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For our purposes here, Evangelicalism is broadly understood as that brand of Christianity, emerging from the Pietist stream of the Reformed tradition, whose emphasis is on "salvation through personal encounter with the risen Christ." This is intended to include both Pentecostal/Charismatic movements as well as those who do not identify with these movements but who believe in the need for personal salvation and Christian discipleship through adherence to scripture. This may also include a number of people in the "mainline" or ecumenical churches, those traditionally associated with the South African Council of Churches (SACC). The period in which Evangelical responses to liberation are considered is between 1980 and 1994, when the first democratic elections were held. Some brief observations will be made about influences that have spilled over into the new post-1994 era.
Evangelical responses to the political situation in South Africa under apartheid in this period were usually one of four kinds. First, there were those who openly aligned themselves with the liberation struggle against apartheid; we may call them the radicals. second, there were those who openly supported the status quo, usually because of the Pauline injunction to obey the authorities: the conservatives. Third were those who did not agree with apartheid yet saw their major contribution as working for reconciliation and gradual change, whom I name protagonists of the Third Way. Fourth, there were those who did not agree with apartheid but who, rather than becoming involved in direct political attempts to oppose it, developed alternative methods of counteracting its influences. We may call them protagonists of the "alternative" community.
In this essay I attempt to compare and contrast these positions, citing examples of each during the apartheid years, and say something about what their influences are in the new dispensation.
The "Radicals"
During one of the states of emergency called by President RW. Botha in the mid 1980's a group of "concerned Evangelicals" met in Orlando, Sowcto, "to discuss the crisis in South Africa and how it affected their lives, their faith, and in particular the evangelistic mission which was usually their preoccupation."1 The statement that emerged from this gathering became known as the EWISA (Evangelical Witness in South Africa) document. The document was signed by some one hundred and...