The Nature of Christianity in Northern Tanzania: Environmental and Social Change 1890–1916 by Robert B. Munson

Abstract

Reviewed by: The Nature of Christianity in Northern Tanzania: Environmental and Social Change 1890–1916 by Robert B. Munson Stephen Volz The Nature of Christianity in Northern Tanzania: Environmental and Social Change 1890–1916. By Robert B. Munson. Lanham: Lexington Books, 2013. 379 pp. This work is a detailed chronicle of environmental and social changes that accompanied the introduction of Christianity and establishment of German colonial rule on the slopes of Mount Kilimanjaro and Mount Meru. Considering how important congregations and cash crops each became in northern Tanzania, contributing to the success of a national Lutheran church that now counts more than six million members, Munson’s book provides a valuable exploration of their intertwined historical roots. The book is organized both chronologically and thematically, providing a narrative of colonization and its impact on the landscape [End Page 236] and communities of northern German East Africa. It begins with a general description of the area’s geography and primary inhabitants, the Chagga, Meru and Arusha peoples, including a perceptive contrast between the African “vertical view” and European “horizontal view” of the terrain. Two chapters then detail the goals and activities of German colonial officials, missionaries, and merchants as they asserted control over the area’s resources and people. The next three chapters consider, in turn, the specific roles of places, plants, and people in the social changes that accompanied colonization, followed by a concluding chapter on the enduring legacy of those changes. Munson’s main argument is that the growth of Christianity and environmental changes were an interconnected process in which “the spread of religion assisted and was supported by the new order upon the landscape and the introduction of new plants” (2). Of particular importance were Africans’ adoption of coffee and other cash crops and of certain coniferous trees for a variety of uses as they also embraced Christianity. Although much of the first half of the book provides helpful context for that process, describing European efforts to manage the land and its people, the second half offers more persuasive analysis, culminating in chapter six, which is subtitled “Christianity and Botanical Proselytization” and arguably can serve as a stand-alone summary of the book’s central ideas. Munson conducted an impressive amount of research, making particularly effective use of German archives, but his ambitious attempt to combine environmental, colonial and mission histories in a single work left some gaps in his scholarship. For example, while illustrating European transformation of the landscape with many useful maps and charts drawn from his own research, Munson engages with the work of other scholars in only limited ways, leaving readers to make their own comparisons with studies somewhat more critical of European influence, such as Roland Oliver’s classic The Missionary Factor in East Africa (1965), or with those focused more on historical African perspectives, such as Thomas Spear’s Mountain Farmers (1997). Perhaps the most significant challenge faced by Munson, as by any scholar of early mission history, is to find enough evidence authored by Africans to give them well-rounded, central roles in the narrative. [End Page 237] Munson sought to overcome that difficulty partly by holding “discussions” with various African informants in northern Tanzania, but one apparent result is a projection into the past of eventual widespread acceptance of Christianity in the region, minimizing more contentious aspects of that history. For example, there is little consideration of African customary land tenure or opposition to European ownership. More African proverbs, stories and interpretations of Scripture might better substantiate the inductive claim that new beliefs and plants must have grown together because Africans viewed religion and nature as “a single, integrated world” (253). Nevertheless, this is a meticulously researched and accessibly written examination of a relatively understudied dimension of how northern Tanzania became a thriving center of Lutheranism. It would be a valuable addition to college and seminary libraries. Stephen Volz Kenyon College Gambier, Ohio Copyright © 2016 Johns Hopkins University Press and Lutheran Quarterly, Inc.