A Malawi Church History
While the quest for writing about Malawi’s past is greatly desirable, rarely do we get comprehensive accounts that are solidly anchored in their broader historical contexts. With the exception of McCracken’s History of Malawi, magnum corpus historical accounts are rare. Much of the historical writing tends to focus on case studies or thematically oriented works with clear delimitations in terms of time and space.
Ken Ross and Klaus Fiedler, authors of A Malawi Church History, have departed from that rather familiar tradition to provide a one-stop account for understanding Malawi’s church history as a whole. While a common challenge with such ambitious undertakings lies in the level of generalization, Ross and Fiedler have meticulously woven together a detailed treatment with discernment of broader trends, to account for the Church’s enterprise in Malawi. This has turned out to be a masterly crafted narrative of the church’s history in Malawi highlighting, in an analytical manner, both past and present developments.
What makes this book unique is the effort by the authors to relate the whole story of the entire presence of Christianity in Malawi. As far as I can tell, there has not been any publication on Malawi’s church history using this approach and developed with such degree of breadth. The book strikes a balance in covering issues pertaining to both mission activities and African agency. In many instances interesting pieces of evidence have been marshalled to corroborate or emphasize some of the conclusions reached.
The significance of this book cannot be over-emphasised. Apart from its didactic value as an essential companion for teachers and students, the book fills in critical gaps in historical scholarship on Malawi. As the authors themselves have clearly pointed out, it is an indisputable fact that the church history of Malawi is closely related to the history of the nation. Thus, by addressing some of the issues often not covered in mainstream historical scholarship such as African initiative, the role of women, Christianity as spirituality, use of statistics, the book takes us to a new level of understanding the origins and impact of the church in Malawi.
The book is written in a language that is highly accessible and this makes it suitable for use by groups of people with different interests. Another distinctive aspect of this book is the inclusion of captions, testimonies, pictures, and portraits drawn from original sources. This makes the reading captivating and refreshingly informative.
The book has conveniently been divided into four chronologically determined sections. This periodization has moved away from colonially influenced scholarship which tended to demarcate African history based on European colonial presence featuring the pre-colonial, colonial and post- colonial periods. The first section entitled Founding Charisms presents a panoramic view of mission enterprise from 1860 to the early years of colonialism in 1910. This chapter provides a lens into understanding the nineteenth century world which had to deal with a range of issues including the establishment of the early church, missionary ideas about racial prejudice, African agency, missionary dilemma on fighting against slave traders, and the desire to cooperate with Africans in co-building a new and just society.
The second section spans probably the most eventful period in the transformation of missionary church resulting into establishment and consolidation of churches in Malawi between 1910 and 1960. The evolving and at times uneasy relations between missionaries and Africans as well as with the state are well articulated. At the same time, the quest for identity of the Church in the wake of African nationalism is addressed. The third section focuses on the growth and expansion of churches between 1960 to 1990 and was marked by the tendency towards Africanization and independency. The final section covers the contemporary phase (1990-2020) where the Church has not only come of age but has also become a formidable force in Malawian society. Particularly prominent themes are the rise of Pentecostalism, the church’s catalytic role in promoting good governance, and the role of women in church.
A Malawi Church History reaffirms the old belief that history can be written from different angles which cut across the entire spectrum of human experience. The focus of this book is about documenting the religious experience which was at the centre of founding the new nation of Malawi as we have come to know it. Ross and Fiedler are certainly not professional historians in the narrow sense, but they are well qualified scholars of church history with immense experience on Malawi’s academic landscape. What they have done is to open the academic window into the vast and varied ranges of Malawi’s church history.
Wapulumuka O. Mulwafu, Professor of Environmental History and Dean of Postgraduate Studies, Chancellor College, University of Malawi.