This dissertation examines the early history of the East African Revival in the 1930s and 1940s with careful attention to the way in which Christian beliefs and practices were appropriated and shaped by African revivalists in colonial Uganda and Ruanda-Urundi. With the sympathetic support of the evangelical-minded missionaries of the Ruanda Mission, the African revivalists (widely known as Balokole, Luganda for “saved ones”) played an indispensable role in the expansion of the revitalization movement beyond geographic, social, and cultural boundaries. In addition, the African revivalists made significant contributions to the creation of a distinctive African Christian spirituality that precipitated moral and spiritual transformation of numerous individuals. This study shows how the Balokole Revival gained adherents and spread into nearby regions through the involvement of African evangelists, teachers, and hospital workers. The “Bible Team” of itinerant evangelists who served voluntarily in remote villages was key to the rapid expansion of the movement. To sustain the effects of their conversion experiences, the African revivalists employed creative practices such as public testimony and fellowship meetings. In schools, Balokole teachers spread new moral values by living out the virtues of the revivalist piety; in hospitals, converted workers led daily prayer meetings and engaged in personal evangelism. All these efforts built up a strong indigenous Christian community based on common experience, belief, and liturgy. This dissertation contributes to the existing scholarship of the Revival by tracing its social and theological roots in the Ruanda Mission, and by foregrounding the pivotal role of the African revivalists in the shaping of the unique spiritual character of the movement. Particular attention is given to the causes, nature, and effects of religious conversion in the colonial context. An important feature of this study is its integration of social scientific studies about religious conversion with insider perspectives in the form of interviews and personal narratives. As active agents in the multiethnic and multicultural movement, the African revivalists articulated through their words and changed lives what it meant to be “saved.”

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