Missionaries Agents of Light or of Darkness?—Part 4
Spiritual Light for the “Dark Continent”?
“LESS than 100 years ago, Africa was called the Dark Continent because much of it was unknown to Europeans.” What The World Book Encyclopedia here refers to was not African darkness but, rather, European darkness—Europe’s lack of knowledge about a largely unexplored continent. So it is no contradiction that Africa possibly derives its name from the Latin word aprica, which means “sunny.”
Still, in one aspect, Africa was in darkness—in darkness as to Bible truth. Donald Coggan, former Archbishop of Canterbury, calls Africa and Asia “the two great continents into which the Churches of the West have poured their resources of manpower and money for the best part of two hundred years.”
Many of Christendom’s missionaries were no doubt sincere. In pursuit of their work, some even sacrificed their lives. Their effect upon African life was profound. But did they, as Christ had done, “shed light . . . through the good news,” thereby ridding the so-called Dark Continent of its spiritual darkness?—2 Timothy 1:10.
Native Missionaries Shed First Glimmers of Light
The first Christian on record to preach in Africa was himself an African, the Ethiopian eunuch mentioned in the Bible at Acts chapter 8. A Jewish proselyte, he was on his way home from worshiping at the temple in Jerusalem when Philip converted him to Christianity. Without doubt, in keeping with the zeal of early Christians, this Ethiopian afterward actively preached the good news he had heard, becoming a missionary in his own land.
Historians fail to agree, however, on whether or not this was the way Christianity became established in Ethiopia. The Ethiopian Orthodox Church appears to date back to the fourth century, when a Syrian student of philosophy named Frumentius was ordained as a bishop to Ethiopian “Christians” by Athanasius, a bishop of the Coptic Church of Alexandria.
The Coptic Church—Copt is derived from the Greek word for “Egyptian”—claims that its founder and first patriarch was Mark the Evangelist. According to tradition, he preached in Egypt just before the middle of the first century. At any rate, “Christianity” spread to North Africa at an early date, with men like Origen and Augustine rising to prominence. A catechetical school in Alexandria, Egypt, became a noted center of “Christian” scholarship with Pantaenus as its first president. But by the time of Pantaenus’ successor, Clement of Alexandria, apostasy had evidently already taken its toll. The Encyclopedia of Religion reveals that Clement “advocated the reconciliation of Christian doctrine and the Bible with Greek philosophy.”
The Coptic Church carried on an intensive missionary campaign, particularly in eastern Libya. Archaeological excavations in Nubia and lower Sudan also reveal Coptic influence.
European Missionaries Arrive
Europeans did little missionary work in Africa before the 16th to 18th centuries, at which time the Catholics achieved a measure of success. Protestant religions did not arrive until early in the 19th century, when Sierra Leone became the first West African country their missionaries reached. Although the Protestants tried hard to catch up, today, with few exceptions, every African country boasting a large “Christian” population has more Catholics than Protestants.
The population of Gabon, for example, is 96 percent nominal Christian. Shortly before World War I, Albert Schweitzer, a Lutheran, set up a mission hospital there and later added a leper colony. Despite the major impact his 40-and-more years of Protestant missionary activity had on the country, Catholics still outnumber Protestants by more than 3 to 1.
With increased Protestant participation, however, African missionary activity gained momentum. Adrian Hastings of the University of Leeds explains that “the important legacy of this period [second half of the 19th century] was a significant start on translation of the Bible into scores of African languages.”
Bible translations in the vernacular provided a basis for spreading “Christianity,” which had previously been lacking. Many Africans believed in dreams and visions, viewed illnesses in terms of bewitchment, and practiced polygamy. Possessing the Bible in the vernacular gave Christendom’s missionaries an opportunity to shed Scriptural light on these subjects. According to Hastings, however, “Africans frequently remained unconvinced on these matters.” The result? “From the end of the nineteenth century a multitude of independent churches began to arise, first in South Africa and Nigeria, then in many other parts of the continent where there was already a significant missionary presence.”
Today, in fact, some 7,000 new religious movements, with over 32,000,000 adherents, exist in sub-Saharan Africa. According to The Encyclopedia of Religion, “these movements have arisen primarily in areas where there has been intensive contact with Christian missionary efforts.” Obviously the missionaries failed to unify their converts in the “one Lord, one faith, one baptism” about which missionary Paul spoke.—Ephesians 4:5.
Why? The source mentioned above explains that it was because of “the disappointment of local converts with the premises and outcomes of Christianity . . . , the perceived divisions in denominational Christianity and its failure to meet local needs [and] the failure of mission Christianity to break down social and cultural barriers and generate a sense of community.”
The amount of spiritual “light” Christendom’s missionaries shed upon the “Dark Continent” was too little. It was therefore too weak to dispel the darkness of Bible illiteracy.
Agents of Colonialism?
Despite the fact that some of Christendom’s missionaries accomplished good, The Encyclopedia of Religion is forced to admit: “Missionaries both pressed for, and facilitated, the colonial takeover, so that Christianity and colonial conquest could seem at times like two sides of a single coin. Modern anticolonialism has often branded Christianity in Africa, with some justification, as an accomplice of colonialism.”
The Collins Atlas of World History gives insight when it explains that Western nations were motivated by a conviction that “colonization would bring the light of reason, democratic principles and the benefits of science and medicine to those tribes of the interior that were thought of as primitive.” And The New Encyclopædia Britannica states: “It has been difficult for the Roman Catholic missions to divorce themselves from colonialism, and many missionaries did not want the divorce.”
Logically, then, to the extent that Christendom’s missionaries advocated democracy and praised the benefits of Western scientific and medical advancement, they came across as agents of colonialism. Once people became disenchanted with the economic, political, and social structures of colonial powers, they also lost faith in European religions.
Preaching—The First Priority?
Whenever mention is made of Protestant missionaries in Africa, the name David Livingstone generally comes up. Born in Scotland in 1813, he became a medical missionary and traveled extensively throughout Africa. His deep love for the “Dark Continent” and the excitement of discovery provided him with additional motivation. The New Encyclopædia Britannica speaks of “Christianity, commerce, and civilization” as “the trinity that he believed was destined to open up Africa.”
Livingstone’s accomplishments were many. His first priority, however, was evidently not preaching the gospel. The Britannica sums up his 30 years of missionary work “in southern, central, and eastern Africa—often in places where no European had previously ventured” this way: “Livingstone may have influenced Western attitudes toward Africa more than any other individual before him or since. His discoveries—geographic, technical, medical, and social—provided a complex body of knowledge that is still being explored. . . . Livingstone believed wholeheartedly in the African’s ability to advance into the modern world. He was, in this sense, a forerunner not only of European imperialism in Africa but also of African nationalism.” Livingstone showed great compassion for the Africans.
While some missionaries supported or at least condoned the slave trade, it would be unfair to accuse them of having done so as a group. But whether the compassion many of them showed was motivated by a desire to uphold God’s standards of impartiality and equality or more by normal feelings of personal concern about the welfare of individuals is, in retrospect, difficult to determine.
The latter, however, would be in keeping with the priorities set by most of the missionaries. The book Christianity in Africa as Seen by Africans acknowledges that no one “can match their record of humanitarian work.” But building hospitals and schools meant putting human physical needs ahead of preaching God’s Word in pursuit of divine interests. Some missionaries even set up trading posts to enable Africans to enjoy more European material goods, thus improving their standard of living.
Understandably, many Africans are today grateful for the material benefits Christendom’s missionaries made possible. As Adrian Hastings notes: “Even when most critical of missionaries and churches, African politicians seldom fail to express gratitude for their contribution toward secondary education.”
‘If the Light in You Is Darkness . . .’
According to Hastings, until recent centuries Africa was “a continent in which Christianity failed to make a lasting breakthrough.” In fact, by the mid-18th century, Catholic missions had almost completely died out, leading author J. Herbert Kane to question how “failure on such a grand scale” was possible. For one thing, the mortality rate among missionaries was high. Another factor was the involvement of Portugal in the slave trade. Since all the Catholic missionaries were Portuguese, this “put the Christian religion in a very bad light.” But “more pertinent, and perhaps more potent,” Kane adds, “were the superficial missionary methods, which resulted in hasty ‘conversions’ and mass baptisms.”
Christendom’s missionaries failed to motivate Africans to replace their religions with the missionaries’ doctrines. Conversion meant changing religious labels, but not necessarily beliefs and conduct. Eleanor M. Preston-Whyte of the University of Natal notes: “Zulu cosmological ideas have been incorporated into Zulu Christian thought in a number of subtle ways.” And Bennetta Jules-Rosette of the University of California at San Diego says modern African religions “blend elements of African traditional religion with those of the introduced religions, Christianity and Islam.”
According to Psalm 119:130, “the very disclosure of your [God’s] words gives light, making the inexperienced ones understand.” Since Christendom’s missionaries for the most part failed to give priority to disclosing God’s Word, what light could they give? Inexperienced ones remained without understanding.
The “light” offered by Christendom’s missionaries in past centuries, their “good works,” emanated from a world in darkness. Despite their claims, they were not shedding true light. Jesus said: “If in reality the light that is in you is darkness, how great that darkness is!”—Matthew 6:23.
Meanwhile, how were missionaries faring in the Americas, in the New World? Part five of our series will answer.
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In pursuit of their work, some missionaries even sacrificed their lives
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From the book Die Heiligkeit der Gesellschaft Jesu
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Christendom’s missionaries, such as Livingstone, did not always give preaching top priority
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From the book Geschichte des Christentums