| This study focuses on three religious traditions in South Africa---the Nederduitse Gereformeerde Kerk (NGK), the South African Council of Churches (SACC), and the Pentecostals---and their changing relationship with the South African state from 1910 to 2002. With the resurgence of democracy around the world, civil society debates have assumed a central place in understanding regime change. Additionally, this study argues that religious actors can enlarge our understanding of South Africa's state-civil society relationships by treating them as the primary units of analysis. This study argues that more scholarly attention is needed to systematically explain the role of religion in politics.; In order to explain religious and church change, this study incorporates the factors of theology, church type, institutional dynamics, as well as the intervening variables of race, ethnicity, and class. What results from this theoretical framework is a state-civil society continuum that can be described in terms of cooperation, conflict, or some mix of the two.; Utilizing a predominantly inductive comparative case study approach, this study gathered information from research libraries, nonprofit organizations, conferences, and semi-structured interviews. This study concludes that religious actors can behave differently in the same political context. Some religious actors, such as the NGK, were found to be an impediment to democratic change because of their close association with narrow, ethnic interests. Others, such as the SACC, were successful in confronting state structures to demand change because of the institutional dynamics of the SACC and its theological perspectives on justice. Finally, other religious actors, such as the Pentecostals, while self-identifying themselves as disengaged from political and economic life, find themselves as one of the most important civil society actors in South Africa as the country is faced with daunting socio-economic issues.; This study will broaden our understanding of the intersection between religion and politics, state-civil society relations, and conflict resolution. This study adds to the literature about South Africa and other African countries. Finally, this study should encourage more research as civil society becomes more relevant to our understanding of an inclusive democracy. |
