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

Revisiting 'The Masasi Case

Bibliographic Data

ID3932389
AuthorsAnne Marie Stoner-Eby (1Department of History, Messiah College, One College Ave, Box 3051, Grantham, PA 17027, USA, corresponding author)
Year2008
Volume38
Issue2
Pages171-208
Publication date2008-01-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Religion in Africa (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0022-4200 • E-ISSN: 1570-0666
PublisherWalter de Gruyter GmbH (PUBLISHER • DE)
DOI10.1163/157006608x289675
OpenAlexW2017389660
LanguageEN
Citations received3
References cited12

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