This study examines the impact of the London Missionary Society on the Bangwato of Botswana from 1857 to 1923. The latter possessed a common language, culture and religion with other Tswana ethnic groups and were ruled by a democratic government headed by a King. This societal structure played a vital role in the development of the Ngwato Church. Failure by the missionaries to recognise the importance of these cultural processes, meant that they did not see the need to contextualize Christianity, which resulted in a series of conflicts. Although the reaction of the missionaries was varied it was generally influenced by a superiority complex. The study shows that the L.M.S. adopted two major proselytizing traditions. These are represented by two great pioneer missionaries among the Tswana - Robert Moffat and David Livingstone. The former was culturally conservative, apolitical and evangelical. His methods and approaches largely attempted to impose a western type Christianity on the Ngwato. He rejected the pre-colonial and pre-christian Ngwato customs and traditions without any proper assessment. Although the Livingstonian tradition also demanded that the Tswana society altered in order to accept the missionary message, the task was to be achieved through both formal and information processes of education, acculturation and political involvement. Through these avenues were indigenous leaders also to be.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:660027 |
| Date | January 1994 |
| Creators | Nkomazana, Fidelis W. N. |
| Publisher | University of Edinburgh |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Source | http://hdl.handle.net/1842/30585 |
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