Kimbanguism at the Grass Roots

Beliefs in a Local Kimbanguist Church

Bibliographic Data

ID3932170
AuthorsAndré Droogers (corresponding author)
Year1980
Volume11
Issue3
Pages188
Publication date1980-01-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Religion in Africa (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0022-4200 • E-ISSN: 1570-0666
PublisherJSTOR (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.2307/1581413
OpenAlexW2018041239
LanguageEN
Citations received5
References cited2

Much has been written about the history of the Kimbanguist movement in Zaire, but comparatively little is known about today's Kimbanguists. Marie-Louise Martin, who is an author on Kimbanguism as well as a member of the Kimbanguist Church, Eglise de Jesus Christ sur la Terre par le Prophete Simon Kimbangu (EJCSK) (The Church ofJesus Christ on Earth through the Prophet Simon Kimbangu), confines herself in her book to the opinions of the elite of the church. Her book is therefore not only a documentation on Kimbanguism but also a Kimbanguist document. As she puts it: instead of judging the church by what individual Christians say, we must pay attention to the authoritative leaders and to the tendency revealed in the total life of the church.1 Though she states that Kimbanguist beliefs and theology are still in flux2 she does not allow for the integration of the ideas of the people within the Kimbanguist Church3 into her account of Kimbanguist beliefs. On the contrary. She goes to great pains to polish clumsy4 statements by Kimbanguists in order to maintain their theological orthodoxy and respectability. Not only simple members of the church, but intellectuals5 as well, and even one of Kimbangu's sons, Dialungana6 have to undergo this treatment. Every indication of the heretical and the syncretist is retouched and argued away. In this way, an ideal picture is drawn in which the common members' convictions are only mentioned in order to be criticized. The approach is subjectively theological in its main emphasis. This also has consequences for Martin's description of the history of the church. It is official history with the leaders of the church as the main spokesmen. It is not history from the viewpoint of the common adherents. The significance of Kimbangu's activities is reduced to that of a religious revival which the

Church History · Divinity · Elite · Epistemology · Eucharist · Ideal (ethics) · Local church · Order (exchange) · Orthodoxy · Political science · Sociology · Theology · African history and culture analysis · History · Law · Philosophy · Religion, Society, and Development · Religious Education and Schools · Religious studies

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