The Chapter offers a thematic review and interpretation of literature related to my area of study. The three themes under which literature was reviewed are, the History of Christian missions in Africa, particularly Methodist Missions; Church and inculturation in Southern Africa, and Church governance. The first section deals with the history of Christian mission in Africa in general and
44
in Southern Africa, the second section looked at literature relating to the encounter between the Christian faith and African traditional religions and culture, the third deals with Church governance, particularly, Methodist Church governance.
The history of mission in Africa reveals that there were several missionary societies or Christian denominations that came to Africa, including Southern Africa, to propagate the gospel of Jesus Christ, and the Methodist Missionary Society was one of them. The missionary societies had an ambivalent relationship with the colonial government to the extent that the good intentions of the Missionary societies were contaminated and stained by this relationship. Missionaries, across the denominational divide, had different views of mission and different attitudes towards the locals and the African worldview. Among the missionaries were those advocating for mission for servitude and those who promoted mission for the autonomy and advancement of Africans. The activities of the missionaries in Southern Rhodesia could not be divorced from the events in the entire continent of Africa and in the Southern Africa region. Mission activities in Zimbabwe were carried out by several denominations of a protestant orientation: the LMS, the Dutch Reformed Church, the Anglicans, the Wesleyan Methodist Society and the Salvationists. The Roman Catholics were also part of the missionary activities in Zimbabwe. The Methodist missionary society was a latecomer in the mission field, coming after the Catholics, the LMS, the Anglicans, and the Dutch Reformed Church. Being a foot-dragger, the Methodist Missionary Society had to adopt most of the missionary strategies that the other societies were already engaging, such as using education, health systems, and Christian villages as vehicles for mission.
The strategies for mission mentioned above were both positive and negative. They were positive in that they brought enlightenment and progress in the lives of the native who embraced the new systems. Negatively, the strategies were meant to eradicate African traditional religions and culture, by weaning the Africans from their belief system, customs and culture. The missionary strategies as tools of eradicating African religion and culture failed because African customs, religion and culture were deeply rooted in the people and conversion of Africans in most cases was not honest but only for incentives. During the encounter, the missionaries did not appreciate the value of African traditional religion and culture but exhibited negative attitudes by demonising everything African as evil and superstitious. It was, however, not all missionaries who had a
45
negative attitude towards African traditional religion, customs and culture, because some showed much appreciation of the African worldview and the capability of Africans.
The Methodist Church in Rhodesia (Zimbabwe) at autonomy, handed over to Africans the authority to lead the Church and decide its own future. The handing over of power was necessitated by two factors, namely, the political pressure from nationalistic resistance and fight for black rule in the country, and the realization that the black Methodists in Zimbabwe (Rhodesia) were ready for self-government. The autonomous church was faced with several tasks that it had to work on, such as to teach and do research on African traditional religion and culture because of their resurgence, to come up with own liturgies and literature, to train indigenous clergy, and work to attain independence on matters of faith and practice. The Methodist Church in Zimbabwe (Rhodesia) inherited the pyramidal system of government, which is the system of government used by Methodists globally, with few and minor variations. The variations include the number and names of levels on the administrative structure, differences in the titles for officers, and the names of the Church courts. Despite the minor variations, Methodist governance is identical all over the world, since all Methodist Conferences agree that the Conference is the supreme body of the organisation.
46
CHAPTER THREE: THEORY AND METHOD: INTERROGATING THE ARCHIVE
3.1. Introduction
This study adopted and was guided by two theoretical frameworks, which are deemed useful and relevant. These include postcolonial theory and the Foucauldian concept of governmentality. Postcolonial theory, in this study, offers a critical lens and at the same time is used as an analytical tool with which to interrogate the relationship between Methodist Christianity and the African worldview and culture, and to examine the impact of colonial conception of Christianity as religion, and the various ways this imperial science of religion continues to find expression in ecclesial governance in the contemporary Methodist Church in Zimbabwe. Since one of the attempts of postcolonial theory is to formulate non-Western modes of discourse as viable means of challenging the West (Quayson,2000:2), it was used to challenge the existing ideas about what constitutes religion in the Methodist Church in Zimbabwe.
Postcolonial theory was engaged to illuminate the effects of colonial discourse, which is ambivalent in that it simultaneously recognizes and disavows differences of culture, race, history, and so on with the result that it produces the once colonised as a social reality and at the same time as the ‘Other’ (Bhabha, 1994:70-71). While postcolonialism seeks to deconstruct the effects of colonialism in many aspects of life such as in material, political, pedagogical, discursive, and
47
textual dominations (Kwek, 2003:128), this study is more concerned with the analysis and deconstruction of Methodist Church discourse about what counts as religion. Postcolonial theory in this study concerns itself (1) with the link between the Methodist Church’s colonial ideas about religion, and its residues the present MCZ, and (2) with reimagining the status and authority of African traditional religion in the postcolonial context.
Postcolonial theory in this study does not only interrogate the relationship between the Methodist Church’s colonial past and its present state, it also concerns itself with how the members of the Methodist Church in Zimbabwe have forged and maintained relationships between Christianity and indigenous culture, and how they have resisted cultural domination of colonial Methodism. The aim of postcolonial theory is to make visible the intricate forces that were at work (Venn: 2006:29) in the production of the Methodist ecclesiology and to help the formerly colonized members to come up with new and emancipatory discourse for the indigenous Church.
The Foucauldian concept of governmentality has essential elements, such as discipline and power, that are useful in carrying out this study. Governmentality in this study is used to illuminate the procedures, analyses, reflections, calculations and tactics (Foucault, 1995:176) that the Methodist Church in Zimbabwe employs to govern and administer its members. The rules and laws that the Methodist Church uses were critically examined in this study.
Although Foucault identifies various kinds of power in his analysis of governmentality, this study will focus on pastoral power, both as a political type of power and as a power of care. Pastoral power as pastoral care is non–violent and its goal is the salvation of the flock and the pastor or shepherd is prepared to sacrifice self for the flock (Golder, 2007:165; Ojakangas, 2010). Pastoral power as a political type of power is when it involves systematic violence (Zizek, 2009:1; Mayes, 2010:111- 126). This is when pastoral care is expressed through violence of exclusion in order to maintain order in the community or institution. Church discourse is used to exclude the non- orthodox members of the Church and to control their conduct, behaviour, aptitudes, and capacities. Governmentality, in this study, is used to show that Church discourse defines what should be included, and what is prohibited, and that Church discourse is a political force, with the power to silence and demand utterance (Carrette, 2000:42).
The use of discourse by the Methodist Church in Zimbabwe is evidence of the Church’s way of carrying out surveillance on its members using rules and laws. The power of discourse to discipline
48
and exclude makes it feared and, at the same time, memorized by all members, which makes its application easy and effective. The Foucauldian concept of governmentality and postcolonial theory are relevant to this study since the research deals with the rules and laws that govern the Church, especially against African traditional religion and culture. These laws and rules were produced by the colonial Church and therefore a product of the colonial past, which have been resisted and challenged over the years.
The chapter also outlines and discusses the methodology that guides the research. This includes the research design, the research methods and procedures for implementing the research design, instruments for data collection, process and method of data analysis, ethical considerations and the limitations of the study. The research uses the Methodist Church in Zimbabwe’s documents which include the Standing Orders and deed of Church Order, organisational policy document and minutes of conference to see how the colonial Church rules and regulations were used as tools to regulate and play down the African religious beliefs and customs.
To get an in-depth understanding of the origins, theological and ideological justification, and the impact the colonial rules, Archival research was conducted. The Methodist Church in Zimbabwe Archive and the National Archive of Zimbabwe were visited by the researcher several times to gather relevant data for this research. The postcolonial approach to Archival research was engaged as an attitude and way of reading the Archival records. This basically means that the researcher specifically looked for the misrepresentations of the locals in the archival material. Church documents were used in this research as the instruments for data collection. Critical Discourse Analysis was engaged as a method of data analysis to develop theories and hypotheses from the gathered data.
The chapter also discusses all the ethical considerations that were made during the research. The limitations of the research process are also outlined and discussed, and these include the problems and shortcomings that the researcher encountered, which also had a bearing on the research and its findings.
49