The Christian Institute of Southern Africa was an ecumenical progressive organisation founded by English and Afrikaans clergy in December 1963 to unite South African Christians against apartheid. The CI became deeply involved with black activists such as

Steve Biko Bantu Stephen Biko Order for Meritorious Service, OMSG (18 December 1946 – 12 September 1977) was a South African internal resistance to apartheid, anti-apartheid activist. Ideologically an African nationalism, African nationalist and ...

, and was banned by the state in 1977.

History

The Christian Institute of Southern Africa was founded in 1963 by 280 Christians (Hexham 1980) that included

Albert Geyser Albertus (Albert) Stephanus Geyser (10 February 1918 – 13 June 1985) was a South African cleric, scholar and anti-apartheid theologian. Geyser became an outcast in the white Afrikaner community because of his theological opposition to aparthe ...

, Ben Marais, D. C. S. Oosthuizen, and John de Gruchy. Factors that contributed to the founding was the need to continue dialogue after the disastrous conclusion of the 1960 Cottesloe Consultation, the last time that all South African churches met until 1990. Reformed members of the CI could also critique official Dutch Reformed policies, which included support for apartheid. The 1963 South Transvaal Synod of the Dutch Reformed Church had forbidden unofficial comments that were not submitted through official channels (Maritz 2003:56). The first national director of the Christian Institute (CI) was Dr C F

Beyers Naudé Christiaan Frederick Beyers Naudé (10 May 1915 – 7 September 2004) was a South African Afrikaner Calvinist Dominee, theologian and the leading Afrikaner anti-apartheid activist. He was known simply as Beyers Naudé, or more colloquially, ...

. John de Gruchy, a Congregationalist minister and later an academic at the

University of Cape Town The University of Cape Town (UCT) (, ) is a public university, public research university in Cape Town, South Africa. Established in 1829 as the South African College, it was granted full university status in 1918, making it the oldest univer ...

, was a founder member. CI's constitution was drawn up by two Johannesburg advocates, Colin Kinghorn and

Johann Kriegler Johann Christiaan Kriegler (born 29 November 1932) is a retired South African judge who served in the Constitutional Court of South Africa from February 1995 to November 2002. Formerly a practising silk in Johannesburg, he joined the bench as a ...

(later a founding justice of the Constitutional Court of South Africa). ''

Pro Veritate ''Pro Veritate'' was a Christian independent monthly journal published in South Africa by the Christian Institute of Southern Africa from 1962 to 1977. Articles reflected a theological and Christian point of view on a wide range of topics during ...

'', a newsletter produced by Naudé, was adopted as the mouthpiece of the CI. Brian Brown was CI's Administrative Director,

Cedric Mayson Cedric () is a given name invented by Walter Scott in the 1819 novel ''Ivanhoe''. Etymology The invented name is based on ''Cerdic'', the name of a 6th-century Anglo-Saxon king (itself from Brittonic '' Coroticus''). Popularity The name was ...

edited ''Pro Veritate'', while

Theo Kotze Theo is a given name and a hypocorism. Greek origin Many names beginning with the root ''Theo-'' derive from the Ancient Greek word (), which means God, for example: *Feminine names: Thea, Theodora, Theodosia, Theophania, Theophano and Theox ...

(1920-July 4, 200

directed the work of the CI in Cape Town. (De Gruchy 2005:104,109

Peter Ralph Randall, Peter Randall led the '

Study Project on Christianity in an Apartheid Society Study or studies may refer to: General * Education **Higher education * Clinical trial * Experiment * Field of study * Observational study * Scientific study * Research * Study skills, abilities and approaches applied to learning Other * Study ...

' that was jointly sponsored by the CI and the South African Council of Churches

Bibliography

* Brown, Robert McAfee. 1974. "Christian institute of Southern Africa vs the state of South Africa." ''Journal of Ecumenical Studies'' 11:99-102. * John W. de Gruchy, de Gruchy, John W. with Steve de Gruchy. 2005. ''The Church Struggle in South Africa'' Minneapolis: Fortress Press. * Knighton-Fitt, Jean (2003) ''Beyond Fear'', Published by Pretext, Cape Tow

* Heaney, M J. 2004. "Onderhoud met Dr Beyers Naudé." nterview with Dr Beyers Naudé

* Walshe, Peter. 1983. ''Church versus State in South Africa. The Case of the Christian Institute.'' London: Christian Hurst and New-York: Orbis.

External links

* "Detention and Detente." CI pamphlet, May 197

Hexham,Irving. 1980. ''The Christian Institute of Southern African and Spro_Cas''. In ''Christianity and Apartheid: An Introductory Bibliography''.
* Maritz, Petrus Jacobus. 2003. ''Ben Marais (1909–1999): The influences on and heritage of a South African Prophet during two periods of transformation'.' Doctoral dissertation, Dept. of Church History and Church Policy, University of Pretoria.'

* ''Pro Veritate'', 1962-197

* "Torture in South Africa." CI pamphlet, April 1977

{{Political history of South Africa Religious organisations based in South Africa 1963 establishments in South Africa Christianity in South Africa

History

See also

Bibliography

External links