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Periodical article | Leiden University catalogue | WorldCat |
Title: | Christianity and Wealth in Rural Communities in Zimbabwe |
Author: | Bourdillon, M.F.C. |
Year: | 1983 |
Periodical: | Zambezia |
Volume: | 11 |
Issue: | 1 |
Pages: | 37-53 |
Language: | English |
Geographic term: | Zimbabwe |
Subjects: | Christianity rural society wealth Peoples of Africa (Ethnic Groups) Religion and Witchcraft Economics and Trade |
External link: | https://journals.co.za/doi/abs/10.10520/AJA03790622_599 |
Abstract: | A number of studies in Zimbabwe point to correlations between the adoption of Christianity and increased wealth in rural communities in Zimbabwe. One of the purposes of this article is to bring some of the relevant data together. Much of the data comes from a number of surveys in various rural areas of Zimbabwe in the early and mid-1970s, organized by Roy Theisen. Gaps in background information prevented to build up a detailed and accurate picture of the communities concerned. Nevertheless, the statistical information thus produced, supported by reports from field assistants, and compared with earlier studies by Daneel and Weinrich, does raise some interesting questions on the relationship between the introduction of Christianity and socio-economic development in Africa. Christian missionaries have in various explicit and planned ways been involved in the improvement of peasant agriculture and the generation of wealth through agriculture. Such planned involvement is relevant to some of the data presented, but primarily the author explores those effects of Christianity on the lives of rural people which were not planned of explicitly intended. - Notes. |