African indigenous Christianity in a geo-historical perspective

Abstract

In this article the need for a geo-historical survey of the history of Christianity in sub-Saharan Africa from the time of the first circumnavigations of the continent up to the present day is argued. It is important to compare the evolutions in the regions affected by Christianity in the long and the short term. Apart from the pioneering but still incomplete work of authors such as Adrian Hastings and Bengt Sundkler, this type of comparative work has never really been undertaken. In the article five themes are examined from a geo-historical perspective: African missionary initiatives, African Christian communities, indigenous clergy, African independent churches and women’s Christian movements. The study concludes that there are spatial and chronological differences regarding the spread of the process of indigenisation of Christianity. For example, it has been shown that with regard to the ordination of indigenous priests or pastors, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Nigeria and South Africa demonstrated – from the second half of the nineteenth century – developments which were seen much later elsewhere. Variations in the number and strength of African independent churches depended on the greater or lesser presence of Protestant missionary societies at the time of their foundation and the number of European or North American colonists in the population.