Bishop Stephen Neill, the IMC and the State of African Theological Education in 1950

Abstract

From April to July of 1950, Bishop Stephen Neill (1900–84) took a sweeping tour of East and West Africa to assess the state of African theological education. He visited Egypt, Sudan and the six British territories in tropical Africa: Tanganyika, Kenya, Uganda, Nigeria, Gold Coast (Ghana) and Sierra Leone. Employed by the World Council of Churches at the time, Neill was appointed by the International Missionary Council to spearhead the project. The overall objective was to shed insight on what could be done to improve the quality of theological education and the training of ministry in Africa. Neill produced a considerable amount of material during and after the trip, including a 120-page ‘travel diary’ and a 51-page confidential report. This paper has three goals: to explain how and why this tour of African theological education came together, to provide an overview of Neill's research trip through his diary entries and to reflect on Neill's conclusions and suggestions for what ought to be done.

Stephen Neill: A Colonial Scholar in an Independent Kenya (1969–1973)

“…He had visited the continent numerous times, and conducted a major research project there in the early 1950s. 4 At one point, in 1936, Neill was even invited to serve as Bishop of Mombasa, which he turned down. 5 Neill was no stranger to Kenya either.…”

Agency and Salvation in Christian Child Rescue in Colonial India: Preena and Amy Carmichael

“…A quarrelsome child had a deer's horn tied round her neck, or, if very small, was put in a barrel out of which she could not climb. 67 Known to put "quinine or ink on the rebellious tongue" or tie together the pig-tails of quarrelling girls, 68 Carmichael sought to lay the foundations of her children's character "in truth" always in "the hope that they would be part of the crown of flowers that our Lord would wear one day." 69 But as her accounts of Preena's "conversion" suggest this was a constant and prolonged battle, questioned, resisted and manipulated by children with their own agendas, values, and beliefs.…”