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African perceptions of the missionaries and their message : Wesleyans at Mount Coke and Butterworth, 1825-35
Bibliography: leaves 175-183.
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| Format: | Thesis |
| Language: | English |
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Department of Historical Studies
2015
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| _version_ | 1867613286968590336 |
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| access_status_str | Open Access |
| author | Fast, Hildegarde Helene |
| author2 | Le Cordeur, B A |
| author_browse | Fast, Hildegarde Helene Le Cordeur, B A |
| author_facet | Le Cordeur, B A Fast, Hildegarde Helene |
| author_sort | Fast, Hildegarde Helene |
| collection | Thesis |
| description | Bibliography: leaves 175-183. |
| format | Thesis |
| id | oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/14237 |
| institution | University of Cape Town (South Africa) |
| language | eng |
| last_indexed | 2026-06-10T12:33:43.673Z |
| license_str | Not specified — see source repository |
| provenance_str_mv | Harvested via OAI-PMH from UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository |
| publishDate | 2015 |
| publishDateRange | 2015 |
| publishDateSort | 2015 |
| publisher | Department of Historical Studies |
| publisherStr | Department of Historical Studies |
| record_format | dspace |
| source_str | UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository |
| spelling | oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/14237 African perceptions of the missionaries and their message : Wesleyans at Mount Coke and Butterworth, 1825-35 Fast, Hildegarde Helene Le Cordeur, B A Missions - South Africa - Cape of Good Hope Bibliography: leaves 175-183. Missionary endeavours in the Eastern Cape were characterized by African resistance to the Christian Gospel during the first half of the nineteenth century. Current explanations for this rejection point to the opposition of the chiefs, the association that the listeners made between the missionaries and their white oppressors, and the threat to communal solidarity. This thesis aims to see if these explanations fully reveal the reasons for Xhosa resistance to Christianity by examining African perceptions of the missionaries and their message at the Wesleyan mission stations of Mount Coke and Butterworth for the period 1825-35. The research is based upon the Wesleyan Missionary Society correspondence and missionary journals and is corroborated and supplemented by travellers' records and later studies in African religion and social anthropology. The economic, social, and religious background of the Wesleyans is described to show how the Christian message was limited to their culture and system of thought. Concepts of divinity, morality, and the afterlife are compared to demonstrate the vast differences between Wesleyan and African worldviews and the inability of the missionaries to overcome these obstacles and to show the relevance of Christianity to African material and spiritual needs. Various types of perceptions are surveyed to show that, though the missionaries were respected for their spiritual role, their character and lifestyle presented an unappealing model of the Christian life. The threat that the missionary message posed to the structure and functioning of African communities is examined as well as African perceptions of these implications. A theory of conversion is advanced which reveals a consistent pattern of association with the missionaries for reasons of self-interest, exposure to the Gospel over a lengthy period of time, and finally conversion. The missionary-African contact of this period is thus characterized as the encounter between two systems of thought which did not engage. 2015-10-14T12:33:02Z 2015-10-14T12:33:02Z 1991 Master Thesis Masters MA http://hdl.handle.net/11427/14237 eng application/pdf Department of Historical Studies Faculty of Humanities University of Cape Town |
| spellingShingle | Missions - South Africa - Cape of Good Hope Fast, Hildegarde Helene African perceptions of the missionaries and their message : Wesleyans at Mount Coke and Butterworth, 1825-35 |
| thesis_degree_str | Master's |
| title | African perceptions of the missionaries and their message : Wesleyans at Mount Coke and Butterworth, 1825-35 |
| title_full | African perceptions of the missionaries and their message : Wesleyans at Mount Coke and Butterworth, 1825-35 |
| title_fullStr | African perceptions of the missionaries and their message : Wesleyans at Mount Coke and Butterworth, 1825-35 |
| title_full_unstemmed | African perceptions of the missionaries and their message : Wesleyans at Mount Coke and Butterworth, 1825-35 |
| title_short | African perceptions of the missionaries and their message : Wesleyans at Mount Coke and Butterworth, 1825-35 |
| title_sort | african perceptions of the missionaries and their message wesleyans at mount coke and butterworth 1825 35 |
| topic | Missions - South Africa - Cape of Good Hope |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/11427/14237 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT fasthildegardehelene africanperceptionsofthemissionariesandtheirmessagewesleyansatmountcokeandbutterworth182535 |