African Clergy, Bishop Lucas and the Christianizing of Local Initiation Rites

Revisiting 'The Masasi Case

Datos Bibliográficos

ID3932389
AutoresAnne Marie Stoner-Eby (1Department of History, Messiah College, One College Ave, Box 3051, Grantham, PA 17027, USA, autor de correspondencia)
Año2008
Volumen38
Número2
Páginas171-208
Fecha de publicación2008-01-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessNo
TipoARTICLE
RevistaJournal of Religion in Africa (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0022-4200 • E-ISSN: 1570-0666
EditorialWalter de Gruyter GmbH (PUBLISHER • DE)
DOI10.1163/157006608x289675
OpenAlexW2017389660
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas3
Referencias citadas12

One of the most famous instances of missionary 'adaptation' was the Christianizing of initiation rites in the Anglican Diocese of Masasi in what is now southeastern Tanzania. This was long assumed to be the work of Bishop Vincent Lucas, who from the 1920s became widely known in mission, colonial and anthropological circles for his advocacy of missions that sought 'not to destroy, but to fulfill' African culture. Terence Ranger in his groundbreaking 1972 article on Lucas and Masasi was the first to point out the crucial role of the African clergy. In reexamining the creation of Christian initiation in Masasi, this article reveals that Lucas's promotion of Christianized initiation was actually based on the vision and efforts of the African clergy, an indication that mission Christianity in the colonial period cannot be assumed to reflect European initiative and African compliance

African studies · Archaeology · Christianity · Colonialism · Ethnology · History of religions · Political science · Promotion (chess) · Protestantism · Sociology · Tanzania · Christian Theology and Mission · Gender Studies · History · Law · Pentecostalism and Christianity Studies · Philosophy · Religion, Society, and Development · Religious studies