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Narrating the political Christian self : Chief Albert Luthuli's political theology in his autobiography "Let my people go"

Thesis (PhD (Systematic Theology))--University of Pretoria, 2023.

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Other Authors: Van Wyk, Tanya
Format: Thesis
Language:English
Published: University of Pretoria 2024
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access_status_str Open Access
author2 Van Wyk, Tanya
author_browse Van Wyk, Tanya
author_facet Van Wyk, Tanya
collection Thesis
dc_rights_str_mv © 2023 University of Pretoria. All rights reserved. The copyright in this work vests in the University of Pretoria. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the University of Pretoria.
description Thesis (PhD (Systematic Theology))--University of Pretoria, 2023.
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institution University of Pretoria (South Africa)
language English
last_indexed 2026-06-10T12:37:24.077Z
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provenance_str_mv Harvested via OAI-PMH from UPSpace — University of Pretoria Institutional Repository
publishDate 2024
publishDateRange 2024
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spelling oai:repository.up.ac.za:2263/94347 Narrating the political Christian self : Chief Albert Luthuli's political theology in his autobiography "Let my people go" Van Wyk, Tanya dambudzo.mushambi@tuks.co.za Mushambi, Dambudzo Darlington UCTD Chief Albert Luthuli Political theology Autobiography Narrative Narrative theology Rhetorical acts Personal identity African identity African Christian identity Christian social ethics Sustainable development goals (SDGs) SDG-04: Quality education Theology theses SDG-04 SDG-05: Gender equality Theology theses SDG-05 SDG-10: Reduced inequalities Theology theses SDG-10 SDG-16: Peace, justice and strong institutions Theology theses SDG-16 Thesis (PhD (Systematic Theology))--University of Pretoria, 2023. The study utilises the articulations and understandings of ‘narrative’ and ‘narrative theology’ from George Stroup and Stanley Hauerwas. ‘Narrative’ is a fundamental theological category that shapes theological reflection on the form of the gospel, and an account which sponsors the intelligibility and coherence of human life and actions performed as moral agents. Narrative articulates the contingency and irreducible particularity of selves, and shapes personal and communal identity by providing interpretive horizons through which one understands and describes the world. Autobiography is a narrative that inscribes one’s personal identity and subjectivity, implicating the lives of others and creating associations or distance between the self and others, entrenching or challenging hierarchies, and potentially reconstructing or fabricating social realities. Autobiography is marked by the intervention of fallible memory, and performs rhetorical acts of assertion, justification, judgment, conviction, and interrogation which intersect with idiosyncratic acts of remembering. The rhetorical acts performed by Chief Luthuli in Let My People Go disclose a political theological critique of apartheid South Africa. Political theology is discourse about God relating to the organisation of bodies in time and space. The study utilises Emmanuel Katongole’s understanding of political theology within Africa as discourse about overcoming harmful stories about Africa and Africans that have produced predictable scripts of violent politics, and proposes the necessity of reconfiguring personal and communal identity as a negotiated journey whose telos is the drama of God’s new creation. Leveraging insights from narrative theology, autobiography criticism, and political theology, the study describes the rhetorical acts that articulate Chief Luthuli’s political theological critique. These are: the title of the autobiography which positions white South Africans as oppressors; questioning the legitimacy of white leadership in apartheid South Africa; his critique of the church’s apathy toward and collusion with apartheid; eschewing violence as a tool for liberation; lastly, embracing broad alliances to agitate for a non-racialised South Africa. Chief Luthuli’s political theological critique, while lacking some nuance, successfully meets Katongole’s 5 challenges for Christian social ethics in Africa, namely: colonial impact, social memory, and forgetfulness; the lies of noble ideals; the politics of greed and plunder; the wanton sacrifice of Africa; and the visible invisibility of Christianity. Dogmatics and Christian Ethics PhD (Systematic Theology) Unrestricted Faculty of Theology and Religion SDG-04: Quality Education SDG-05: Gender equality SDG-10: Reduces inequalities SDG-16: Peace, justice and strong institutions 2024-02-06T12:39:16Z 2024-02-06T12:39:16Z 2024-04-23 2023-09-30 Thesis * A2024 http://hdl.handle.net/2263/94347 https://doi.org/10.25403/UPresearchdata.25117736 en © 2023 University of Pretoria. All rights reserved. The copyright in this work vests in the University of Pretoria. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the University of Pretoria. application/pdf University of Pretoria
spellingShingle UCTD
Chief Albert Luthuli
Political theology
Autobiography
Narrative
Narrative theology
Rhetorical acts
Personal identity
African identity
African Christian identity
Christian social ethics
Sustainable development goals (SDGs)
SDG-04: Quality education
Theology theses SDG-04
SDG-05: Gender equality
Theology theses SDG-05
SDG-10: Reduced inequalities
Theology theses SDG-10
SDG-16: Peace, justice and strong institutions
Theology theses SDG-16
Narrating the political Christian self : Chief Albert Luthuli's political theology in his autobiography "Let my people go"
title Narrating the political Christian self : Chief Albert Luthuli's political theology in his autobiography "Let my people go"
title_full Narrating the political Christian self : Chief Albert Luthuli's political theology in his autobiography "Let my people go"
title_fullStr Narrating the political Christian self : Chief Albert Luthuli's political theology in his autobiography "Let my people go"
title_full_unstemmed Narrating the political Christian self : Chief Albert Luthuli's political theology in his autobiography "Let my people go"
title_short Narrating the political Christian self : Chief Albert Luthuli's political theology in his autobiography "Let my people go"
title_sort narrating the political christian self chief albert luthuli s political theology in his autobiography let my people go
topic UCTD
Chief Albert Luthuli
Political theology
Autobiography
Narrative
Narrative theology
Rhetorical acts
Personal identity
African identity
African Christian identity
Christian social ethics
Sustainable development goals (SDGs)
SDG-04: Quality education
Theology theses SDG-04
SDG-05: Gender equality
Theology theses SDG-05
SDG-10: Reduced inequalities
Theology theses SDG-10
SDG-16: Peace, justice and strong institutions
Theology theses SDG-16
url http://hdl.handle.net/2263/94347
https://doi.org/10.25403/UPresearchdata.25117736