John William Colenso

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Portrait of Colenso by Samuel Sidley
John William Colenso, 1865

John William Colenso (born January 24, 1814 in St Austell , Cornwall , † June 20, 1883 in Bishopstowe , Natal ), nicknamed Sobantu , was the first Anglican Bishop of Natal , mathematician, theologian and social activist.

Life

Colenso's father, John William Colenso, had interests in mines but went bankrupt. Colenso grew up with three siblings. As a teenager, his goal was to study mathematics and become a priest. After studying mathematics at St John's College in Cambridge , he wrote several textbooks, some of which were later widely used. He was ordained in 1839 . He worked briefly as a math teacher at Harrow School and again at St John's College. In 1846 he married Sarah Frances Bunyon, who came from a liberal family and who introduced Colenso to the theologian Frederick Denison Maurice (also FD Maurice). Because of his marriage he had to give up his fellowship at Cambridge and in the same year became country pastor at Forncett St Mary in Norfolk .

In 1853 Colenso was appointed bishop of the newly founded diocese of Natal. At the beginning of his activity he had a cathedral built in Pietermaritzburg , but he resided in nearby Bishopstowe, today a district of Pietermaritzburg. Colenso proselytized among the Zulu . He created the first written language for their language isiZulu . In just a few years he wrote a dictionary and grammar of the language and translated the New Testament into isiZulu. He campaigned for the Zulu, especially against their oppression and corruption.

Due to a 1861 published commentary on Romans , in the Colenso under the impression joining the Zulu the then prevailing theological doctrine of Jesus' atonement for sinners ( " atonement for penal substitution rejected"), he was attacked violently. In his opinion, God loves people of all "races" and aims to conquer sin, not to punish the sinful.

Caricature Colensos by Carlo Pellegrini from Vanity Fair in response to his remarks on the Pentateuch

In 1861 Colenso also wrote First Lessons in Science, in which he described Charles Darwin's theory of evolution and Charles Lyell's views on the formation of the earth in long-lasting chemical, physical and biological processes.

Colenso also rejected the dogma that unbaptized ancestors of Christians are inevitably doomed to hell. He also criticized passages of the Old Testament that did not stand up to scientific scrutiny, such as the reports on creation and the flood . On this occasion he wrote a series of theological treatises on the Pentateuch and the Book of Joshua from 1862 to 1879 .

His fellow bishop Robert Gray from Cape Town excommunicated him in 1863 for heresy . Colenso then traveled to Great Britain for two years to litigate against it before the church's internal Privy Council . During this time he won numerous followers because of his enlightening, liberal-humanist attitude. His books were controversial.

In 1865 he won the trial and returned to Natal. Meanwhile, another bishop resided there with William Kenneth Macrorie in Pietermaritzburg. In 1867, for the first time in the history of the Anglican Church, a full assembly of bishops - without Colenso - was called in Lambeth , UK , to deliberate on him. He was again deposed, but complained again and won, so that he remained bishop alongside Macrorie. Despite less support from his church, Colenso continued his work for the Zulu.

Because of his efforts for the Zulu during the Zulu War in 1879 he was called "Sobantu" ("Father of the People"). He was honored by others as "the last honest white man". But he again made many enemies among the whites.

In addition to Bishopstowe, Durban and Pietermaritzburg are also given as places of death .

Colenso had five children with his wife, Sarah Frances. His daughters Harriette and Frances also campaigned publicly for the Zulu after his death. Frances Colenso wrote the books History of the Zulu War and its Origin (1880) and The Ruin of Zululand (1885).

Others

Colenso's cousin William Colenso (1811–1899) was also a senior missionary. He lived in New Zealand with the Maori .

Honors and reception

  • The town of Colenso am Tugela was named after him in 1855 during his tenure as 1855.
  • Colenso is sometimes referred to as the forerunner of liberation theology .

Works

  • 1855: Elementary grammar of the Zulu-Kafir language: prepared for the use of missionaries and other students.
  • 1855: Ten Weeks in Natal. (English, archive.org ).
  • 1861: Zulu-English dictionary.
  • 1861: St. Paul's Epistle to the Romans… Explained from a Missionary Point of View.
  • 1861: First Lessons in Science.
  • 1862–1879: Pentateuch and book of Joshua critically examined…
  • 1868: Arithmetic: designed for the use of schools: to which is added a chapter on decimal coinage. (New edition)
  • 1868: The elements of algebra: designed for the use of schools. (New edition)
  • 1873: Lectures on the Pentateuch and the Moabite stone ...
  • 2003 [sic!]: With Jonathan A. Draper (introduction): Commentary on Romans. 2003

literature

  • George W. Cox: The Life of John William Colenso, DD, Bishop of Natal. London 1888.

Web links

Commons : John William Colenso  - Collection of Images

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f Colenso, John William. In: Keith Irvine (Ed.): The Encyclopaedia Africana Dictionary of African Biography. Volume 3: South Africa- Botswana-Lesotho-Swaziland. Reference Publications Inc., Algonac, Michigan 1995 (B, dacb.org ).
  2. ↑ a b c d e f g biography at history.mcs.st (English), accessed on June 25, 2015.
  3. ^ A b c d Colenso, [John] William . In: John Archibald Venn (Ed.): Alumni Cantabrigienses . A Biographical List of All Known Students, Graduates and Holders of Office at the University of Cambridge, from the Earliest Times to 1900. Part 2: From 1752 to 1900 , Volume 2 : Chalmers – Fytche . Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1944, pp. 92 ( venn.lib.cam.ac.uk Textarchiv - Internet Archive ).
  4. ↑ a b c The Colenso Affair. at trushare.com, accessed June 28, 2015.
  5. ↑ Frederick Quinn: Gray, Robert . In: African saints. Saints, martyrs, and holy people from the continent of Africa . Crossroad, New York 2002, ISBN 0-8245-1971-X (English, dacb.org ).
  6. ↑ Timothy Larsen: Biblical Criticism and the Desire for Reform Bishop Colenso on the Pentateuch. In: Contested Christianity: the political and social contexts of Victorian theology. Baylor University Press, 2004, ISBN 0-918954-93-2 , pp. 59-77 ( books.google.com ).
  7. ^ Biography at britannica.com, accessed June 25, 2015.
  8. ^ Report on Colenso on his 200th birthday , accessed on June 25, 2015
personal data
SURNAME Colenso, John William
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Sobantu; Colenso, John W .; Colenso, JW
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British clergyman, Anglican bishop, mathematician, theologian and social activist
DATE OF BIRTH January 24, 1814
PLACE OF BIRTH St Austell
DATE OF DEATH June 20, 1883
Place of death Bishopstowe