Beyond the Discontinuity Paradigm: Towards a Pan-African Church History

The purpose of this article is to suggest: (1) That a particular model of writing African church history inherited from the historiography of European mission has influenced the way in which the trans-African history of Christianity in Africa has been presented. It is argued that this model has encouraged an episodic view of the Christian past, through its documentary emphasis on the last two centuries. (2) That this model was both implicit and unchallenged in the theological trends of the post-colonial period, with their programmatic emphasis on indigenization and inculturation. The work of the vast majority of African theologians, and hence of church historians outside Africa, envisaged a model of the 'discontinuous past' premised on the idea that Christianity was to be understood in terms of export and import or 'early' north African and 'later' southern African engagement. This model is here labelled the 'discontinuity paradigm'. (3) That a new model for the writing of church history in Africa should be attempted. An 'adaptive similarities' model is proposed which sees the history of the church in Africa against the template of analogous conversion–adaptation–fissiparation movements in the earlier periods of the church's existence. The essay proposes a pan-African church history 'project' which focuses its work on constructing this model from regional church history efforts (Sundkler) and which attempts to isolate the recurrent themes and patterns of African Christianity (the thematic–chonological matrix) as interpreted within the wider African context (the geographical–cultural matrix).     

Church and Empire: Free-Church Ecclesiology in a Global Era

Abstract

Jesus was cruelly executed as the alleged "king of the Jews" because of his efforts for grassroots religious renewal and resistance to Roman rule in Palestine through local religious-political elites. By the fourth century CE, however, Christianity had become the official religion of the Roman imperium. An ambiguous account of both resisting and supporting imperialism has shaped all church history. Today the United States of America is widely recognized as the central power in a new global empire.     

Unravelling Church Land: Transformations in the Relations between Church,State and Community in Uganda

Christian churches control substantial areas of land in Africa. While intensifying struggles over their holdings are partly due to the increased pressure on land in general, they also reflect transformations in the relations through which churches’ claims to land are legitimized, the increased association of churches with business, and churches’ unique positioning as both institutions and communities. This article presents the trajectory of relations between church, state and community in Uganda from the missionary acquisition of land in the colonial era to the unravelling of church landholding under Museveni. Drawing on long‐term ethnographic fieldwork, the authors argue that claims to church land in contemporary Uganda draw on: 1) notions of belonging to the land; 2) views about the nature of churches as communities; 3) discontent regarding whether customary land owners gave churches user rights or ownership; and 4) assessment of the churches’ success in ensuring that the land works for the common good. The article develops a novel approach to analysing the changing meaning of the landholdings of religious institutions, thus extending ongoing discussions about land, politics, development and religion in Africa.     

The Historian and the Church

DEREK BEALES AND GEOFFREY BEST, eds. History, Society and the Churches: Essays in Honour of Owen Chadwick. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1985. Pp. x, 335. $49.50 (US).     

The Roots of the Presbyterian Church of Kenya: The Merger of the Gospel Missionary Society and the Church of Scotland Mission Revisited

The Presbyterian Church of Kenya is the product of the merger of the missionary work of the American Gospel Missionary Society (GMS) and the Scottish Church of Scotland Mission (CSM) in 1946. The two missions had been working independently of each other in central Kenya since 1898. However, there is hardly any scholarly work that has analysed the merger. The purpose of this paper is, therefore, to examine why the GMS‐CSM merger became necessary from a GMS perspective. The paper argues that the merger became inevitable and unavoidable because the GMS was unable to solve the problems that plagued it — some of its own making and others beyond its control. The paper concludes by showing that the CSM emerged as the beneficiary of the merger because it eventually assimilated the GMS work.     

鲁北—胶东盐业考古调查记

本文通过对鲁北莱州湾和胶东半岛16个县市和出有盔形器的遗址进行了调查,对盔形器的形态演变、分布区域、使用功能等进行了初步研究,并与国内外有关遗址和类似器物作了比较分析,确认菜州湾沿海包含大量盔形器的遗址是商周时期的制盐作坊,而盔形器则是制盐的特殊用具.     

从教会契约文书看邵武美部会与民间社会的互动——兼论教会契约文书在地方史研究中的史料价值

以邵武美部会契约文书本文引用的契约文书均为福建师范大学社会历史学院所藏,引用时加注其原始编号。为研究范本,考察同治十二年(1873)至民国20年(1931)邵武美部会与民间社会围绕置产这一经济活动而发生的互动,认为教会契约文书可以提供教士回忆录、教会报刊杂志、年议会录等传统教会研究资料和正史、地方志等官修著述均未记载的历史资料,构建新的区域教会史研究范式,客观、真实、全面地展示区域教会发展历史,进而不断充实和丰富地方历史全貌。     

The Chora and the Great Church: Intervisuality in Fourteenth-Century Constantinople

Abstract

In Gregoras' history, the most important building project during the second decade of the fourteenth century is not Theodore Metochites' redecoration of the Chora monastery, but Andronikos II's restoration of II. Sophia and the nearby column of Justinian. Two mosaics at the Chora, the Deesis in the inner narthex and the adjacent lunette of Metochites and Christ, make visual reference to the Great Church. The nature of such relationships is explored through reference to Mikhail Bakhtin and his analysis of dialogic language.