page_title: Desmond Tutu
section_title: Joining the clergy: 1956–1966
hierarchical_section_title: Desmond Tutu / Early life / Joining the clergy: 1956–1966
caption_attribution_description: English: St. Alban's, Golders Green Parish Church in Barnet, London Svenska: St. Alban's, församlingskyrka i Golders Green i Barnet i London
context_page_description: Desmond Mpilo Tutu OMSG CH GCStJ is a South African Anglican cleric and theologian known for his work as an anti-apartheid and human rights activist. He was the Bishop of Johannesburg from 1985 to 1986 and then the Archbishop of Cape Town from 1986 to 1996, in both cases being the first black African to hold the position. Theologically, he sought to fuse ideas from black theology with African theology.
  Tutu was born of mixed Xhosa and Motswana heritage to a poor family in Klerksdorp, Union of South Africa. Entering adulthood, he trained as a teacher and married Nomalizo Leah Tutu, with whom he had several children. In 1960, he was ordained as an Anglican priest and in 1962 moved to the United Kingdom to study theology at King's College London. In 1966 he returned to southern Africa, teaching at the Federal Theological Seminary and then the University of Botswana, Lesotho and Swaziland. In 1972, he became the Theological Education Fund's director for Africa, a position based in London but necessitating regular tours of the African continent.
context_section_description: In 1953, the white-minority National Party government had introduced the Bantu Education Act as a means of furthering their apartheid system of racial segregation and white domination; both Tutu and his wife disliked these changes and decided to leave the teaching profession. With Huddleston's support, Tutu left the teaching profession to become an Anglican priest. In January 1956, his request to join the Ordinands Guild was turned down due to the debts he had accrued; these were then paid off by the wealthy industrialist and philanthropist Harry Oppenheimer. Tutu was admitted to St Peter's Theological College in Rosettenville, Johannesburg, which was run by the Anglican Community of the Resurrection. The college was residential, and Tutu lived there while his wife moved to train as a nurse in Sekhukhuneland and his children lived with his parents in Munsieville. In August 1960, his wife gave birth to another daughter, Naomi.
  At the college, Tutu studied the Bible, Anglican doctrine, church history, and Christian ethics, earning a Licentiate of Theology degree. The college's principal, Godfrey Pawson, wrote that Tutu "has exceptional knowledge and intelligence and is very industrious. At the same time he shows no arrogance, mixes in well and is popular... He has obvious gifts of leadership." He won the archbishop's annual essay prize for his discussion of Christianity and Islam. During his years at the college, there had been an intensification in anti-apartheid activism in South Africa, accompanied by a growing government crackdown on this dissent; in March 1960 several hundred casualties resulted from the Sharpeville massacre. Tutu and his other trainees did not mobilise in support of the anti-apartheid movement; he later noted that "we were in some ways a very apolitical bunch".
  In December 1960, Edward Paget ordained Tutu as an Anglican priest at St Mary's Cathedral. Tutu was then appointed assistant curate in St Alban's Parish, Benoni, where he was reunited with his wife and children; they lived in a converted garage. He earned 72.50 rand a month, which was two-thirds of what his white counterparts were given. In 1962, Tutu was transferred to St Philip's Church in Thokoza, where he was placed in charge of the congregation and developed a passion for pastoral ministry. Many in South Africa's white-dominated Anglican establishment felt the need for a greater number of indigenous Africans in positions of ecclesiastical authority; to assist in this, Aelfred Stubbs proposed that Tutu be trained as a theology teacher at King's College London (KCL) in Britain. Funding was secured from the International Missionary Council's Theological Education Fund (TEF), and the government agreed to give the Tutus permission to move to Britain. They duly did so in September 1962.
  At KCL's theology department, Tutu studied under theologians like Dennis Nineham, Christopher Evans, Sydney Evans, Geoffrey Parrinder, and Eric Mascall. In London, the Tutus felt liberated experiencing a life free from apartheid and the pass laws of South Africa; he later noted that "there is racism in England, but we were not exposed to it". He was also impressed by the freedom of speech available in the country, especially that at Speakers' Corner. The family moved into the curate's flat behind the Church of St Alban the Martyr in Golders Green; they were allowed to live rent-free on the condition that Tutu assisted Sunday services, the first time that he had ministered to a white congregation. It was in the flat that a daughter, Mpho Andrea, was born in 1963. Tutu was academically successful and his tutors suggested that he convert to an honours degree, which entailed him also studying Hebrew. He received his degree from Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother in a ceremony held at the Royal Albert Hall.
  Nearing the end of his undergraduate studies, he decided to continue on to a master's degree, securing a TEF grant to fund it; he studied for this degree from October 1965 until September 1966, completing his dissertation on Islam in West Africa. During this period,
caption: Tutu first ministered to a white congregation at the Church of St Alban the Martyr in Golders Green, living with his family in the curate's flat
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