To Die in Africa’s Dust: West Indian Missionaries in Western Africa in the Nineteenth Century(Studies in Missiology)

Christian mission in the modern era has generally been conceptualized as a Western endeavour: "from the West to the rest." The rise and explosive growth of world Christianity has challenged this narrative, emphasizing Christian mission as "from everywhere to everywhere." Dr. Las Newman contributes to this revitalized perspective, interrogating our understanding of modern missions history by drawing attention to the role of African West Indians in the spread of Christianity in sub-Saharan Africa. This comparative study of three nineteenth-century missionary expeditions critiques common narratives around West Indian involvement in the missionary enterprise. Dr. Newman proposes that far from being misguided adventurers or nostalgic exiles, African West Indians were fuelled by a quest for emancipation that was birthed in the crucible of Caribbean slave society. Acting as agents of the Western missionary enterprise, they nevertheless shaped an understanding of Christian mission as a force for justice and freedom that carried with it personal, religious, and socio-political implications. Dr. Newman argues that it was this conception, embraced and championed by African West Indians, that enabled the missionary project in Western Africa to survive, flourish, and ultimately take firm root in African soil. This study questions historical interpretations of the Western missionary endeavour, exploring the pivotal role of native agents in cross-cultural Christian mission and allowing readers to hear from marginalized voices as they tell their own stories of engagement, struggle, and liberation.

About the Author :
LAS G. NEWMAN has a PhD in Christian mission from the Oxford Centre for Mission Studies, UK. The former president of the Caribbean Graduate School of Theology, Kingston, Jamaica, he has spent over thirty years in ministry with the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students. He currently serves as the Lausanne Movement's global director for regions and is a member of the International Fellowship of Mission as Transformation.

Review :
Las Newman has given us a welcome reminder that the planting of Christianity in nineteenth-century West Africa was as much a black as a white mission enterprise. His book also highlights the fact that West Indian black missionaries, no less than their white counterparts, had to grapple with the difficult issues of how to make an informed Christian response to the indigenous religions and cultures of Africa. Brian Stanley, PhD Professor of World Christianity, University of Edinburgh, UK Thoroughly researched and engagingly written, this book makes a significant contribution to African diaspora studies. Las Newman offers compelling evidence of the role of West Indian agents in the project of carrying Christianity to the Mother Continent, and he enriches our understanding of the West Indies from which the missionaries emerged. This book will be appreciated by the specialist and the general reader alike. James W. St.G. Walker, PhD Distinguished Professor Emeritus of History, University of Waterloo, Canada In this work, Las Newman weaves a comprehensive, fascinating story of the involvement of West Indians of African descent in the missionary enterprise in West Africa in the nineteenth century. I unreservedly recommend it to all students of mission history, the people of the West Indies and, of course, all those in Africa who continue to enjoy the fruits of the labours of the West Indians who offered to become missionaries to Africa in the nineteenth century. Benhardt Y. Quarshie, PhD Rector, Akrofi-Christaller Institute of Theology, Mission and Culture, Ghana