Protestant Missionaries Research Articles

Protestant Children, Missions and Education in the British World by Hugh Morrison

Reviewed by: Protestant Children, Missions and Education in the British World by Hugh Morrison Hayley Keon Protestant Children, Missions and Education in the British World. By Hugh Morrison. Leiden: Brill, 2021. vii + 122 pp. Paper $84.00, e-book $84.00. Sunday schools, periodicals, public demonstrations, fundraisers, and Christian Endeavor Societies—these were only some of the ways that young people across the British Empire engaged with Protestant missions. They are also only some of the examples that Hugh Morrison interrogates in his concise but significant volume, Protestant Children, Missions and Education in the British World. Setting out to prove that the Protestant children's mission movement in Britain and its settler colonies was first and foremost pedagogical in its aims, Morrison weaves accounts of these child-centered activities throughout his text, knitting them into an analytical framework that foregrounds the holistic education of young participants in home-based mission organizations. In the process, he takes readers on a tour of imperial spaces, tracking both the trends and the specificities that shaped children's experiences of evangelism in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, and Canada throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. In its structure, this book "roves … widely" (in Morrison's own estimation), tracing what he terms the "educational imperative" at work in children's missions across a variety of contexts and thematic landscapes (14, 15). In the first of four content sections, he defines this concept through analysis, examining it from the angle of youthful philanthropy. While not denying that young people carried fundraising potential for missions, his approach to this topic contrasts with those of other scholars, who, while investigating the economic power of women and children in mission movements, have been quick to imply that financial incentives motivated evangelists to mobilize large numbers of youths [End Page 170] for their fundraising initiatives. In his account, Morrison overlays the facts of children's giving—namely, that it was pervasive, widespread, and relatively lucrative both in the metropole and settler colonies—with close readings of texts produced by adult missionaries. In so doing, he convincingly argues that philanthropy was envisioned as one avenue through which children could exhibit generosity, pick up new skills, and make use of their leisure time for productive ends. In the next section, the idea that leisure could be productive resurfaces in an examination of missionary periodicals aimed at child audiences. Situating these texts alongside a wider category of nineteenth-century children's reading materials, Morrison starts by outlining a brief history of this type of source before settling into a case study of one publication. Drawing out examples from the New Zealand-based periodical The Break of Day, he demonstrates that these works sought to entertain readers with engaging content that also carried educational value, such as descriptions of children in distant mission fields. Like Divya Kannan illustrates in her recent article for this journal ("'Children's Work for Children,'" spring 2021), Morrison similarly contends that these texts strived to teach young people about the world but also encouraged their readers to view themselves as moral agents whose racial, religious, and national identities located them at the top of an imperial hierarchy. In sections three and four, the focus of the book moves away from specific activities and reaches for wider conceptual eaves. Starting with questions of citizenship, Morrison explores how the children's mission movement stoked nationalist sentiments in young colonials while binding them to more expansive understandings of imperial belonging. Rather than presenting this as a rigid process, his writing effectively captures the fluid oscillation of power between these two modes of identity and also touches upon the experiential dimensions of race and gender. And in section four, issues of community, difference, and belonging remain in view as Morrison closes his book with a study of emotions. Following children into venues where they participated in large mission events, he tracks the ways that youthful expressions of enthusiasm cohered or jarred with adult expectations. Simultaneously, he engages with recent theories, highlighting the utility of concepts like Stephanie Olsen's emotional formations and frontiers to this aspect of childhood history. As in the rest of this text, his consideration of these concepts stretches...

Chil people embracing Protestantism: The impact of the political context in the Central Highlands from the early 20th century to the present

Protestantism is a religion that emerged and developed later than Buddhism, Catholicism and Islam. It was introduced to Vietnam in the early twentieth century after the arrival of these 3 religions. Previous studies examining the process of evangelization and the growth of Protestant followers often cited several reasons for people embracing Protestantism. These reasons include: 1) State leaders seeking to leverage Protestant missionaries for national development, 2) Individuals desiring a modern and inclusive religious belief system, 3) The impact of transnational ethnic relations, offering opportunities for Protestantism to expand, and 4) Economic disadvantaged individuals turning to Protestantism for assistance. Utilizing direct field data collected by in-depth interviews and participant observation in the community from April 2019 to April 2020 and in June 2022, the research aimed to explore the conversion of the Chil people to Protestantism; Specifically, the conversion from the traditional religion (polytheism) to Protestantism is a process taking place during the time, when this ethnic community has had the opportunity to interact with society outside of their traditional bon (from the early 20th century to the present), especially during the time they were forced to live in strategic hamlets built by the government of the Republic of Vietnam. Diverged from previous findings, the study showed that the primary factor motivating the Chil community to embrace Protestantism was the influence of the political context in the Central Highlands. This context was one of the important factors influencing the Chil people's conversion to Protestantism, and as a result, nearly 100% of the Chil people have now adopted Protestantism, making it the predominant religion in their community.

Protestant Missionary Accounts of Chinese Secret Societies in the Beginning of the 19th Century

The paper examines the earliest information by Europeans concerning activities of the secret societies–traditional public organizations that have played a significant role in history of China and continues to be a phenomenon of public life in China and abroad. By analogy with the “colonial school” of the studies of secret societies in China, it is proposed to single out the earliest period of the Protestant historiography of secret societies, tentatively designating it as a “missionary school” of William Milne and Robert Morrison. Amendments are done to the available bio-bibliographic data on Milne’s publications in The Indo-Chinese Gleaner. The authorship and time of the reports on secret societies in China delivered by R. Morrison at the Royal Asiatic Society are clarified. Milne’s reports indicated that the secret societies were anti-government, and some of them were anti-Qing. However, he did not notice the slogans for the restoration of the late Chinese Ming dynasty. The purpose of the destruction of the Qing dynasty is directly expressed in the materials of R. Morrison, which also talked about the hope for help from the spirits of the Ming emperors. It is noted that the ‘Mason paradigm’ of the study of secret societies proposed by W. Milne was based on the similarity of some formal aspects in their activities with the practice of the Freemason Society in Great Britain. At the same time, W. Milne pointed out the differences in the social status and social role of such societies in Europe and in China.

La independencia del Perú y la Biblia

Among its texts in indigenous languages the British Library owns two manuscript volumes of the New Testament in Quechua, translated in 1824, not long after the Peruvian declaration of independence. It was commissioned by James or Diego Thomson, an influential Scottish Baptist minister who initiated the Protestant mission, together with general education, on the Latin American continent. These texts are part of the very scarce documentation in indigenous languages from the beginning of the 19th century. I will present the context of the origin of these texts (initiator and translators) (first part of this contribution, in this issue). In a linguistic analysis I will compare examples from the two versions in terms of orthography/phonology, vocabulary, morphology and syntax (second part of this contribution, to be published in Anthropos 118.2023.2). The samples analysed here show, with respect to vocabulary and orthography, that the translators operate mainly within a colonial tradition of the general missionary language. As Cuzco citizens, who probably belonged to the social elite of the city, they were well familiarised with the Quechua language, which can be seen in their knowledge of its morphology and syntax. At the same time the texts show the discussions which they must have had whilst translating them; this is particularly evident in the frequent crossing out of words and passages in order to emend them, especially with respect to sentence and discourse structure. It is in this ‘linguistic laboratory’ that the translators show their close collaboration, their knowledge of the language and of the conventions established in it since colonial times, as well as their innovative spirit. [Bible translation, Quechua, Peru, James Thomson, 19th century, historical context, linguistic analysis]

근대 초 개신교 선교사 E. C. 와그너의 소설 『금옥이』에 나타난 여성 서사 분석

이 글은 근대 초기 조선에서 선교사와 교육자로 활동했던 엘라수 캔터 와그너(Ellasue Canter Wagner)(이하 와그너)의 소설인 『금옥이』(Kumokie: a Bride of Old Korea, A Love Story of the Orient)에 나타난 여성 서사를 분석함으로써 와그너가 추구한 근대적 조선 여성상을 모색하고자 하였다. 이를 위해 『금옥이』가 조선 여성의 위치를 어떻게 규명하고 계몽된 그리스도교인 여성을 어떤 모습으로 형상화했는지를 적극적으로 읽어내고자 했다. 이를 위해 먼저 소설의 집필 의도와 발간 관련 정보를 살펴보았다. 다음으로 소설 속에서 와그너가 당대 조선 여성을 어떻게 인식하고 그려냈는지에 주목했다. 마지막으로는 기독교 정신과 근대 교육을 통해 계몽된 여성을 양성하려는 와그너의 선교지에서의 욕망이 소설 속 ‘금옥이’를 통해 어떻게 구현되었는지를 살펴보았다.

Коллекции раритетной христианской литературы на монгольском языке в хранилищах Забайкальского края и Бурятии

Introduction. The paper examines collections of rare Mongolian-language Christian editions housed at depositories of Zabaykalsky Krai and Buryatia. Goals. The study attempts a socioarchaeographic analysis of the mentioned collections at the Institute for Mongolian, Buddhist and Tibetan Studies (SB RAS) and the Kuznetsov Zabaykalsky Krai Museum of Local History and Lore. Materials and methods. In terms of methodology, the work rests on ‘cognitive history’ and some aspects of historical phenomenology. The paper assumes a content analysis of the collections be instrumental both in identifying Christian Buryat readers’ queries throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries, and in revealing specificities of missionary activity among Mongolic peoples in pre-revolutionary Russia. Conclusions. The content analysis of the two collections shows Transbaikalia was witnessing a specific cooperation between Protestant and Orthodox Christian missions. Personal libraries of Buryat Christians were largely compiled from Mongolian translations of the Bible funded mainly by the Protestant missions. The study attests to that the most promising missionary activity among Buryats (and Mongols at large) — dissemination of Christianity via primary education — was not supported by representatives of the missions. Our insights into the history of the collections show that results of Christian missionary translation activities aroused interest of Buryat Buddhists, and the latter tended to include such biblical translations into their libraries. Due to linguistic and historical circumstances, the Russian collections of Mongolian-language Christian publications have remained virtually unattended — both in terms of bibliographic description and scholarly research — for a long time. However, territorial, manufacturing and historical circumstances make the examined editions essentially unique. Our content analysis confirms there is a need for such investigations to reveal a coherent agenda of religious publications once used for the development of Christianity within Mongolian culture.

Education Competition between Catholic Jesuits and Protestant Missionaries in Syria and Lebanon Provinces in the Ottoman Empire in the Second Half of the 19th Century

Din ve mezheplerini yayma amacıyla yola koyulan Hristiyan misyonerler, bu amaçlarını daha verimli bir şekilde gerçekleştirebilmek için gittikleri yerlerde çeşitli faaliyetler de bulunmuşlardır. Eğitim bu faaliyetlerin içinde misyonerlerin hedefledikleri amaçlara ulaşmaları için onlara en çok yardım eden ve en önemli uygulama alanı olmuştur. Osmanlı genelinde bunu deneyen ve başarılı olan Hristiyan misyonerler Suriye ve Lübnan özelinde giriştikleri eğitim faaliyetlerinden de pozitif bir geri dönüş aldıkları vakit bu sefer birbirleriyle rekabete tutuşmuşlardır. Bu rekabetin taraflarını oluşturan Katolik Cizvitler ve Protestan misyonerler eğitim alanında birbirlerine üstünlük kurmak için hamileri olan Avrupalı devletler ve Amerika’dan yardım almışlardır. Yerli işbirlikçiler bulmak, okullar açmak, ücretsiz eğitim kitapları dağıtmak, kız çocuklarının eğitimine eğilmek, bölge halkının eğitimle ilgili isteklerine kulak vermek gibi birçok hamleler yapmışlardır. Bu rekabetin kızıştığı 19.yüzyıl ikinci yarısından itibaren Osmanlı da üçüncü bir etken olarak olaya müdahil olmak istese de geç harekete geçmiştir. Bu çalışmada bütün bunlar tafsilatıyla ele alınarak, rekabetin nedenleri ve sonuçlarına, bölge halkı üzerindeki etkisine ışık tutulmaya çalışılacaktır.

Social and Historical Background of Protestant Missionary in Ethiopia

Batılılar tarafından fiili olarak sömürgeleştirilememiş tek Afrika ülkesi olan Etiyopya, 4. yüzyıl gibi erken bir tarihte Hıristiyanlığı benimsemiş ve Ortodoks bir geleneğe sahip olmuştur. Rakımının yüksek, etrafının Müslüman ülkeler ile çevrili olmasından dolayı Etiyopya, dış dünya ile bağını koparmak zorunda kalmış, bu sayede zamanla kendine has bir kimlik ve gelenek inşa etmeyi başarmıştır. Kadim bir Hıristiyan geleneğe sahip olan Etiyopya, Batı Hıristiyanlığı ile ise ilk defa 16. yüzyılda ülkeye gelen misyonerler yoluyla tanışmıştır. Batılı misyonerler, 16. yüzyıldan 20. yüzyıla kadar faaliyetlerde bulunmasına rağmen Etiyopya Kilisesi karşısında başarılı olamamışlardır. Ancak Etiyopya, 20. yüzyılın ilk yarısından itibaren modernleşme düşüncesi ile kapılarını özellikle Protestan misyonerlere açmak zorunda kalmıştır. Ülkedeki Protestan nüfus 1950 yılına kadar yüzde bir civarında iken günümüzde bu oran yüzde yirmilere çıkmıştır. Bu hızlı değişimin arka planında ülkeye akın eden misyonerlerin çeşitli yöntemlerle yapmış olduğu faaliyetler, modernleşme süreci, ekonomik ve siyasi sebeplerden ötürü ülke yöneticilerinin misyonerlere olan bakış açısının değişmesi yatmaktadır. Bu çalışmada, Protestan misyonerlerin nasıl ve hangi aşamalar sonucunda başarılı oldukları sosyal, siyasi ve tarihsel açıdan incelenmektedir. Bu açıdan Etiyopya Ortodoks Tevhid Kilisesi’nin karakteristik yapısı, misyonerlik faaliyetlerinin ne zaman başladığı, Etiyopya Kilisesi’nin misyonerler ve misyonerlik faaliyetlerine karşı tavrı, misyonerlik faaliyetlerinin önünü açan unsurlar, misyonerlik faaliyetlerinde sağlık ve eğitim faktörlerinin rolü, Pentekostalizm’in ülke içindeki seyri gibi tartışmalar makalenin konusunu oluşturmaktadır. Ayrıca bu çalışma, Etiyopya’daki misyonerlik faaliyetleri açısından 1950’li yılları esas almaktadır. Öncesinde misyonerlik faaliyetleri olmasına rağmen niçin başarılı olunamadığı, sonrasında hangi sebep ve motivasyonlardan dolayı ve hangi Protestan grubunun önemli derecede artış gösterdiği ele alınmaktadır. Ülkede faaliyet gösteren bütün misyoner cemiyetlerin dahil edilmesi bu çalışmanın sınırları içinde mümkün olmadığı için bu araştırmanın kapsamı Protestanlık içinde öne çıkan isimlerden bazıları verilerek Pentekostalizm ile sınırlandırılmıştır. Etiyopya’da Protestan misyonerliğinin mahiyetini ortaya koyabilmek için tarihsel süreç içinde teşekkülüne ve gelişimine değinmek gerekmektedir. Bu bağlamda özellikle Etiyopya Kilisesi’nin karakteristik yapısı hakkında bilgi verilmiş ve bu amaçla da betimleyici metot kullanılmıştır. Devamında bireysel olarak ortaya çıkan misyonerlik faaliyetleri tarihi bir seyir içinde incelenmiş, birbirleri arasındaki benzerlik ve farklılıklar ele alınmıştır. Söz konusu faaliyetlerin tarihsel analizi yapılırken misyonerlerin tutum ve tavırları, Etiyopya Kilisesi ile olan ilişkileri, sanayi ve teknoloji alanındaki gelişmelerin misyonerlik faaliyetlerindeki etkisi gibi hususlar analitik bir gözle incelenmiştir. Bu çalışmanın hazırlanış aşamasında literatür taraması yapılmış, konu ile alakalı kitap ve makale gibi eserler incelenmiş ve konunun kavramsal çerçevesi oluşturulmuştur. Etiyopya, fiili olarak sömürgeleştirilmemiş bir ülke olması hasebiyle ülkedeki misyonerlik faaliyetleri kıtadaki diğer ülkelere nazaran farklı yönlere sahiptir. Zira Etiyopya’da misyonerler sömürge güçlerinin sağladığı ekonomik ve siyasi güçten mahrum bir şekilde faaliyetlerini yürütmek zorunda kalmıştır. Bu durum ise misyonerlerin başarı oranlarını doğrudan etkilemiştir. Ancak 20. yüzyıldan sonra yaşanan tecrübe ve değişimlerin misyonerlik faaliyetleri üzerinde kalıcı etkisi olmuştur. Bu cihetle misyonerler Afrika kıtasında sadece sömürge gücü ile değil teknolojik ve sanayi alanındaki gelişmelerle de faaliyetlerini etkin bir şekilde yapmaya başlamıştır. Hatta ikinci faktörün etkisinin birincisinden daha güçlü olduğu iddia edilebilir. Zira elli yıllık bir zaman diliminde bile Protestan nüfusun yüzde birlerden yirmilere çıkması bu iddiayı kanıtlar niteliktedir. Bu açıdan çalışmamız misyonerlik faaliyetlerinde özellikle sağlık ve eğitim faktörüne dikkat çekmekte, ayrıca Afrika kültürü ve geleneğine yakın olan Pentekostalizm’e vurgu yapmaktadır.

Translations (from English into Judeo-Spanish), retranslations and original works by the Scottish missionary Alexander Thomson (1820-1899)

The study of the literary production in Judeo-Spanish published in Constantinople in the 19th century has drawn the attention of historians and linguists interested Sephardic research in the last decade (García Moreno, 2013; 2018; 2019). However, previous research had not delved into the analysis of the authorship of all the previously assigned works to the Protestant missionary from the Free Church Scotland, namely, Alexander Thomson (1820-1899). After summarizing the historical and biographical context of this author, this article sheds light into Thomson’s different writing periods, thus detailing the numerous translations and retranslations (from English into Judeo-Spanish) and originally written works ascribed to him in each of these periods and known up to the present time.

Mapping Missions: New Data for the Study of African History

Abstract The study of societal and institutional change has greatly benefited from a growing number of studies exploring sub-national variation in colonialism and its legacies. One vibrant stream in this literature focuses on the role of Christian missionaries in European empires. However, advances are often hampered by the quality and scarcity of available historical data. In this article, the authors introduce a new geospatial dataset of Catholic and Protestant mission stations in colonial Africa that offers a more complete picture than currently used data sources. The authors illustrate the greater coverage their data provides and demonstrate its utility by replicating the effect of missions on the expansion of formal education, one of the most established legacies of Christian missionaries.

Ideologies and Commitments: An Analysis of Three Typical Attitudes to the Protestant Missions in the Anti-Christian Movement

Abstract This paper presents various Chinese-Christian understandings of the Protestant missions from the U.S. and U.K. in the 1920s. By examining three typical attitudes represented by Zhao Zichen, Li Chunfan, and Zhang Yijing, the author argues that external influences from ideologies – such as nationalism – alone are insufficient to explain the differences among them. Looking closely at what Zhao, Li, and Zhang wrote about the Anti-Christian Movement, it is argued that their inner commitments should be included when accounting for their differences.

The Search for Medieval Music in Africa and Germany, 1891–1961: Scholars, Singers, Missionaries, by Anna Maria Busse Berger

<i>The Search for Medieval Music in Africa and Germany, 1891–1961: Scholars, Singers, Missionaries</i>, by Anna Maria Busse Berger

Thinking with Wolves

AbstractThis article is an examination of the career of the “wolf child”—a human child lost or sacrificed by human parents but nurtured by wolf mothers—in imperial South Asia. Notably, wolf children become a particular concern of evangelical Protestant missionaries in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries; for the latter, these children featured as subjects in a miracle narrative, in which they were preserved from harm against all odds by their divinely animated lupine foster mothers. This history limns the curious trajectory that begins with an anthropology of the cultures that sacrifice children to wolves and ends in a missionary theology that claims wolf children as evidence of Christian grace and redemption. It underlines how unexpectedly significant a reckoning with the nonhuman was for evangelical theology and narrative in the colony, and how the narrative depended on trans-species alliance for imagining the operations of grace in imperial zones.

Saving the Overlooked Continent: American Protestant Missions in Western Europe, 1940–1975

Saving the Overlooked Continent: American Protestant Missions in Western Europe, 1940–1975

Into the Wild: Early Modern Protestant Missionaries and Their Views on Animals

Abstract Christianity and the environment have a tense relationship. Although in recent years an eco-theology of stewardship has taken flight, according to theologians as well as philosophers the historical track record of Christians with regard to nature in general and animals in particular leaves much to be desired. However, this view has never been empirically tested. In this article three early modern accounts of Protestant missionaries who lived in Greenland, New Netherland (North America) and Ceylon (Sri Lanka) are analysed in order to uncover attitudes towards animals. The accounts describe local fauna, reflect upon the way in which animals are treated and discuss ‘pagan’ attitudes towards animals. The concepts of tropicality and arcticality are used to help to frame the missionaries’ views on animals in terms of othering non-European fauna. The article concludes that the critique of Christianity’s track record is essentially justified, but also that it was more nuanced and complex than has hitherto been thought. As such, the early modern missionary accounts’ focus on wildlife may well serve as a source of inspiration for present-day missionary organizations.

Global Early Modern Protestant Mission

Global Early Modern Protestant Mission

The Protestant Missions to South-East Asia: Experimental Laboratory of Missionary Concepts and of Human Relations (Circa 1780–1840)

Abstract The relationship between the Anglo-Scottish Ultra-Ganges Mission and the Dutch missionaries in South East Asia, both missions based at Batavia and at Melaka (Malacca), could be described as “distant but cordial” – even during times of colonial conflict – but the same cannot always be said about the internal conditions of the British mission. This article will attempt to place the relationship between the Anglo-Dutch missionary enterprises into a historical context which includes the complex networks built up by the missionaries with the colonial administrations, as well as with the local Malay and Chinese communities. Ultimately, the success of their mission depended as much on such external factors as on the internal cohesion between the individual missionaries. Much of the historical sources for this article has been derived from the Special Collections archives kept at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London.

David and Solomon

AbstractWhile the ministry of cross‐cultural, long‐term missionaries was at the heart of the work and reflection of the International Missionary Council (IMC), the meetings of its successor, the Commission on World Mission and Evangelism, paid much less attention to the role of missionaries and even fell virtually silent on it for some decades. This article traces the shift in the perception of missionaries in the ecumenical movement in the era of decolonization, especially in the 1950s and early 1960s. It contends that with the bathwater of colonial ecclesiastical domination, the baby – the cross‐cultural missionary – was also thrown out. At the Ghana assembly of the IMC, one delegate compared the missionary societies to David and the local churches to Solomon and argued that the time had come for David to give way to Solomon. While many in the ecumenical movement were inclined to go along with this idea, the voluntary principle that had fuelled the Protestant missionary movement of the 19th and early 20th centuries could not be quelled. Missionaries continued to be sent, often outside the mainstream ecclesiastical bodies, and increasingly from countries in Asia, Latin America, and Africa. This article ends with a plea for fresh ecumenical reflection on the role of missionaries in churches and missions. The illustrations are drawn from the context of the Middle East, where mainstream Protestant missionaries helped birth the ecumenical movement but steadily decreased in number over the course of the 20th century. As elsewhere, new waves of non‐mainstream and non‐Western Protestant missionaries have come to the Middle East, a development that necessitates renewed ecumenical reflection and new forms of cooperation.

The Glocalization of Methodist Christianity in Colonial Korea

AbstractModern Protestant missions were launched in East Asia based on previous experiences in South and Southeast Asia. Regional nations, including Japan and China, encountered the Christian movement within the context of the global phenomena of colonialism and imperialism in the 18th and 19th centuries. While Joseon Korea had not been fully known among outsiders, the US Methodist Church, along with the Presbyterian and Baptist churches, did send pioneers in 1884. What, then, was the influence of the Methodists’ work? Who was Victor W. Peters (1902–2012)? Why was he unique compared to his other colleagues? What was his cultural philosophy in colonial Korea (1920s–1940s)? This article explores these questions through the historical records of the Christian mission to establish the Korean Methodist Church, focusing especially on the principles that Peters applied. The article argues that, unlike other Americans, Peters endeavoured to promote the indigenization of Western religion through his personal experience of entering a cross‐cultural marriage with a Korean woman. The philosophy of regionalism, in terms of a “soft power,” is likewise demonstrated by Peters’ Korean lifestyle – living in a hanok (Korean house), wearing hanbok (traditional Korean dress), eating hansik (Korean food), and speaking Hangul (Korean) – while he voluntarily involved himself in church planting and advocating for Simeon Lee Yongdo (1901–33).

On the Colonial History of the Ideas of God(s) in Africa

Abstract This contribution examines contested ideas of god(s) as held by Protestant missionaries and the German explorer Hugo Zöller in the early colonial period of Cameroon and in neighbouring West African countries in the 1880s. While many present studies on African Traditional Religion(s) tend to perpetuate an understanding of religion around one supreme god, Zöller’s reports included discontinuities and open questions. An intertextual reading approach is used to question historical and translation barriers and analyse the ideas of god(s) in reception history, including through the report of a later mission director and a handbook of religion. It becomes apparent that all the analysed historical material assumed one supreme god or one origin of religion, albeit according to the different interests of each foreign writer’s point of view. A decolonising reading that focuses on the foreigner’s idea of god(s) in the local people’s view then offers interesting insights into the perception and interpretation of the exploitative trade with ‘products’ from Cameroon linked to the coloniser’s own religion. That shift in perspective animadverts on the entire colonising trade system. This contribution thus proposes a decolonial historiography of religion in Africa in order to extend the critical investigation of reception history and perspectives.