SOWING IN TEARS, a documentary history of the church struggle against apartheid 1960-1990
397pp., paperback, Johannesburg, 2021
Covers the period from the Cottesloe Conference following the Sharpeville Massacre to the "Standing for the Truth Campaign" on the eve of President F.W. de Klerk's February 2 1990 speech in Parliament.
"A wonderful book of historical importance documenting the church's role and participation in the struggle against Apartheid. It speaks fluently of theologians and ecumenists' challenges and assumptions about the separation of religion and public discourse, outlining protests, meetings and other movements which took place. Yet it also remains a story of prayer and theological convergences. Outlining acts of public intervention by religious leaders and individuals." Dr Brigalia Bam, former General Secretary of the South African Council of Churches and former Chair of the Electoral Commission of South Africa
"This is a breathtaking book - first for people who have experienced this struggle in their life-time; secondly, for every historian who can rejoice to have the full text of the relevant documents reprinted - not only as such but carefully contextualized in relation to the historical developments; thirdly, for theologians, who will find highly innovative theological discoveries which until this day shape the ecumenical discourse." Ulrich Duchrow, Professor of Systematic Theology at the University of Heidelberg
Malesela John Lamola is Associate Professor at the University of Johannesburg’s Institute for Intelligent Systems. During the 1980s he worked at the Institute for Contextual Theology and the South African Council of Churches.