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Underground Movement in a Missionary Church: The Baha'i Faith in British Cameroons, 1952–1962 1
Author(s) -
LEE ANTHONY A.
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
journal of religious history
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.117
H-Index - 13
eISSN - 1467-9809
pISSN - 0022-4227
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-9809.2012.01232.x
Subject(s) - faith , movement (music) , identity (music) , history , religious studies , ancient history , ethnology , law , political science , theology , art , philosophy , aesthetics
Today about one million Baha'is live in Africa. The Baha'i Faith was introduced to the British Cameroons in the early 1950s and spread as a new movement within the networks of the Basel Mission, a Swiss Presbyterian missionary society. Enoch Olinga, an educated African convert from Uganda, was able to act at the centre of the movement without outside supervision and invent new forms of Baha'i identity. His successes are examined, as well as the responses of European missionaries and lay African Christians. African traditional religious practices may have also contributed to rapid Baha'i conversions.