Ethical implications of missionary Christianity and the emergence of Chibarirwe African initiated church in Colonial Zimbabwe: a cultural rights discourse

The emergency of African Initiated Churches (AICs) in Colonial Zimbabwe was reaction to what the Africans had perceived as cultural genocide as perpetrated by missionary Christianity which had labored to convince Africans to abandon their values and become Christians. This had serious ethical ramifi...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published inThe Western journal of black studies Vol. 36; no. 2; pp. 169 - 176
Main Authors Mukova, Maxwell, Mangena, Fainos
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Pullman The Western Journal of Black Studies 22.03.2012
Washington State University Press
Subjects
African Culture
Attitudes
Beliefs
Black-white relations
Christianity
Churches
Congregational churches
Cultural conflict
Culture
Culture conflict
Death
Detribalization
Dutch language
Ethical aspects
Ethics
History
Human rights
Missionaries
Missions
Missions (Religion)
Missions, Foreign
Religion
Religious aspects
Zimbabwe
Africa
Western Europe
Online AccessGet full text

Cover

More Information
Summary:The emergency of African Initiated Churches (AICs) in Colonial Zimbabwe was reaction to what the Africans had perceived as cultural genocide as perpetrated by missionary Christianity which had labored to convince Africans to abandon their values and become Christians. This had serious ethical ramifications as it was clear that the missionaries were using their African counterparts as means to their own ends. The Dutch Reformed Church being one of the pioneering missionary churches was at the forefront of this demonizing project. Thus, Chibarirwe African Initiated Church emerged to challenge this attitude and to give the African a homegrown option of fellowshipping. In this essay, we look at the extent of this cultural genocide and the African reaction to it using the lances of cultural rights.
ISSN:0197-4327