In “All things fall apart” Both the clan and the Christians try to justify their own religious beliefs, the Christians wanted land to build a church that could help bring in more people, and In order for the village leaders to prove they were right they wanted to denounce the Christians beliefs. In chapter 17, it says, “They did not really want them in their clan, and so they made them that offer which nobody in his right senses would accept” (Pg.148). By giving them land on the “evil” forest they wanted to make sure the Christians were set to fail, but they did not. Do you think that the Christians succeeding in the forest could be a sole cause for why many villagers join after?
Making the Modern World: Europe in the 19th Century
Liberalism and socialism and imperialism, oh my!
The rulers of Mbanta gave the missionaries that land because they believed that they would not be safe in the Evil Forest. Because of their beliefs, they thought that if they gave this evil land to the missionaries, their religion did not have the power to keep them safe. “The first day passed and the second and third and fourth, and none of them died. Everyone was puzzled. And then it became known that the white man’s fetish had unbelievable power.” (141) Everyone in the village was shocked that they did not die because they saw this new religion as imposterous and a joke. Once a few days went by and they were still alive, it showed the people of Mbanta that this white man’s religion was in fact not as crazy as it sounded at first. It’s power had kept them safe when they should have died in the Evil Forest. I think that this was the moment when the people started to notice the missionaries presence and become curious about what they were all about. I think that the curiosity in a new religion was a sole cause for converters but also this new religion seemed hopeful for people who were outcast by the village’s religious beliefs.