Missionary Imperialism and Colonial Warfare: London Missionary Society Attitudes to the South African War, 1899–1902

Abstract

During the nineteenth century, southern Africa was one of the most active \nmissionary fields in the world, and the London Missionary Society (LMS) had \ncome to assume a leading role in the shaping of religious attitudes among \neducated blacks and white settlers in the region. The formative influence of \nearly LMS missionaries in South Africa provided a firm ideological base from \nwhich later Congregational ministers were to address religious and political \nissues. LMS missionaries had arrived in South Africa with a well-articulated \nprogramme which had its roots in the Evangelical tradition. Richard Elphick \nexaggerates when he observes that in this respect there exists a structural \nparallel between missionaries and revolutionaries, especially in the context of \nthe late nineteenth century. His hypothesis suggests that missionaries affected \nsouthern African society so profoundly that it would be nai’ve to confine their \ninfluence merely to the religious sphere. Like their Nonconformist (Free \nChurch) counterparts in Britain,’ Evangelical missionaries in South Africa \nconstituted a self-conscious 6lite, autonomous socially and economically andcommitted to changing the order of things. Such an argument is generally acceptable, \nthough it requires some qualification. But it is too sweeping a \ngeneralization to state, as Elphick does, that ‘they aspired to comprehensive \nupheavals that would affect all groups, all regions, and all aspects of life in \nSouth Africa’. Missionary impact was essentially confined to mission stations \nwhich were often severely isolated and extremely insular.

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