Fergus J. King writes:

THE Most Revd John Ramadhani, a former Archbishop and Primate of the Anglican Church of Tanzania, who died in September, brought diplomatic skills to his post, supported attempts to unify theological education across the Province, and produced a Prayer Book for Tanzania which encompassed high-church and Evangelical traditions.

John Ramadhani born on 1 August 1932, at the village of Gongoni, on the island of Zanzibar. His grandfather Cecil Majaliwa was the first African priest ordained in the territories served by the Universities Mission to Central Africa (UMCA). Archbishop Ramadhani’s upbringing and education were shaped in the strongly Anglo-Catholic environment of UMCA. Much of his early education took place in Anglican mission schools. After teacher training, he taught religious education at Minaki, before appointments at St Paul’s, Zanzibar, and St Paul’s, Kidaleko. This was followed by his gaining a diploma in teaching English as a second language, from Moray House College of Education, Edinburgh.

On his return to Tanganyika, John obtained an arts degree and a licence in teaching from the University of East Africa. Two teaching positions followed: Principal of St Andrew’s Teacher Training College, Korogwe, and at the Institute of Education in Dar es Salaam.

In 1973, his call to the ministry resulted in a change of direction. He went to the UK, to study at the Queen’s Foundation and the University of Birmingham. He also attended a consultation on African and Asian theology at the Ecumenical Institute in Bossey, France.

He was ordained to the diaconate in 1975 in Birmingham, and to the priesthood in 1976 on Zanzibar. He served as Principal of St Mark’s College, Dar es Salaam, until his election as Bishop of Zanzibar & Tanga in 1980, which he remained, with a short secondment back to St Mark’s, until the diocese split in 2001 into the dioceses of Zanzibar and Tanga. He retired as Bishop of Zanzibar in 2002. In addition to his work within the Anglican Church, he served on, and for a while chaired, the Christian Council of Tanzania.

In keeping with Julius Nyerere’s policy of building a united Tanzania, he was committed to creating a national Anglican Church. This demanded the merging of different Anglican traditions: the high-church UMCA dioceses around the coast (Pwani) and southern border, and the more Evangelical traditions that emerged from CMS mission work in the inland dioceses (Bara).

The most enduring product of his time as Archbishop was the production of a Prayer Book for Tanzania, which was able to encompass both traditions. Significantly and rightly, it was also produced in Kiswahili, the national and official language, being published in 1995. Thus, Tanzania became one of the first Provinces to have a Prayer Book that was neither mediated through an Anglophone process nor simply a translation of existing English-language variant.

He also supported attempts to unify theological education across the Province. Attempts to merge St Philip’s, Kongwa, and St Mark’s, Dar es Salaam, however, to provide a single provincial theological institution, met with resistance from both within and without, and had to be shelved. He was also keen that overseas sponsors and mission agencies should begin to think in terms of supporting the Province as a whole rather than their traditional “mission territories”. This, again, had mixed results.

He had to bring his considerable diplomatic skills to bear on intractable political issues within the Church. Like Nyerere, he had no truck with ukabila (ethnic rivalries).

A long-running dispute between the bishop and rival factions in the diocese of Victoria Nyanza was fuelled by both ethnic and theological rivalries. Amid the rancour, Archbishop Ramadhani persisted in attempting to find a resolution when the avenues of law and church government had closed.

Important though these legacies are, what is even more significant was his genuine Christian lifestyle. Those who were privileged to work with him comment on his personal devotion, his courtesy to those with whom he disagreed, his rejection of schism as an answer to a theological dispute, his generosity, and his genuine concern for others. Visitors were frequently taken aback that the Archbishop would perform tasks of hospitality usually delegated to others. His successor the Most Revd Donald Mtetemela preached at the requiem: Archbishop Ramadhani was a servant bishop of the kind that the Church so desperately needs, but rarely gets.

Archbishop Ramadhani died on 12 September, aged 90. He was laid to rest at Christ Church Cathedral, Mkunazini, in Zanzibar.