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Henry Venn

Learning from Olufemi Taiwo (part one)

I’ve only read the introduction to Olufemi Taiwo‘s How colonialism preempted modernity in Africa but just the outline of his argument is intriguing. He thinks that the ‘standard story of colonialism [as] the spoilsport who destroyed, distorted or altered African forms of social living’ neither accounts for the agency of African […]

Estimated reading time: 6 minutes

On dependence: what is it?

The question of dependence is a critical one for engaging in any sort of cross-cultural partnership. In the nineteenth century, CMS’s Henry Venn came up with three marks of a mature church: self-supporting, self-propagating and self-governing. Though he planted churches in west Africa, he believed that autonomy was key to treating […]

Estimated reading time: 2 minutes