"Shedding their blood as the seed of faith": the Zambesi Mission Jesuits and ambivalence about modernity
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Authors
Bischoff, Richard Karl
Issue Date
2018-12
Type
Thesis
Language
en
Keywords
Medical mission , Matabeleland , Rhodesia , Zimbabwe , Zambesi Mission , Society of Jesus , African education , Colonialism , Secular modernity , History of medicine
Alternative Title
Abstract
The study addresses from a sociocultural-historical, in particular a missiological and
medical perspective the question if Catholic hospitals in Matabeleland, affected by the
dramatic down-turn of Zimbabwe’s economy since 2000, did whatever they could to
continue offering quality services to their patients.
It starts with a portrayal of the emergence of secular modernity in the North-Atlantic
World, as regards its view of the world as solely governed by natural laws, and of
people as capable of taking destiny into their own hands, unperturbed by spiritual
forces. The question is explored how the Christian Occident could end up there,
following its development through the Middle Ages, and its expansion by missionary
activity, by preaching the Word, but also by military force.
Next, the achievements of pre-1900 Western medicine are examined, to identify if/how
missionaries in Africa could have benefited. The study describes how professional
medicine did not become part of the early Zambesi Mission, not because of its curative
shortcomings, but for spiritual reasons, insofar as the Jesuits did not follow the
European trend to let worldly well-being take the place of eternal salvation. Vis-à-vis
their other-than-modern view of life, suffering, and (self-)sacrifice, the promises of
medicine appeared just trivial.
Submissiveness to authority, both ecclesiastical and worldly, is identified as the core
principle that informed the Jesuits’ educational approach towards Africans in all their
efforts at conversions. The missionaries thereby colluded with colonialist thinking, in not
attempting to make their pupils grow into self-confident, independent thinkers in their
own right. In this educational tradition, grafted onto a pre-modern local culture, the study
finds the reason why Zimbabwean medical staff, as managers of their clinics or
hospitals, have shown little readiness to proactively prioritise the intrinsic needs of their
institutions and push for corrective measures, prepared even to challenge their
superiors when encountering aberrations in the health system, locally as well as higher
up.
The study asks if the Church could have opted for a different educational approach,
considering the prevailing socio-economic and cultural framework conditions; finally, which options present-day Zimbabweans have to choose from, regarding their country’s
future development.