The Berlin Mission Society and its Theology: The Bapedi Mission Church and the Independent Bapedi Lutheran Church

Abstract

The Berlin Mission's theology was a distinct world view that informed simultaneously the research, pedagogy, and behaviour of pupils, missionaries, and African converts, especially leaders known as ‘national helpers’. The theologically based methods of understanding, on the one hand, and the behavioural manifestations or attitudinal indices looked for in those who were becoming Christian, on the other, resulted in tensions and conflicts between missionaries and national helpers. One could say that Berlin missionaries were empathetic to things African in their methods of understanding, but prussocentric to things Christian in their delegation of responsibilities. This article reviews the variable emphases of the mission director Wangemann's and his son-in-law Winter's theology and shows how their theological predilections played into the church independence process in the larger context of competition from numerous little charismatic movements started by, especially, Black Wesleyans.