Indigenous Encounters with Christian Missionaries in China and West Africa, 1800-1920: A Comparative Study

This article seeks to develop a vocabulary and conceptual framework for the discussion of cross-cultural religious encounters. The ubiquity of Christian missionaries in diverse parts of the world provides a basis for such an enterprise. For China, four patterns are postulated: selective inculturation, resistance, conversion, and selective acculturation toWestern secular knowledge with the aid of mission schools. ForWest Africa, the patterns are less distinct. There was less resistance and greater openness to Christianity, reflecting a different relationship between the sacred and the secular than in China. The article concludes by finding the theories of Jack Goody (on literacy) and Carl Jung (on introversion and extroversion) to be heuristically valuable.