Desmond Tutu was a contemporary of Nelson Mandela, While Mandela fought in the trenches, Desmond Tutu fought on the pulpit
By Ishaya Ibrahim, News Editor
Activism was not part of Desmond Mpilo Tutu’s priestly training at the Theological Seminary. The extraordinary circumstances of South Africa, the racism and apartheid produced his brand of theology. A revolutionary clergy, a liberation theologian and a freedom fighter.
His was a theology fashioned in the situation of his time. Hence, he spoke like Elijah who prevailed against all the gods of Baal. He embodied the burden of the heavily troubled South Africans like Moses, who led the Israelites out of bondage. He was also like the voice of John the Baptist, crying in the wilderness, asking the people to repent because the judgment of God was at hand.
Desmond Tutu was a South African Anglican bishop and theologian, known for his work as an anti-apartheid and human rights activist. He was the Bishop of Johannesburg from 1985 to 1986 and then the Archbishop of Cape Town from 1986 to 1996, in both cases being the first black African to hold the position. Theologically, he sought to fuse ideas from black theology with African theology.
Desmond Tutu was a contemporary of Nelson Mandela, While Mandela fought in the trenches until he was taken to prison, Desmond Tutu fought on the pulpit, with much intellectual appeal that couldn’t be ignored in the world stage, the type that influenced men like Bishop Mathew Kukah, Cardinal Olubunmi Okogie, Arch Bishop Peter Alinola, et al.
Find below, a little about Desmond Tutu culled from Wikipedia
Desmond Tutu was born of mixed Xhosa and Motswana heritage to a poor family in Klerksdorp, South Africa. Entering adulthood, he trained as a teacher and married Nomalizo Leah Tutu, with whom he had several children.
In 1960, he was ordained as an Anglican priest and in 1962 moved to the United Kingdom to study theology at King’s College London. In 1966 he returned to southern Africa, teaching at the Federal Theological Seminary and then the University of Botswana, Lesotho and Swaziland.
In 1972, he became the Theological Education Fund’s director for Africa, a position based in London but necessitating regular tours of the African continent. Back in southern Africa in 1975, he served first as dean of St Mary’s Cathedral in Johannesburg and then as Bishop of Lesotho; from 1978 to 1985 he was general-secretary of the South African Council of Churches. He emerged as one of the most prominent opponents of South Africa’s apartheid system of racial segregation and white minority rule. Although warning the National Party government that anger at apartheid would lead to racial violence, as an activist he stressed non-violent protest and foreign economic pressure to bring about universal suffrage.
In 1985, Desmond Tutu became Bishop of Johannesburg and in 1986 the Archbishop of Cape Town, the most senior position in southern Africa’s Anglican hierarchy. In this position he emphasised a consensus-building model of leadership and oversaw the introduction of female priests.
Also in 1986, he became president of the All Africa Conference of Churches, resulting in further tours of the continent. After President F. W. de Klerk released the anti-apartheid activist Nelson Mandela from prison in 1990 and the pair led negotiations to end apartheid and introduce multi-racial democracy, Desmond Tutu assisted as a mediator between rival black factions. After the 1994 general election resulted in a coalition government headed by Mandela, the latter selected Desmond Tutu to chair the Truth and Reconciliation Commission to investigate past human rights abuses committed by both pro and anti-apartheid groups. Following apartheid’s fall, Desmobd Tutu campaigned for gay rights and spoke out on a wide range of subjects, among them the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, his opposition to the Iraq War, and his criticism of South African presidents Thabo Mbeki and Jacob Zuma. In 2010, he retired from public life.
Desmond Tutu polarised opinion as he rose to prominence in the 1970s. White conservatives who supported apartheid despised him, while many white liberals regarded him as too radical; many black radicals accused him of being too moderate and focused on cultivating white goodwill, while Marxist–Leninists criticised his anti-communist stance. He was widely popular among South Africa’s black majority, and was internationally praised for his anti-apartheid activism, receiving a range of awards, including the Nobel Peace Prize. He also compiled several books of his speeches and sermons