Engaging Modernity: Methods and Cases for Studying African Independent Churches in South Africa

249 Pages·2004·1.3 MB·English

by  Dawid J. Venter

ENGAGING
MODERNITY:
Methods and Cases for
Studying African
Independent Churches
in South Africa
Dawid Venter
Editor
PRAEGER
ENGAGING MODERNITY

ENGAGING MODERNITY
Methods and Cases for Studying African
Independent Churches in South Africa
Edited by Dawid Venter
Westport, Connecticut
London
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Engaging modernity : methods and cases for studying African independent churches in
South Africa / edited by Dawid Venter.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0–275–96903–7 (alk. paper)
1. Independent churches—South Africa. 2. Religion and sociology—South Africa. 3.
South Africa—Economic conditions. 4. Globalization. I. Venter, Dawid J.
BR1450.E54 2004
306.6’8993’0968—dc22 2003060069
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data is available.
Copyright © 2004 by Dawid Venter
All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be
reproduced, by any process or technique, without the
express written consent of the publisher.
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 2003060069
ISBN: 0–275–96903–7
First published in 2004
Praeger Publishers, 88 Post Road West, Westport, CT 06881
An imprint of Greenwood Publishing Group, Inc.
www.praeger.com
Printed in the United States of America
The paper used in this book complies with the
Permanent Paper Standard issued by the National
Information Standards Organization (Z39.48–1984).
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Copyright Acknowledgments
The editor and publisher gratefully acknowledge permission for use of the folowing materials:
Chapter 2 originally appeared as “African Independent Churches and Modernity” in The Journal of
African Christian Thought 2 (1), 1999. Reprinted by permission of the editor of The Journal of
African Christian Thought.
Sections of Chapters 3 and 4 first appeared in “Safe Sects? Dynamic Religion and AIDS in South
Africa” in Journal of Modern African Studies 38 (1), 2000. Reprinted by permission of Cambridge
University Press. Some of the data in these chapters previously appeared in “Religion as as Source of
Social Change in the New South Africa” by Robert Garner in Journal of Religion in Africa 30 (3),
2000, and in “AIDS and Theologies of Discipline” by Robert Garner in Bulletin of Contextual
Theology (Special Edition on the Church and AIDS), 2001. Reprinted by permission of the editor and
of Brill Academic Publishers, respectively.
Chapter 7 is updated and adapted from “Globalisation and African Indigenous Churches” in
Missionalia 26 (3), 1998. Reprinted by permission of the editor of Missionalia.
Dedicated to Ansie, Cara, and Simon.

Contents
Introduction 1
Dawid Venter
PART I: A CONCEPTUAL PERSPECTIVE 11
1. Concepts and Theories in the Study of African Independent
Churches 13
Dawid Venter
2. African Independent Churches and Modernity 45
Jim Kiernan
PART II: A COMMUNITY PERSPECTIVE 59
3. Combining Ethnographic and Survey Methods for a Local,
Comparative Study of African Independent Churches 61
Robert Garner
4. African Independent Churches and Economic Development
in Edendale 81
Robert Garner
PART III: A NATIONAL PERSPECTIVE 105
5. A Methodology for a National Comparative Study of
African Independent Churches 107
Lawrencia Kwark
viii CONTENTS
6. The Reinvention of Tradition in African Independent
Churches as a Means to Engage Modernity 127
Lawrencia Kwark
PART IV: A GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE 147
7. Applying a World System Perspective to a Literature Study
of African Independent Churches 149
Dawid Venter
8. Globalization, World System, and African Independent
Churches in the Transkei 171
Dawid Venter
PART V: EPILOGUE 193
9. The Future of the African Independent Churches in South
Africa 195
Robert Garner
Appendix 213
Glossary 215
Dawid Venter
Additional Resources 223
Dawid Venter
Index 227
About the Contributors 239
Introduction
Dawid Venter
The title of this book takes its cue from the controversial claim by Bengt
Sundkler (1948) that African Independent Churches (AICs) were bridges
that led back to tradition. By implication, membership of an AIC would
hinder Africans from full incorporation into modernity. The opposite
would also apply: affiliation with a mainstream denomination would
enhance modernization. A third implication is that a decline in religious
beliefs would also presumably lead to modernity. Thirteen years after his
original claim, Sundkler (1961) retracted his statement in the second
edition of his book. Regardless, his claim and counterclaim continue to
reverberate among those who research AICs.
In contrast to Sundkler’s earlier assertion, Inus Daneel (1987) and G. C.
Oosthuizen (1986) argued that AICs in general facilitate modernization,
as membership orients individuals away from older historical practices
towards a modern present. Daneel (1987) pointed to Zimbabwean AIC
members who insist that their children have a modern education.
Recently, Oosthuizen returned to a theme that he had brought up earlier
(1987), to conclude that AIC members exhibit a potential for
participation in development projects (Oosthuizen and Clark 1994). This
suggests that AIC members are open to engage in inherently modernizing
activities.
MODERNITY DEFINED
Like Sundkler’s claim, our title begs modernity to be defined, if not
operationalized, and so I will briefly indicate its major aspects in relation
to our work. A fuller discussion remains well beyond the scope of this