Parsing God
Conversations About the Meaning of Words and Metaphors in Nineteenth-Century Southern Africa
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 8979874 |
|---|---|
| Authors | William H Worger (0000-0002-8718-4556, University of California, Los Angeles, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2001 |
| Volume | 42 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 417-447 |
| Publication date | 2001-12-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | The Journal of African History (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0021-8537 • E-ISSN: 1469-5138 |
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1017/s0021853701007885 |
| OpenAlex | W2131686075 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 11 |
During the first half of the nineteenth century, European missionaries in southern Africa sought to establish their intellectual and moral authority over Africans and propagate the tenets of Christianity. Men like Jacob Döhne, Robert Moffat, John Colenso, Henry Callaway and others viewed a knowledge of African languages as key to disclosing ‘the secrets of national character’, to the translation and transmittal of ideas about the Christian ‘God’, and to accepting the ‘literal truth’ of the Bible. Africans, especially the Zulu king, Dingane, disputed these teachings in discussions about the existence of God, suitable indigenous names for such a being (including uThixo , modimo , and unkulunkulu ), and his attributes (all-powerful, or merely old), arguing for the significance of metaphor rather than literalness in understanding the world
Art · Character (mathematics · Christianity · Epistemology · Indigenous · Key (lock · Linguistics · Literature · Meaning (existential · Metaphor · Sociology · Zulu · African cultural and philosophical studies · Anthropology · Global Maritime and Colonial Histories · History · Philosophy · Religious studies · South African History and Culture
Bibliography of Articles and Books Published on Colonialism and Imperialism in 2001
Locating the Centrality of African Languages and African Indigenous Knowledge in the Embodiment Thesis
The Modern Mission
Cultural Innovation and Translation in the Eastern Cape
Missionaries, Colonialism and Language in Nineteenth‐Century South Africa
South African Englishes
Communicating Colonial Order
Ethnic Formation with Other-Than-Human Beings
Death and Dying in the History of Africa Since 1800
Christianity, colonialism, and cross-cultural translation
Dreaming in the Contact Zone
| Unique citing works | 11 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,46 |
| Citation span | 2002 - 2020 (19) |
| Citation velocity | historical |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 10 |