Tutu, Desmond
Mpilo,
1931–2021, South African religious leader, b. Klerksdorp, Univ. of
South Africa (1954); Kings College, London (B.Th., 1965; M.Th., 1966).
Educated in South Africa and London and ordained in 1961, he became (1975)
the first black Anglican dean of Johannesburg. As general secretary of the
South African Council of Churches (1978–84) he was an outspoken
campaigner against apartheid, and he
was awarded (1984) the Nobel Peace Prize for his nonviolent advocacy of
reform. In 1986 he became the first black to be elected archbishop of Cape
Town (the Anglican primate of South Africa); he served in the post until
1996. Tutu remained active in South Africa's political affairs, at times
criticizing the nation's postapartheid political leadership on a number of
issues, and headed
(1996–2003)
the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which was responsible for
investigating human-rights abuses during the apartheid era. Tutu also has
been a critic of Zimbabwe's President Mugabe and of the reluctance of other
African leaders to criticize Mugabe's repressive regime. Besides the Nobel
Prize, Tutu was awarded over 100 honorary degrees, and many other honors,
including the Templeton Prize (2013), and the British honors The Order of
the Companions of Honors (2015) and the Baliff Grand Cross of the Venerable
Order of St. John (2017).
See his Hope and Suffering: Sermons and Speeches (1983),No Future
Without Forgiveness (1999), God Has a Dream: A Vision
of Hope for Our Time (2004), The Book of
Forgiving (2014, with his daughter, M. Tutu).
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