Missionaries in Benin

Discussion Board Forum 6

Rhonda Ray

HIWD 320 Africa

Liberty University in Lynchburg VA

Missionary activities in Africa began in the late 15th century following the successful exploratory missions sponsored by Prince Henry (”the Navigator”) of Portugal. 

A few Portuguese missionaries visited the courts of the Oba to convert Africans to Christianity, but the Portuguese soon abandoned their idea of conversion because their efforts did not boil over well with the indigenous populace.

Missionaries had 2 concerns: first to encourage Africans to abandon the inhuman trade in slaves, and to teach natives the noble ways of life.

The reports of European travelers reinforced the myth of a Dark Continent and an uncivilized and secular people.  The missionary agenda was to convert Africans to Christianity through the medium of education with the Bible and it was an overriding index of success for the missionaries.

                             

A group of European Christian missionaries in Benin pose with students in Porto-Novo, Benin. This illustration is from the History of the Catholic Missions (1882). 

The Kingdom of Dahomey (Benin) was large, prosperous, and well organized. Before the penetration of western religions, there were two main religions practiced in the kingdom both of which centered around the King (Forde & Kaberry, 1976). 

Christianity reached the Kingdom a few decades after the formation of the Kingdom in the 1600’s by way of Spanish Capucin from the Catholic Faith (Jedin, Dolan & Müller, 1981). Unlike other kingdoms in West Africa, the Dahomey regarded the missionaries with suspicion and had several run-ins with them (Ayandele, 1979). Whereas the Methodist missionary Thomas Freeman met with King Ghezo (1818-1858), severally and recorded that the Kingdom would be open to missionaries; King Ghezo did, in fact, have a lot of contempt for the missionaries. Although Thomas Freeman had a priest stationed at Ouidah that was unable to dissuade the people to stop slave trade or turn away from traditional religions ("Freeman, Thomas Birch (1809-1890)", n.d.). In 1890, the ruling monarch had nuns and priests captured and detained (Ayandele, 1979). While in 1797, king Angonglo was killed by the women in his court for accepting Christianity as taught him by Portuguese missionaries (Ayandele, 1979).

  

When the French conquered the kingdom, French Catholic missionaries from the Society of African Missions were given priority resulting in the rapid spread of Catholicism. Through Thomas Freeman, the Methodist church also made significant in-roads.

The church with the largest following in Benin (the former Kingdom of Dahomey) today is the Catholic church. There has been significant penetration by various Pentecostal churches that have gained a lot of traction in Africa and are of appeal because of their stance on Voodoo (which is one of the national religions)

References:

1Forde, C., & Kaberry, P. (1976). West African Kingdoms In The Nineteenth Century. London: Published for the International African Institute by Oxford University Press.