Desmond Tutu's Message

Book excerpt: The churches, with Archbishop Desmond Tutu in the forefront, played a remarkable role in the liberation of South Africa. This book offers a scholarly analysis of a selection of Tutu's sermons, speeches and statements over a period of fifteen years. The structure of argumentation in his sermons and speeches is explained, the striking dialogical style of communication of his prophetic preaching is displayed, and his success in motivating oppressed people to keep on hoping and to act in a peaceful way for liberation is discussed. Tutu has shown, by preaching in a prophetic mode during the dark days of apartheid, that the Christian religion is, indeed, a major motivational force for liberation. This analysis yields a handful of practical theological insights for the communication of the gospel.