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ABSTRACT
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.
Acknowledgements
The authors acknowledge that opinions, findings, and conclusions expressed are those of the authors alone, while the NRF accepts no liability whatsoever in this regard.
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No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes
1 Some select publications, amongst more than twenty others, include: Battle, Reconciliation; The Wisdom of Desmond Tutu (Oxford: Lion, 1999, and Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox, 2000); Ubuntu: I in You and You in Me (New York: Seabury, 2009); and Heaven on Earth: A Call to Community in the Book of Revelation (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox, 2017).
2 Battle, “The Ubuntu theology of Desmond Tutu”.
3 Tutu, “Afterword,” 316.
4 Battle, Desmond Tutu: A Spiritual Biography, xiv.
5 Ibid., xiv.
6 Ibid., 15.
7 Rakoczy. “What Does Mysticism Have to Do with Social Justice?”.
8 Battle, Desmond Tutu: A Spiritual Biography, 5.
9 Ibid., 38.
10 Ibid., 60.
11 Ibid., 90.
12 Ibid., 55.
13 Ibid., 55.
14 Ibid., 126.
15 Ibid., 179.
16 Ibid., 3.
17 Ibid., 3.
18 Arjana, Buying Buddha, Selling Rumi.
19 Ibid., 1.
20 Battle, Desmond Tutu: A Spiritual Biography, 48.
21 Tutu, “Afterword,” 315–16.
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Sarojini Nadar
Sarojini Nadar, holds the Desmond Tutu South African Research Chair (SARChI) in Religion and Social Justice at the University of the Western Cape. Her research is broadly located at the intersections of gender studies and religion, and she focuses on topics such as gender-based violence, sexual and reproductive health rights, critical race and pedagogy in higher education, and other related subjects.