James Mata Dwane

James Mata Dwane (c. 1895)

James Mata Dwane (1848 – 1916), priest and founder of the Order of Ethiopia.

Early life

Dwane was born in Kamastone near Whittlesea, Eastern Cape, in 1848. He was educated and later taught at Healdtown Methodist Missionary Institution.

At the mere age of 19, he decided to start a school in a nearby village and enrolled 60 learners whom he taught all he had learned. He then left for further education and formal teacher training at Healdtown Methodist Missionary Institution where he later served as a teacher. During this time, he became painfully aware of the difference in quality between white and black education.

In an effort to advance his education vision he joined John Tengo Jabavu in a local newspaper in King William's Town as Co-editor for Imvo Zabantsundu (Black Opinion)

Methodist minister

After a period as a lay minister, Dwane returned to Healdtown in 1872 to study theology. His studies completed, he began his work as a probationer minister by assisting the Rev'd Robert Lamplough at the Ann Shaw church, Middeldrift. He was ordained as a Methodist minister in Port Elizabeth in 1881. Dwane served as a minister in a number of places in the Eastern and Northern Cape.

In 1892 Dwane went to England to collect money for the work of the Methodist church in South Africa. Dwane hoped to collect money to start an industrial school near Queenstown. His tour successful and he returned with a large amount of money. However, on his return, the Methodist authorities insisted that the money be paid into the general fund. Dwane was thoroughly disillusioned and this dispute over money led directly to his leaving the Methodist Church and joining the Ethiopian Church of Mangena Mokone.

Ethiopian Church

In 1896 when Dwane joined the Ethiopian Church, the amalgamation with the African Methodist Episcopal Church (AMEC) in America was being discussed. Dwane and two others were elected to go to America, but in the end only Dwane could raise the money so he went alone.

Eventually the House of Bishops and the Missionary Board of AMEC agreed to the amalgamation. Dwane was re-ordained (as bishop) and sent back as General Superintendent (GS) of the South African AMEC.

Anglican Church

Dwane became suspicious of the validity of the orders into which he had been inducted as bishop. The vicar of the Anglican Church in Queenstown, the Rev'd Julius Gordon, introduced Dwane to the Rt Rev'd Charles Cornish, Bishop of Grahamstown. Dwane became convinced that the Anglicans had the true Apostolic succession and in 1899 he wrote to the Most Rev'd William West Jones, Archbishop of Cape Town to negotiate the admission of the breakaway Ethiopians to the Anglican Church as a separate order.

In August 1900 a service was held in Grahamstown Cathedral at which Dwane was formally accepted into the fellowship of the Anglican Church. After making the necessary vows he was admitted as the Provincial superior of the Order of Ethiopia, but he was not consecrated as a bishop.

The Anglican Church was slow to ordain ministers for the Order of Ethiopia. In 1902 fifty-three candidates from Queenstown were confirmed and twelve men were licensed as catechists but not as priests. The same year the Rev. W. M. Cameron was put in charge of training 'Ethiopian theological students' . Dwane assisted Cameron with the work of teaching the students.

Difficulties and disagreements

At a conference in 1905 Dwane complained that Ethiopian ministers had to work under white priests. The bishop firmly reminded the Ethiopians that they were "first members of the Church of the Province of South Africa and secondly members of the Order of Ethiopia". Dwane was criticized by the church authorities for taking part in commercial transactions. Two years later Dwane was replaced as Provincial. Cameron reported to the archbishop that 'the bishops of the province have not reappointed Mr. Dwane as provincial' and that he, Cameron, had been appointed acting-provincial. Dwane remained a priest in the Order of Ethiopia until his death in 1916 and never became a bishop.

Dwane's great-grandson, Bishop S. Dwane, became the first black bishop of the Order of Ethiopia; the position that his great grandfather had sought but never achieved.

Awards

The Order of the Baobab in Gold by President Jacob Zuma for his contribution to the formation of the African Methodist Episcopal Church and educational development of Africans. 

Literature contribution

Dwane wrote a book called Imaz'enethole (Cow and Calf)

Commemoration

The Anglican Church of Southern Africa commemorates Dwane in its Calendar of saints on the 9th day of February each year. In addition the collect for this commemoration is as follows:

God our Father,our teacher and our guide
your servant James Mata Dwane
preached the gospel of your Son
and lived the gospel which he preached;
grant that all of us by our lives
may proclaim the gospel that he taught;
through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.

Notes and references

• Mtuze, Peter Tshobiso (June 2008), Bishop Dr S. Dwane and the Rise of Xhosa Spirituality in the Ethiopian Episcopal Church (Formerly The Order of Ethiopia), hdl:10500/2420
• Booyse, Adonis Carolus (May 2010), The Sovereignty of the African Districts of the African Methodist Episcopal Church: A Historical Assessment, Department of Religion and Theology: University of the Western Cape, p. 76, hdl:11394/2126{{citation}}: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link)
• Odendaal, André (2012). The Founders: The Origins of the ANC and the Struggle for Democracy in South Africa. Jacana Education. ISBN 978-1-4314-0291-5.
• Robert, Dana L. (2003). Mission churches. Vol. 2. Southern African Missiological Society. ISBN 978-1-86888-284-7.
• Schulze, Andrea (2005). "Ethiopianism". In Siegbert Uhlig (ed.). Encyclopaedia Aethiopica. Vol. D–Ha. Otto Harrassowitz Verlag. ISBN 978-3-447-05238-2.
• Verryn, Trevor David (1972). A History of the Order of Ethiopia. Central Mission Press.
• Lewis, Cecil; Edwards, Gertrude Elizabeth (1934). Historical records of the Church of the Province of South Africa. Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge.
• Millard, J. A. (1999). Malihambe. Unisa Press. ISBN 978-1-86888-052-2.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link)
• Lahouel, Badra (1986). "Ethiopianism and African Nationalism in South Africa before 1937". Cahiers d'études africaines. 26 (104): 681–688. Retrieved 2014-08-05.
• Hayes, Stephen (August 1992). "African Independent Churches - judgement through terminology?". Missionalia, the journal of the Southern African Missiological Society. 20 (2): 139–146. Retrieved 2014-08-05.
• Hayes, Stephen (2008). "Orthodox Ecclesiology in Africa: A Study of the 'Ethiopian' Churches of South Africa". International journal for the Study of the Christian Church. 8 (4): 337–354. doi:10.1080/14742250802369905. ISSN 1474-225X. – via Taylor & Francis (subscription required)
• Kumalo, Raymond Simangaliso (2014). "Christianity and Political Engagement in Post-Apartheid South Africa". Political Theology. 15 (3): 220–230. doi:10.1179/1462317X13Z.00000000055. ISSN 1462-317X.
• Paterson, Andrew (2003). "Education and Segregation in a South African Mission Church: The Merger of the Anglican Church and the Order of Ethiopia, 1900-1908". The International Journal of African Historical Studies. 36 (3): 585. doi:10.2307/3559435.
• "The Most Reverend Michael Wright - Telegraph". The Telegraph. 21 April 2009. Retrieved 2014-08-05.
• Michael Wright. "An account of the Umzi Wase Tiyopiya by Bishop Michael Wright". HOLY CATHOLIC CHURCH WESTERN RITE- IN THE FAMILY OF CATHOLIC CHURCHES (in Xhosa and English). Archived from the original on 2014-08-08. Retrieved 2014-08-05.
• Millard, J. A. "Dwane, James Mata, South Africa, Order of Ethiopia (Anglican)". Dictionary of Africa Christian Biography. Retrieved 2014-08-05.