Intertextuality as a means of negotiating authority, status, and place: forms, contexts, and effects of quotations of Christian texts in nineteenth-century missionary correspondence from Yorùbáland
From the early 1840s, Church Missionary Society agents were active in the Yorùbá mission in what today is Southwest Nigeria. Both European and African missionaries - often former slaves who had converted to Christianity - corresponded with the Society, and in their writing frequently used quotations...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic/Print Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Brill
[2015]
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| In: |
Journal of religion in Africa
Year: 2015, Volume: 45, Issue: 2, Pages: 119-149 |
| Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
Africa
/ Yoruba
/ Church Mission Society
/ Correspondence
/ Christian literature
/ Intertextuality
/ Religious identity
/ History 1837-1868
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| IxTheo Classification: | AD Sociology of religion; religious policy CD Christianity and Culture KAH Church history 1648-1913; modern history KBN Sub-Saharan Africa RJ Mission; missiology |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (doi) |
| Summary: | From the early 1840s, Church Missionary Society agents were active in the Yorùbá mission in what today is Southwest Nigeria. Both European and African missionaries - often former slaves who had converted to Christianity - corresponded with the Society, and in their writing frequently used quotations from the Bible and other core Christian texts. These quotations were recontextualised (Fairclough 2003) in the missionaries' writing and formed intertextual bonds (Blommaert 2005) between their correspondence and the original texts. For the missionaries these bonds provided solace and meaning in difficult situations, established their status and authority as proficient theologians in the face of their European audience, and explicitly linked them with the Christian narrative of 'spreading the word'. Especially for the Yorùbá agents, this practice of creating intertextuality was a means of negotiating and affirming their African-Christian identity, thus establishing and expressing their new place in the Christian tradition. |
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| ISSN: | 0022-4200 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Journal of religion in Africa
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1163/15700666-12340039 |