The Development of an African Catholic Church in the Kingdom of Kongo, 1491–1750

TLDR

Scholars have generally viewed the Kingdom of Kongo’s conversion to Christianity as superficial, diplomatic, impure, threatening sovereignty, or rejected by the populace. The article argues that Kongo’s Africanized Christianity was widely accepted in both Kongo and Europe as the nation’s religion. Kongo’s voluntary conversion allowed it to shape Christianity, with tolerant European priests permitting syncretism, and its control over theology, organization, and finance preventing foreign domination despite Portuguese attempts. European priests’ rejection of Kongo’s local Christianity during the late‑nineteenth‑century Portuguese occupation ended its acceptance among Europeans.

Abstract

Scholarly opinion on the conversion of the Kingdom of Kongo to Christianity has generally been that it was superficial, diplomatically oriented, impure, dangerous to national sovereignty or rejected by the mass of the population. This article argues that although Christianity in Kongo took a distinctly African form it was widely accepted both in Kongo and in Europe as being the religion of the country. This was possible because Kongo, as a voluntary convert, had considerable leeway to contribute to its particular form of Christianity. Also, European priests were much more tolerant of syncretism in Kongo than in regions like Mexico, where colonial occupation accompanied the propagation of Christianity. Kongo's control over the theological content allowed the religion to gain mass acceptance while its control over the Church organization and finance allowed it never to be an instrument for foreign domination, in spite of Portuguese attempts to use it as a ‘fifth column’. When European priests arrived in Kongo during the Portuguese colonial occupation at the end of the nineteenth century, they rejected the local form of Christianity, thus ending its acceptance among Europeans as Christianity.