Religious Entanglements

“An original and lucid contribution to the study of missionary Christianity in colonial Africa, Religious Entanglements compellingly demonstrates the influence of missionary forms of knowledge on Africanist anthropology, history, art history, and philosophy. Through nuanced, historical, and context-specific research, it also furthers our understanding of the emergence of African ethnicities and African Christianity. With eloquent and precise prose, Maxwell makes a stunning contribution. This is one of the most compelling accounts of mission Christianity and African society in colonial Africa in over two decades.”—David Gordon, Bowdoin College “An enlightening study of Pentecostal missionary activities in Central Africa from the late 19th to mid-20thcentury. . . Brimming with nuance and acute historical detail, this makes clear that the Luba reception of such missionaries as Burton was an active process of fusion and exchange.”—Publishers Weekly “Religious Entanglements makes a major contribution to both African studies and the history of missions, thanks to its multiple perspectives, its concern with both contexts and comparisons, its interdisciplinary approach (from anthropology to photography), and its careful distinctions between different group responses to the mission. A most impressive study.”—Peter Burke, Emeritus Professor of Cultural History, University of Cambridge “A brilliant, capacious, field-defining book. Maxwell not only rewrites the history of evangelical Christianity in Central Africa; he also rethinks the nature and meaning of colonialism itself, illuminating the complex ‘entanglements’ through which Europeans and Africans co-created their worlds.”—James Campbell, Stanford University

• List of IllustrationsAcknowledgmentsList of AbbreviationsIntroduction1 Primitivism and Pragmatism in the Making of the Congo Evangelistic Mission2 Luba Transformations Prior to 19103 Continuity and Change in the Luba Christian Movement4 Missions and the State: The Challenge of Pentecostalism5 “Acquainting Oneself with the Enemy”: Making Knowledge about Africa6 Pathways to Knowledge7 The Creation of Lubaland: Missionary Science and Christian Literacy in the Making of the Luba Katanga8 Finding God among the Luba: Missionary Conversions and EpiphaniesPostscript: Postcolonial DevelopmentsConclusion: Pentecostalism, Knowledge Creation, and Religious ChangeNotesSources and BibliographyIndex