The Spirit of Brotherhood: Christianity and Ujamaa in Tanzania

Abstract

Looking at Africa today, it is hard to imagine that in the early 1960s, the place of Christianity in Africa was believed by some to be under threat. As Paul Gifford has written, ‘Thirty years ago, it was commonly thought that Christianity in independent Africa would become ever less significant, because it was associated so closely with colonialism’ (Gifford 1994: 514). At the end of Empire, the place of the Christian Churches in sub-Saharan Africa was far from secure. Its identification with the colonial regime left it vulnerable to charges of complicity with the excesses and authoritarian tendencies of Empire. Its dominance in social welfare provision was about to be challenged by the nationalist drive of the post-independence governments. The European-dominated upper echelons of the Church seemed increasingly vulnerable to charges of failure to Africanize.¹ These dire predictions seem almost absurd today in the face of the massive rise of Pentecostal Churches across sub-Saharan Africa, the role played by Christian leaders in pro-democracy movements in the continent and the increasing global strength of African Christian leaders.