Bibliography: pages 442-458. / PART ONE elucidates the theoretical basis of the study and its assumptions. After surveying South African church historiography and concluding that synchronic political economic history is seldom integrated into the Church story, it is argued that critical social theory should inform church historiography. An historical material framework is adopted and the relationship of theory and practice established... PART TWO, the bulk of the study, analyses the churches in context. To set the scene, the missionary period of the nineteenth century is discussed in relation to Victorian expansionism, concluding that, whatever their value, the missions were closely tied in to imperial interests and the penetration of capital, fundamentally altering the indigenous societies. This leads to a brief consideration of race and class in the South African political economy. A class definition is adopted that allows for fractions within the dominant capital-labour dichotomy. Finally, an overview of the first stage of industrialisation follows in respect of primitive accumulation, gold mining, farming, alcohol and domestic workers. With that background to the 1903-1930 period clear, extensive archival material is used to describe and analyse the churches in relation to their political economic context. The focus is the Church in industrialisation, including the shaping of its practice, polity and theology by the conflicts and interests of foreign and national capital... PART THREE returns to the earlier theoretical framework in order to found a theory of religion and theology. David Tracy's notions of the limits-to human agency and the limits-of experience locate the religious phenomenon in relation to empirical-analytic and historical-hermeneutic sciences. Questions of meaning, meaningfulness and truth are introduced. Utilising Theodore Jennings, William Lynch and Paul Ricoeur, the structure of analogical imagination is explored and applied to Bernard Lonergan's investigation of insight, to be finally related to religion as a way-of-being-in- the-world. Lastly, the culminating chapter pursues ecclesiological directions, within a historical material framework, applicable to a Church caught in social contradictions but anticipating an emancipated world, and concludes with a definition of the Church-at-the-limits.

This study is an appraisal of African Music within the Methodist Church of Southern Africa with particular reference to the Western Cape. I develop and amplify a pilot study 4 in order to provide a model for further research into African Music in the Methodist Church of Southern Africa. The subject has a certain topical relevance. Many Churches are not only producing new hymn books but are also experimenting with new ways of communicating the gospel through music. 5 More recently, the Africanisation committee of the C.U.C. (Church Unity Commission) directed by its convenor the Rev. E. Baartman (President Elect of the Methodist Church of Southern Africa) recommended that the C.U.C. co-ordinate research into "Black theology, African liturgy and furthermore, at the Fifth Annual Symposium on Ethnomusicology, 30 August 1984 - 1 September 1984, Alain Barker reported that "while all agreed that the international perspective the Conference provided was of great value, serious debate on how the subject should be dealt with in this country was limited to a brief discussion at the end" . Some critics felt more practical involvement in African Music should have been a part of the Conference. In other words an academic assessment needs to be grounded in practice. (a) My purpose is to determine the meaning of African Music in the Methodist Church of Southern Africa, and to show that African Music is a contact point between Church and Culture, facilitating cultural liberation. (b)I have erected a framework to order the results of my research. It may be claimed that the method of approach is in many ways novel. Field work, recording and documentation on African Music in the Methodist Church of Southern Africa has to my knowledge never been published. This research is an attempt to make a start. We need to listen to Africa. As a fourth generation Methodist Minister, where else could I begin other than in the Methodist Church? As can be expected in an exploratory study, these findings point to areas which need more investigation. African Music articulates the most viable approach to respond to both the demands of the Gospel and African Culture. The aim of this study is to promote and teach people an appreciation of African Music within the broader context of the Church. (c) In the light of this, I have attempted four things: (i) African Music in the Methodist Church of Southern Africa is located in its broader African context by an examination of the roots of the Church within the Protestant tradition. (ii) Oral evidence was collected as a basis for critical reflection. (iii) A critical reflection is undertaken on some of the issues implicit in the words and music. (iv) An attempt is made to suggest ways and means of developing African Music within the life of the Church.