Adrian Hastings

Adrian Hastings
Born	(1929-06-23)23 June 1929 Kuala Lumpur,Malaya
Died	30 May 2001(2001-05-30)(aged 71) Leeds,England
Nationality	British
Education	Worcester College, Oxford Christ's College, Cambridge
Occupations	Priest church historian author
Organizations	University of Aberdeen University of Zimbabwe University of Leeds
Known for	Book on the "Wiriyamu Massacre"

Adrian Hastings(23 June 1929 – 30 May 2001) was aRoman Catholicpriest, historian and author. He wrote a book about theWiriyamu Massacreduring theMozambican War of Independenceand became an influential scholar of Christian history in Africa.

His 1997 bookThe Construction of Nationhood: Ethnicity, Religion and Nationalismposits that the concept of nationhood has historical roots that extend back to the medieval period, rather than being a solely modern phenomenon. He challenges the prevailing view that nations andnationalismemerged primarily in the 18th and 19th centuries. Hastings emphasizes the role of religion, particularly Christianity, in shaping national identities. He argues that the translation of theBibleintovernacularlanguages played a crucial role in fostering a sense of national consciousness and community.

Hastings also explores the significant influence of theJewishpeople on the concept of nationhood. He suggests that the ancient Jewish nation, with its strong religious and ethnic identity, served as a model for later European nations. He argues that the Jewish experience, with its emphasis on a shared religion, common ancestry, and a historical narrative, provided a template that other groups adapted in forming their national identities.

Early life

Hastings, a grandson ofGeorge Woodyatt Hastings,was born inKuala Lumpur,Malaya,but his mother moved to England to bring up the children when he was little more than a baby. He was educated atDouai School(1943–46) andWorcester College, Oxford(1946–49). In his final year at Oxford, Hastings discerned a missionary vocation. He joined theWhite Fathersbut later left the order to become asecular priestin the Diocese ofMasaka,Uganda.His sister was the distinguished lecturer, translator, and writer Cecily Hastings, who worked for the publisherSheed & Ward.

Hastings studied theology at theCollegium Urbanum,the college of theCongregation of Propagandain Rome. He was ordained in 1955 and awarded a doctorate in 1958. His lifelong association withThe Tabletdates from this period. In 1958 he also obtained a teaching degree fromChrist's College, Cambridgeand in 1959 he took up his priestly functions in Uganda.

Ministry

In Uganda, Hastings served in pastoral and teaching functions and was charged with interpreting the documents of theSecond Vatican Councilto priests in Africa. His notes on these documents were later published. He also agitated for a relaxation of the discipline ofclerical celibacyin the African context, attributing the low numbers of African clergy to the cultural alienness of this requirement.

In 1966, after bouts ofmalaria,Hastings returned to England and became active in ecumenical dialogue through the preparatory commission of theAnglican-Roman Catholic International Commission.He was also commissioned by a number ofAnglicandioceses in Africa to prepare a report on Christian and customary marriage. From 1972 to 1976 Hastings was on the staff of an ecumenical missionary school, the College of the Ascension inSelly Oak,Birmingham. In 1973 Hastings brought the massacres carried out by the Portuguese army during theMozambican War of Independenceto world attention, first inThe Timesand later at the United Nations. He created a controversy in 1973 with an article inThe Timesabout the "Wiriyamu Massacre", in the Portuguese-ruled overseas territory ofMozambique,revealing that the Portuguese army had massacred some 400 villagers at the village of Wiriyamu, nearTete,in December 1972. His report was printed a week before the Portuguese prime minister,Marcelo Caetano,was due to visit Britain to celebrate the 600th anniversary of theAnglo-Portuguese alliance.

The Portuguese army at the time denied the massacre in an official investigation but the Portuguese government commissioned another investigation, by Jorge Jardim, who located the former village, photographed the remains and delivered a full report to the Portuguese government proving the existence of the massacre and advising that it be acknowledged and explained. Marcelo Caetano and his ministers discussed the report on 18 August 1973 and instead decided to appoint another military investigation which once again alleged that Wiriyamu did not exist.

Portugal's growing isolation following Hastings' claims has often been cited as a factor that helped to bring about theCarnation Revolutioncoup which deposed Marcelo Caetano, the leader of theEstado Novoregime that ruled thePortuguese Empire,in 1974.

Academic career

In 1976 Hastings was appointed to a lectureship in the theology faculty of theUniversity of Aberdeen.He was an authority on nations and nationalism.In his 1997 book,The Construction of Nationhood,he traced the origins of European nations back to the Middle Ages, arguing for the centrality of Christianity to European national identities. According to Hastings, the biblical idea of the ancient Israelite polity, with its fusion of land, people and religious polity... was almost monolithically national "and spread through Europe.

From 1982–85, he was Professor of Religious Studies at theUniversity of Zimbabwe.From 1985 to his retirement in 1996 he was Professor of Theology at theUniversity of Leedsand he was involved in theLeeds University Centre for African Studies.From 1985 to 2000 he edited theJournal of Religion in Africa.Later in life Hastings was active in raising awareness of the atrocities accompanying thebreak-up of Yugoslaviaand the reassertion of Serbian control overKosovo.He was a founding member of the Alliance to Defend Bosnia-Herzegovina.

Marriage

In 1978, Hastings came to the decision that as a Catholic priest he was free to marry.In 1979, he married Ann Spence without seeking ecclesiastical permission or resigning from the priesthood. This was a clear breach ofcanon lawand he was automaticallyexcommunicatedby reason of Canon 2388 of the 1917 Code of Canon Law (in force at that time), although, largely because since leaving Uganda he had not been subject to the oversight of any particular bishop, no official recognition was given of that fact. Notwithstanding this, on occasion he exercised his priestly ministry after his marriage.

Death

Hastings died inLeedson 30 May 2001, aged 71, and was interred in St Mary's Roman Catholic Church,East Hendred,Oxfordshire. The Adrian Hastings Africa Scholarship Fund was founded in 2001 at the University of Leeds in his honour.

Works

Hastings wrote more than forty books, including:

• Church and Mission in Modern Africa.London: Burns & Oates, 1967.
• A Concise Guide to the Documents of the Second Vatican Council.2 vols. London: Darton, Longman & Todd, 1968–69.
• Wiriyamu.London: Search Press, 1974.ISBN0-85532-338-8
• In Filial Disobedience.Great Wakering: Mayhew-McCrimmon, 1978.ISBN0-85597-249-1
• A History of African Christianity, 1950–1975.Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1979.ISBN0-521-22212-5,ISBN0-521-29397-9
• A History of English Christianity 1920–1985.London: Collins, 1986.ISBN0-00-215211-8,ISBN0-00-627041-7
• The Church in Africa, 1450–1950.Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1994.ISBN0-19-826399-6
• The Construction of Nationhood: Ethnicity, Religion and Nationalism.Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997.ISBN0-521-59391-3

External links

• Obituary inDouai Magazine164 (2001)
• Obituary by Ingrid Lawriein LeedsAfrican Studies Bulletin,64 (2001), pp. 6–8.
• Ingrid Lawrie in the Oxford DNB(by subscription)
• The Adrian Hastings Africa Scholarship Fund
• The African Activist Archive Project website has a photograph ofReverend Adrian Hastings at the United Nationsat a press briefing on 20 July 1973. Reverend Hastings testified before the UN Special Committee of 24 on decolonization about the massacre of civilians in Tete Province in Mozambique by the Portuguese army in what became known as the Wiriyamu Massacre and other atrocities committed by the Portuguese army.