A Faith with Which We Can Go Public: The Witness of Desmond Tutu

Abstract

This article highlights features of the public faith and theology of the late Archbishop Desmond Tutu, who set a distinctive example of participation in the missio Dei. Tutu emphasized God’s inclusive love for the world, which the church is called to proclaim. He taught that God is always more than our best interpretations and representations of God’s revelation to us. Human beings have particular identities, but we are simultaneously also always transcending these identities. Tutu embraced an anthropology of vulnerability, dependency, relationality and ubuntu, which stresses human identity as grounded in our belonging to God and to God’s creatures.