John William Colenso
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John William Colenso (1814-1883), first Anglican bishop of Natal, theologian, Bible scholar and social activist.
[edit] Biography
Colenso was born at St Austell, Cornwall, on January 24 1814. His father (John Williams Colenso) invested his capital into a mineral works in Pentewan, Cornwall, but the speculation proved to be ruinous when the investment was lost following a sea flood. His cousin (b.1811) was William Colenso.
As a result of his family's financial problems, Colenso had to take a job as an usher in a private school to save money so as to be able to go to University. These savings and a loan of £30 raised by his relatives enabled him to afford his first year at St John's Cambridge where he won a sizarship. In 1836 he was second wrangler and Smith's prizeman at Cambridge, and in 1837 he became fellow of St John's. Two years later he went to Harrow School as mathematical tutor, but the step proved an unfortunate one. The school was just then at the lowest ebb, and Colenso not only had few pupils, but lost most of his property by a fire. He went back to Cambridge, and in a short time paid off an enormous debt of £5,000 by diligent tutoring and the proceeds of the purchase by Longmans of his copyright interest in his series of manuals of algebra (1841) and arithmetic (1843), which were adopted all over England.
In 1846 he became rector of Forncett St Mary, Norfolk, and in 1853 he was recruited by the bishop of Cape Town, Robert Gray, to be bishop of Natal. He arranged for a printing press to be brought to his missionary station at Ekukhanyeni in Natal and at once devoted himself to acquiring the Zulu language and compiling a grammar and a dictionary. He also translated the New Testament and other portions of Scripture into Zulu. He had already given evidence, in a volume of sermons dedicated to Frederick Maurice, that he was not satisfied with the traditional views about the Bible. The unsettling questions put to him by native Africans during his missionary work further led him to make a critical examination of the Pentateuch and the Book of Joshua. His conclusions, positive and negative, were published in a series of treatises on the Pentateuch and the Book of Joshua, extending from 1862 to 1879, and, being in advance of his time, were naturally disputed in England with a fervour of conviction equal to his own. On the continent they attracted the notice of Abraham Kuenen, and furthered that scholar's investigations.
While the controversy raged in England, the South African bishops, whose suspicions Colenso had already incurred by the liberality of his views respecting polygamy among native converts and by a commentary upon the Epistle to the Romans (1861), in which he contested the doctrine of eternal punishment and Holy Communion being a precondition to salvation, met in conclave to condemn him, and pronounced his deposition (December 1863). Colenso, who had refused to appear before their tribunal otherwise than as sending a protest by proxy, appealed to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in London. The Privy Council found that the bishop of Cape Town had no coercive jurisdiction and no authority to interfere with the bishop of Natal. No decision, therefore, was given upon the allegations of heresy made against him.
His adversaries, though unable to obtain his condemnation, succeeded in causing him to be generally inhibited from preaching in England, and Bishop Gray not only excommunicated him but consecrated a rival bishop of Natal (WK Macrorie), who, however, took his title from Pietermaritzburg. The contributions of the missionary societies were withdrawn, but an attempt to deprive him of his episcopal income and the control of the cathedral was frustrated by a decision of the courts. Colenso, encouraged by a handsome testimonial raised in England, to which many clergymen subscribed, returned to his diocese, and devoted the latter years of his life to further labours as a biblical commentator and translator. He also championed the cause of the Zulus against Boer oppression and official encroachments and in so doing he made more enemies among the colonists than he had ever made among the clergy. In the film Zulu Dawn Colenso is portrayed sympathetically by Freddy Thomas as as a principled critic of the decision to declare war on Cetshwayo and the Zulus. He died at Durban on June 20, 1883. His daughter Frances Ellen Colenso (1849-1887) published two books on the relations of the Zulus to the British (1880 and 1885), taking a pro-Zulu view; and an elder daughter, Harriette E Colenso (b. 1847), became prominent as an advocate of the Zulus in opposition to their treatment by Natal, especially in the case of Dinizulu in 1888—1889 and in 1908—1909.
See his Life by Sir GW Cox (2 vols., London, 1888).
He is particularly interesting in that his career showed that Liberation Theology is not merely a product of Latin America and the 20th century, but occurs far more widely. He has been presented as "A Father of Liberation Theology" in an article by Patrick Wright of Windhoek.
This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.
