Missionary theology converted Africans to a progressive politics promising liberation through labor and faith.

Evidence

As the new century opened, those increasingly formally marked as black were torn asunder between the warrings among political theologies, the wars of world-views and ways of being. They too were bound by messianic legacies of their own imaginary making, visions of driving devil figures into the sea in the urge to be left alone in a land being taken from under their feet. … This was a political theology striving to exit from bondage by hard labor and the promise of liberty, Zion as the delivery from slavery, a liberation if not for quite some time to come yet. The commitment to uplift through effort, ultimately blocked through emerging and institutionalizing apartheid, became fused quite quickly with the quest for a sort of salvation, of deliverance from bondage, the messages of mission and messianism finding their resolution in the convictions of struggle. — David Theo Goldberg, The Threat of Race, 1493 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

The mission of missionaries was to convert the uninitiated not simply to belief in the Anglican God and the sorts of religious rituals associated with such belief. It was to instill also the godly virtues of self-discipline, hard work, cleanliness, and service, thus cultivating in the name of civility and civilization a new subjectivity. — David Theo Goldberg, The Threat of Race, 1416 (#complicates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Black South Africans converted missionary uplift theology into liberation struggle convictions. — David Theo Goldberg, The Threat of Race: Reflections on…, 1493; Free Black deportation was framed as missionary uplift for Africa’s redemption — Ibram X. Kendi, Stamped from the Beginning: The…, 390; Christian missionary history forged the fusion enabling modern political redemption — Talal Asad, Formations of the Secular:…, 305 (+6 more)

Broader Connections

• Black South Africans converted missionary uplift theology into liberation struggle convictions. #corroborates (0.97) — David Theo Goldberg, The Threat of Race, 1493
• Christian missions fused spiritual promise with political transformation, enabling modern redemption. #expands (0.93)
• Missionary conversion aimed to manufacture a new colonial subjectivity, not just religious belief #complicates (0.85) — David Theo Goldberg, The Threat of Race, 1416
• Missionary conversion relied on state power more than persuasion #complicates (0.84)
• Christian conversion in colonial Africa relied on political alliance and coercion, not persuasion #complicates (0.83) — Frans Dokman, Beyond Bantu Philosophy_…, 449
• Free Black deportation was framed as missionary uplift for Africa’s redemption #complicates (0.72) — Ibram X. Kendi, Stamped from the Beginning, 390