Protestant Missionaries’ Understanding of and Attitude toward African Religion in Colonial Malawi

Abstract

This article explains missionaries’ understanding of African spirituality in colonial Malawi. More particularly, it describes missionaries’ attempts to isolate their converts from African cultural influences in order to create a well-balanced Christian community. The article analyzes missionaries’ attitude toward African religion, which ranged from denial to acknowledgment of religion in African communities. Furthermore, the article examines missionaries’ descriptions of African religion and demonstrates that missionaries used Christian concepts in understanding local cultures and rituals, leading to a belief in the existence of African religion. Also, the article shows that the introduction of Christianity altered the sociocultural makeup of African societies.