The spiritual in the secular
Subtitle: missionaries and knowledge about Africa
By: edited by Patrick Harries & David Maxwell
Series: Studies in the history of Christian missions
Publisher: W.B. Eerdmans Pub. Co.
Published: 2012
Place of publication: Grand Rapids, Mich
Language: eng
Number of pages: 341
ISBN-13: 9780802866349
Subjects: Missions
Description: "David Livingstone's visit to Cambridge in 1857 was seen as much as a scientific event as a religious one. But he was by no means alone among missionaries in integrating mission with science and other fields of research. Rather, many missionaries were remarkable, pioneering polymaths. This collection of essays explores the ways in which late-nineteenth- and twentieth-century missionaries to Africa contributed to various academic disciplines, such as linguistics, ethnography, social anthropology, zoology, medicine, and many more. This volume includes an introductory chapter by the editors and eleven chapters that analyze missionary research and its impact on knowledge about African contexts. Several themes emerge, including many missionaries' positive views of indigenous discourses and the complicated relationship between missionaries and professional anthropologists." -- Publisher's description.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.