The debates and disagreements on human sexuality and the Anglican Church of Southern Africa : a theological assessment with special reference to the prophetic witness of Archbishop Tutu

Abstract

This thesis seeks to examine the debates and disagreements on the evolving nature of sexuality and the passage of controversial Resolution I.10 at the 1998 Lambeth Conference. Insofar as Resolution I.10 of the 1998 Lambeth Conference is concerned, it demonstrates insistence on orthodoxy shaped by patriarchal theology of domination as expressed in the “essentialist and gendered complementarian” view of the nineteenth Century. I will argue that this resolution is about a theology of domination pervasive in the Anglican Church of the nineteenth-century church and society. I will further argue that resolution I.10 is antithetical to Classic Anglicanism and refutes the evolving narrative of human sexuality. I contend, therefore, that resolution I.10 espouses patriarchy, homophobia, transphobia and heteronormativity; and given the African context, it is a Western conservative and a theology of dominance that eroded the pre-colonial and diverse African approaches to sexuality. To make my complex case as suggested in the preceding paragraph, I engage Archbishop Tutu’s prophetic witness, with his ‘radical theology’ - the core of which is Desmond Tutu’s doctrine of the imago Dei (Maluleke 2020) and the concept of ‘radical spiritual decolonisation’ (Hulley et al 1996). The two ideas will provide the main lenses through and against which I will interpret Tutu’s work on gender and sexuality. My view is that Tutu’s theological trajectory provides the most piercing critique of the theological posture taken in resolution I.10 of the 1998 Lambeth Conference. I will further argue that this resolution was based on a theological and procedural departure from established Anglican consensus-building conventions and strategies expressed as ‘conciliar nature’ (Hannaford 1996) and ‘generous orthodoxy’ (Bartlett 2007). These are regarded as the foundation of Anglican conventions of engagement and together with Tutu’s contribution, I will use these in my appraisal of the sexuality and sexual orientation debates triggered by Lambeth 1998 in the Anglican Church. The thesis’s objective is to contribute to theological discourse and ecclesiology shaped by orthodoxy that gives assent to conservatism opposing the evolving narrative of human sexuality and emerging inclusive church and society. In its conclusion, it recommends the restating of Classic Anglicanism as a provision of the theological framework towards embracing diversity.