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Title
Church of Scotland periodicals and the shaping of Scottish opinion regarding South African apartheid and the Central African Federation, c. 1912'c. 1965 |
Full text
https://hdl.handle.net/1842/37688 |
Date
2021 |
Author(s)
Cannon, Jeffrey Grant |
Contributor(s)
Stanley, Brian; Wild-Wood, Emma |
Abstract
Using textual and visual material from Scottish Christian periodicals, this thesis examines the
role of Christian humanitarianism in influencing Scottish public opinion relative to empire
and race between c. 1912 and c. 1965. It focuses on the mediation of the Scottish Christian
response to South African racial policy and implementation of the Federation of Rhodesia
and Nyasaland. The thesis demonstrates that an ambiguous mix of ideologies existed within
the Scottish churches and argues that the editor of the Church of Scotland's Life and Work
magazine from 1945 to 1965, Rev. J. W. Stevenson, drew from a tradition of Christian
humanitarianism in Scottish Christian periodicals in allying the magazine with the church's
liberal-humanitarian wing to oppose apartheid and the Federation. It further argues that
despite ' or perhaps because of ' such alignment, Stevenson and his predecessors
demonstrated a persistent paternalism and perpetuated racially inflected tropes regarding
Africa and Africans. The tensions between the egalitarian ideals of Christian humanitarianism
and this residual paternalism are explored through the treatment of Africa and Africans in
church periodicals. Previous studies of Scottish press coverage of these issues focus on
secular periodicals and largely ignore the official organs of the national church. Paying
particular attention to the use of images addresses another gap in the literature, addressing
photographic portrayals of Africans in Christian literature after the First World War. Chapter
one examines the formation of the Scottish image of Africa and a textual and visual
iconography of Christian humanitarianism. Chapter two considers the debates over the social
witness of the Scottish churches and the development of domestic and international networks
devoted to a socially conscious theology of the Kingdom of God that transcended national
boundaries and governed international and imperial relationships. Chapter three then
examines the tensions between the egalitarian ideals of Christian humanitarianism and the influence of the racial consciousness of the black Atlantic in the person of Stevenson's
predecessor W. P. Livingstone. It considers his efforts to infuse the tradition of socially
conscious domestic and international concern found in earlier Scottish Christian periodicals
back into Life and Work following the union of the Church of Scotland and the United Free
Church of Scotland in 1929. Chapter four explores the same tensions in Life and Work's
treatment of South African racial policy under Stevenson's editorship in light of the General
Assembly's official condemnation of apartheid. Chapter five shows how the debate over the
Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland opened up ideological fissures in the Kirk, blocking
adoption of an official position by the General Assembly, and how Stevenson allied Life and
Work with the liberal-humanitarians in opposition to the Federation. Acknowledging internal
ideological tensions and unrealised ideals apparent in the ongoing use of racially inflected
tropes, the thesis demonstrates that Christian photography was used as a critique of the racial
attitudes underlying empire and settler colonialism. It deepens understanding of the Church
of Scotland's relationship with the British Empire and complicates narratives of the Kirk as
unambiguously opposed to British colonialism in the twentieth century. |
Subject(s)
Scottish Christian periodicals; Scottish public opinion; South African apartheid; Life and Work magazine; J. W. Stevenson; Christian photography; British colonialism |
Language
en |
Publisher
The University of Edinburgh |
Type of publication
Thesis or Dissertation; Doctoral; PhD Doctor of Philosophy |
Format
application/pdf |
Rights
2022-07-31 |
Repository
Edinburgh - University of Edinburgh
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Added to C-A: 2021-06-21;11:11:49 |
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