The Shadow of the Cross: Colonialism’s Imprint on Christianity in Africa (1800-1900)

Introduction: The Arrival and the Assumption

The 19th century witnessed the burgeoning expansion of Christianity across Africa, a movement inextricably linked with the burgeoning tide of European colonialism. This account primarily focuses on the experiences and perspectives of the London Missionary Society (LMS), whose arrival in the early 1800s marked a significant chapter in missionary endeavors, particularly in Botswana and other regions of the continent. The LMS missionaries, including prominent figures like Robert Moffat, David Livingstone, John Mackenzie, and William Charles Willoughby, became the most recognizable faces of Christian outreach in Southern Africa, often at the forefront of pioneering missionary work throughout much of the 19th century.

However, this introduction of Christianity was marred by a fundamental flaw: the pervasive missionary colonial mentality. The LMS missionaries, like many of their counterparts, operated under the assumption that embracing Christianity necessitated a complete and utter abandonment of Africa’s rich and diverse indigenous cultures. They viewed African religions not as alternative expressions of spirituality, but as inherently evil, and dedicated themselves to their eradication. These Western missionaries firmly believed in the inherent inferiority of traditional African religious beliefs and practices, considering them, along with established customs, as obstacles that had to be swept away before the “light” of Christianity could be truly accepted. This deeply ingrained cultural bias, however, met with fierce resistance in many parts of the continent, where ancestral traditions held deep meaning and provided a strong sense of identity.

This exploration will also delve into the significant role missionaries played in the broader colonization process of Africa, a role that extended far beyond mere evangelization. Their influence was considerable in terms of the cultural and political domination of African peoples. Despite their stated aim of spreading the Christian gospel, Christianity was often, and perhaps unintentionally, transformed into an ideology that served to lay the groundwork for white dominance. Religion became a powerful tool used to legitimize, sustain, and even actively promote political oppression, as observed by Bourdillon (1960).

Regardless of any claims made by missionaries about their supposed anti-colonial stance or the sacrifices they endured, the evidence suggests their integral participation within the colonial structure. They often failed to distinguish between the universal tenets of Christianity and their own culturally specific European norms and practices. Furthermore, it is crucial to note that while Christianity was introduced to Africa in the early 1800s, its significant expansion in many regions only occurred in the latter part of the 19th century, coinciding precisely with the aggressive advancement of European colonialism. This article will illuminate the complex and often uncomfortable relationship that existed between the spread of Christianity and the imposition of colonial rule across numerous African societies.

Echoes of the Divine: Accounts and Beliefs of the Batswana

The traditional religious landscape of the Batswana people, predating the arrival of foreign missionaries, was fundamentally monotheistic. They held a deep-seated belief in a single, Supreme Being whom they revered as Modimo, a term literally signifying “the one who is supreme and above.” Modimo was understood as the ultimate Creator, the Maker, the Originator, and the very Source of all existence, including life itself (Chamberlin 1969; Schapera 1961). The word Modimo consistently denoted this singular Supreme Being. It is important to note that when the term modimo (with a lowercase ‘m’, the singular form of badimo) was used to refer to an ancestor, a spirit of the deceased, or a living person held in high honor, it carried a different connotation. The concept of the badimo acting as intermediaries between the living and Modimo was not a modern invention but a long-held belief. For centuries, these ancestral spirits were believed to fulfill this crucial intermediary role, as Modimo, a more senior and distant spiritual entity, was best approached through the badimo, who were generally perceived as being closer to the realm of human experience (Willoughby 1928; Pauw 1960; Moffat 1842).

From time immemorial, the Batswana possessed a profound knowledge and unwavering belief in Modimo as the Creator and sustainer of all forms of life. This belief manifested itself in a multitude of traditional Tswana religious practices, including elaborate rainmaking ceremonies, the art of bongaka (traditional medicine), and vital agricultural rites associated with seed cleansing, the first fruits (go lomangwaga), and the harvest. The intricate rainmaking rites, dependent on the specialized expertise of tribal dingakatsa pula (rain-makers), powerfully reveal a strong and enduring concept of the Supreme Being. At the onset of each rainy season, these rainmakers diligently worked to combat the persistent threat of drought that plagued Southern Africa. John Mackenzie, an agent of the London Missionary Society (LMS), vividly described their activities:

At this season the lingaka are frequently to be seen on the height of the mountains near to the town, lighting fires, blowing their horns, whistling and shouting. They have also numerous processions and a multitude of observances, which indeed take up their time (Mackenzie 1871).

Although the dingaka‘s rainmaking rituals appeared to focus primarily on the badimo, their ultimate supplications and appeals were directed towards Modimo, the sole giver of rain. The belief in Modimo as the ultimate recipient of all prayers and sacrifices performed during a traditional Tswana rainmaking ceremony is clearly evident in the early writings of David Livingstone, who frequently referenced “rain makers” and the practice of rainmaking. In a particularly insightful anthropological passage within Livingstone’s Private Journals (1851-1853), Livingstone recounted his deep impression of the “remarkable acute” reasoning of a rain doctor. This traditional healer informed Livingstone that the medicines he employed in rainmaking were, in essence, a form of prayer offered to Modimo. In fact, the rain doctor asserted that Modimo had bestowed upon traditional healers the knowledge of the specific medicines to be used in these vital ceremonies. Furthermore, the traditional healer maintained that Modimo was the ultimate power controlling rainfall and could be entreated, even “coerced,” to bring rain through the skillful application of these medicines. While Livingstone himself disagreed with this particular theological interpretation, he nonetheless understood the logical framework of the rain-maker’s reasoning. Most significantly, he came to the crucial realization that the traditional healer possessed a clear and well-defined concept of Modimo. W.C. Willoughby, another LMS missionary who worked among the Bangwato people, echoed this same observation, writing:

None but the Supreme Spirit can send rain; but their prayers for rain are addressed to the spirits of the ruling dynasty, who intercede for them at the court of One too great to be approached by mortals (Willoughby 1928).

As Willoughby astutely pointed out, the concept or knowledge of Modimo was distinctly differentiated from that of the badimo. The Batswana recognized Modimo as the Supreme Being: “One too great to be approached by mortals.” Despite the significant presence and elevated role of the ancestral cult within Batswana society, their beliefs and practices were not polytheistic. Furthermore, the apparent absence of a direct cult dedicated solely to the High God (Modimo) did not indicate a lack of understanding or belief in the Supreme Being. The badimo were understood as intermediaries and functionaries of Modimo, stepping into a perceived gap created by the perceived distance of the Supreme Being. The early missionaries’ failure to fully comprehend this intricate and nuanced relationship between the badimo and Modimo may have led them to the erroneous conclusion that the Batswana lacked a concept of God altogether.

The subsequent section will explore how these missionaries responded to the deeply ingrained beliefs, customs, and practices of the Batswana people.

The Lens of Prejudice: Accounts of Travellers and Missionaries in Botswana

The accounts left by early European travelers and missionaries in Botswana, while often unreliable due to inherent biases, offer a valuable, albeit skewed, window into the study of Tswana traditional religious beliefs and practices. These sources generally reveal the significant cultural biases of the European observers. Their interpretations were sometimes based on inaccurate information and often colored by deeply ingrained cultural prejudice. They tended to portray Tswana religion as a confusing jumble of bizarre beliefs and practices held by a people generally considered “savages” and “primitive” – the antithesis of the missionaries who saw themselves as representatives of European civilization. It is therefore unsurprising that John Campbell, a pioneer of Tswana missions, articulated the “great end” of the London Missionary Society as “the conversion of the heathen and the promotion of their civilization” (John Campbell 1815). Consequently, missionaries arrived in Africa with preconceived notions, expecting to encounter pagans and heathens utterly ignorant of the concept of God. These expectations profoundly influenced their attitudes towards the African way of life, African mentality, and the very nature of the missionary work they believed was necessary. Robert Moffat (1842), who bizarrely claimed that the Batswana “never had the slightest idea of idols, or of idol service, could have no notion whatever of the object of missionaries, beyond that of secular interests,” interpreted this as a complete absence of religious structures and any concept of a Supreme Being. Describing what he perceived as a “hotchpotch of ridiculous and harmful superstitions,” he wrote:

Satan is obviously the author of the polytheism of other nations. He has employed his agency with fatal success, in erasing every vestige of religious impression from the Bechuanas …. Leaving them without a single ray to guide them from the dark and dread futurity, or a single link to unite them with the skies…. Their religious system, like those streams in the wilderness which lose themselves in the sand, had entirely disappeared … (Moffat 1842).

Whatever the intended meaning behind these dramatic pronouncements, it is clear that there was a significant unwillingness on the part of some missionaries to engage in an honest and open-minded exploration of Tswana beliefs and practices. They failed to approach these deeply held traditions with the intellectual humility and cultural sensitivity they deserved.

Another significant impediment to understanding was the missionaries’ ingrained perspective that religion was inherently tied to physical structures like church buildings and formal, codified religious beliefs and practices. The absence of such structures among the Batswana was, in their eyes, irrefutable evidence of the Tswana’s “heathen” existence, their supposed lack of a concept of Modimo, and the total absence of any meaningful religious beliefs or practices. Influenced by this narrow understanding, Moffat further painted a bleak picture of the Batswana:

For example, just after Livingstone’s arrival among Batswana in 1842, when he was still unfamiliar with the Tswana beliefs and while still heavily influenced by what he heard from those he found in Africa, Livingstone wrote thus:

I could not ascertain that they had the least idea of a future state. And though they have some notions which seem to us to be connected with a belief in its existence, I have not met one who could put the necessary links together in the chain of reasoning so as to become possessed of the definite idea. Indeed, they all confess that they never think of anything connected with death, and do not wish the introduction of that subject. Their conceptions of Deity are of the most vague and contradictory nature, and his name conveys no more to their understanding than the idea of superiority. Hence they do not hesitate to apply the name of God to their chiefs, and I was every day shocked by being addressed by that title, and although it often furnished me with a text from which to tell them of the only true God and Jesus Christ whom He has sent, yet it deeply pained me, and I never felt so fully convinced of the lamentable deterioration of my species before. It is indeed a mournful truth that ‘man has become like the beasts that perish’ (Schapera 1961).

However, only a few years later, David Livingstone’s views underwent a dramatic transformation. He discovered that the Batswana were clearly and emphatically asserting “that of old, before they ever heard of white men, they were in the daily habit of speaking of God and referring certain events to his will. All those who possess intelligence speak in the same strain” (Schapera 1960). This profound realization only dawned upon him after spending significant time living amongst the people and immersing himself in their beliefs and practices. By 1856, Livingstone had reached a definitive conclusion: the Batswana possessed a clear and well-articulated belief in a Supreme Being. This conclusion was poignantly captured in his writing:

There is no necessity for beginning to tell even the most degraded of all these people of the existence of a God, or of the future state, the facts being universally admitted. Everything that cannot be accounted for by common causes is ascribed to the Deity, as creation, sudden death etc …. On questioning intelligent men among the Bakwains as to their former knowledge of good and evil, of God, and the future state, they have scouted the idea of any of them ever having been without a tolerably clear conception on all these subjects. Respecting their sense of right and wrong, they profess that nothing we indicate as sin ever appeared to them otherwise, except the statement that it was wrong to take more wives than one, and they declare that they spoke in the same way of the direct influence exercised by God in giving rain in answer to prayers of the rain-makers, and in granting deliverance in times of danger, as they do now, before they ever heard of white men. The want, however, of any form of public worship, or of idols, or of formal prayers or sacrifice, make .Bechuanas appear as among the most godless mortals known anywhere … that some have supposed them entirely ignorant on the subject (Livingstone 1857).

Even Moffat himself eventually amended or retracted many of his earlier, more prejudiced statements as he spent more time among the Batswana people and gained a deeper and more intimate understanding of their cultural beliefs and practices. The image of Modimo that ultimately emerged from Livingstone’s later writings was subsequently reproduced and affirmed by modern African scholars of Tswana traditional religions, such as Setiloane (1976). According to Setiloane, the Batswana believe in a Supreme Being called Modimo, who is understood as the creator of all things, the One who penetrates and permeates all existence, and the ultimate Source of all life (Setiloane 1976). When Moffat began the arduous task of translating the Bible into Setswana in 1828, he found no other indigenous name that adequately equated to the concept of the God of the Bible. He therefore had no choice but to adopt and utilize the existing Tswana name, Modimo, to designate God or the Supreme Being. Regarding this crucial decision, Mackenzie noted that the impetus to use this word came directly from the Tswana interpreters themselves, writing:

Morimo (God) has not been mentioned in the preceding description of native worship and superstition. When missionaries first met with Bechuanas they addressed them through the Dutch language. They found Bechuanas who could already speak both languages, and who therefore acted as interpreters. At Griqua Town there were (and are still) regular services in both languages. The invariable equivalent for God in Dutch, given by all the interpreters, was Morimo. It was no suggestion of the missionaries: the Bechuana interpreters, after hearing concerning God in the Dutch language, said that their name for Him was Morimo. …. But the Bechaunas would seem never to have entirely forgotten God. His name was found by the missionaries still floating in their language (Mackenzie 1871).

This practice extended to their teaching and preaching. From the very beginning of their missionary endeavors, their Batswana interpreters consistently used the name Modimo for the Supreme Being, because, for them, Modimo was the Supreme Being (Pauw 1960). In this way, missionaries were constantly confronted by the deeply religious nature of the Tswana way of life, which Willoughby eloquently described:

Bantu life is basically religious … Religion so pervades the life of the people that it regulates their doing and governs their leisure to an extent that it is hard for Europeans to imagine (Willoughby 1928).

At the very heart of their beliefs and practices, as Willoughby correctly observed, lay the interconnected concepts of badimo and Modimo. Everything within their worldview revolved around Modimo. Their spiritual entities were integral to their understanding of existence, and they could not conceive of life without them. Every aspect of their society – be it politics, economics, or social interactions – was deeply intertwined with their religious beliefs and practices, highlighting the pervasive and foundational role of spirituality in traditional Tswana life.