Witnessing to the Gospel: Pedro Arrupe's Mission Theology and Dominic Mulaisho's The Tongue of the Dumb

Abstract

Christianity and missions are recurring subjects in postcolonial African fiction, most frequently taking the thematic form of a clash between mission Christianity and indigenous culture. Consciously or otherwise, most of these texts present at times insightful historic explorations of missionary practices. Occasionally they also contain discerning examinations of the missiological and theological assumptions underlying these practices. Dominic Mulaisho's first novel, The Tongue of the Dumb, is one such text. This essay explores Mulaisho's examination of mission in the novel. It posits that the missiological outlook of Mulaisho, a consciously Catholic writer who had been educated by Jesuits, is rooted in a markedly Jesuit mission theology articulated by Pedro Arrupe, the then-Jesuit superior general, emphasizing the primacy of witness through daily living.