The Ambivalent Nature of Christianity: Reconfiguring Black Identity in South Africa

This thesis is an exploration of blackness in Christianity, specifically in South Africa. I trace patristic, medieval, and early modern conceptions of blackness, then turn to the conversion process in South Africa, which I call the indigenization of Christianity. Finally, I explore how Black Theology in South Africa entails a project of reaffirming black humanity in the late apartheid era.