One of the last sane

Apologies if this has been discussed before. I just got to thinking. Why did invaded people all around the world buy Christianity from their invaders? Why should any humble tribesperson in the Americas, Africa, Australia, Papua New Guinea, the Pacific islands etc buy some farfetched yarn about some guy called Jesus who lived long ago in a country that isn't even the one the invaders come from, and give up believing in the gods of his own people? Yet they did. Did dudes with muskets and metal tools really seem that superior, or were there other advantages to converting? Also, why did black slaves adopt Christianity when they were kidnapped and shipped to America? The same religion that justified their enslavement?

Also, would it be fair to say that India and China proved more resistant to conversion to Christianity by their white overlords and, if so, why?

Thieving Magpie

Why buy the conquerors' god?

His limbs are fully posable.

Celsus

I suggest Chinua Achebe's brilliant novel, Things Fall Apart as a fiction-as-history exploration of exactly this theme. Since the original people who converted (or refused) are all dead, and mostly never left anything for us to know their reasons for converting (or not converting), this is what we have left. The colonial perspective which we do have plenty of, is completely untrustworthy.

Oh and missionaries often spied on their "flock" on behalf of colonial governments. Who wants to guess that converts had a higher chance of survival in colonial conflicts?

Joel

spurly

Uhhhh... Simple. They believed it because they were convinced it was the truth. Why else would they?

Kevin

Thieving Magpie

One might say that India and China were more resistant because they had more civilization than other parts of the world like Australia, and parts of Africa.

Amos

Would that not have something to do with truth?

Amie

I agree with Kevin, I am inclined to think they believed it because they thought it was the Truth.

Thieving Magpie

This is really a non-answer though.

It's valid, but so obvious that it need not be mentioned.

Anyone can believe anything if they are convinced it's truth.

However, it would seem odd that some parts of the world would convert to such a high degree, while others would convert to a very low degree. There is something else at play here.

philechat

Interesting question, after thinking about it. Many, say, Taiwanese people wouldn't give a rat's arse about Christianity in their home country (even with the hard and continuous works of thousands of missionaries) became Christians after they emigrate to the USA. Many central American and Polynesian societies practice Christianity as an "addition" to their native religion. There are also ethnographical accounts in modern time about a Papua New Guinea culture suddenly changing from its native religions into a revival Christianity mode (forget the book name, "The Last of T____")

The introduction of new dieties actually occurred in many polytheistic societies. The obvious example will be the cult of Dionysus in ancient Greece, which suddenly appeared in Athens around 5 B.C., contributing to the famous tragedies we are still reading now.

Aquila ka Hecate

I'm not sure how much of this was relevant a few centuries ago, but here in Africa, Christianity is very much associated with a prosperous lifestyle.

Have a peek into the carparks at the churches on a Sunday morning;look at all those Mercs, late model Beamers, 4X4 s..no shabby jalopies in their company!

Contrast this with the typical local sangoma:living in a hut, no private vehicle of any sort,not much in the way of posessions.

Your typical Muslim may come across as just as wealthy as a Christian, if you look hard, yet he seems to live in the more despised districts (and thereby gets away with paying lower rates, clever man), and his personal expebditure doesn't seem to be on a par with the average Christian well-to-do. It's really hard to become a Judaic convert, so they're out of the equation here.

What I'm saying is, it's all about image-Christianity goes with wealth as no other religion in this country.

So I guess that's behind many 'devout' black South Africans' adherence to the faith.
(Incidentally, one of our charismatic sects,the Rhema Church, is fabulously wealthy in its own right through a process I can only describe as hysterical brainwashing of its congregants, but that's a tale for another time).

It is possible that in pragmatic Africa, the hitching of one's wagon to the affluence of the 'masters'' faith was seen as an astute move in material terms...that is, the most important terms here.