BOOK REVIEWS 203people are alienated not only from the means of production but from their labourand from themselves as human beings and as individuals.They are lonely in the midst of millions of their fellow workers. To this extentthe collectivist feudal culture was certainly closer to socialism than the capitalist'culture' of total alienation. However, somehow Brewster chooses not tounderstand this and seems to be blind to the degradation, misery anddehumanization of millions of people under capitalism.Then from the sky Brewster pulls the Romans and their plundering empireinto the argument. Because capitalism is 'the father of imperialism' it must(according to Brewster's logic) follow that since the Romans enslaved othernations they were therefore capitalist. There is a basic misconception here.Slavery as a system was based on the enslavement of nations Š of human beingswho became the property of their captors and lost their character as humanbeings. That was not and is not imperialism. Imperialism is capitalism at aparticular stage of its development when capitalist countries colonize less-developed nations.Again from the sky Brewster pulls out the Afghanistan question. All one cansay is that the dispute in Afghanistan (pleasant or unpleasant) has no relevance tomy book. How Brewster links it defies all logic.Brewster distorts and misreads my call on the clergy to be partisan and be onthe side of the people in their struggle against exploitation. To him this means thatthe church should have 'no other function than to support the currentgovernment'. There is nothing in the statement he quotes which remotely suggeststhat 'to criticize state policy is to oppose the people'.I conclude by accepting that my book is not perfect and, as any author, I mustbear the responsibility for any misunderstandings due to my failure (if any) to useclear language. However, my disagreements with Brewster do not lie on thatfront, in my view; they are purely ideological, because our positions representopposed perspectives of the world.University of Zimbabwe C. S. BANANAOld and New in South Shona Independent Churches: Volume HI:Leadership and Fission Dynamics By M. L Daneel. Gweru, Mambo Press,1988, xix, 568 pp., ISBN 0-86922-4433, Z$45,00, p/b.This is a detailed description of leadership issues in a number of independentchurches, based on the author's close involvement with the churches concerned.We are presented with accounts of the different types of organization to be found,the techniques by which leaders maintained their positions, and details of theproblems of succession when church leaders die. It is an invaluable addition to theauthor's already substantial contribution to our knowledge of independentchurches.The book has more than academic interest. One of the aims was to writedown the histories of the churches; and the author includes more detail than might204 BOOK REVIEWSbe necessary for an academic argument, precisely because church members willbe looking to his work for such a record.A further aim of the book is to present the churches as genuinely Christian,both in their leadership and in church doctrine and practice. The argument isagainst those who regard independent churches as deriving more from traditionalculture than from Christianity. Daneel argues that the churches are funda-mentally Christian. He also points to areas in which older churches might learnfrom them, in paying attention to dreams, for example, and how to cope withwitchcraft.There is, however, a lack of theoretical substance behind much of thearguments. The author speaks of church fission as following the cultural pattern of'kraal splitting'. The process is more fundamental. The kind of personal controlthat Daneel describes so well can have only limited extension: as the size of achurch increases beyond a critical point, fission occurs, whatever the culturalbackground. And at the death of the leader whose personal influence providedunity, one expects fission. The techniques by which leaders maintained theirauthority, denigrating potential rivals, trying to exercise personal control oversubordinate officials, and so on, reflect the techniques of micro-politics to befound in any society.There is a problem about what constitutes a Christian response as opposed toany other response. Simply using biblical symbols to replace older ones does notcomprise any radical kind of conversion. Simply to refer to biblical stories doesnot make an argument theological. The fact that prophets are hostile to traditionalhealers could be interpreted as competition between equivalents rather thanradical difference or inspiration by the Holy Spirit.What are the defining characteristics of Christianity? One such characteristicis the central place of the life of Christ in the expression of ideology; and Daneelshows, against doubts that have been expressed, that the independent churchessatisfy this criterion. Another criterion is the opening up of social boundaries,accepting obligations beyond the family, or ethnic, or national groups; again thiscriterion is fulfilled. Then the story of the crucifixion and resurrection of Christintroduces a new attitude to material misfortune, and to power, both over thematerial world and over other people. Here is an area which needs to be probed(perhaps in the older established churches as much as in the newer independentchurches).Daneel touches lightly on most of these points, and provides further data forthose who wish to probe. He does present less attractive characteristics ofindependent churches, including struggles for power among leaders. But hisapproach is to try to understand rather than to judge. This must be right, bothfrom the academic and the Christian point of view.University of Zimbabwe M. F. C. BOURDILLON