Overseas Comment

"Anglicans against Apartheid" by Canon Bob Clarke

A review of this significant book in The Church Times by Canon Edgar Ruddock, Deputy General Secretary and International Relations Director of USPG is reproduced here with permission. Bob Clarke's work fills an important gap in the history of the struggle against apartheid. Unlike a biography for example, John Allen's of Desmond Tutu Clarke's book attempts to chart the significance of the distinctively Anglican contribution to the struggle for justice. Shaping his work around each archiepiscopate across the period enables him to build an incremental picture of change, and to record the spiritual, economic, and political growth of resistance as the drama unfolds. As one who worked in the Church of the Province of Southern Africa for nine of those years, I found this a helpful work in setting into a wider context many of the more and less dramatic events unfolding around us during the 1980s. One of the key themes of Clarke's book is leadership, in and beyond the Church. He contrasts the more imperious styles of Clayton, Joost de Blank, and Selby Taylor in the early years of the struggle; is polite with Bill Burnett; quietly respectful of Philip Russell; and in awe of Desmond Tutu. But, in each case, the distinctive and increasingly critical contribution of the Anglican Church is identified and celebrated. Clarke repeatedly draws our attention to linkage between the Church's effectiveness and its ability to work with others. A genuinely ecumenical spirit runs throughout the book. He never tries to claim the Church's influence as exclusive, and he acknowledges the countless other organisations engaged in the struggle. But he strongly links the effectiveness of the Anglican voice to its global Communion. The parts played by Lambeth, USPG, and the World Council of Churches are all acknowledged, pointing to the huge potential of the Christian Church worldwide to "make a difference" in areas of crisis and conflict. This is a timely publication after Lambeth 2008, when the need for reconciliation both within and beyond the Church has been highlighted. The Southern African Anglican experience has much to con tribute to the search for solutions in Korea, Sri Lanka, Palestine, Zimbabwe, and elsewhere. For me, this book is a reminder that reconciliation is always costly, doesn't happen quickly, calls for huge courage and quiet wisdom, involves risk taking, and is effective only when public advocacy combines with a spirituality that has its roots deep in the lives and experience not just of its leaders, but of its member communities. I regret that its focus on leader ship gives it more of a Eurocentric perspective than it deserves: I missed the African experience with in the Church, especially in the early years. There is too marked a shift of style, as the book moves from its earlier sections, which began as a Ph.D. thesis, to the more recent material, where breathless narrative seems to take over from measured reflection. I was frustrated by the unnecessarily high number of typos. All that said, this is an important work on Anglicanism, and deserves to be widely read. It comes from the mind of a serious historian, and the heart of a priest passionately committed to the gospel and the birth of the new South Africa.
Edgar Ruddock. This book can be ordered from sales@clusterpublications.co.za at R250.

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