Characterizing the Religious Encounter between Moravians and Saramakas
When Moravians in Germany sent three missionaries to Suriname in 1765 to witness to the Saramakas, two groups with unique and fundamentally different cultural, social, and religious beliefs and structures met. During the course of their stay, the Moravians were hounded by disease and disappointed by the poor reception of the gospel; meanwhile, the Saramakas were plagued with inter-tribal rivalries and poor relations with the white government officials and plantation owners, with whom they maintained an unsteady peace. These circumstances, as well as the many ways in which Moravian and Saramaka expectations and social behavior differed, created a barrier between the two groups. Because the Moravians entered Saramaka society in small numbers and with no pretense of using political force or monetary bribery (the latter of which the Saramakas would likely have accepted) to force conversions, the extent of their influence on Saramaka religion and culture was limited. Though there was some cultural exchange, including the adoption of European manufactured goods into Saramaka life and the adoption of some Saramaka medical treatments by the Moravians, for the Moravians and for the majority of Saramakas, the religious encounter was a meeting of mutually closed worlds. For a handful of Saramakas, including Alabi, an apparently true conversion took place. In addition to the few converts, there were a small number (Brother Wietz reports twelve in 1779) of Saramakas who came to Christian services regularly, and thus were interested in and perhaps persuaded to some degree by the missionaries’ message, but made no commitment to or identification with Christianity and c...
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...vian presence certainly changed the lives of a few Saramakas, but did not make a great impact on Saramaka society as a whole. The missionaries who died or returned to Germany did not manage to build relationships with the Saramaka community as a whole and could not count Suriname as one of their fruitful mission endeavors. Conversion was rare, and the syncretism formed after the Moravians introduced Christianity was admonished by the Moravians themselves and short-lived in any case. The current presence of Christianity, or some syncretic form, among a minority of Saramakas is probably not derived from the Moravians. Though Christian stories and the Moravian presence will never be forgotten because of their importance in the life of the gaama Alabi, the importance of the encounter with Moravians is restricted to a specific place and time in Saramaka history.
One theory is that Tekakwitha’s uncle opposed Christianity, and that she learned the ways and teachings of the Catholic Church in secret. Other clan members scorned her, but her uncle finally came to realize her passion for Christ and gave her his blessing to be baptized, as long as she stayed in the clan’s village. After a while, th...
Tobler, Douglas F., and Nelson B. Wadsworth. The History of the Mormons. New York, New York: St. Martin's Press, 1989. Print.
To Europeans, African cultures and religions were degraded and in need of transformation. Several Catholics and Protestants traversed all across Africa, seeking to convert natives to Christianity and enlighten them with the Westerners' way of life.
Slaveholders would enter the slave market with grand fantasies about the prestige and power they would gain after purchasing their ideal slave, but instead leaving disappointed with their slave purchase. Slave buyers were judged by both other white men and by slaves, on how the buyer judged slaves. Using this approach in the report to the Viceroy, Johnson could interpret the fantasies of both the Viceroy, as well as the friar Hidalgo. When describing the Assinai to the Viceroy, Hidalgo ruthlessly claims they are perverted, drunk and idolatrous. Part of his wishes are to convert the Assinai from their “idolatrous” fire-worshiping religion, to Catholicism (Hidalgo, 3). This wish is not unique to Friar Hidalgo, hundreds of missionaries from Spain attempted to convert the Native American populations to Catholicism to save their souls, as well as make them into tax paying subjects of the Crown. However, analyzing this report from the lens of a social historian would beg the question of Hidalgo’s fantasy of the Native Americans. His unflattering remarks of the Assinai’s customs could be to inflate his achievement when he does convert them. If his report is examined as a lie, then there is the possibility that the Assinai religion was exaggerated to exemplify the success of converting them. Another way to look at a fantasy is to consider what the Viceroy thought of the region. He could have had an
...was born (England) and where it encountered limitations. Elsewhere, in other industrialized societies, it is maintaining or extending it empire” p.103, 1974)
Although Christian missionaries were welcomed in the 1540s by the Japanese rulers, Christianity was banned after the unification of Japan under a single shogun. The missionaries were welcomed primarily because they came with traders who brought weapons for the Japanese. During the Shimabara Rebellion, a large number of Christians rose up in a revolt that was violently put down. Silence is set in the aftermath of this rebellion - an atmosphere of vengeful
For the past 5 months I have been studying the religious history of each country we have become apart of. My project consists of tracing the religious developments in each of the four countries and the role religion plays in the social, political, and moral elements in each destination. I explored the history of the nation and what major figures or events shaped the religious scope of each respective country. I learned about each religion while I was in each country and made connections of how their culture is shaped by this religious aspect. Observations I had about these societies will be correlated to their religious development and will be compared to our society in America.
Waggoner, Hyatt H. "A Writer of Poems: The Life and Work of Robert Frost," The Times Literary Supplement. April 16, 1971, 433-34.
Van Egmond, Peter. The Critical Reception of Robert Frost. Boston: G.K. Hall and Co., 1974.
In the colonization era, egocentrism was strongly enforced, as the norm was Christianity. If an individual was not Christian, then they were seen as animals and ruthless treatment was acceptable. Statistics show that “The population of the Belgian Congo fell by fifty percent and that of the Herero’s by eighty percent as a result of the oppressive and inhuman t...
Religious beliefs are at the core of what makes up a person. Even when an individual travels from one world to another, such as from traditional life to colonial life, his religion rarely leaves him entirely. Religious beliefs help keep the colonized from fully emulating the colonizer. In Death and the King's Horseman, the appearance of the white Mr. and Mrs. Pilkings in ceremonial death masks elicits a fear in both the Muslim Amusa and the Christian Joseph, proving ...
The first Catholic priests came to South America with the conquistadors and through social and political force superimposed 16th century Catholicism upon conquered peoples and in subsequent generations upon slaves arriving in the New World. Catholicism has, likewise, frequently absorbed, rather than confronted, popular folk religious beliefs. The resulting religion is often overtly Catholic but covertly pagan. Behind the Catholic facade, the foundations and building structure reflect varying folk religious traditions. (2)
On the 13th of June, Ver der Kemp and Edmond crossed the Gamka river, which though it was very broad was also very dry. They sought refuge from the cold winter air at Samuel de Beer’s house, who had just buried his child that same day, yet rejoiced that God was answering his prayers to bring the gospel to indigenous people in South Africa. Van der Kemp and Samuel spoke for hours. Van der Kemp enthusiastically sharing with him the copy of Carey’s “the Obligations of Christians to use Means for the Conversion of the Heathens”, the very document that helped inspire the start of the London Missionary Society. Van der Kemp shared his desire to bring the gospel to the Xhosa people dwelling on the eastern border of the Cape colony, a people totally unreached by the gospel. Sadly everyone was as enthusiastic as de Beer. Many discouraged Van der Kemp and Edmond from continuing on their mission. There was great hostility between the Xhosa and the colonial authorities and trekboers (Dutch/Afrikaans Farmers), and the unpredictable condition of the border area made it a dangerous place to be. Eventually Edmond returned to Cape Town from where he set out to India. But van Der Kemp was determined to preach the gospel to the Xhosa. Towards the end of 1799 he made contact with a Xhosa chief by the name of Ngqika, who allowed him to tentatively work among his people.
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Robert Frost, a poet that mastered the imagery of nature through his words. Such vivid details compressed in a few stanzas explains the brilliancy of his writing. He was born on March 26, 1874, in San Francisco. By the 1920s, he was the most celebrated poet in America; with his fame and honor increasing as well. His poems created themes like nature, communication, everyday life, isolation of the individual, duty, rationality versus imagination, and rural life versus urban life. The most controversial theme of this poems is nature and if his poems have a dark side in them. Readers can easily be guided to the fact that his poems are centered on nature; however, it is not. Frost himself says, "I am not a nature poet. There is almost a person in