SOME ROMAN CATHOLIC MISSIONARY ATTITUDES TO AFRICANS IN NINETEENTH CENTURY EAST AFRICA

In: Race: the journal of the Institute of Race Relations, Heft 3, S. 341-360

Abstract

2 traditional methods of evangelization dating from the 16th cent are noted: (1) The adaptation of Christianity to non-European cultural concepts, (2) the assimilationist endeavor to Europeanize other societies. By the 19th cent, the 1st of these, applied in Asia, was discredited as theologically dangerous; the 2nd, as attempted in South America, seemed safer & more practical. The Holy Ghost Fathers, given their modern missionary impetus by a Jew, & recruiting their members mainly in bicultural Alsace, should have shown tolerance, sympathy & an appreciation of the importance of adaptation when they began work in East Africa. Books & articles, both popular & scholarly, written for the public, & private letters & journal entries show that this was not the case. Over the 50 yrs before 1914 increasing missionary knowledge of African religious beliefs modified early unfavorable opinions, but commonly held European prejudices & misconceptions continued to influence their general picture of African life, leading to assimilationist efforts & subsequent criticisms by Africans of cultural imperialism. AA.