Slave Emancipation, Christian Communities, and Dissent in Western Tanzania, 1878-1960

Download or read book Slave Emancipation, Christian Communities, and Dissent in Western Tanzania, 1878-1960 written by Salvatory S. Nyanto and published by . This book was released on 2019 with total page 236 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Furthermore, lay women and wives of the Nyamwezi teachers and catechists taught children in Sunday schools, while others accompanied teachers in villages and launched home-visit campaigns to attract more Nyamwezi women to join Christianity. The dissertation further argues that the growth of African Christianity in villages was not entirely the product of European missionary initiatives, but rather in significant measure the result of African cultural and intellectual creativity. The growth of Christianity in the twenty-century western Tanzania gave rise to the revival movement which spread in missions and villages, attracting Christians and pastors into revivalism. Nevertheless, divergent interpretations on the teachings of salvation, sin, and public confession of sins split Christians in the established mission churches into born-again pastors and Christians who supported revivalism and Christians who opposed the movement. This dissertation shows for the first time that lay Christians dissented from the revival movement, preventing born-again pastors and evangelists from holding services in churches. With growing tensions, some Christians seceded from the mainstream churches to form their own churches and installed their own pastors who worked independently from the control of the established churches.