Colonialism and mission in sub-Saharan Africa

During the colonial era, missionaries were presented as heroes of the faith risking their lives to communicate the truth of the gospel to primitive and uncivilised people. This superficial image has been challenged, and rightly so, by the Christians from the South who now surpass in numbers and dynamism those who colonised and evangelised them a century ago. They argue that indigenous agents contributed as much as the western missionaries to evangelisation. The missionaries have been accused of siding with the colonial powers and of undermining indigenous culture. Using sub-Saharan Africa as an example, the seminar will discuss these assertions. It will look at the manner in which foreign missionaries and indigenous people entered into contact and developed mutual relations over time. Special attention will be given to the indigenous missionary initiatives, to the indigenous clergy and to the African independent churches. The seminar will conclude by an assessment of the role of the churches in the independence movement in Africa.

Registrations will be available soon.