Beyond a “Political Priest”: Exploring Desmond Tutu as a “Freedom-Fighter Mystic”: Desmond Tutu: A Spiritual Biography of South Africa’s Confessor, by Michael Battle, Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2021, 388 pp., 50, ISBN 978-0-6642-6727-8
The purpose of this essay is to critically review the remarkably unique account of Desmond Tutu’s life presented by Michael Battle in his book “Desmond Tutu: A Spiritual Biography of South Africa’s Confessor.” The central contention of this essay is that Michael Battle shifts the paradigm of biograp...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Routledge, Taylor and Francis Group
2021
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| In: |
Black theology
Year: 2021, Volume: 19, Issue: 3, Pages: 268-275 |
| Further subjects: | B
Ubuntu
B Spiritual biography B Social Justice B Mysticism B Reconciliation B Humour |
| Online Access: |
Presumably Free Access Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | The purpose of this essay is to critically review the remarkably unique account of Desmond Tutu’s life presented by Michael Battle in his book “Desmond Tutu: A Spiritual Biography of South Africa’s Confessor.” The central contention of this essay is that Michael Battle shifts the paradigm of biographical research about Desmond Tutu beyond the popular trope of “political priest” to that of “freedom fighter-mystic.” Through a careful filtering of Tutu’s life via the three stages of mysticism – purgation, illumination and union, Battle makes a convincing case that Tutu’s political actions for justice were not in spite of his deep spirituality, but because of it. This ethnographic spiritual biography troubles the binaries between the sacred and the secular, between spiritual contemplation and social action, and between God’s justice and social justice, thereby inviting readers to the warm embrace of a more authentic spirituality. |
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| ISSN: | 1743-1670 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Black theology
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1080/14769948.2021.1997167 |