After the Locust

AFTER THE LOCUST: Letters from a Landscape of Faith. Edited by Denise Ackerman. David Philip, Cape Town. 2003. 180pp

Reviewed by Michail Rassool

The institutionalised church, of whatever denomination, is by its nature patriarchal. Yet history shows how many women have made their mark in them by virtue of their talents and their important contributions to the quality of church life and debate.

One such woman, South African Dutch Reformed theologian Denise M Ackermann, who by her very choice of career and specialist area went against the very grain of almost everything her church stood for. She was at the forefront of feminist theological discourse, while also taking a courageous stance against the injustices of the apartheid system. This often meant approaching issues of faith that militated against those propagated by the DRC male establishment and Afrikaner patriarchy differently, which entailed her finding her own voice within the church.

With the inestimable comfort of hindsight one can put the diverse elements of personal choices in perspective, holding them up and mulling them over, which sometimes makes for a seamless whole, a tapestry of experience.

That the former professor of Christianity and Society at the University of the Western Cape has succeeded in this is evident in her autobiography, After the Locusts.

In the book her role as Afrikaner theologian, woman (daughter, wife, mother, grandmother) and activist is richly explored. She poses many questions concerning the South African social landscape, past and present, putting forward possible answers and explanations from a contextual theological perspective.

In his foreword, Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu describes the book as “a deeply moving account of a very special person, remarkably courageous: she and her lawyer husband, now a judge in our Constitutional Court, have paid heavily for holding to their beliefs and principles which put them at odds with the majority of the community.”

Each of the six chapters is written as a letter addressed to people closest to her, particularly family members, in which she explores various issues. These include issues of identity and consciousness, Afrikaner womanhood, and the challenges of present-day South Africa.

In regard to the latter, she asks: “Will it be a time of doom and no hope, or will we find a new unveiling of God’s presence and love for us here and now?”

A compelling read indeed.