4. Introduction
5.2 The claim to apostolic succession
the need to have its own diocese in order to deliver spiritual, social and economic services more effectively. It was decided to make Iringa town the Iringa diocese headquarters, which was also the regional headquarters. It was strategically positioned because there was a variety of people there who, in one way or the other, would promote the development of the church. The ELCT Synod Assembly accepted the proposal and the Iringa diocese was instructed to present its constitution to the ELCT Constitution Committee for approval, before it officially took off. The constitution for the Iringa diocese was scrutinised and corrected from 24 to 26 March 1987.342 All constitutions of the respective dioceses of the ELCT need to reflect the ELCT Constitution, which governs all the ELCT units in the church. This has the advantage of fostering unity in the church.
appointment or confirmation of a bishop in the Roman Catholic Church is a matter for the pope, as is the arranging of his consecration.344
Unlike the Roman Catholic Church, the Lutherans discarded the idea of the divine right and special nature of bishops. Lutherans are inclined to put emphasis on the apostolic message: preaching, visitation and ordination rather than the office. The German Lutheran church's, link in the line of bishops was basically stopped through the events of the Reformation. The Roman Catholic bishops of that time were also secular rulers having great political power. They did not want to to give up their authority. It, therefore, hardly ever happened that a Roman Catholic bishop himself became a Lutheran even if his entire diocese had joined the Reformation.345
In northern Europe, Sweden and Finland there was a different political condition. That meant there was a continuation of evangelical episcopate -without any breach to apostolic succession. -Apostolic succession is stressed most strongly by the late Archbishop Aleksi Lehtonen of Finland who writes:
That the consecration to the episcopacy has been performed by means of imposition of hands and intercessionary prayer from the early days of the apostles right up to the present time, and that the solemn transfer of the episcopacy has been thus continued as a long chain throughout the ages, are facts that emphasize its historic-ecclesiastical character-that is that the Christian Church as a whole, both in past ages and in the present time, supports the ecclesiastical leadership as it is expressed in the episcopacy. In other words, only the Church herself, the congregation of Christ, can entrust a person with the episcopacy, and the Church alone warrants this act, both as a historic reality throughout all the Christian centuries, and as the Church of today... The authority of the episcopacy does not derive from the
344Ibid.
345Julius Bodensiek (ed.), The Encyclopedia of the Lutheran Church Vol. 1, Philadelphia: Fortress Press, (1965), pp. 97-98.
state or any other wordly power. Its authority derives from God only, through his Church ...346
However, Rome is critical of the above claims to apostolic succession because they do not hold office in accordance with Roman Catholic principles. But Lutheran bishops whether standing in an undisputed continuous line of succession, as those in Sweden, or whether possessing no such succession, as those of post-war Germany, insist that they exercise their Episcopal ministry in accordance with the New Testament and that they are truly commissioned by the Holy Spirit when the church through their representatives elects them and with intercessory prayers and laying on of hands entrusts them with the Episcopal office.347
The question of the introduction of episcopacy into the Lutheran Churches in Tanganyika was discussed for the first time in 1955 at Marangu, Moshi during the All African Lutheran Conference which was organized at a supra-regional level. Marealle Il, the paramount chief of the Chagga, put the idea forward and argued:
I would like to commend very seriously the thought and idea that the Lutheran Church here be given the opportunity of having bishops. The matter may sound revolutionary and perhaps un- Protestant to some of you. But I believe it would strengthen the voice of the church in its negotiations with both local and government beyond what it now has through its presidents and superintendents. The title of superintendent actually bears very little weight here. We have superintendents of prisons, forestry and all these people are in lower rungs of the ladder. I am in government myself-chairman of the Education committee, Land Board etc. When Roman Catholic bishops introduce anything to these boards or committees, they bear more weight than
346Fredric Cleve, "5candinavian Lutheran Bishops" in Bishops But What Kind? ed., Peter Moore London: 5PCK, 1982), pp. 84-85.
347Julius Bodensiek, p. 98.
proposals presented by our superintendents. We are not catering to men of the world but we are dealing with men of this world.348 From the above argument, it is possible to consider that Marealle's suggestion was motivated by church politics rather than by theological reasons. Some American and German missionaries objected to the idea on the grounds that it originated from outside church circles.
However, Marealle's suggestion got some support from Africans because there were some congregations in Tanganyika which were surrounded by churches which had an Episcopal structure, so why not include this office in the Lutheran church?349
Following the conference of Marangu decisive steps were taken. In 1956 Matia Lutosha from Bukoba went to Sweden, Denmark and Germany where he held talks with partner organizations and learned more on the subject because the Haya church in Bukoba had an interest. The church of Bukoba declared that it would not make any decision about introducing episcopacy until an agreement had been reached by the Lutheran body in the country and internationally. No other church came with such an agreement. 3SO
Three years later, a historical survey of how episcopacy had developed was studied and went even further to define the office of the bishop.
Both Africans, such as Matia Lutosha and Sebastian Karumuna, and European missionaries, such as Holger Benettson, Johann Hellberg, Else Ortadius and Gerhard Jasper, made the study. They came out with the "Bukoba paper" called after the town where the study was carried out. The paper limited the power of the bishop, who could be
348The All-African Lutheran Conference, Marangu, November 12-22, 1955, quoted in L. Kalugila, "Leadership Roles in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania", Africa Theological Journal (12/3, 1983), p. 146.
349 B. G. Sundkler, Bara Bukoba: Church and Community in Tanzania (London:
(1980), p. 154.
suspended from his office in case of inappropriate teaching, way of living or working, or if a two-thirds majority of the synod agreed.351 The Bukoba delegates went further to justify their proposed change in the church structure with four theological arguments:
a) According to the proposal the bishop would be the spiritual leader of the church and free from administrative duties. b) In contrast to the present system of superintendents, a Bishop would ensure continuity in leadership of the church. c) The introduction of the office of bishop would strengthen the ecumenical ties to the greater church. d) The title of Bishop had a dignity which President and superintendent did not have.352
Whereas the first three arguments were hardly mentioned at all again, the last point about the title of bishop having dignity was continuously raised. "Askofu" or "Baba Askofu"- as the bishop is called in Swahili- does in fact command more respect than the more simple title "Rais"
(president).353 According to the view of some African church leaders, there are close links between episcopacy and traditional structures.·
Erasto Kweka, bishop of the Northern diocese, says: "The bishop in the eyes of his people is almost equivalent to a chief in a type of c1an.,,354 His colleague from North Western diocese, Samson Mushemba, shares a similar view: "We had chiefdoms in our area; people are used to this system of leadership. The chiefs were also leaders of the traditional religion. Therefore, introducing episcopacy was easy. ,,355 In February
350 Ibid., p. 156.
351 Extracts from the Bukoba Paper quoted in Friedler Ludwig, Church &State in Tanzania: Aspects of a Changing Relationships, 1961-1994 (Leiden: Brill, 1999), p.
49.
352Ibid. , p. 49.
353C. K. Omari, "Episcopacy, a sociological trend in the Lutheran Church in Tanzania",Africa Theological Journal (16/1, 1987, pp. 4-12), p. 8.
354 Bishop E. Kweka, quoted in Friedler Ludwig, Church & State in Tanzania, p. 50.
355Bishop S. Mushemba, quoted in Friedler Ludwig, Church & State in Tanzania, p.
50.
1961 the Haya Church elected their first bishop and the Swede Bengt Sundkler became the Bishop of Bukoba.356
The Lutheran Church in Northern Tanganyika, however, introduced the title of bishop even more quickly. As early as as December 1960, the synod had changed the title of church president to bishop, seemingly without any deep theological discussion. But it is clear from the modus operandi that this change was considered to be not just a procedure.
H. Smedjebacka in his book on the history of the Lutheran Church in Northern Tanzania notes: "The minutes tell about the great joy at the General Assembly, and that all the delegates were asked to inform the home congregations in a judicious way about the event in which they had played a part. Nothing of this nature had taken place when the title superintendent was changed to that of president.,,357 In February 1964 there was a change in the constitution which limited the bishop's term of office to four years. A bishop from Germany ordained Stefano Moshi in 1964.
Through such events episcopacy was introduced in different forms into the Lutheran church of Tanganyika. Because of the connection with Sweden, the tradition of apostolic succession was cqntinued in the North Western diocese of Bukoba. However, the bishop of the Northern diocese, where the German influence was strong, did not represent this tradition nor did the apostolic succession apply to any other new bishop. Most of the newly founded regional units of the Lutheran church quickly decided to make bishops their spiritual leaders.
However, the forms of episcopacy continued to differ: some of the dioceses were led by bishops without apostolic succession, others with apostolic succession.
356 Sundkler, Bara Bukoba, p. 158.
357 H. Smedjebacka, Lutheran Church Autonomy in Northern Tanzania, 1940-1963 (Abo, 1973), p. 263.
In 1978 the Southern synod through its synod meeting changed its name and became the Southern diocese and introduced episcopalian leadership. The minutes of the meeting read:
Sinodi ya Kusini ya Kanisa la Kiinjili la Kilutheri Tanzania ina bahati kwamba imepata kuwa na watumishi wamisionari walio wachungaji toka makanisa na vyama mbalimbali ambavyo kwanza inajiona imo ndani ya mfuatano huo wa kimitume (unaosemwa na wengine) ni NENO NA SA KRAMENTI. Hao wachungaji wamisionari mbalimbali wengine wametoka katika vyama na makanisa yenye Uaskofu wa mfuatano wa kimitume.
KWA HIYO TUNACHAGUA UASKOFU WA KIMFUATANO NA TUNAKAMILISHA KUKITAJA KITU KILE AMBACHO KILIKUWAKO KWETU TAYARIlLA KILIKUWA HAKIJATAKWA RASMI.358
The Southern diocese of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania is fortunate that it had missionary pastors from churches and various societies who were from the apostolic succession tradition and we fall in that tradition (which some say) is the WORD AND SACRAMENT. Some of those missionary pastors came from the tradition of apostolic succession and others did not. THEREFORE WE CHOOSE TO BE UNDER APOSTOLIC SUCCESSION AND WE AFFIRM WHAT WAS ALREADY HERE BUT WAS NOT OFFICIALLY ANNOUNCED. (Translation mine)
Following that decision, all new dioceses which were formed out of the Southern diocese, like the Konde diocese, South Central diocese and Iringa diocese, followed the apostolic succession tradition.
One can conclude that some of the African church leaders against the opposition of missionaries had pushed the introduction of episcopacy forward. Already the influence of the African leaders had grown due to political developments. It is obvious that there is a connection between the creation of new church structures and the independence struggle.
It is, also, no coincidence that the appointment of the first bishop took
358Solomon Y. Swalo, "Uongozi Mikononi mwa Wananchi" (Leadership in the hands of the Indigenous people) in Karne ya Kwanza ya Injili 1891-1991(The First Century of the Gaspe/), Dar eas Salaam: (Dar es Salaam University Press, 1991), p. 44.
place at the same time as independence, the beginning of the 1960s.
After having discussed the background of how apostolic succession came about in parts of the Lutheran church, let us now look at the election procedure of the leaders of the Iringa diocese.