The training of the African clergy in the Anglican Diocese of Nyasaland (Malawi) 1861-1920s

Abstract

In this article I outline the development of the training of African clergy during the course of the history of the Anglican Church in the Nyasaland Diocese. The period under review is 1861 to the 1920s. From 1864 up until the 1920s, the training of clergy went through four phases: the experimental stage at Magomero, the foundational phase in Zanzibar, the intermediate stage in the Lake Nyasa Region and, finally, the more permanent stage on Likoma Island. It will be argued that undergirding this process was the Universities’ Mission to Central Africa (UMCA) and its conservative educational policy that tended to serve not only entirely religious purposes but also social missionary interests of racial superiority.