THE RHENISH MISSION AND THE COLONIAL WAR IN GERMAN SOUTHWEST AFRICA
"Mission operations often found themselves in an ambiguous situation during a war of colonial conquest. On the one hand, the missionaries wanted to protect the people among whom they were working and keep the door open for the preaching of the gospel. On the other hand, they were expected to conform to the demands of the colonial authorities, and as nationals of the metropolitan power they might even welcome colonial rule from a purely selfish, nationalistic standpoint. An excellent example of this dilemma was that faced by the Rhenish or Rhine Mission in its field in Southwest Africa"
Richard V. Pierard
http://divinity-adhoc.library.yale.edu/Resources/NAMP-CWC/PositionPapers101-155/139%20PIERARD.PDF
UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE FACULTY OF DIVINITY CENTRE FOR ADVANCED RELIGIOUS AND THEOLOGICAL STUDIES Currents in World Christianity
2000
© Richard V. Pierard, 2000
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English
Mission, Church and State Relations in South West Africa under German Rule (1884-1915)
"The study examines the interaction of missionaries and clergymen with the colonial administration in South West Africa/Namibia under German rule (1884-1915). It seeks to put forward a new, more specific picture of members of religious societies often characterised as "advocates of the natives" or "collaborators of the colonial state". On the basis of detailed archival research of German, Namibian, Finnish, South African and English archival sources the study aims at providing sufficient evidence for the argument that it is not only misleading, but historically incorrect to characterise mission, church and state relations in a colonial society by general terms such as "collaboration" or "opposition", arguing against the assumption that the groups involved had homogeneous social and political structures. "...this is a well-researched and judicious piece of scholarship which will be of lasting value as a guide to the organization of religious life under German colonialism"
Nils Ole Oermann
Franz Steiner Verlag
1999
© Franz Steiner Verlag 1999
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English