Forum Südliches Afrika, 16. Dezember 2021: The Gospel According to Mpilo Desmond Tutu

The life work of Desmond Tutu is too varied, too nuanced and to vast to be captured in one chapter or one book. Indeed, given the various ways in which Desmond Tutu employed his God-given talents to preach the gospel, it is not easy to fit his VAST contribution into one box. However, in this lecture, one tentative claim will be made, namely that, in his sermons, speeches, hilarious anecdotes and prophetic admonitions, Desmond Tutu has given us his own appropropriation and interpretation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ for our times. In this way, he has answered for himself and for our generation, the questions once posed by Jesus: Who do they say that I am? What do you say that I am? To find Tutu’s answer to these questions we will delve briefly into his childhood memories as well as his understanding of reconciliation and forgiveness.

Prof. Tinyiko Maluleke is a Senior Research Fellow at the the Centre for Advanced Scholarship of the University of Pretoria and an elected member of the Academy of Science for South Africa.