The Church in Africa, 1450-1950"I can merely admire his courage in tackling so complex and difficult a subject; he should succeed in stimulating a fresh generation of research... this well-written, intelligent and lively study will greatly stimulate anyone fortunate enough to read it." Christianity provided the constitutive identity of historic Ethiopia. From the sixteenth century, and increasingly from the nineteenth, it entered decisively into the life and culture of an increasing number of other African peoples. In the course of the twentieth century, African Christians have become a major part of the world Church, and arguably modern African history as a whole is not intelligible without its powerful Christian element. Yet despite the great advance in African historiography over the last forty years, this is the first major volume to consider the historical development and character of the Christian Church in Africa as a whole, linking together Ehtiopia Orthodoxy, Roman Catholicism, Protestantism, and the numerousm 'Independent' churches of modern times. The book focuses throughout on the role of coversion, the shaping of Church life and its relationship to traditional values, and the impact of political power. Professor Hastings also compares the relation of Christian history to the comprable development of Islam in Africa. |
Contents
3 | |
Africa in 1500 and its Christian Past | 46 |
African Islam | 54 |
The Kongo Warri Mutapa and the Portuguese | 71 |
The Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries | 87 |
The Mission of the Capuchins | 94 |
The Battle of Ambuila Kimpa Vita and the Antonian | 102 |
The Kongo Church in the Eighteenth Century | 109 |
mass Conversion in the 1890s | 464 |
Buganda as a Model for its Neighbours | 468 |
A Comparison between Conversions | 475 |
Varieties of Ethiopianism | 478 |
The Impact of World War | 487 |
Independency and Prophetism | 493 |
The Rise of Zionism | 499 |
Elliot Kamwana | 504 |
Angola Sierra Leone Warri and Mutapa | 118 |
Ethiopia 15001800 | 130 |
FROM THE ANTISLAVERY TO TOTAL | 171 |
West African Protestant Beginnings and the Foundation | 177 |
Ethiopia in the Nineteenth Century | 222 |
Yohannes IV and Menelik | 234 |
The Victorian Missionary | 242 |
Kings Marriage Ancestors and God | 306 |
Rain | 313 |
Marriage Circumcision and Secret Societies | 317 |
Ancestors Deities and God | 325 |
Christian Life in the Age of Bishop Crowther | 338 |
Crowther and the Niger Diocese | 343 |
Yoruba Christianity | 349 |
The South African Predicament | 358 |
Conversion Martyrdom and Civil War in the 1880s | 371 |
Revival in the Kongo | 385 |
The Niger Purge | 388 |
THE CHRISTIANIZING OF HALF A CONTINENT | 395 |
18901920 | 397 |
Islam within the Scramble | 405 |
Missionaries and the Politics of Partition | 408 |
The Changing Shape of Missionary Endeavour | 417 |
The Ownership of Land | 424 |
Missionaries as Critics of Colonialism | 428 |
The Shaping of Conversion | 437 |
West African Conversion Movements in the Age of Harris | 443 |
The Catechist and his Tools | 453 |
Logics of Conversion | 461 |
Harrists and Kimbanguists | 505 |
Aladura | 513 |
From Kunyiha to Lenshina | 519 |
Independency in the 1950s | 525 |
Causes and Motivations | 527 |
The Character of Prophetic Christianity | 533 |
Church School and State in the Age of Bishop Kiwanuka | 540 |
The Second World War and the Triumph of Nationalisms | 546 |
Protestant Missionary Priorities in the Oldham Era | 550 |
The Catholic Breakthrough | 559 |
The Missionary of the 1950s | 567 |
The Character of Christian Community | 571 |
Conversion Community and Catechist | 575 |
Dreams | 584 |
Church and Society | 586 |
From Welfare Group and Manyano to Balokole and Jamaa | 592 |
A Modern Leadership | 604 |
Kings of Ethiopia and Kongo Referred to in the Text | 611 |
Maps | 613 |
Christian Nubia | 614 |
The Kingdom of Kongo fifteenth to seventeenth centuries | 615 |
Islam in West Africa and the nineteenthcentury Fulani empires | 616 |
The West Africa coast in the late nineteenth century | 617 |
Protestant missions in South and East Africa established by 1885 | 618 |
The principal Catholic missionary societies at work in Africa between 1850 and 1890 | 619 |
Buganda and its neighbours | 620 |
Bibliography | 621 |
Index | 686 |
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Common terms and phrases
abuna African Christianity African Church Aladura already Anglican Angola appear areas arrived authority Baptist baptized became Bishop British Buganda Cape Capuchins catechist Catholic missionaries Central Africa Christian civilization clergy coast colonial Congo conversion Crowther culture Dabra Dabra Libanos Dengel developed diocese early East ecclesiastical Emperor established Ethiopian Church European evangelical evangelists Ewostatewos Ewostathians Freetown Holy Holy Ghost Fathers Igbo independent Islam Jesuits Kenya Kimbangu king kingdom Kongo Kongolese language later Lebna Dengel less Livingstone Lovedale Methodist mission Missionary Society Moffat monarchy monasteries monks movement Muslim native Nevertheless Niger Nigeria nineteenth century Ntsikana Nyasaland ordained political Portugal Portuguese preaching priests prophet Protestant missionary religion religious remained Rhodesia ritual Rome royal Salvador settler Shoa Sierra Leone Simon Kimbangu slaves sort South Africa Soyo spirit Susenyos theological tradition translation village West Africa White Fathers Xhosa Yoruba Zara Ya'iqob