Colin Winter

File:Colin Winter book cover.jpg

Bishop Colin Winter on the cover of his 1977 book, Namibia: The Story of a Bishop in Exile.

Colin O'Brien Winter (1928 - November 18, 1981), was an Anglican bishop of Damaraland, a diocese coextensive with the territory of Namibia during the apartheid era.¹ Born in England in Stoke-on-Trent, Winter was educated at Loughborough College, Oxford University's Lincoln College and Ely Theological College. He was ordained deacon in the Church of England in 1956 and priest in 1957. In 1964, after six years as a parish priest in Simonstown, South Africa, he became rector of St. George Pro-Cathedral in Windhoek in what was then South-West Africa, a fomer German colony controlled by South Africa. He became bishop in 1968.

A vocal opponent of South Africa's racial separation policies, Winter was expelled by South Africa in 1972. Following his expulsion, he remained, at the request of the synod of his diocese, "bishop-in exile," continuing to speak and write on behalf of independence for Namibia and ordaining clergy to serve there. Although he was a conscientious objector, he defended the South-West Africa People's Organization (SWAPO), an armed independence movement that later became Namibia's dominant political party.

He died of a heart attack at age 53 in London.

Note

1. The diocese of Damaraland (now the diocese of Namibia) was distinct from the smaller bantustan of the same name created by the government of South Africa.

Books by Colin Winter

• The Breaking Process, London: SCM Press (1981) ISBN 0334001390
• Namibia: Story of a Bishop in Exile, Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans (1977) ISBN 0802816649
• Just People, London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge (1971) ISBN 281026041

References

• Colin Winter, Namibia: Bishop in Exile, Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans (1977) ISBN 0802816649
• New York Times obituary
• Yale University: Guide to the Records of Episcopal Churchpeople for a Free Southern Africa
• Summary: Press statements and publicity material from Bishop Winter produced after his prohibition from Namibia

External link

• Open letter from Colin Winter to Lydia Morrow