AFRICAN RELIGION, THE CHRISTIAN MISSIONARIES AND COLONIALISM: EVALUATION

Abstract

The Africans suffered humiliation under the Christian missionaries and colonial masters. African religion and culture was devalued and bastardized by the colonial masters, through the missionaries. The data for this research was collected through the primary and secondary sources. During the 19th century, Africa was subjected to the influence of two special powers which changed the face of the continent (Africa) in a dramatic way: Western Christianity and European Colonialism. When distinguishing between these two factors, it should be remembered, however, that they can never be fully separated. This is already evident from the fact that it was a Western or European type of Christianity transplanted on African soil, by The Christian missionaries, also members of the colonialising nations acted — whether they were aware of it or not — in favour of colonial rule. Even though some biblical scholars, especially of Western extraction, may not fully concur with van deWalt’s view, that many of the missionaries did indeed “transplant” their European culture along with their efforts to Christianize the African continent. Judith M. Bahemuka echoed this thought when she opined that the “missionaries preached a foreign Christ to Africa”. Could Christ be said to have been properly unveiled to Africa the way the Western Missionaries carried out their proselytizing mission? Is it possible to preach an authentic Gospel that is totally devoid of the cultural heritage of the recipients of the message? One may need to also know whether the African Christian can remain faithful to the Gospel without sacrificing his cultural heritage. How can the African believer identify with Christ in the African setting? These are some of the issues that will be of special concern in this paper.