South African Christianity is found for the most part in local, or ''micro'' narratives, while the highly elaborated ''macro'' narratives of colonialism, capitalism, and liberationthe backbone of the conventional histories of South Africaassign Christianity a marginal role, or no role at all. This volume seeks to insert the Christian micro-narratives into the macro-narratives of South African history, providing for the first time an in-depth, cohesive look at Christianity in South Africa.

Demonstrates the reciprocal influences between Christianity and politics throughout South African history. Demonstrates the reciprocal influences between Christianity and politics throughout South African history. Almost three-quarters of South Africans in the late-1990s call themselves Christians. From colonial times, when missionaries embroiled themselves in frontier conflicts, until recently, when both defenders and opponents of apartheid draw heavily upon Christian doctrine and ritual, Christian impulses have shaped South Africa. North America: University of California Press; South Africa: David Philip/New Africa Books