Tempels’ Bantu Philosophy was written as evangelization strategy responding to Luba resistance

Evidence

Tempels and other people of good will felt the danger of what would happen to missionaries and their work as well as to the credibility of the church they loved. They felt it was their duty to put the missionary activities of the church on the right track by focusing their attention on the philosophy of the Bantu people rather than on development projects and social services, as they had initially done. Bantu Philosophy is a product of that spirit. It emerges as a response to the resistance experienced and the rise of breakaway churches. The book attempts to establish a new way of evangelizing the Luba people, a way that takes seriously Bantu ontology. — Frans Dokman, Beyond Bantu Philosophy_…, 165