Lost to Presence: The Entanglements of Writing, Protestant Christianity, and Empire in the 19th-Century Southern Africa
This essay takes interest in a dialectical relationship between writing as affir-mation and writing as a system of codification. It explores this dialectic as it relates to the interaction between Sotho-speaking communities and Protestant Christian missionaries in the 19th-century Southern Africa....
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Association for the Study of Religion in Southern Africa
2021-06-01
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| Series: | Journal for the Study of Religion |
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| Online Access: | https://journals.uj.ac.za/index.php/ReligionStudy/article/view/518 |
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| author | Sepetla Molapo |
| author_facet | Sepetla Molapo |
| author_sort | Sepetla Molapo |
| collection | DOAJ |
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This essay takes interest in a dialectical relationship between writing as affir-mation and writing as a system of codification. It explores this dialectic as it relates to the interaction between Sotho-speaking communities and Protestant Christian missionaries in the 19th-century Southern Africa. It shows that this dialectical relationship dissolves truth as a construct of writing as affirmation because it is informed by an ontology of force that conceives of truth (Christian truth in this case) as an outcome of victory over an adversary. This ontology of force, in which Christianity participates, is a consequence of a modern metaphysics that splits individual and divine will. Cut off from participation in divine will, the autonomous will of Protestant Christian missionaries became the basis for organizing the world of the 19th-century Sotho speakers. This opened doors for Christianity to participate in the broader imperial project of the racial subordination of colonized people that Sotho speakers resemble. The consequence of this was not only the delegitimization of personhood as a construct of indigenous African religion, but also the introduction of conceptions of personhood that partook of race and racism.
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| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-c43d407d53ca4fd3b838816f7e08c6f1 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 1011-7601 2413-3027 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2021-06-01 |
| publisher | Association for the Study of Religion in Southern Africa |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Journal for the Study of Religion |
| spelling | doaj-art-c43d407d53ca4fd3b838816f7e08c6f12025-01-29T09:01:21ZengAssociation for the Study of Religion in Southern AfricaJournal for the Study of Religion1011-76012413-30272021-06-01341Lost to Presence: The Entanglements of Writing, Protestant Christianity, and Empire in the 19th-Century Southern AfricaSepetla Molapo0Academic Department, Faculty of Humanities, University of Pretoria This essay takes interest in a dialectical relationship between writing as affir-mation and writing as a system of codification. It explores this dialectic as it relates to the interaction between Sotho-speaking communities and Protestant Christian missionaries in the 19th-century Southern Africa. It shows that this dialectical relationship dissolves truth as a construct of writing as affirmation because it is informed by an ontology of force that conceives of truth (Christian truth in this case) as an outcome of victory over an adversary. This ontology of force, in which Christianity participates, is a consequence of a modern metaphysics that splits individual and divine will. Cut off from participation in divine will, the autonomous will of Protestant Christian missionaries became the basis for organizing the world of the 19th-century Sotho speakers. This opened doors for Christianity to participate in the broader imperial project of the racial subordination of colonized people that Sotho speakers resemble. The consequence of this was not only the delegitimization of personhood as a construct of indigenous African religion, but also the introduction of conceptions of personhood that partook of race and racism. https://journals.uj.ac.za/index.php/ReligionStudy/article/view/518Writing, codification, affirmation, Christianity, Southern Africa |
| spellingShingle | Sepetla Molapo Lost to Presence: The Entanglements of Writing, Protestant Christianity, and Empire in the 19th-Century Southern Africa Journal for the Study of Religion Writing, codification, affirmation, Christianity, Southern Africa |
| title | Lost to Presence: The Entanglements of Writing, Protestant Christianity, and Empire in the 19th-Century Southern Africa |
| title_full | Lost to Presence: The Entanglements of Writing, Protestant Christianity, and Empire in the 19th-Century Southern Africa |
| title_fullStr | Lost to Presence: The Entanglements of Writing, Protestant Christianity, and Empire in the 19th-Century Southern Africa |
| title_full_unstemmed | Lost to Presence: The Entanglements of Writing, Protestant Christianity, and Empire in the 19th-Century Southern Africa |
| title_short | Lost to Presence: The Entanglements of Writing, Protestant Christianity, and Empire in the 19th-Century Southern Africa |
| title_sort | lost to presence the entanglements of writing protestant christianity and empire in the 19th century southern africa |
| topic | Writing, codification, affirmation, Christianity, Southern Africa |
| url | https://journals.uj.ac.za/index.php/ReligionStudy/article/view/518 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT sepetlamolapo losttopresencetheentanglementsofwritingprotestantchristianityandempireinthe19thcenturysouthernafrica |