Troubled but not Destroyed: The autobiography of Archbishop David Gitari
David Gitari
Isaac Publishing £15*
(978-0-9916145-4-7)

AS BISHOP of the diocese of Mount Kenya from 1975 to 1997 and Archbishop of Kenya from 1997 to 2002, the late David Gitari was one of the first post-colonial African Church leaders. He wanted, above all, to provide future biographers with credible research material, and that handicaps this autobiography in many ways. This densely written book of more than 300 pages, skipping backwards and forwards chronologically, can read like the minutes of a meeting or a very dry textbook.

But it repays labour. Respect grows for this man, who contrived in his enthronement charge — in the presence of the controversial President Daniel arap Moi — to deal with constitutional reform, the battle against poverty, ignorance and disease, the struggle for justice, the sanctity of human life, stewardship of the environment, human rights, free and fair elections, free expression, the rule of law, fairness and accountability, corruption, reconciliation, and the information superhighway.

Politics cannot be left to politicians, he frequently declares: so doing results in a Hiroshima. He was deeply embroiled in the country’s continuing struggles for democracy, openly challenging its leaders, clashing with authority, and unafraid to criticise Christians, notably over their silence on the Rwandan genocide. A very hands-on bishop, he introduced guidelines to reduce the traditional day-long African funeral to two hours so that his priests did not “spend 40 per cent of their time burying the dead”. He thanks God for the part he played in “sensitising the Church to accept the ministry of women”.

An expository preacher, he occasionally throws into the book an exposition of a text to illustrate a point. He describes himself as “an evangelical deeply committed to evangelism and an evangelical ready to be deeply involved in social-political activities”. The Church’s task, he says unequivocally, is “to steer the state away from evil doing and remind it of its high calling as the servant of God. It cannot fulfil the task by ‘concentrating on saving souls’ while ignoring other duties.”

His involvement and influence in the Anglican Communion at every level, from ARCIC to the Lambeth Conferences, is meticulously charted. But it is the tantalising flashes of personal life which leave the reader longing for more. A teacher-training college rejected him as “too short to reach the blackboard”. And he failed initially to study theology in the UK because he was told “No African could understand Greek or Hebrew.”

*This title is available from the Oxford Centre for Religion and Public Life, 21 High Street, Eynsham OX29 4HE; or csugden@ocrpl.org.