Missionary Spaces

Imagining, Building, Contesting Christianities in Africa and China, 1840-1960

Thomas Coomans editor

Format:Hardback

Publisher:Leuven University Press

Published:1st Mar '24

Should be back in stock very soon

Missionary Spaces cover

Situated at the crossroads of missionary history, imperial history, and colonial architecture, the contributions in this volume investigate the architectural staging and spatial implications of the worldwide expansion of Christianity in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. By looking at specific architectural fragments, analysing the insertion of Christian edifices in colonial urban settings, or unravelling the social understanding of missionary places, each of the chapters contemplates an aspect of the agency of mission spaces. Bringing together scholars from different disciplines, this book approaches missionary places not as the mere d cor against which the missionary encounter was enacted, but as an integral part of it. In doing so, the contributors test the applicability of the spatial turn, an interpretative paradigm that has been dominant across the humanities since the late 1990s, to missionary historiography. Richly illustrated and with a global focus, the volume addresses case studies from, among other countries, China, Japan, Madagascar, Congo, Tanzania, Ghana, and Lebanon.

En définitive, cet ouvrage est à la fois une contribution à l’architecture, à l’histoire, et à la réflexion sur les échanges entre l’Occident, l’Afrique et l’Asie. Il met en lumière les interactions qui ont accompagné l’entreprise missionnaire (et coloniale), faites souvent de petites négociations quotidiennes, lesquelles transforment profondément les acteurs engagés dans ces processus et par suite leur vision du monde. Quiconque s’intéresse aux questions de rencontres d’autres cultures et à la question missionnaire tirera profit de cet ouvrage. L’introduction est à recommander aux doctorants et jeunes chercheurs travaillant sur ces questions. - Yves VENDÉ, Mélanges de science religieuse, n° 82/1, 2025

ISBN: 9789462701441

Dimensions: unknown

Weight: unknown

240 pages