Description
Desmond Tutu: A Spiritual Biography of South Africa’s Confessor
Autographed Copy! Michael Battle offers the first biography of its kind about Desmond Tutu, this book introduces readers to Tutu’s spiritual life and examines how it shaped his commitment to restorative justice and reconciliation. Desmond Tutu was a pivotal leader of the anti-apartheid movement in South Africa and remains a beloved and important emblem of peace and justice around the world. Even those who do not know the major events of Tutu’s life—receiving the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984, serving as the first black archbishop of Cape Town and primate of Southern Africa from 1986–1996, and chairing the Truth and Reconciliation Commission from 1995–1998—recognize him as a charismatic political and religious leader who helped facilitate the liberation of oppressed peoples from the ravages of colonialism. But the inner landscape of Tutu’s spirituality, the mystical grounding that spurred his outward accomplishments, often goes unseen.
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Reviews
“Much has been written about Desmond Tutu, some of it by Dr. Michael Battle. But in this important work he gives us something very special indeed, moving beyond any political lens and instead revealing the interpersonal spirituality that lies at the heart of Tutu’s prophetic and political action. In these pages, we see a familiar friend in a fresh light. And that light shining through him is a light that comes from God, which no darkness can overcome.” —The Most Rev. Michael B. Curry, Presiding Bishop of The Episcopal Church and Author of Love is the Way: Holding on to Hope in Troubling Times
“This is a profoundly beautiful and necessary contribution to learning from one of our wisest leaders in a new generation and a changed world. We are immersed in the rich spiritual and theological intelligence that formed Tutu’s singular agency in one of humanity’s most extraordinary social transformations. Just as importantly, as Michael Battle engages with the life of his teacher and friend, he models a spirituality towards the social courage and creativity that this century demands.”—Krista Tippett, Founder and CEO of The On Being Project and Host of On Being and Becoming Wise
“Michael Battle has not only given us a powerful framing of Desmond Tutu’s spiritual life—one that will be studied for many years—but he has also made clear what it means to see someone as a saint who lives not in unapproachable light, but in the real struggles of this world where God is to be found and known. Battle knows that world as well as he knows Desmond Tutu and it is from the deep well of knowledge of both God’s ways of justice and one of God’s humble servants that he offers us this gem of a book.” —Willie James Jennings, Associate Professor of Systematic Theology and Africana Studies, Yale University
- Book Launch at Tutu Foundation in Cape Town: Click here
- Review in Religion News Service: Click here
- Review in Church Times UK: Click here
- Review Faithfully Magazine: Click here
- Review Spirituality and Practice: Click here
- Interview Make It Plain: Click here
- Interview The God Show: Click here
- Review by Rowan Williams: Click here
