The Rise of Black Theology
“Christianity has become identified by many blacks with apartheid.”—From The Church Struggle in South Africa, by Congregationalist minister J. de Gruchy
DISILLUSIONED by the South African brand of Protestantism, many blacks have turned to something new—black theology, which attempts to relate the Bible to their situation.
“The term ‘black,’” explains Louise Kretzschmar in The Voice of Black Theology in South Africa, “can be understood in two ways. Firstly, it refers to all those previously called ‘non-whites’ or ‘non-Europeans,’ i.e. Africans, Coloureds and Indians. . . . Secondly, ‘blackness’ is taken to be synonymous with ‘the oppressed people in South Africa.’”
Black theology thus stresses that blacks should be treated with the same dignity as whites because blacks too were created in God’s image. Among its prominent themes are the liberation of Israel from Egypt and the sufferings of Jesus. ‘God is on the side of the oppressed’ is its rallying cry.
A United Approach?
Exponents of black theology are scattered among South Africa’s many churches, and debates rage among them. Some, for example, admire communistic ideology and analyze it in their writings. Others reject Marxism. Nor do all agree as to the extent to which the white community should share in this new style of “Christianity.”
When critics of black theology argue that it promotes black nationalism in the same way that apartheid theology promotes white nationalism, Dr. Allan Boesak, a leading exponent of black theology, replies: “Christian faith transcends all ideologies and all nationalistic ideals.”
However, a minister of the Congregational Church, Bonganjalo Goba, retorts: “I disagree with Allan Boesak.” It is inescapable, Goba claims, that black theology “will reflect the ideological interests of the black community. If it doesn’t it ceases to be Black Theology.” Adds the Lutheran bishop Dr. Buthelezi: “It is the same message of the Bible which inspired the spirit of the Afrikaner . . . which is motivating us to sing the song of Black Theology.”
Used as a Weapon
“Black theology,” states Itumeleng Mosala, a Methodist minister and lecturer in black theology, “has served its purpose well as a weapon of criticism against white theology and the white society.” By voicing such criticism, black theologians hope that young blacks will stay in their churches. Many have left to protest the way they see “Christianity” being practiced in the churches.
Others go further and use black theology as a weapon for political change. Admits Takatso Mofokeng, a minister of the black DR Church in Africa and lecturer in black theology: “Black Theology continues to be a useful instrument for the continuously evolving struggle for liberation.”
An example of this is The Kairos Document, signed by 156 South African theologians. It calls upon church members “to eliminate the oppression, remove the tyrants from power and establish a just government.” The theologians declare: “We believe that God is at work in our world, turning hopeless and evil situations to good so that his ‘Kingdom may come’ and his ‘Will may be done on earth as it is in heaven.’ . . . The conflict and the struggle will have to intensify in the months and years ahead because there is no other way to remove the injustice and oppression.”
Is this, however, what the Bible teaches? Will God’s Kingdom come through political revolution? Does the fact that Protestantism has proved to be a source of dissension in South Africa mean that Christianity itself is a failure?