Overview

Reexamines the first twenty years of the East African revival movement in Uganda, 1935-1955, arguing that through the movement African Christians articulated and developed a unique spiritual lifestyle. Starting in the mid-1930s, East African revivalists (or, Balokole: ""the saved ones"") proclaimed a message of salvation, hoping to revive the mission churches of colonial East Africa. Frustrated by what they believed to be the tepid spiritual state of missionary Christianity, they preached that in order to be saved, converts had to confess publicly the specific sins they had committed, putting them ""in the light."" By ""walking in the light"" with other revival brethren, converts reoriented their lives, articulating this reorientation in the stark terms of light and darkness: they had left their dark past and now lived in the light of salvation. This book uses missionary and Colonial Office archives, contemporary newspapers, archival collections in Uganda, anthropologists' field notes, oral histories, and interviews by the author in order to reexamine the first twenty years of the East African revivalmovement (roughly, 1935-1955). Focusing upon the creative, controversial, and remarkable efforts of the ordinary African Christians who comprised the vast majority of the movement, it challenges previous historical analyses that have seen in the revival the replication of British evangelical holiness spirituality or, alternatively, a manifestation of late colonial dissent. Instead, this study argues, the Balokole revival was a movement through which African Christians articulated and developed a unique spiritual lifestyle, one that responded creatively to the sociopolitical contexts of late colonial East Africa. Jason Bruner is Assistant Professor of Global Christianityat Arizona State University.

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This book makes a significant contribution . . . Bruner's writing style (clear and concise) makes his work enjoyable to read and accessible to a wide range of readers interested in religious movements in East Africa. ANGLICAN AND EPISCOPAL HISTORY [A] valuable contribution to the literature on African Christianity, religious conversion, and late colonial Uganda. This lucid and discerning analysis of lived religion deserves a wide readership. H-EMPIRE [A]n insightful and rewarding investigation of the revival movement of East Africa in Uganda. It is an important contribution to African historical and religious scholarship, and indeed to contemporary soteriological discussions; it is useful for graduate students, and every seminary library should acquire a copy. READING RELIGION Bruner's volume is a significant contribution to the history of the East African Revival and offers a valuable approach for the examination of revivalist movements in modern history and their cultural impact in particular sociopolitical contexts. ANTHROCYBIB

Bruner's volume is a significant contribution to the history of the East African Revival and offers a valuable approach for the examination of revivalist movements in modern history and their cultural impact in particular sociopolitical contexts. ANTHROCYBIB

[A]n insightful and rewarding investigation of the revival movement of East Africa in Uganda. It is an important contribution to African historical and religious scholarship, and indeed to contemporary soteriological discussions; it is useful for graduate students, and every seminary library should acquire a copy. READING RELIGION Bruner's volume is a significant contribution to the history of the East African Revival and offers a valuable approach for the examination of revivalist movements in modern history and their cultural impact in particular sociopolitical contexts. ANTHROCYBIB

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