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Review of Jack Whytock (ed.), A Survey of Presbyterian Mission History in Africa – Historic Beginnings (c.1790s to c.1930s) Volume One, Wellington, South Africa: Barnabas Academic Publishers, 2023. Reading this […]
Review of Jack Whytock (ed.), A Survey of Presbyterian Mission History in Africa – Historic Beginnings (c.1790s to c.1930s) Volume One, Wellington, South Africa: Barnabas Academic Publishers, 2023.
Reading this massive work made me aware of just how much I do not know about the coming of the Presbyterian faith to Africa. With a team of 26 writers, Jack Whytock has more than ably put together a massive work of 782 pages to cover the work of Presbyterian missionaries and African evangelists and churches, for the late eighteenth century to the 1930s. There are more than 150 historical pictures, illustrations and maps, which greatly enhance the book. In addition, each chapter has a select biography attached to it, and a set of questions to aid the reader in digesting what has been written.
There is not one overarching theme to the work, but it does underscore the historical fact that ‘the church grew primarily because of the work of new Christians.’ There is a fascinating summary of the work of African American missionaries in the Congo, and the attempt there to implement the three-self formula (self-government, self-support, and self-propagation). It is highly selective to pick out other chapters, such is the book’s expansive concerns. It is good to read Todd Statham’s short but capable response to the predictable criticism that Mary Slessor’s labours in Nigeria were too ‘colonial’.
I knew nothing of Dr Robert Kerr’s remarkable work in Morocco until reading of it here. Australian Presbyterians will be interested, and alarmed, that Samuel Angus gets a mention for going to Algiers in 1911-1912 as a United Free Church of Scotland chaplain. No real details are given, and one can only hope that nobody listened to the heretic. Australian contributions to volume 2 look to be much more promising. Perfectionism, hagiography, and other historiographical issues are dealt with in a very helpful Introduction by Dr Whytock.
The book will be an invaluable resource for students, church leaders and researchers. In Africa itself, it ought to become a textbook and an important reference work in theological colleges and seminaries. Volume Two is expected to be released in early 2025 and covers the period the 1940s through the 2020s.
This new book is available for purchase in Australia at:
– Peter Barnes
