Jan De Maeyer

Bram Cleys

Allen M. Howard

Bruno De Meulder

Situated at the crossroads of missionary history, imperial history, and colonial architecture, the contributions in this volume investigate the architectural staging and spatial implications of the worldwide expansion of Christianity in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. By looking at specific architectural fragments, analysing the insertion of Christian edifices in colonial urban settings, or unravelling the social understanding of missionary places, each of the chapters contemplates an aspect of the agency of mission spaces. Bringing together scholars from different disciplines, this book approaches missionary places not as the mere décor against which the missionary encounter was enacted, but as an integral part of it. In doing so, the contributors test the applicability of the spatial turn, an interpretative paradigm that has been dominant across the humanities since the late 1990s, to missionary historiography. Richly illustrated and with a global focus, the volume addresses case studies from, among other countries, China, Japan, Madagascar, Congo, Tanzania, Ghana, and Lebanon.

Imagining, Building, Contesting Christianities

Missionary Places, 1850-1950

Vincent Viaene

Religion in today’s Democratic Republic of Congo has many faces: from the overflowing seminaries and Marian shrines of the Catholic Church to the Islamic brotherhoods, from the healers of Kimban-guism to the televangelism of the booming Pentecostalist churches in the great cities, from the Orthodox communities of Kasai to the ‘invisible’ Mai Mai warriors in the brousse of Kivu. During the colonial period religion was no less central to people’s lives than it is today. More surprisingly, behind the seemingly smooth facade of missions linked closely to imperial power, faith and worship were already marked by diversity and dynamism, tying the Congo into broader African and global movements. The contributions in this book provide insight into the multifaceted history of the interaction between religion and colonization. The authors outline the institutional political framework, and focus on the challenge that old and new forms of slavery entailed for the missions. The atrocities committed at the time of the Congo Free State became an existential question for young Christian communities. In the Belgian Congo after 1908, more structural forms of colonial violence remained a key issue marking religious experiences. And yet, religion also acted as a bridge. The authors emphasize the role intermediaries such as catechists or medical assistants played in the African “appropriation” of Christianity. They examine the complex interaction with indigenous religious beliefs and practices, and zoom in on the part religions played in the independence movement, as well as on their reaction to independence itself. Coming at a moment when Belgium confronts its colonial past, this volume provides a timely reassessment of religion as a key factor.

Bram Cleys

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