British Missionaries and the End of Empire: East, Central, and Southern Africa, 1939-64.

British Missionaries and the End of Empire: East, Central, and Southern Africa, 1939-64.

By John Stuart. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2011. Pp. xv, 237. Paperback $40.

British Missionaries is a carefully researched, broadly focused, and pleasantly written account of missions at the end of colonialism. Chapter 1 focuses on missionary opposition to the "color bar" in Africa. Despite widespread desire for change, few missionaries publicly campaigned for justice, preferring instead to lobby officials behind the scenes. A similar protocol was followed during the controversy surrounding the marriage of Seretse Khama (heir to the Bangwato throne) and an English woman named Ruth Williams, discussed in chapter 2. The London Missionary Society failed to offer Khama unambiguous support when the Colonial Office blocked his succession, which had ramifications in the religious sphere. Chapter 3 recalls the short-lived course of the Central African Federation (made up of the current nations of Malawi, Zambia, and Zimbabwe), one of the most important political issues of the 1950s (p. 75). Though many clergy (especially within the Church of Scotland) openly criticized the scheme, chapter 4 records how their stand was all but ignored by Africans (who identified with nationalists) and deeply resented by the British colonial government. In East Africa the Mau Man fought against the same kind of disregard for African concerns exhibited in the federation. Chapter 5 explores missionary involvement in the rehabilitation of captured Mau Mau, but also their growing criticism of government's handling of the crisis, especially the maltreatment of detainees. The final years of empire witnessed fundamental shifts, including the rise of NGOs, the decline of British missions, and the redefinition of "mission," which are all discussed in chapter 6.

British Missionaries is an important contribution to the field. Stuart has penetrated the complexities of colonial life and explained the spectrum of positions taken by missionaries. Activist missionaries were sympathetic to African concerns and inhabited a middle ground between governments and nationalists, but their ability to influence politics was radically diminished in such partisan times. Missionaries won few victories in their efforts to curb colonial abuses, and gradually lost their coveted status as the favored representatives of African interests.

Thomas W. Higgins recently earned a Ph.D. in African Christianity from the Center for the Study of World Christianity at the University of Edinburgh. He has conducted mission-focused research in Nigeria and Kenya.