Tempels’s missionary intent inverted into codifying Bantu philosophy

Evidence

Tempels was caught at the crossroads of several currents, namely, the evolutionary assumption of the late nineteenth century, Lévy-Brühl’s theses on prelogism, the European self-declared mission to civilize Africans through colonization, and Christian evangelization (Mudimbe, 1988, p. 136). Tempels came to Africa for religious motives, and he identified with the Bantu in a bid to bring them along the road to civilization, knowledge, and true religion. Even though he came to preach a foreign worldview, he ended up learning, respecting, and codifying the indigenous worldview. — Frans Dokman, Beyond Bantu Philosophy_…, 516

Tempels was caught at the crossroads of several currents, namely, the evolutionary assumption of the late nineteenth century, Lévy-Brühl’s theses on prelogism, the European self-declared mission to civilize Africans through colonization, and Christian evangelization (Mudimbe, 1988, p. 136). Tempels came to Africa for religious motives, and he identified with the Bantu in a bid to bring them along the road to civilization, knowledge, and true religion. Even though he came to preach a foreign worldview, he ended up learning, respecting, and codifying the indigenous worldview. We can therefore perceive of Bantu Philosophy as a personal testimony to a new discovery that made a great impact in the life of Tempels. — Frans Dokman, Beyond Bantu Philosophy_…, 516

Categorization

• XREF: The irony that evangelizing intent produced a respectful codification of the indigenous worldview is a key causal thread in the reader’s Bantu philosophy study.
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Frans Dokman, Beyond Bantu Philosophy_…, 516