Trevor Huddleston

Trevor Huddleston (b. 1913), former Bishop of Masasi, Stepney, and Mauritius, is best known for his outspoken opposition to South Africa's apartheid policies. Thirty years after his book, Naught for Your Comfort, alerted readers to the implacable nature of apartheid, he is still at the center of protest as President of the Anti-Apartheid Movement. These essays, written on the occasion of Huddleston's 75th birthday, are a tribute from some of the people whose lives and perceptions have been altered by his example. Nadine Gordimer, Bishop Desmond Tutu, Julius K. Nyerere, Donald MacKinnon, R.A. Denniston, and others offer reflections on Africa, Christology and protest, human rights and racism, the anti-apartheid struggle, and other topics, stressing throughout the contribution Huddleston has made to the betterment of people everywhere.

The height of colonial rule on the African continent saw two prominent religious leaders step to the fore: Desmond Tutu in South Africa, and Abel Muzorewa in Zimbabwe. Both Tutu and Muzorewa believed that Africans could govern their own nations responsibly and effectively if only they were given the opportunity. In expressing their religious views about the need for social justice, each man borrowed from national traditions that had shaped the policy of earlier church leaders. Tutu and Muzorewa argued that the political development of Africans was essential to the security of the white settlers and that whites should seek the promotion of political development of Africans as a condition of that future security.