Abstract
This article seeks to bring to attention a hitherto little-known account of missionary life among the Xhosa people in the Cape Colony during the period 1838-1843 as contained in “The minute book of the Missionary Board of the Glasgow Missionary Society, adhering to the principles of the Church of Scotland, in Caffraria, and in the neighbouring Colony” (MBGMS). The Missionary Board was responsible for providing adequate material infrastructure and logistical support to enable the accomplishment of the aspirations of the Society. The author argues that such mundane work is often neglected in modern missiological historiography, which focuses rather on the more “‘spiritual” aspects of mission work. The historiographic approach adopted in this article is that of modern narrative history. By focusing on some of the themes, trends and struc- tures presenting themselves in the record, the MBGMS is permitted to speak for itself with relatively little retrospective interpretation. It is demonstrated that the Board made an important contribution to the achievement of the goals of the Glasgow Missionary Society, as seen in the rise of a Xhosa middle class and the emergence of a significant group of black intellectuals, whose voice and influence are being recovered after years of enforced neglect.
Highlights
A similar dualistic perspective may be detected in much modern missiological historiography, which tends to focus on the “spiritual” progress of the church, often with relatively little attention being given to the more mundane
By focusing on some of the themes, trends and structures presenting themselves in the record, the MBGMS is permitted to speak for itself with relatively little retrospective interpretation
The article seeks first to establish the milieu of the work of the missionaries recorded through the MBGMS
Summary
According to St. Paul it would seem axiomatic that “the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit” (Rom. 14:17). The pages of The minute book of the Missionary Board of the Glasgow Missionary Society, adhering to the principles of the Church of Scotland, in Caffraria, and in the neighbouring colony (MBGMS) are redolent of this perspective. The article seeks first to establish the milieu of the work of the missionaries recorded through the MBGMS. This requires brief consideration of contemporary events in Scotland, the Cape Colony and, what was termed, British Kaffraria, being the territory bounded first by the Keiskamma river and by the Kei river in which the missionaries operated. This requires brief consideration of contemporary events in Scotland, the Cape Colony and, what was termed, British Kaffraria, being the territory bounded first by the Keiskamma river and by the Kei river in which the missionaries operated. 1 This necessarily includes consideration of the formation of the mission itself and its interaction with the amaXhosa nation during a very unsettled period of colonial history. 2 Secondly, against this background the work of the Missionary Board of the Glasgow Missionary Society (GMS) is seen for what it was, the struggle to provide an adequate material
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