Revival, Revolution and Reform in Global Methodism: An Understanding of Christian Perfection as African Christian Humanism in the Methodist Church of Southern Africa

Abstract

ABSTRACTThis article will begin with a discussion of the distinctive ways in which the notion of Christian perfection is understood in Southern African Methodism by reflecting on how Methodists in Southern Africa have understood, perhaps even misunderstood, the emphasis on “social holiness” as a Christian response to the oppression of colonialism and apartheid on the African continent. It is contended that this understanding could be classified as a form of African Christian humanism. In order to show this, the article will highlight aspects of Christian humanism and the African worldview that correlate with Southern African appropriations of Methodist and Wesleyan theology. Reference is made to Nelson Mandela’s faith, which was formed within this theological framework. He developed his own faith in response to significant Black South African Methodists (such as the founders of the African National Congress, the founder of the Pan African Congress, and the founders of the Black Methodist Consultation) and Methodist communities (such as Churches, schools and chaplaincies). The paper argues that humanism, which has its roots in Christian theological and social ethics, became distinctively African through the work and witness of Southern African Methodists.