Book Description

As a new democratic society still being formed, South Africa needs to look back and take stock of the key role of Christianity in its social formation. Rather than provide a mere chronological account of events and devote equal space to various denominations, John de Gruchy sets out to map and reflect the fact that some churches and Christian traditions have been far more influential in shaping South African society than others. Working from some 3500 primary documents relevant to understanding the role of Christianity in forming South Africa, dating from the mid-seventeenth century, the author offers an introduction to the final three decades of the nineteenth century, and the beginnings of modernisation. During this time the country was transformed from a primarily rural and traditional society into one which was increasingly urban, industrial and capitalist. This was also a moment of transition for Christian missionary endeavour and the formation of the colonial churches. This volume set out not to explore the various theologies which have emerged in this period, but rather to consider the way in which theology functioned in the construction of modern South Africa. In this regard, the most salient theological dimension concerns ecclesiology, or the doctrine of the church. This follows from the very nature of reading Christianity in view of the social history of South Africa. Ecclesiology functions at the interface of theological conviction and social reality. It seeks to describe both what the church should be and what it in fact is in day-to-day experience. This gap between faith and reality is nowhere more evident than in the account presented in this volume. But more so, one of the most remarkable aspects of South African social history has been the interaction and parallels between ecclesiological praxis, on the one hand, and social and political formation, on the other. Book jacket.