TOUCHING THE HEART. Xhosa Missionaries to Malawi 1876-1888. By T Jack Thompson

2000. Soft cover, 215 pages. Very good condition. Under 1kg

Jack Thompson's deeply moving account of the nineteenth-century Lovedale mission to Malawi revolutionises the stereotype of missionaries in colonial southern Africa. The author meticulously reconstructs the stories of the first four Xhosa evangelists - men who sacrificed their health, families and lives to plant the Presbyterian Church among the Ngoni. Multilingual and confident that the gospel was meant for African people, the Xhosa missionaries acted as cultural bridges between African and European world-views. Yet until now, their contributions to the planting of Christianity in Malawi have been obscured by the Eurocentric, colonialist focus of old-fashioned mission history. This title is part of the series of publications on African Initiatives in Christian Mission.