desmond tutu a spiritual biography of south africa's confessor

“ Desmond Tutu, A Spiritual Biography of South Africa’s Confessor” – perspectives on launch of new book by Michael Battle

• Author DesmondAdmin
• Published 8 June 2021

Good evening, Molweni, Sawubona, Goeienaand, Namaste, Salaam Alaykum

Welcome from all of us at the Desmond and Leah Tutu Legacy Foundation.

It seems deeply fitting that the launch of Dr Michael Battle’s insightful biography about the Arch should be the catalyst to bring us together tonight at the Foundation’s historical premises in Cape Town. It is our brave, first, public socially distanced gathering in this beautiful space since the Covid19 pandemic fundamentally changed the world we live in. Michael, we are privileged and proud to host you this evening.

A warm welcome to all of you who made time in your busy schedules to attend this launch. It is good to see you again. Welcome also to everyone who has joined us online from across Africa and the rest of the world.

This evening Michael launches his new book,  Desmond Tutu, A Spiritual Biography of South Africa’s Confessor , published by Westminster John Knox Press, at a time when humanity, not just in South Africa or Africa but indeed all over the world, grapples with the impact of the pandemic, with the way it continues to rend the social fabric, exposing and leaving visible for all to see the fault-lines of inequality; a devastating pandemic that has inspired us at the Desmond and Leah Tutu Legacy Foundation to intensify our work of restoring justice, mutual understanding, community cohesion, and healing at every level of our existence.

In his Afterword to Michael’s book, the Arch poignantly writes:

“As I have wrestled with death and dying,  I realize more and more how the spiritual, physical, intellectual and communal life are all interrelated. You cannot understand one without the other. Michael’s contribution here is to say this to all of us, in a world that is often prone to avoiding the spiritual. Life is the intersection of interrelation”.

Having known the Arch for more than 25 years now, Michael describes in his book the intersections and interrelations of the Arch’s iconic identity, as humanist, Anglican, as a black South African, a sage, reconciler, negotiator, global elder, intellectual, spiritual leader, Christian mystic, a man of deep prayer, a political priest, God’s child, confessor, mentor, saint, father figure, student and teacher. Himself an African American theologian, Michael describes the Arch as an exemplar of someone who has always managed to bring together being black and Christian identity in a world where neither can be taken for granted.

For our part, at the Desmond and Leah Tutu Legacy Foundation, we cannot fail to add to the Arch’s multiple identities as our courageous co-founder, father, life-long partner to Mama Leah, one of the founding fathers and mothers of our nation, a rabble-rouser for Peace with a sense of authority and a man with a sense of humour that has defused many a battle in the making.

Known for service leadership that centered on the intersecting values of respect, integrity, forgiveness, compassion, reconciliation and Ubuntu, the Arch is also very modest, which is one of the important reasons why Michael’s spiritual biography should be read, even by those who have read other biographies about him.

Framed with reference to the three Christian mystical stages of maturing in the life of God – namely purgation, illumination, and union – Michael’s book is a deep, spiritual and intellectual engagement with the Arch’s courageous lifelong journey with God; a journey that has always been inspired by his desire and commitment to protect, to liberate and to restore the dignity of the violated, the oppressed and the impoverished in society.

The Arch’s Sotho name “Mpilo”, meaning “health”, was given to him by his paternal grandmother after a miraculous recovery from an illness as an infant where he nearly died. It was the young Mpilo, Michael reminds us, who had a dream at the tender age of seven or eight in which the devil and Jesus were fighting over his soul. In the end, Jesus won, saying “You are God’s child”.  It should perhaps not come as a surprise, then, that this child of God later chose to add the English name “Desmond” because it means “courageous.”

I have to admit, I never knew how the Arch came by the name Desmond but in light of what Michael tells us, we can only marvel at the serendipity at work in a young man’s decision to embrace the name Desmond, only to become one of the most courageous individuals of our time.

His Holiness, the Dalai Lama writes in the Foreword of Michael’s book: “One must know that the spiritual life requires action in the world”. It is true that principled actions driven by deep spiritual commitment unite both these leaders and have involved them in profound change processes in their home countries and globally.

But what kind of action?

To genuinely transform deeply divided communities, (which, by the way, is some of the work Michael is involved in in the USA), we at the Desmond and Leah Legacy Foundation believe we must continue to create platforms for courageous dialogue, guided by the aspiration for justice, accountability, social cohesion and the genuine healing – of  individuals, communities, leaders, families, nations, and organizations, including faith organisations.

As recounted by Michael, the Arch laments the fact that as a young person he did not have positive role models. In fact, this dearth of courageous moral leadership is one key reason why curating and digitizing the Arch’s prolific writings – including his sermons and speeches as well as other legacy archival materials – is so important for future generations, so that today’s youth who will be tomorrow’s leaders, will forever have access to his thought on their own walks to freedom and justice.

We will definitely be using your new book, Michael, to mine input for the Foundation’s Knowledge Legacy and Ethical Leadership programmes, such is the value of its scholarship. Alongside other real-life, lived-memory perspectives, we will continue to hone the methodologies of research excavation for our legacy programme. Scholarship matters for authenticity.

The call for courageous leadership from peoples of all faith communities, as well as those with no faith tradition, is growing louder by the day and there is much work to do. How many leaders today are leading us AWAY from the impoverishment of apartheid and corruption, and towards the ethical values that serve, protect and nourish not only our peoples, but also the earth?

The deep scholarship of Michael’s book is a complex canvass of the Arch’s legacy and footprint viewed through the theological prisms of faith, love and spirituality. He rightly points out – and we will hear more about this now – that the way towards unity or union is through purgation and illumination.

We learn that for the Arch, life is fundamentally about interdependence, interrelationships, and the values of respect, integrity, forgiveness, compassion, reconciliation and Ubuntu. This mutual respect and communality are values we at the foundation subscribe to an advocate.

Over the last few weeks, we have all seen so clearly what happens when people’s humanity is denied (I think especially of what is happening in Palestine-Israel).  The end result is enemy creation, and ultimately genocide or even socio-cide. We simply cannot remain quiet and allow this to continue.  For humanity to prevail, love must prevail over hate. The alternative is obliteration.

As the Arch states in the Afterword:

“So, I may have taken a leading role in South Africa to fight against apartheid. I may have been in an historic position such as archbishop of Southern Africa. I may have won a Nobel Peace Prize. I may have led the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in South Africa. And I may have become a global elder. If I have done all of these things, however, without love, then I have done nothing. God is love. Spiritually, there is not much more to say than this.”

As a woman from a Hindu background and CEO of the Desmond and Leah Tutu Legacy Foundation whose founder counts as one of his best friends, the Dalai Lama, let me say that this is the vision we believe everyone has to adopt if we are going to heal humanity.  To genuinely treat each other with love, respect and dignity despite our differences,  that  transcendent love is the only thing that will heal and save our earth.

In closing and in the words of the Arch as quoted Michael: “ In my theology there are no ordinary people. Each one of us, because we are God’s representative, God’s viceroy, God’s stand-in, and a God-carrier—each one of us is a very special person .”

Thank you to all the special people who have joined us tonight, physically and virtually, and to our collaborators who continue make our legacy work possible. Please remember to put the Arch’s 90 th  birthday, four months from today, in your calendar. We will keep you posted on this and all our other work.

Now let me hand over the proceedings to our moderator, Althea Banda-Hansmann who will introduce both herself and engage our author, Dr Michael Battle.

~ CEO: Piyushi Kotecha

Wednesday 04 September 2024

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Desmond Tutu: A spiritual biography of South Africa’s confessor , by Michael Battle

The path of union with god, and ubuntu , is desmond tutu’s way, writes john d. davies.

THE name of Desmond Tutu is known around the world. We might well feel that his life-story needs no new exposition. But Michael Battle comes to his subject with special resources.

He is an Afro-American academic theologian, who has made a special study of Christian spirituality, giving particular attention to St Augustine and St Bernard of Clairvaux. He came as a young man from the United States to South Africa as the apartheid regime was finally collapsing; he was ordained priest by Archbishop Tutu, and stayed on the Archbishop’s staff for about five years as his Chaplain.

So, although he did not experience the specific cruelties against black people during the worst period of the racist rule, he was very close to Dr Tutu during the time when the latter was becoming known as the inspirer and manager of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. In this very thorough book of nearly 400 closely packed pages, he brings a special lens to the understanding of Dr Tutu’s inner resources and motivations, in terms of Christian spirituality.

Any account of Dr Tutu which does not include his spiritual motivation is bound to be incomplete; as Battle points out, on any ordinary working day, Dr Tutu would spend eight hours in silence and in communion with his Master. Therein is the clue to his extraordinary resilience, and to his productive energy (the book’s bibliography lists 168 books, pamphlets, and other publications).

Battle sees Dr Tutu as South Africa’s “confessor” — in a very exact application of that label. In Dr Tutu’s life-story, Battle identifies the classic succession of phases of “purgation, illumination, and union”. So the book is valuable as offering a working model of the application of the classic analysis of spiritual process as both a personal and a corporate instrument.

Professor Battle is clear that classic Western spirituality, though a very fruitful instrument, cannot be held accountable for all that Dr Tutu is. Dr Tutu brings from Africa two vital further resources:

First, he is a great storyteller — and a joker — in a less insane environment he could have made a good living as a comedian. He can puncture pretentious nonsense, whether in ecclesiastical systems or in political manipulation.

Second, he has brought his deep awareness of the primal African value of ubuntu , the sense that we are persons through our relationship with persons. This can deliver spirituality from any tendency to concentrate merely on oneself; it gives priority to forgiveness, and it insists on realism in reconciliation; thus it gives meaning and substance to the place of “union” as a final element in the mystical process that Battle takes as the basis of his map of interpretation. And it informs his understanding of “heaven” in a particularly enlightening conclusion of Dr Tutu’s world-view.

Battle recognises that apartheid was, primarily, a spiritual rather than just a political reality. Christian spirituality affirms the existence of evil: under the apartheid regime, the final petition of the Lord’s Prayer had a very definite relevance. Dr Tutu and his colleagues knew this only too well, and this was profoundly the case for many years before Battle came on to the scene.

And it was not confined to South Africa. British political and financial interests had much responsibility in the fostering of the noxious state of civil war which tore the Zulu people apart and almost disabled the 1994 election process. This brought vilification on to Tutu personally, wounding him and his Church. “Principalities and powers” operated on both a personal and international level; and this provided a significant element in the spiritual process that the author identifies as “purgation”.

As a working example of the use of classical mystical formulation, Battle’s book is both unique and valuable. I would not say that without his kind of analysis there can be no valid appreciation of Dr Tutu; but the use of Dr Tutu as an example does give a practical and usable model for the application of the mysticism of authorities such as St Bernard. Without such an example, the writings of the mystics can seem to be theoretical and abstract, inaccessible to ordinary mortals who have little fluency in such terminology.

In Battle’s vision, however, with his claiming of the insights of ubuntu , the application of the mystical process is not just for one person’s salvation; it represents the process that has been happening corporately in South Africa. Under Dr Tutu’s guidance, that country has been experiencing purgation, illumination, and union. The process has not been either complete or consistent, but it has been real, and is both perceptible and recreative. And, while Dr Tutu has not been the sole enabler or inspirer, he has brought a personal spiritual discipline and interpretative world-view to bear on a chaotic and dehumanising situation.

If there is any sense in which South Africa can be said to have experienced salvation, the Archbishop’s ministry has to be recognised as a vital element in the process. For this, Battle’s identification and clarification of the process is a valuable interpretative tool, for both personal and corporate reflection. It becomes an inspiration for thanksgiving, and a model for Christians in recognising something of the ways of God with us.

The Rt Revd John D. Davies was a mission priest and university chaplain in South Africa from 1956 until his residence permit was cancelled in 1970.

Desmond Tutu: A spiritual biography of South Africa’s confessor Michael Battle WJK £40 (978-0-664-26727-8) Church Times Bookshop £32

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Desmond Tutu: A Spiritual Biography of South Africa's Confessor

Hardback 2021-03-16

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The first biography of its kind about Desmond Tutu, this book introduces readers to Tutu's spiritual life and examines how it shaped his commitment to restorative justice and reconciliation. Desmond Tutu was a pivotal leader of the anti-apartheid movement in South Africa and remains a beloved and important emblem of peace and justice around the world. Even those who do not know the major events of Tutu's life-receiving the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984, serving as the first black archbishop of Cape Town and primate of Southern Africa from 1986-1996, and chairing the Truth and Reconciliation Commission from 1995-1998-recognize him as a charismatic political and religious leader who helped facilitate the liberation of oppressed peoples from the ravages of colonialism. But the inner landscape of Tutu's spirituality, the mystical grounding that spurred his outward accomplishments, often goes unseen. Rather than recount his entire life story, this book explores Tutu's spiritual life and contemplative practices-particularly Tutu's understanding of Ubuntu theology, which emphasizes finding one's identity in community-and traces the powerful role they played in subverting the theological and spiritual underpinnings of apartheid. Michael Battle's personal relationship with Tutu grants readers an inside view of how Tutu's spiritual agency cast a vision that both upheld the demands of justice and created space to synthesize the stark differences of a diverse society. Battle also suggests that North Americans have much to learn from Tutu's leadership model as they confront religious and political polarization in their own context.

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Desmond Tutu: A Spiritual Biography of South Africa's Confessor. By Michael Battle (Louisville, Kentucky: Westminster John Knox Press, 2021, Pp. XX, 368. $50.00.)

There is a poignancy to reviewing this book so soon after Desmond Tutu's death. Reading about his life and work while still experiencing the sadness surrounding his death allows the reader to remember with thanksgiving all that he gave to the world. There is a special poignancy because this biography has a particular focus on Tutu's spiritual life and significance, the inner yet overarching life of a man who was so caught up in the immediacy of the politics and church life of his times. The book describes Tutu as "South Africa's confessor," which captures the importance of this spiritual dimension, though readers in other parts of the world would add that he was a confessor for many others. For this reason, Battle's book complements John Allen's authorized biography, Rabblerouser for Peace (New York: Simon and Schuster, 2006), which contains a wealth of biographical detail and scholarly references. That book will...

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Desmond Tutu: A Spiritual Biography of South Africa's Confessor Hardcover – March 16 2021

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The first biography of its kind about Desmond Tutu, this book introduces readers to Tutu's spiritual life and examines how it shaped his commitment to restorative justice and reconciliation.

Desmond Tutu was a pivotal leader of the anti-apartheid movement in South Africa and remains a beloved and important emblem of peace and justice around the world. Even those who do not know the major events of Tutu’s life―receiving the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984, serving as the first black archbishop of Cape Town and primate of Southern Africa from 1986–1996, and chairing the Truth and Reconciliation Commission from 1995–1998―recognize him as a charismatic political and religious leader who helped facilitate the liberation of oppressed peoples from the ravages of colonialism. But the inner landscape of Tutu’s spirituality, the mystical grounding that spurred his outward accomplishments, often goes unseen.

Rather than recount his entire life story, this book explores Tutu’s spiritual life and contemplative practices―particularly Tutu’s understanding of Ubuntu theology, which emphasizes finding one’s identity in community―and traces the powerful role they played in subverting the theological and spiritual underpinnings of apartheid. Michael Battle’s personal relationship with Tutu grants readers an inside view of how Tutu’s spiritual agency cast a vision that both upheld the demands of justice and created space to synthesize the stark differences of a diverse society. Battle also suggests that North Americans have much to learn from Tutu’s leadership model as they confront religious and political polarization in their own context.

• Print length 396 pages
• Language English
• Publisher Westminster John Knox Press
• Publication date March 16 2021
• Dimensions 15.24 x 2.54 x 23.5 cm
• ISBN-10 0664231586
• ISBN-13 978-0664231583
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About the author.

Michael Battle is Herbert Thompson Professor of Church and Society and Director of the Desmond Tutu Center at General Theological Seminary in New York, and President and CEO of the PeaceBattle Institute. The author of eleven books, including Reconciliation: The Ubuntu Theology of Desmond Tutu, he focuses his ministry on nonviolence, Christian reconciliation, human spirituality, and Ubuntu (the African worldview of community). Battle lived in residence with Archbishop Desmond Tutu in South Africa for two years and was ordained a priest in South Africa by Tutu in 1993. In 2010, he was given one of the highest Anglican Church distinctions as "Six Preacher."

Product details

• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Westminster John Knox Press; 1st edition (March 16 2021)
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 396 pages
• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0664231586
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0664231583
• Item weight ‏ : ‎ 680 g
• Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 15.24 x 2.54 x 23.5 cm
• #254 in Anglican Chuch (Books)
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• #2,982 in Religious History (Books)

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Desmond Tutu: A Spiritual Biography of South Africa's Confessor Kindle Edition

The first biography of its kind about Desmond Tutu, this book introduces readers to Tutu's spiritual life and examines how it shaped his commitment to restorative justice and reconciliation.

Desmond Tutu was a pivotal leader of the anti-apartheid movement in South Africa and remains a beloved and important emblem of peace and justice around the world. Even those who do not know the major events of Tutu’s life—receiving the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984, serving as the first black archbishop of Cape Town and primate of Southern Africa from 1986–1996, and chairing the Truth and Reconciliation Commission from 1995–1998—recognize him as a charismatic political and religious leader who helped facilitate the liberation of oppressed peoples from the ravages of colonialism. But the inner landscape of Tutu’s spirituality, the mystical grounding that spurred his outward accomplishments, often goes unseen.

Rather than recount his entire life story, this book explores Tutu’s spiritual life and contemplative practices—particularly Tutu’s understanding of Ubuntu theology, which emphasizes finding one’s identity in community—and traces the powerful role they played in subverting the theological and spiritual underpinnings of apartheid. Michael Battle’s personal relationship with Tutu grants readers an inside view of how Tutu’s spiritual agency cast a vision that both upheld the demands of justice and created space to synthesize the stark differences of a diverse society. Battle also suggests that North Americans have much to learn from Tutu’s leadership model as they confront religious and political polarization in their own context.

• Print length 390 pages
• Language English
• Sticky notes On Kindle Scribe
• Publisher Westminster John Knox Press
• Publication date 16 Mar. 2021
• File size 13801 KB
• Page Flip Enabled
• Word Wise Enabled
• Enhanced typesetting Enabled
• See all details

Product description

About the author.

Michael Battle is Herbert Thompson Professor of Church and Society and Director of the Desmond Tutu Center at General Theological Seminary in New York, and President and CEO of the PeaceBattle Institute. The author of eleven books, including Reconciliation: The Ubuntu Theology of Desmond Tutu, he focuses his ministry on nonviolence, Christian reconciliation, human spirituality, and Ubuntu (the African worldview of community). Battle lived in residence with Archbishop Desmond Tutu in South Africa for two years and was ordained a priest in South Africa by Tutu in 1993. In 2010, he was given one of the highest Anglican Church distinctions as "Six Preacher."

Product details

• ASIN ‏ : ‎ B08YN2DY28
• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Westminster John Knox Press (16 Mar. 2021)
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• File size ‏ : ‎ 13801 KB
• Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
• Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
• Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
• X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
• Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
• Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
• Print length ‏ : ‎ 390 pages
• 1,556 in Anglicanism
• 2,504 in Christian Ethics
• 2,590 in Protestantism

About the author

Michael battle.

Discover more of the author’s books, see similar authors, read author blogs and more

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Title: Desmond Tutu: A Spiritual Biography of South Africa's Confessor

Publisher: westminster john knox press, author: michael battle, description.

The first biography of its kind about Desmond Tutu, this book introduces readers to Tutu's spiritual life and examines how it shaped his commitment to restorative justice and reconciliation.

Desmond Tutu was a pivotal leader of the anti-apartheid movement in South Africa and remains a beloved and important emblem of peace and justice around the world. Even those who do not know the major events of Tutu’s life—receiving the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984, serving as the first black archbishop of Cape Town and primate of Southern Africa from 1986–1996, and chairing the Truth and Reconciliation Commission from 1995–1998—recognize him as a charismatic political and religious leader who helped facilitate the liberation of oppressed peoples from the ravages of colonialism. But the inner landscape of Tutu’s spirituality, the mystical grounding that spurred his outward accomplishments, often goes unseen.

Rather than recount his entire life story, this book explores Tutu’s spiritual life and contemplative practices—particularly Tutu’s understanding of Ubuntu theology, which emphasizes finding one’s identity in community—and traces the powerful role they played in subverting the theological and spiritual underpinnings of apartheid. Michael Battle’s personal relationship with Tutu grants readers an inside view of how Tutu’s spiritual agency cast a vision that both upheld the demands of justice and created space to synthesize the stark differences of a diverse society. Battle also suggests that North Americans have much to learn from Tutu’s leadership model as they confront religious and political polarization in their own context.

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