From the notes: "Many people today are skeptical of religion and antagonistic to the missionary enterprise. Nevertheless, if we are going to understand why missionaries did what they did, we must examine how they thought seriously. In other words, we must examine motivations as well as outcomes if we want to arrive at a more complete evaluation." Not sure my evaluation is complete, but it is my (likely biased) viewpoint..!

Interpretations of the missionaries’ impact

I believe there are so many interpretations of the missionaries impact because our views of their motivations have changed.

First, though missionaries were indirectly influenced by approaching capitalism, their motivations were primarily to convert the masses of ‘heathens’ in Africa, thus expanding their church’s base. By introducing their version of Christianity, they wished to convert the African people into a civilized society, even better than their societies at home. Finally, as they realized the truth of the situation on ground, such as the oppression and racism in South Africa and the slave trade in west Africa, the missionaries advocated for indigenous rights to both the colonial and the imperial governments.

The different interpretations of their impact differ with the perspective of their motivations. For instance, in an increasingly secular Western world, attempting to convert people of a different religion to one’s own can be considered the height of arrogance – implying that a western religion is better than a completely different culture’s. This cultural bias interferes with peoples’ traditions, and teaches them that their own culture is unworthy or unacceptable. This was a long time before the concept of cultural relativism, whereby any sociological intrusion into a different society must be accomplished with objectivity and sensitivity to the culture itself. Therefore, from today’s objective standpoint, the missionaries can be said to have displayed thorough interference in attempting to spread ‘the word’ and to convert ‘heathens’ to ‘civilisation.’ Combined with the inherent racism and discrimination in many of the colonial governments, the missionaries effectively managed to destroy an entire continent’s tradition and culture.

Though this may sound harsh, it is one view of the missionaries’ impact. Another is that without the missions’ mitigating influence, the effect of the ruthless colonial policies could have been much worse. In addition to undermining traditional religions, they did introduce education and literacy, and in many ways assisted Africans in trade efforts, slavery abolishment, and reducing oppression. Even today they run hospitals and charitable organisations for the betterment of African societies.

Personally, I concur with the latter view. Since we cannot erase the devastation caused to the African peoples by our misguided ancestors’ policies of colonisation, I am thankful that the missionaries were there to provide a relatively more tolerant perspective… even if every African I know is an avowed Christian (or Muslim) instead of believing – or even knowing – their own culture’s traditions.

 

 

 

Copyright Johanna Voerman Khisa, 2002-03. Reprinting or reposting without permission is prohibited.