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Nazareth Evangelical Theological Seminary December 2012

Phil Hill NETS Book Reviews

Book Review1:

Johannes Rebmann: a servant of God in Africa before the rise of western colonialism
By Steven Paas (VTR Publications, 2012, 271 pages)

Dr. Steven Paas is a retired Dutch missionary and linguist who served in East Africa. His work on a Chichewa/Chinyanja Dictionary led to his discovery of the work already done over a hundred years earlier by Johannes Rebmann (1820-1876), a German missionary to modern-day Kenya and Tanzania who served with the English (and Anglican) Church Missionary Society. The book is described on its cover as a biography, but it is an academic treatise rather than a popular work. In fact, the scope of the book is far greater than the biographical information provided, dealing with issues as various as the evangelical decline in the CMS after Henry Venns period as secretary, the challenges of missionary lifestyle in a cross-cultural situation, Christian engagement with Islam in the early nineteenth century and particularly its role in the slave trade, ecumenical tensions on the mission field, and the study of African languages. If an academic style seems daunting to potential readers, the inclusion of many photographs and maps taking up no less than twenty-nine pages, helps to bring the places and main personalities mentioned to life. Rebmann, of course, is pictured at different stages of his life, as well as his main colleagues. There are photographs also of converts, including some exslaves who were transferred as helpers to the mission from a base in India where they had received some theological education (an experiment which failed because these people had become so westernized that they were reluctant to rejoin their native culture). There are many fascinating pictures of places as varied as Rebmanns family home, local church, house in Africa, and a particularly valuable one of the early CMS headquarters in London. In addition, a number of maps clarify the location of his mission, the regions surrounding it, and the extent of his travels.
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Nazareth Evangelical Theological Seminary December 2012

Phil Hill NETS Book Reviews

There are many aspects of this work to recommend. Firstly, it provides useful background information about German pietism in the nineteenth century, which demonstrates that its original link with early evangelicalism continued well into the nineteenth century. Secondly, Paas provides a detailed account and analysis of the linguistic work done by Rebmann and his colleagues - work that Paas regards as extremely valuable still. Furthermore, Paas convincingly draws out the exceptionally difficult cross-cultural aspects of Rebmanns life and work. He was a German Lutheran trained in an independent Swiss Bible college who was appointed by an English Anglican society to work under a Muslim Sultan among African tribes that followed their traditional religions. There is much here of value to those who seek to identify principles for cross-cultural mission. A further matter of interest is the historical information provided about the role of Muslim overlords in the African slave trade and their early resistance to Christian missions such as the CMS. Rebmann had no doubt that only the conquest of these overlords would provide freedom for the proclamation of the gospel. Yet another issue of interest to students of modern crosscultural mission is the recognition by Rebmann of the need for holistic mission and his attempts to put it into practice, but not to the exclusion of his supernaturalist approval of the miraculous as an attestation of the gospel in African tribal culture. There are a few negatives to note about this book. Firstly, the English is sometimes uneven and difficult to read. Second, Paas seems too close at times to his subject, so that when he defends Rebmann in his various conflicts with people his objectivity might be questioned. Thirdly, he touches upon the portrayal of Rebmann by another scholar, Colin Reed, as a negative example of paternalism, a view Paas vehemently rejects. However, Paas does not expand enough on Reeds argument for the reader to form an independent judgment, an unfortunate omission in view of the importance Paas attaches to refuting him. These criticisms are small, however, in comparison with the praise this study deserves, not only for its generally rigorous standard of scholarship but for its wide scope as well as its colourful portrayal of Johannes Rebmann. Phil Hill Nazareth Evangelical Theological Seminary Nazareth of Galilee, Israel

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