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Johannes August Winter

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Johannes August Winter
Winter in 1868
Born(1847-12-17)17 December 1847
Pniel, Orange Free State
Died7 April 1921(1921-04-07) (aged 73)
Mecklenburg, South Africa
OccupationMissionary
Spouse(s)Elisabeth Wangemann, daughter of Theodor Wangemann
Children5

Johannes August Winter (17 December 1847 – 7 April 1921)[1] was a German Lutheran missionary for the Berlin Missionary Society (BMS) who played an important role in the formation of the Lutheran Bapedi Church in South Africa at the turn of the 19th century, against a backdrop of competing political and economic power struggles between British, Afrikaner and native tribal interests.

Early life

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Johannes's father, the Reverend August Wilhelm Winter, and mother, Anna Schüttge (also from a missionary family in Lusatia),[2] came from Berlin to Bethany, Free State in 1839 to assist fellow missionary Carl Wuras.[3] In 1847, August established a new BMS mission at Pniel in the Orange Free State, where Johannes and his siblings were born. The family went back to Germany in 1851 due to August's ill health, but the children all returned to South Africa after receiving their education in Germany.[1]

Education

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After successfully completing his schooling in Germany, Winter was admitted to the Berlin Missionary Society's seminary on the recommendation of inspector Eduard Kratzenstein [de].[4] He excelled academically and was admitted to a fully funded degree in theology at the University of Berlin, on the recommendation of the dean of the faculty, J. A. Dorner.[5]

Early career at Botshabelo

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In 1873, Winter returned to South Africa to commence his career at the Botshabelo mission station in the district of Middelburg in the then ZAR, originally established in 1865 by another BMS missionary, Alexander Merensky, father of the well-known South African geologist, Hans Merensky. In 1878, he became the head of the national helpers' (Nationalhelferen) seminary at Botshabelo.[6]

Marriage

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In 1876, Winter married Elisabeth Wangemann,[7] daughter of the influential Hermann Theodor Wangemann, who had become director of the BMS in Berlin in 1865.[8] Wangemann was expecting an exemplary mission career from his son-in-law, but Winter struggled with the conformity expected from Botshabelo's white families, preferring the company of the local African evangelists and population. Through these interactions he became fluent in Sepedi, gradually developing a more inclusive attitude to the African culture and its leadership.[9]

Thaba Mosego

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In 1880, the Winters were asked to establish a mission station at Thaba Mosego, the vanquished capital of the Pedi king, Sekhukhune, who had been defeated the year before by an army of British, Boer and Swazi soldiers.[10] In 1881, Sekhukhune was released from prison by the British and returned to his old domain, where a strong working relationship developed between him and Winter.[11] Sekhukhune even went so far as to propose a betrothal of Winter's infant daughter, Anna, as a future wife of his. This was initially rejected by Winter, but in time he agreed, on condition that Anna would have the final say once she came of age.[2]

However, in 1882, Sekhukhune was assassinated by his brother, Mampuru, a crime for which Mampuru was captured and hanged in 1883 by the Boer government that had recently taken over from the British.[12] Sekhukhune was succeeded by his brother, Kgoloko, who ruled for the next decade, maintaining mutually beneficial relationships with both Winter and Abel Erasmus, the ZAR's notorious "native commissioner" for the area.[7][13]

Lutheran Bapedi Church

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In the period from around 1865 to 1883, the BMS kept paternalistic control over all aspects of the Pedi converts' lives, while simultaneously neutralizing any possible influence from any Pedi chiefs who wanted to retain the loyalty of their erstwhile subjects. Unhappiness steadily grew amongst the population, so much so that in 1889, Martinus Sewushane, a prominent native evangelist, and around 500 of his followers decided to secede from the BMS to form the Lutheran Bapedi Church (LBC).[14] Winter, who was sympathetic to their cause, was asked to join them – he did, despite strong opposition and condemnation from Wangemann and other BMS leaders in Berlin.[15] Through his relationship with Erasmus, Winter arranged for formal recognition of the new church by the ZAR government. After the Second Boer War, Winter returned to the Bapedi, settling on the farm Onverwacht near Schoonoord in 1904,[16] which he had been given by Transvaal Consolidated Land and Exploration Company (TCL), a massive company owned by the powerful mining company, Corner House,[17] as a reward for discovering asbestos in the area.[18]

Retirement and death

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Photo of the grave of the Reverend J.A. Winter
J.A. Winter grave

Winter retired from the LBC in 1917, spending his last few years with his eldest son, Christian, on the farm Mecklenburg in the Lydenburg area, still regularly conducting church services. He died on 7 April 1921 from heart failure.[19]

Published works

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  • "The Tradition of Ra'lolo" (1912).[20]
  • "The History of Sekwati" (1913).[21]
  • "The Phallus Cult Amongst the Bantu; Particularly the Bapedi of Eastern Transvaal" (1914).[22]
  • "The Mental and Moral Capabilities of the Natives, Especially of Sekukuniland (Eastern Transvaal)" (1914).[23]

Notes and references

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  1. ^ a b Zöllner, Linda; Heese, J.A. (1984). The Berlin Missionaries in South Africa and their Descendants. Pretoria: Human Sciences Research Council, Institute for Historial Research. p. 466. ISBN 0796900108.
  2. ^ a b Delius, Peter; Rüther, Kirsten (2013). "The King, the Missionary and the Missionary's Daughter". Journal of Southern African Studies. 39 (3): 602. doi:10.1080/03057070.2013.824769.
  3. ^ Van der Merwe, W. (November 1985). "Die Berlynse sendelinge van Bethanie (Oranje Vrystaat) en die Kora, 1834-1856". South African Historical Journal. 17.
  4. ^ Kratzenstein, Otto (1906). "Kratzenstein, Eduard". Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie.
  5. ^ Schaff, P. (1857). Germany: Its Universities, Theology, and Religion; with Sketches of Neander, Tholuck, Olshausen, Hengstenberg, Twesten, Nitzsch, Muller, Ullmann, Rothe, Dorner, Lange, Ebrard, Wichern, and Other Distinguished German Divines of the Age. Lindsay and Blakiston. p. 376.
  6. ^ Poewe, Karla; Van der Heyden, Ulrich (1999). "The Berlin Mission Society and its Theology: The Bapedi Mission Church and the Independent Bapedi Lutheran Church". South African Historical Journal. 40 (May 1999). South African Historical Society: 36.
  7. ^ a b Delius, Peter; Rüther, Kirsten (2010). "J.A. Winter – Visionary or Mercenary? A Missionary Life in Colonial Context". South African Historical Journal. 62 (2): 309. doi:10.1080/02582473.2010.493005.
  8. ^ Pakendorf, Gunther (2011). "A Brief History of the Berlin Mission Society in South Africa". History Compass. 9 (2). John Wiley & Sons, Inc.: 106–118. doi:10.1111/j.1478-0542.2009.00624.x.
  9. ^ Delius, Peter; Rüther, Kirsten (31 October 2024). "Segregation in the Reserves: The Winter Family in Sekhukhuneland 1913-1948". South African Historical Journal. doi:10.1080/02582473.2024.2394690.
  10. ^ Smith, K.W. (1969). "The Fall of the Bapedi of the North-Eastern Transvaal". The Journal of African History. 10 (2): 237.
  11. ^ Lebaka, M.E.K. (2020). "Resistance to Lutheran missionary activities through antagonism, traditional beliefs, customs and practices: The case of the Bapedi tribe in Limpopo province, South Africa". HTS Teologiese Studies/Theological Studies. 76 (1): a5619. doi:10.4102/hts.v76i1.5619. Retrieved 31 March 2024.
  12. ^ Merensky, A. (1899). Erinnerungen aus dem Missionsleben in Transvaal 1859-1882. Berlin.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  13. ^ Delius, P (1986). Putting a Plough to the Ground: Accumulation and Dispossession in Rural South Africa 1850-1930. Johannesburg: Ravan Press. pp. 176–217.
  14. ^ Malunga, Felix (1 Nov 2003). "Schism and Secession: The Founding of the Bapedi Luteran Church, 1890-1898". Historia. Historical Association of South Africa (HASA).
  15. ^ Elphick, Richard (2012). The Equality of Believers: Protestant Missionaries and the Racial Politics of South Africa. University of Virginia Press. ISBN 9780813932736.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  16. ^ Minutes of Evidence of the Eastern Transvaal Natives Land Committee. Cape Town: Cape Times Limited, Government Printers. 1918. p. 29.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  17. ^ Morrell, Robert (1986). "Farmers, Randlords and the South African State: Confrontation in the Witwatersrand Beef Markets, c. 1920-1923". The Journal of African History. 27 (3). Cambridge University Press: 513.
  18. ^ Winter, J.P.D. (1977). True Stories of Life and Hunting in Sekukuniland in the Old Days. Unpublished.
  19. ^ "South Africa, Transvaal, Civil Death, 1869-1954". FamilySearch. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Retrieved 31 March 2024.
  20. ^ Winter, Johannes A. (1912). "The Tradition of Ra'lolo". South African Journal of Science. 9. Cape Town: S.A. Association for the Advancement of Science.
  21. ^ Winter, Johannes A. (1913). "The History of Sekwati". South African Journal of Science. July 1913. Cape Town: S.A. Association for the Advancement of Science.
  22. ^ Winter, Johannes A. (1913). "The Phallus Cult Amongst the Bantu; Particularly the Bapedi of Eastern Transvaal". Report of the Eleventh Annual Meeting of the South African Association for the Advancement of Science. July 7-12, 1913. Cape Town: S.A. Association for the Advancement of Science.
  23. ^ Winter, Johannes A. (1914). "The Mental and Moral Capabilities of the Natives, Especially of Sekukuniland (Eastern Transvaal)". South African Journal of Science. 14. Cape Town: S.A. Association for the Advancement of Science.
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