Going Native: Converting Narratives in Tiwi Histories of Twentieth-Century Missions
Historians and anthropologists have increasingly argued that the conversion of Indigenous peoples to Christianity occurred as they wove the new faith into their traditions. Yet this finding risks overshadowing how Indigenous peoples themselves understood the history of Christianity in their societie...
Main Author: | |
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Format: | Electronic Article |
Language: | English |
Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
Journals Online & Print: | |
Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
Published: |
Cambridge Univ. Press
[2019]
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In: |
The journal of ecclesiastical history
Year: 2019, Volume: 70, Issue: 1, Pages: 98-118 |
Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
Tiwi (People)
/ Christianity
/ Mission (international law
/ Narrative (Social sciences)
/ Inculturation
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IxTheo Classification: | AG Religious life; material religion BT Religions of Oceania KBS Australia; Oceania RJ Mission; missiology |
Online Access: |
Volltext (Verlag) Volltext (doi) |
Summary: | Historians and anthropologists have increasingly argued that the conversion of Indigenous peoples to Christianity occurred as they wove the new faith into their traditions. Yet this finding risks overshadowing how Indigenous peoples themselves understood the history of Christianity in their societies. This article, a case study of the Tiwi of North Australia, is illustrative in that it uses Tiwi oral histories of the conversion' of a priest in order to invert assumptions about inculturation and conversion. They insist that they did not accommodate the new faith but that the Catholic Church itself converted in embracing them. Their history suggests that conversion can occur as communities change in the act of incorporating new peoples. |
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ISSN: | 1469-7637 |
Contains: | Enthalten in: The journal of ecclesiastical history
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Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1017/S0022046918000647 |