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Social Theory and the Study of Christian Missions in Africa: A South African Case Study

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 January 2012

Norman Etherington
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Extract

Christian missions in Africa have produced mountains of publications which, despite their collective mass often escape notice in the wider landscape of African studies. Some of the reasons for scholarly neglect are readily apparent. A secular age is inclined to under-rate the impact of religious forces born in another era; an anti-imperialist generation of scholars is repulsed by the generally unabashed cultural imperialism of nineteenth-century evangelists; the devolution of political power from white to black hands has produced an understandable preference for the study of purely African agents of change in the recent past. Myopia, embarrassment, and the looming presence of contemporary African nationalism all encourage a tendency to leave the study of missions to antiquarians and the professionally pious.

Résumé

LA THEORIE SOCIALE AU SERVICE DE L'ETUDE DES MISSIONS CHRETIENNES EN AFRIQUE: UNE ETUDE DE CAS EN AFRIQUE DU SUD

T. O. Beidelman a établi l'importance de l'analyse des missions chrétiennes en Afrique à partir de la théorie sociale qui a été élaborée au cours du vingtième siècle. Bien qu'il soit injuste d'accuser les études historiques des missions chrétiennes de manquer d'intérêt et d'àpropos, il demeure vrai que les études précédentes n'ont tenu que très peu compte des croyances religieuses, de l'arrière-plan social et de l'organisation du mode opératoire des missions: une étude des missions en Afrique du Sud-Est au dixneuvième siècle qui tente de mesurer l'effet de ces divers facteurs suggére qu'en fin de compte les réaltés sociales, politiques et économiques de l'Afrique avaient un ròle beaucoup plus important dans l'orientation du développement des missions que ne l'étaient les buts et les structures de ces sociétés de missionnaires.

Type
Research Article
Information
Africa , Volume 47 , Issue 1 , January 1977 , pp. 31 - 40
Copyright
Copyright © International African Institute 1977

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