FROM CHINAMWALI TO CHILANGIZO:
FROM CHINAMWALI TO CHILANGIZO: FROM CHINAMWALI TO CHILANGIZO:
(2001:12) points out, three things motivated colonialism: 'commerce, Christianity and civilisation (or gold, God and glory!). As the colonial powers searched for new sources of wealth, civilisation and Christianity went hand in hand to eradicate the superstitious beliefs in magic, spirits, ancestors, and witchcraft of the 'primitive' people. Hence the zeal to evangelise the 'pagan' world must also be seen against this background of the Enlightenment worldview. Kwame Bediako (1995:192-93) observes that the major con cern of the World Missionary Conference of 1910 held in Edinburgh, as it considered the 'missionary problems in relation to the non-Christian world' was the primal relig ions, especially of Africa, for which the term 'animism' was used. The concern was therefore whether the animists could really be converted, since the general feeling was that the animists had no religion to prepare them for the Christian faith. The nineteenth and twentieth century Western missionaries were therefore greatly influ enced and shaped by their worldview in that, while 'they retained their faith in God and the domain of the supernatural, ... they also placed great value on science and reason' (Hiebert, et a 1991:89-90). This was evident in their building of churches to focus on religious matters, while schools were to civilise the people, and hospitals were where nature and disease were to be explained in natural terms. The world of the spirits, magic, witchcraft, and other supernatural forces was rejected as fiction and illusion. This kind ofbackground becomes evident in the way the Baptist missionaries responded to the issue ofchilangizo in Malawi in the 1970s as discussed in chapter five. The Southern Baptists' cultural background therefore cannot be understood outside of the contexts of both American Christianity and the Western worldview. The African context too - directly or indirectly, congenial or hostile - provided its own dynamics which helped to shape Baptist Christianity in Malawi, as discussed below. 3.3 SOCIAL-POLITICAL AND RELIGIOUS REALITIES IN THE AFRICAN CONTEXT Southern Baptists arrived in Nyasaland, still a British Protectorate, in 1960, when politi cally it was a period ofthe growth of African nations on the continent. Malawi was in a 27
transition period gaining its independence from the colonial power in 1964. It was a time when the leadership was working towards unifying the different tribes in the coun try, as well as attempting to fight against poverty, disease, and ignorance (BMIM 1995:1). The Southern Baptists emerged when approximately a third ofMalawi's population was Christian, about half of them Protestants and about half Roman Catholics (Latourette 1975: 1438). Missionary and indigenous churches existed throughout Malawi, despite some traditional resistance to Christianity in some parts of the country, such as in Cen tral Malawi among the Chewa people as discussed by Linden (1974) and Schoffeleers (1978). Hastings (1994:306) notes that one of the factors for the rapid growth of the Church was the African zeal to share the Gospel with others. That shows that the indigenous Christians were seen, as Thompson remarks: Not just as objects of evangelization but, as subjects in a process of dynamic religious change.... In a huge number of ways ... the growth of Christianity was effectively an African, rather than a European affair. (Thompson 1995:10) In the formation and development ofAfrican theology, it is acknowledged that the mas sive embracing of Christianity and its fast spread in Africa was due to the religiosity of the Africans which acted as preparation for the Gospel message. The Gospel was there fore the fulfillment of that which the African was waiting for in his spiritual yearning. Bediako (1995:192), using Harold Turner's six-feature general structural analysis of primal religions, attributes this religiosity to the primal religious background which has affinities with the Christian faith. The manifest Christian growth in Nyasaland was part of this remarkable growth of Christianity on the continent, and it was among such people with a rich religious heri tage that the Southern Baptists came and started their work. Another contributing factor to the growth of Christianity was the availability of the Scriptures in the languages of the people, who could hear the Gospel in their own 28
- Page 1: FROM CHINAMWALI TO CHILANGIZO: THE
- Page 4 and 5: MWACHIDULE Chimangiriro ichi chikuf
- Page 6 and 7: TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION n ABS
- Page 8 and 9: MAPS........................•...
- Page 10 and 11: 1. INTRODUCTION Ntchembere yanzeru,
- Page 12 and 13: My motivation, therefore, in the st
- Page 14 and 15: In her work, Women, Presbyterianism
- Page 16 and 17: This study covers female initiation
- Page 18 and 19: vation and interviewing. The method
- Page 20 and 21: church leaders, both men and women,
- Page 22 and 23: Scriptures in order to understand w
- Page 24 and 25: 2. THE 'RELIGIOUS ITINERARY'? OF TH
- Page 26 and 27: name of a person or his title to de
- Page 28 and 29: lineage, and the whole community. F
- Page 30 and 31: cross boundaries), and ziwanda ('ev
- Page 32 and 33: ciation and 'celebration ofthe powe
- Page 34 and 35: 3. THE EMERGENCE OF THE SOUTHERN BA
- Page 38 and 39: tongues. Hilary Mijoga (1998:31) no
- Page 40 and 41: 2002). The two groups continued sep
- Page 42 and 43: instrumental in supporting the idea
- Page 44 and 45: On the mission field not all missio
- Page 46 and 47: Autonomy is a term which expresses
- Page 48 and 49: that our likulu is in heaven, and t
- Page 50 and 51: Chewa is that menstrual blood is sa
- Page 52 and 53: girls are 'captured' and put in the
- Page 54 and 55: nity of both the living and the anc
- Page 56 and 57: evil intentions at the initiation c
- Page 58 and 59: Makanja or namkhwanya are masked da
- Page 60 and 61: The first day's activities end with
- Page 62 and 63: Then at the end ofthe song all the
- Page 64 and 65: In the evening the initiates perfon
- Page 66 and 67: While singing the same song above,
- Page 68 and 69: the other being 'cutting' one's thr
- Page 70 and 71: ishing them, especially if any of t
- Page 72 and 73: stand and makes her jump over the s
- Page 74 and 75: has her menses. Ulemu is also manif
- Page 76 and 77: Teaching on the observance of taboo
- Page 78 and 79: importance of the ritual. The prese
- Page 80 and 81: When they are buried in the ground,
- Page 82 and 83: 5. CHILANGIZO: A CHRISTIAN RESPONSE
- Page 84 and 85: Merely to condemn their rites and g
transition period gaining its independence from the colonial power in 1964. It was a<br />
time when the leadership was working towards unifying the different tribes in the coun<br />
try, as well as attempting to fight against poverty, disease, and ignorance (BMIM<br />
1995:1).<br />
The Southern Baptists emerged when approximately a third ofMalawi's population was<br />
Christian, about half of them Protestants and about half Roman Catholics (Latourette<br />
1975: 1438). Missionary and indigenous churches existed throughout Malawi, despite<br />
some traditional resistance to Christianity in some parts of the country, such as in Cen<br />
tral Malawi among the Chewa people as discussed by Linden (1974) and Schoffeleers<br />
(1978). Hastings (1994:306) notes that one of the factors for the rapid growth of the<br />
Church was the African zeal to share the Gospel with others. That shows that the<br />
indigenous Christians were seen, as Thompson remarks:<br />
Not just as objects of evangelization but, as subjects in a process of dynamic religious<br />
change.... In a huge number of ways ... the growth of Christianity was effectively an<br />
African, rather than a European affair.<br />
(Thompson 1995:10)<br />
In the formation and development ofAfrican theology, it is acknowledged that the mas<br />
sive embracing of Christianity and its fast spread in Africa was due to the religiosity of<br />
the Africans which acted as preparation for the Gospel message. The Gospel was there<br />
fore the fulfillment of that which the African was waiting for in his spiritual yearning.<br />
Bediako (1995:192), using Harold Turner's six-feature general structural analysis of<br />
primal religions, attributes this religiosity to the primal religious background which has<br />
affinities with the Christian faith.<br />
The manifest Christian growth in Nyasaland was part of this remarkable growth of<br />
Christianity on the continent, and it was among such people with a rich religious heri<br />
tage that the Southern Baptists came and started their work.<br />
Another contributing factor to the growth of Christianity was the availability of the<br />
Scriptures in the languages of the people, who could hear the Gospel in their own<br />
28
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