Building God?s Kingdom: Norwegian Missionaries in Highland Madagascar 1866 - 1903

by Karina Hestad Skeie

Overview

Building God’s Kingdom studies how the encounter with nineteenth century Madagascar influenced the Norwegian Protestant mission. Drawing upon rich Norwegian and Malagasy sources, entangled and multivocal stories are allowed to unfold, revealing the complex dynamics of mission encounters. Tracing Malagasy agency and pursuit of churchly independence in pre-colonial and colonial Madagascar, this study explores the power-struggles between the Malagasy, the missionaries and between the mission in Norway and Madagascar. Through careful attention to context and agency, Karina Hestad Skeie provides new perspectives on the interplay between the local and the global in Christian missions, and on the centrality and restrictions of local agency on mission policy.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9789004240827
Publisher:	Brill Academic Publishers, Inc.
Publication date:	12/15/2012
Series:	Studies in Christian Mission , #42
Pages:	320
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.30(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Karina Hestad Skeie, Dr. Art. (1966) in History of Religions, University of Oslo, is Associate Professor in Intercultural Studies at NLA University College, Bergen. She has published on Norwegian mission, gender and Malagasy Christianity, including (with Nielsen and Okkenhaug) Protestant Missions and Local Encounters in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries. Unto the Ends of the World (Brill 2011).

Table of Contents

Table of Contents
Acknowledgements
List of Illustrations
List of Abbreviations

1. Introduction
- Buildings, Bodies and Missionary Work
- History and Theoretical Presuppositions
- 'Mission’ and ‘Missionaries’
- Previous Research on Christianity and Mission in 19th Century Madagascar
- Sources
- Sources to the Malagasy side
- Chapter Outline

2. Nineteenth Century Norway and the Mission
- Introduction
- Transformation and Modernization
- Haugianism
- Nationalism and Quest for Independence
- The Lutheran State Church of Norway
- The Protestant Mission Movement in Norway and the NMS
- Internal and External Mission Associations
- Why the NMS Chose Madagascar
- Women and Mission
- The Social Background of the Missionary Personnel
- Female Missionaries and their Educational Background
- Male Missionaries and their Educational Background
- NMS-LMS Contact
- Schreuder’s Contacts

3. Nineteenth-Century Madagascar and the Norwegian Mission
- Introduction
- Language
- The Kingdom of Madagascar
- Social Categories
- Political Structures
- The Custom of the Ancestors
- Hasina
- Macrocosm and Microcosm – The Universe and the House
- Hierarchy
- Leadership
- Religious Specialists
- Rituals of Blessing
- Christianity and Christian Missions
- European Christian Missions in Madagascar
- NMS’s Arrival in Madagascar
- Overview of the Norwegian Mission in Madagascar
- Missionary Personnel
- Stability

4. The Mission Station: Building a Home
- Introduction
- “To Bring the Light of Bliss to Those Who Sit in Darkness”
- Building the Mission Station
- The House Interior
- Bodies and Boundaries
- Relationships Between Houses
- Outsiders Inside and Outside
- Inside and Out
- Outside the Mission Station

5. The Church Building: Mission as Practice
- Introduction
- The Politics of Place
- Negotiating Place
- Building and Maintaining Relations
- Hasina – Non-Negotiable Customs
- ‘The Worship’ and Fanompoana Churches
- A Challenging Relationship
- Building Churches
- The Church Building
- The Spatial Logics of Station Districts
- The Church Interior
- Entangled Objects
- “Norwegian” or “Malagasy” church?
- Bodies and Boundaries: Requirements for Baptism
- Baptism and the Christian Life after Baptism
- Negotiating Membership
- Active Reinterpretation
- Teaching and Preaching – In Theory and in Practice
- Malagasy Pastors
- Churches and Schools
- Conclusions

6. Crossroads and a Malagasy Challenge
- Introduction
- Organisational Development
- Women’s Associations
- Workers’ Meetings
- Annual Meetings
- Organizations in Other Protestant Churches in the Highlands
- Developing Consciousness of a Malagasy Lutheran Church
- Formal and Informal Power and Influence
- A New Colonial Context
- Anti-Foreign and Anti-Christian Revolt
- Malagasy Lutherans: Under Double Suspicion
- The Norwegian Missionaries and the French Colonial Government
- Christian Revivals: the Fifohazana
- The Malagasy Synod Initiative
- Ambato – The Quest for Unity and Independence
- What Did the Malagasy Lutherans Want?
- The Synod Constitution, Ambato November 23, 1901
- 'God’s own work'
- Conclusion

7. From Mission to Church
- Introduction
- A Letter from NMS Norway
- Four Related Topics
- The 1901 Ambato Synod as an Extension of the Norwegian Missionary Work
- A Longing Among Our Christians
- Self-Government Requires Self-Sufficiency
- Organization from the Ground Up
- Other Opinions
- The Open Discussion
- An Old Discussion
- The MC Resolutions
- The Missionary Response to the Malagasy Lutherans
- ‘Fahaleovantena’
- The Vig’s Organizational Proposal: Influence for Money
- Was There Anything Left?
- The First Ordinary Synod
- Constitution for the Malagasy Lutheran Church
- The Implications of the Main Differences
- Removing the Station District
- Isantaona and Synod Rather than ‘Provincial Synod’ and ‘General Synod’
- The Synod Committee
- Unity Gives Strength
- Conclusions
- Missionary Approval
- Awaiting the Response from NMS Main Board

8. Seized by the Mission
- Introduction
- Malagasy Expectations
- A Foretaste of the Eternal Community of Christians
- The Meeting and Dahle’s Address
- From ‘Havana’ to ‘Tompokolahy’
- People’s Reactions
- Isantaona Missions
- Negotiate or Impose?
- Money Problems and the Mission’s Self-Image
- Dahle’s Use of Power
- The Work for Self-sufficiency Already Taking Place in the Congregations
- Dahle’s Representation of the Synod and the Malagasy Lutheran Church in Madagascar
- Conclusions

9. Conclusions
- The Synod-Case in a Comparative Perspective
- Comparing the Norwegian Missionaries and the British LMS Missionaries in Nineteenth-Century Madagascar
- Patriarchy vs Universalism in the Nineteenth-Century Missionary Enterprise

Bibliography
Appendix
Index