Tiyo Soga (1829–1871) at the intersection of ‘universes in collision’

Abstract

Tiyo Soga, the first black minister ordained in Scotland by the United Presbyterian Church of Scotland in 1856, was, by any standards, a conflicted character. He stood both in and between two worlds and suffered from the vulnerability that emerged from his dual allegiances. Yet he made a significant contribution to the mission history of South Africa, particularly through his early influence on the development of black consciousness and black nationalism, which were to make significant contributions to black thinking in the 20th century. Soga’s life and ministry are set in the context of Michael Ashley’s concept of ‘universes in collision’.

Keywords

• Black consciousness
• black nationalism
• John Chalmers
• Mgwali
• symbolic universes
• Tiyo Soga
• Tutura
• ‘universes in collision’
• Wars of Dispossession