Mbiya Kuzwayo's Christianity: Revival, Reformation and the Surprising Viability of Mainline Churches in South Africa

2008 ◽  
Vol 38 (2) ◽  
pp. 141-170 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Houle
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Southern Africa ◽  
Critical Role ◽  
Effective Control ◽  
Mission Churches

AbstractMuch of the credit for the vitality of Christianity in southern Africa has gone to the African Initiated Churches that date their birth to earlier 'Ethiopian' and 'Zionist' movements. Yet far from being compromised, as they are often portrayed, those African Christians remaining in the mission churches often played a critical role in the naturalization of the faith. In the churches of the American Zulu Mission, the largest mission body in colonial Natal, one of the most important moments in this process occurred at the end of the nineteenth century when participants in a revival, led in part by a young Zulu Christian named Mbiya Kuzwayo, employed the theology of Holiness to dramatically alter the nature of their lived Christianity and bring about an internal revolution that gave them effective control of their churches.

The Origins of African Political Consciousness in South Africa

1969 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 583-610 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. P. Walshe
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Southern Africa ◽  
Turn Of The Century ◽  
Political Consciousness ◽  
Christian Missions ◽  
Native Policy ◽  
The Impact

The origins of African political consciousness in Southern Africa can be traced back to the first half of the nineteenth century, to the impact of the Christian missions and to the development of a non-racial constitution in the Cape. As the century progressed, mission-educated Africans came to exercise a limited but real influence within Cape politics, and the Native policy of that Colony was seen to contrast favourably with those policies developing in the Boer Republics and Natal. By the turn of the century a new African élite had emerged, committed to non-racial ideals gleaned from Christianity and supported by the theory, and to some extent the practice, of Cape politics.

Orthodox Diaspora and Mission in South Africa

2010 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. 286-303 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen Hayes
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Southern Africa ◽  
First Century ◽  
Fourth Generation ◽  
Ethnic Communities ◽  
Orthodox Christianity ◽  
The Third ◽  
The World

The Orthodox diaspora has, paradoxically, spread Orthodox Christianity throughout the world, but has not contributed much to Orthodox mission. Even after the third or fourth generation of immigrants, church services are generally held in the language of the countries from which the immigrants came. This is certainly true of South Africa, where most of the Orthodox immigration has been from Greece and Cyprus, with smaller groups of Russians, Serbs, Bulgarians, Lebanese and Romanians. Though there were immigrants from these countries in southern Africa in the middle of the nineteenth century, it was only at the beginning of the twentieth century that Orthodox clergy arrived and churches were built, first in Cape Town and then in Johannesburg. It was only in the twenty-first century that clergy began to be ordained locally in any numbers. The churches therefore tended to be ethnic enclaves, and apathetic towards, or even opposed to, mission and outreach to other ethnic communities.

‘Kafir Time’: Preindustrial Temporal Concepts and Labour Discipline in Nineteenth Century Colonial Natal

1988 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
pp. 229-244 ◽  
Author(s):  
Keletso E. Atkins
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Migrant Worker ◽  
Transition Process ◽  
Temporal Concepts ◽  
History Of ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Rich History ◽  
Mission Churches

This article attempts to understand in substantive terms the nature of black proletarianization in Natal, South Africa. This is undertaken by moving beyond arid explanations of outside agencies to focus on some of the underlying cultural premises that ordered the day-to-day activities of northern Nguni communities. This article examines their temporal perceptions, exploring within the colonial context the shift from peasant to industrial time, and showing the central role mission churches played in the transition process.Two important disclosures emerge as a result of this study. First, it conclusively demonstrates the existence of a rich history of nineteenth century African labour action (where until now the overwhelming assumption among historians has been that no such activity existed), much of which was related to the struggle over the definition of time. Secondly, it presents a more balanced picture of the migrant worker. One finds groups of labourers who continued to adhere to old attachments, while others adapted in a rather remarkable fashion to the conditions of the industrial workplace. Most striking of all, is that both were capable of dictating the terms of labour, whether they involved demands for the lunar month or the halfholiday and Sabbath rest day.

scholarly journals Mushroom art in South Africa and Zimbabwe – Emil Holub: 1847–1902

Bothalia ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 51 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Cathy Sharp ◽  
Rob S. Burrett
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Natural History ◽  
Southern Africa ◽  
Medical Doctor ◽  
Natural Sciences ◽  
Historical Knowledge

Emil Holub was a nineteenth century, Austro-Hungarian Czech, medical doctor with wide-ranging interests in ethnography and the natural sciences. During visits to southern Africa in the 1870s, he meticulously recorded everything that he encountered. Amongst his vast collection of artifacts, natural history specimens and notes were several sketches of fungi. These illustrations are reproduced here to document this valuable historical knowledge, tentatively identifying them in the context of the habitats through which Holub travelled.

scholarly journals Back to the Future

2003 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. 359-373
Author(s):  
G A Duncan
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Financial Crisis ◽  
Southern Africa ◽  
General Assembly ◽  
Special Committee ◽  
Presbyterian Church ◽  
The Future ◽  
Democratic Elections

The Uniting Presbyterian Church in Southern Africa was formed on 26th September 1999 as the result of the union of the black Reformed Presbyterian Church in Southern Africa and the white-dominated Presbyterian Church of Southern Africa. Various unsuccessful attempts had been made since the latter part of  the  nineteenth century to effect union. In the spirit of national euphoria which surrounded the first democratic elections in South Africa in1994, the Reformed Presbyterian Church initiated union discussions with  the Presbyterian Church. The subsequent union was based on what are now considered to be inadequate preparations and many unresolved problems have emerged to test the witness of the new denomination, not the least of which is racism. At its 2002 General Assembly, as the result of what appeared to be a financial crisis, the Uniting Presbyterian Church appointed a Special Committee on Reformation was established to investigate the problems in the denomination and to bring proposals for dealing with these issues.

The Records of the University of Fort Hare

2000 ◽  
Vol 27 ◽  
pp. 481-497 ◽  
Author(s):  
Seán Morrow ◽  
Khayalethu Gxabalashe
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Southern Africa ◽  
Eastern Cape Province ◽  
Eastern Cape ◽  
Western Tradition ◽  
Mission Schools ◽  
University Of Fort Hare ◽  
The University ◽  
Cultural Leaders

Historians, not just of South Africa, but of any part of what was once British Africa up to and including Kenya, will be familiar with the significance of the University of Fort Hare at Alice, in South Africa's Eastern Cape province. The university is built on the site and retains the name of a British fort that was a major base for one of the first and most bitterly-fought, and certainly the longest, of the nineteenth-century southern African wars of conquest. However, in one of the paradoxes in which South Africa abounds, Fort Hare has become a shibboleth of modern African nationalism, priding itself on its illustrious alumni, which include many of the great names of the modern black elite in southern Africa. The paradox to some extent disappears, and the interest and complexity increases, when it is considered that Fort Hare had its origins in the liberal missionary tradition, with all its ambiguities, and that its products included homeland leaders as well as nationalist politicians, and the functionaries of segregationist and colonial states as well as assertively African political and cultural leaders.The vicinity of Fort Hare has long been a center of education in the western tradition. From 1841, in the case of Lovedale, with nearby Healdtown and St. Matthew's following later, the great mission-schools of the Eastern Cape, supported by the Lovedale Press, made the area the cradle of the mission-educated African elite. It was from this context that Fort Hare emerged in 1916, being the creation of an interdenominational group of Protestant missionaries and of African leaders such as John Tengo Jabavu, founder of the newspaper Imvo Zabatsundu.

Region of Birth and Child Mortality among Black Migrants to South Africa: Is there a foreign-born advantage?

2016 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 359-376 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tiffany L Green ◽  
Amos C Peters
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Child Mortality ◽  
Southern Africa ◽  
Strong Relationship ◽  
Developed Countries ◽  
Black Immigrants ◽  
Foreign Born ◽  
Region Of Origin ◽  
Child Deaths

Much of the existing evidence for the healthy immigrant advantage comes from developed countries. We investigate whether an immigrant health advantage exists in South Africa, an important emerging economy.  Using the 2001 South African Census, this study examines differences in child mortality between native-born South African and immigrant blacks.  We find that accounting for region of origin is critical: immigrants from southern Africa are more likely to experience higher lifetime child mortality compared to the native-born population.  Further, immigrants from outside of southern Africa are less likely than both groups to experience child deaths.  Finally, in contrast to patterns observed in developed countries, we detect a strong relationship between schooling and child mortality among black immigrants.

Humanitarianism, Human Rights and Biopolitics in the British Empire, 1890–1902

2016 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 96-115 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna Clark
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Human Rights ◽  
British Empire ◽  
Concentration Camps ◽  
Boer War ◽  
Personal Rights

The 1890s were a key time for debates about imperial humanitarianism and human rights in India and South Africa. This article first argues that claims of humanitarianism can be understood as biopolitics when they involved the management and disciplining of populations. This article examines the historiography that analyses British efforts to contain the Bombay plague in 1897 and the Boer War concentration camps as forms of discipline extending control over colonized subjects. Secondly, human rights language could be used to oppose biopolitical management. While scholars have criticized liberal human rights language for its universalism, this article argues that nineteenth-century liberals did not believe that rights were universal; they had to be earned. It was radical activists who drew on notions of universal rights to oppose imperial intervention and criticize the camps in India and South Africa. These activists included two groups: the Personal Rights Association and the Humanitarian League; and the individuals Josephine Butler, Sol Plaatje, Narayan Meghaji Lokhande, and Bal Gandadhar Tilak. However, these critics also debated amongst themselves how far human rights should extend.

Reverend Doctor Sox Leleki and His Role in the Black Methodist Consultation

2019 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sonwabile Mancotywa
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Southern Africa ◽  
Political Influence ◽  
Individual Member ◽  
Methodist Church ◽  
Role Players

The Methodist Church of Southern Africa (MCSA) is one of the mainline Christian denominations with a very good history. However, it was not immune from the larger political influence of South Africa that was polarised by apartheid. This article is intended to look at the formation known as the Black Methodist Consultation (BMC), which at that time had an individual member who played an important role in its development and activities. Sox Leleki was one of the key role players of this movement inside the Methodist Church

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