Zambezia (1983), XI (i).CHRISTIANITY AND WEALTH IN RURALCOMMUNITIES IN ZIMBABWE1M.F.C. BOURDILLONDepartment of Sociology, University of ZimbabweA NUMBER OF studies in Zimbabwe point to correlations between the adoptionof Christianity and increased wealth in rural communities in Zimbabwe; andone of the purposes of this article is to bring some of the relevant data together.Much of the data comes from a number of surveys in various rural areas ofZimbabwe in the early and mid-1970s, organized by my one-timecolleague in the University of Zimbabwe, Roy Theisen. The data werecollected by field assistants, untrained in the social sciences, using long anddetailed questionnaires. This kind of procedure leaves unsatisfactory gaps inbackground information, making it impossible to build up a detailed andaccurate picture of the communities concerned. Nevertheless, the statisticalinformation thus produced, supported by reports from field assistants, andcompared with earlier studies by DaneeP and Weinrich,3 does raise someinteresting questions on the relationship between the introduction ofChristianity and socio-economic development in Africa.Christian missionaries have widely, and rightly, taken an active interest inthe material welfare of the people among whom they work. In particular, invarious explicit and planned ways, they have been involved in the improve-ment of peasant agriculture and the generation of wealth through agriculture.In Zimbabwe, the government agricultural extension service to the Blacks wasfounded by an American Board missionary, E. D. Alvord, who in 1926 wasappointed as the first'Agriculturalist for the Instruction of Natives', in order tobroaden the scale of the work that he had been doing as a missionary.4 To moveto the present, the Roman Catholic Church runs an institution, Silveira House,which relies on considerable financial resources from outside the country toprovide a wide range of training programmes, from civics to dress-making. The'An early version of this article (summarized in RAIN (Dec. 1982), LIII, 7-9) was presentedto a conference on Emerging Christianity in Modern Africa at Cumberland Lodge, Windsor GreatPark, in February 1982.1 am grateful to participants at the conference, especially to John Peel, foruseful comments. I am indebted to my colleagues, Roy Theisen for access to his unpublished workand for comments on an early draft of the paper; Angela Cheater for detailed criticisms at all stagesof the paper's evolution; and Coenraad Brand for help in the final stages.2M.L. Daneel, Old and New in Southern Shona Independent Churches: Vol. 2: ChurchGrowth Š Causative Factors and Recruitment Techniques (The Hague, Mouton, 1974)."Sister M. Aquina, "Christianity in a Rhodesian Tribal Trust Land', African Social Research(1966). [I], (i), 1-40; "People of the'Spirit: An independent church in Rhodesia'. Africa (1967),XXXVII. 203-19; 'Zionists in Rhodesia', Africa (1969), XXXIX, 113-36.4See M.G. Reid, 'Fifty years; A tribute to E.D. Alvord', NADA (1977). XI, (iv). 432-5.37agricultural programme includes training and the organization of co-operatives and loan schemes: in 1981, the schemes involved 553 active groupsof 20 to 30 farmers in each, and accounted for an input of over Z$ 186,000 inseeds, fertilizers and insecticides. Such planned involvement in peasantagriculture is relevant to some of the data that I will be presenting in this article,but I wish primarily to explore those effects of Christianity on the lives of ruralpeople which were not planned or explicity intended.Missionaries might find attractive broad models of conversion toChristianity in terms of increasing 'scale'5 or of a movement from'microcosm' to 'macrocosm',6 whereby conversion to Christianity is perceivedas one aspect of the opening up of all small encapsulated communities to awider world with new markets, new ideas, new technologies and consequentlyto new sources of wealth. Such tidy models do not, however, explain themechanisms of change: one only has to look at Barrett's study7 of the economicand technological development of a theocratic Nigerian fishing community,through an extreme form of encapsulation, to see the complexity of possiblerelationships between economic and religious issues. A more common featurethat does not appear in a model based on scale is that Christianity oftenfacilitates a stratified accumulation of wealth by legitimating the severing oftraditional obligations, especially towards kin:8 relations are restricted in someareas while being broadened in others.In Zimbabwe, we are looking at plural societies, in which a number ofreligions co-exist, and in which members of a single community can havewidely differing life experiences and widely differing goals. In such acommunity, there is usually a pool of socially acceptable religious responsesfrom which individuals can draw, depending on their particular and immediatecircumstances.9 The result is a religious mobility which belies any uni-directional model of religious change.One way in which economic variables are relevant to religious affiliationin such plural situations is that wealth generated can be an important aspect ofthe plausibility base,10 making particular denominations generally attractive.'See M. Wilson. Religion and the Transformation of Society (Cambridge. Cambridge Univ.Press. 1971).hSee R. Horton. "African conversion'. Africa (1971), XLI. 85-108; 'On the rationality ofconversion", ibid. (1975). XLV, 219-35. 373-99."S.R. Barrett. The Rise and Fall of an Africa Utopia (Waterloo. Ontario, Wilfred LaurierUniv. Press, 1977)."See, for example. L. Mailings, 'Religious change and social stratification in Labadi. Ghana",in G.C. Bond. W. Johnson and S.S. Walker (eds). African Christianity (New York. AcademicPress, 1979). 65-89,l'M.W. Murphree, Christianity and the Shona (London, Athlone Press. 1969). See alsoG.C. Bond, 'Religious co-existence in Northern Zambia: Intellectualism and materialism inYombe belief". Annals of the New York Academy ofSciences (1973). CCCXVIII, 23-36: andM.F.C. Bourdillon. 'Pluralism and problems of belief", A re hives de sciences sociales de s religions(1982). LIV. 21-42."'See P.L. Berger, The Social Reality of Religion (Harmondsworth. Penguin, 1973).38Seen in this way, wealth serves as a symbol which loosely brings togetherworldly success, spiritual salvation and access to truth and power. As in allsymbolism, the significance of wealth lies in the range of connotations that canbe variously attached to it to suit the needs of different people.My emphasis on the relationship between religious affiliation and wealthis not to deny the intellectualist functions of religious belief. In my opinion, it isundeniable that one (but by no means the only) demand which is made of anysymbolic system is that it serves to order, and cognitively to control, puzzlingevents in peoples' lives.11 Although some such events are relativelyindependent of economic issues, such issues are central to many of theproblems that people face, and therefore are likely to be relevant to thereligious choices that people make. So in looking at the relationship ofChristianity and wealth, we are looking at a range of intellectual and materialphenomena, including expressive symbols, intellectual explanations, theunconscious or semi-conscious manipulation of social relationships, andplanned strategies for change. It is appropriate now to present some data.There is evidence that early improvements in agriculture in Zimbabwewere influenced by missionary activity. In an unpublished paper. ProfessorRanger1: has described how, in the Makoni and Wedza Districts, a number ofearly Christians took to the plough and to advice from agricultural extensionworkers in the 1920s and 1930s, and as a result became prosperous farmers,producing and selling among other crops large quantities of high quality maize,notwithstanding the recession and legislation controlling the sale of maize.Ranger linked this advance in agriculture to the fact that the early converts toChristianity were to some extent using Christianity to free themselves from theconstraints of traditional life, and particularly from the traditional authority ofelders. Certainly government officials reported that the youth, and particularlygirls, were escaping the control of their elders through missionary influence. Inthese cases, material development, the introduction of Christianity, andcontact with the wider world were all linked.But simply to see change in terms of increasing scale is not adequate. In1930 the Land Apportionment Act was passed, delimiting land available toBlacks, and in particular delimiting land available for traditional tenure anduse. By the 1930s, land shortages were beginning to become a problem in thetribal areas, and one of the causes of this problem was that enterprisingChristian farmers were expanding their lands indiscriminately, leavinginsufficient for the youth of their districts or for those who were away in wageemployment. Indeed, Ranger sees the growth of new independent churches inthe Makoni District partly as a reaction against the established Christian elite.It might have been the case that the traditional elite of relatively wealthy men"See R, Horton, 'African traditional thought and Western science. Africa (1961), XXXVII,51-71,94-114.1:T.O. Ranger, 'Poverty and Population: Religious Movements in the Makoni District,1929-40' (Salisbury, Univ. of Zimbabwe, History Dep., Henderson Seminar 51, 1981),39had best access to resources offered by missionaries, to the effect that the newtechnology merely underlined existing divisions between rich and poor. Or theresources offered by the missionaries may have created new differences ofwealth. In either case, the prosperity that some gained in conjunction with theadoption of Christianity resulted in greater imbalance and divisions withinlocal communities. It seems likely that here as elsewhere in Africa, u con-version to Christianity involved a greater emphasis on the individual at theexpense of the kinship group as a corporate" economic unit. Entry into theeconomy of the macrocosm involved dropping of some of one's responsi-bilities to members of the microcosm.In the more contemporary situation, Theisen's studies have shownaffiliation to specific Christian churches to be a significant factor in socio-economic development, although in different areas different denominationsare significant.14From his first study in Chiwundura in the Midlands of Zimbabwe, Theisennoted that religious influences were important in agricultural developmentand family security. He also noticed, however, that these influences could notbe measured on a simple linear scale relating them to other variables.15 Hegives a brief account of one uneducated tribesman who became friendly withthe agricultural demonstrator working in his area, and who began to adoptofficially preferred methods of crop rotation and fertilization. During the trialstage, however, one of his children became seriously ill, which was interpretedas displeasure from ancestral spirits at too close co-operation with Whites. Theman and his wife started to avoid the demonstrator, and reverted to oldagricultural methods.16 More generally, Theisen's research indicated acorrelation between poverty and the practice of traditional religion, throughthe interplay of a complex of factors. The correlation is real; the reasons for itmay be speculative. Poorer people have poorer health; and frequent sickness,together with a shortage of food and other basic requirements for life, lead togreater anxiety. It is in sickness that traditional religion is likely to come to thefore, in demanding the appeasement of ancestors who are responsible for thehealth of descendants. Ancestors, in turn, are associated with the kinship"See N. Long. Social Change and the Individual (Manchester. Manchester Univ. Press,1963), 216-1 7: Mailings, 'Religious change and social stratification in Labadi, Ghana'. 86; Bond.'Religious coexistence in Northern Zambia: Intellectualism and materialism in Yombe belief, 24.14In view of Dr Weinricrf s (Sister Aquina's) comments at the conference that missionarieshave on the whole helped only an emerging bourgeoisie (see RAIN (Apr. 1982), XLIX. 2). itshould be noticed that the wealth of Christians discussed in this article is a relative concept. Theyremain for the most part subsistence farmers, with support from migrant labour. In Chiwundura,only 5 percent of farmers obtained ZS100 or more from agricultural sales in the 1969/70 season.The majority of farmers in Daneel's study of 1966 obtained less than £10 from grain sales, andthose who obtained £32 or more were classified in the wealthiest group. Such incomes are farremoved from the middle-class origins of most missionaries.'Ł'R.J. Theisen, "The Cultivation of Vleis in the Queque Tribal Trust Land* (Salisbury, TribalAreas of Rhodesia Research Foundation, 1973), Appendix B. 10."'R.J. Theisen, "Concepts of Social Change: Queque Tribal Trust Land Research' (in itsauthor's possession, n.d.).40groups descended from them,17 and attention to ancestors is likely toemphasize the corporate nature of the kinship group and the relationships ofproduction which involve the co-operation of the group. More generally,ancestors are associated with the past and with tradition: those who mostfrequently deal with ancestral spirits are likely to be relatively conservative intheir general outlook. They are less likely to accept agricultural innovations,and so are less likely to increase their production of food. A further finding isthat a lack of security leads to a high birth rate, which, in areas where allavailable land is already in use, stretches limited resources even more thinlyamong the population.18 The vicious circle is complete.The adoption of Christianity (the alternative to traditional religion)appears to be related to an improvement in the standards of living, though theprecise nature of this relationship is not clear. Some church members in thecommunities concerned recognized this, and explicitly associated traditionalreligious practices with those who were 'backward1 and poor farmers:improved farming is symbolically associated with Christian affiliation.Certainly when farmers discover that correct application of fertilizer is moreeffective than the blessing of a spirit medium, traditional religion loses some ofits power. (Equally, traditionalists readily blame their poor crops onChristians who refuse to take part in traditional rituals.) Theisen conductedfurther studies in Bare, a wan-me protected village north of Harare; inMatshetshe, in the arid south of Zimbabwe; and in Gutu, a densely populatedarea in south-central Zimbabwe. In all of these cases, Christian familiestended to be wealthier, to pay more positive attention to agricultural extensionworkers, and to feed and educate their children better than traditionalists.19These findings are supported by Daneel's studies using random samplesacross a broader area of Southern Shona country.2"One obvious reason which suggests itself is that the missionary churcheshave had resources which have not been available to the rest of the population.This factor does not, however, provide a satisfactory explanation in itself. TheChristians do not comprise a homogeneous group. In each of the communitiesstudied by Theisee, one Christian denomination stood out as beingsignificantly more orientated to social and economic development than theirneighbours. In Bare and Chiwundura, it was the Salvation Army; inMatshetshe it was the Brethren in Christ Church; in Gutu it was the AfricanReformed Church (the African mission of the Dutch Reformed Church of"See M.F.C. Bourdillon. Shona Peoples (Gweru. Mambo Press, 2nd edn, 1 982), 21 7-22.1KR.J. Theisen, 'The Exploding Population Problem in the Tribal Trust Lands of Rhodesia'(Salisbury. Tribal Areas of Rhodesia Research Foundation. 1975): 'Variables of populationgrowth', Zamhezia (1977). V, 161 -8."R.J. Theisen, 'The Nutrition and Physical Development of Children in Three TribalCommunities of Rhodesia* (Salisbury. Tribal Areas of Rhodesia Research Foundation. 1977);'Religion and attitudes to the tribal extension service", NADA (1979), XII. (i). 48-51.:"M.L. Daneel, Old and New in Southern Shona Independent Churches: Vol. 2: ChurchGrowth Š Causative Factors and Recruitment Techniques, 95-100.41South Africa). Other churches with large resources to back them up, and inparticular the Roman Catholic Church, did not feature in the same way.Indeed, in Theisen's Gutu study, there were very few traditionalists, and theeconomic successes of Reformed Church members stood out precisely incontrast with members of the Roman Catholic Church. So one cannot explainthe successes of particular denominations simply in terms of the injection ofresources from outside the communities concerned.Theisen also notes that it is not simply a case of wealthier people beingattracted to the churches. Members of church families in Theisen's studies didnot have significantly larger livestock holdings than their neighbours (althoughlivestock is a significant variable in Daneel's study). Livestock holdingsnormally correlate with higher crop yields: they comprise a ready investmentfor successful farmers, and they provide natural fertilizer and draught power.Theisen points out, however, that the church members whom he wasdiscussing obtained their higher yields from capital resources similar to thoseof the rest of the community, A further point could be made that often it isprecisely individuals of traditionally low status in a community who seekwealth and status in new institutions such as Christian churches.21Another important variable that correlates with economic success iseducation. Christians on the whole have higher educational achievements thannon-Christians rInitial conversions to Christianity were made largely throughor in response to the influence of mission schools, and the families mostcommitted to education are still usually Christians. Theisen's researchesshowed generally a very strong correlation between the attainment of minimaleducation of family heads and their wives (five years of primary schooling inthe case of men; women apparently need less schooling for similar effects), andan improved standard of living in the household, including better agriculturalmethods (and more favourable attitudes to extension services), better nutritionand health among the children, and better standards of hygiene. This suggeststhat through the provision of minimal education, Christian institutions havehelped to improve the standards of living of many rural poor.But some aspects of Theisen's data indicate that education alone does notexplain the improved standards of living among Christians. He divided churchmembers into 'regular church-goers', who attended services at least once amonth, and those who attended less regularly. Statistically, the better educatedattended church slighly less regularly, but regular church-goers had asignificantly better diet and healthier children. Religion is related to ruraldevelopment apart from the provision of educational services.Theisen related his findings to 'stress', which he measured by means of avariety of economic and nutritional factors, and which includes apsychological connotation. He points out that in the highly stressed situation ofthe wartime 'protected village' of Bare, the difference between traditionalists2'See G.K. Garbett, "Prestige, status and power in a modern Valley Korekore chiefdom.Rhodesia', Africa (1967). XXVII, 307-26.42and Christians became more than usually pronounced: many traditionalistsdeveloped negative attitudes to extension workers (who were employed bygovernment) and had total crop failures, while Christians were relativelystable in attitudes and production. Theisen argued that Christianity providessome kind of psychological ability to cope with their new social, economic andtechnological environments, in a way that fits in with Morton's intellectualistmodel for conversion to Christianity. The exact mechanism, however, bywhich Christianity has this effect remains somewhat vague. What is certain isthat there are variables at work, in the social organization and perhaps somekind of ethic dominant in particular churches, which are too subtle to appear inthe broad, macro-economic picture.One factor suggested by Theisen is the 'strong internal cohesion'22 ofcertain denominations, achieved principally through various voluntaryassociations. The Salvation Army in Bare, for example, had four of these: theHome League, the Auxiliary Home League, the Corps Cadets and the Groupof Mercy. The Home League comprised the married women of the Church.They met weekly, dressed in their Salvation Army uniforms, to sing and pray,and to discuss matters concerning the running of the home, including childcare, hygiene and various crafts which could bring in a little income or makehome life more comfortable. The Auxiliary Home League was for unmarriedgirls, who were prepared for married life at their meetings when they weretaught marriage etiquette and such crafts as sewing, knitting and cooking. TheCorps Cadets was for boys and girls, who met weekly to learn about the Bible,and about how to conduct Salvation Army services. The Group of Mercycomprised volunteers who collected cash for the poor, the sick and thedisabled, and who worked collectively to provide labour in the fields and anyother help for those in need: the work of this group received much favourablecomment throughout the Bare community. Of the Salvation Army associations,the women's were particularly significant for household management, sincemany men at any given time were absent on migrant labour, and manyhouseholds were accordingly managed by women. All the associations,however, served to unite the members of the Salvation Army into a tightly knitcommunity in which mutual exchange of information and mutual assistancewere common practice. In contrast, the Roman Catholic Church conductedweekly services in Bare, but had little influence on the weekday lives of itsmembers; and economically, Catholics rated well behind members of theSalvation Army, although on average they were still better off thantraditionalists.There are equivalent associations outside the churches. In Bare, there wasa womea'i society of thirty-six members, which was primarily concerned withhelping members to collect funds for expensive household items; the womenalso disseminated skills of homecraft when they met. There was also a*:R.J. Theisen, 'Development in rural communities", Zamhezia (1975). IV, 97.43women's club, a girls' club and a young farmers' club, all sponsored bygovernment agencies; these had a combined membership of just over 100 in atotal population of over 4,000. They were hindered by intense hostilitytowards the government, and. although they may have helped their members alittle, they had little influence on the community as a whole.Another factor relating to agricultural development in particular churchesis a long-standing interest in agriculture on the part of certain missionaries.Theisen cites a legend about an early Dutch Reformed missionary whotravelled around with a whip in one hand and a seedling in the other. Theinterest of church leaders in agriculture receives added incentive when asystem of tithing a tenth of one's crop to the church is operated, as in somebranches of the Salvation Army. Whatever the reason, regular churchattendance in the specified churches correlates statistically with favourableattitudes to government agricultural extension services.23 This does not implyan uncritical acceptance of all that these services offer. There is generaldissatisfaction with official advice on animal husbandry, which involvescontrol of the size of livestock holdings, and particular extension workersbecame unpopular among certain church members when, for example, theystrongly advocated growing tobacco against the expressed ethic of thechurches concerned, or through supporting the government ban on cultivatingvlei land (which is the most fertile land, although its cultivation involves a riskof severe soil erosion). Still less are the church members uncritical of widergovernment policies. Nevertheless, regular church-goers, encouraged by theirorganizations, are appreciative of any help offered in the agricultural field, andmake good use of this help.There is also a relationship between crop yields and the consumption ofalcohol. Across the populations studied by Theisen, a high incidence of beerdrinking correlated with low crop yields. The cause and effect relationship isnot clear: excessive consumption of alcohol may result in less attention tofarming and low crop yields, or it may equally be the result of stress caused bylow crop yields. The churches concerned generally strongly condemn theconsumption of alcohol, and it seems reasonable to assume that thisprohibition has a positive influence on agricultural output. This is not tosuggest a simply utilitarian understanding of the ban on alcohol. A refusal todrink millet beer is a defiance of an important aspect of traditional social life; italso involves a rejection of the traditional way of obtaining agricultural labour,through work parties rewarded by ample supplies of millet beer. The ban onalcohol therefore can be a symbolic assertion of a new system of social andeconomic relations. We should notice that the ban on alcohol alone does notaccount for the success or failure of particular religious groups: the ChibarirweChurch in Gutu defiantly allows beer drinking in opposition to the Reformed2:'RJ, Theisen, 'Motivation and Extension in Tribal Communities: Part 1: LivestockExtension' (Salisbury. Tribal Areas of Rhodesia Research Foundation, 1978), 4Š5.44Church, and yet its members are among the wealthiest of all church groups inthe area.24 Nevertheless, a ban on alcohol is a significant factor in most of thereligious systems which are related to increased agricultural production.We come now to the question of church rales and control, Theisenclassifies the Salvation Army in Bare, the Reformed Church in Gutu and theBrethren in Christ in Matshetshe as 'proscriptive churches', in that all stronglyemphasize prohibitions, such as those on alcohol, on smoking and particularlyon traditional religious practices. These he contrasts with the Anglican andthe Methodist churches in Chiwundura, and the Roman Catholic Church inBare, Gutu and Chiwundura, which pay less attention to such prohibitons. Theorganization of proscriptive churches is relevant here: they all give a degree ofautonomy to local congregations, which in turn are controlled by their localchurch councils. These councils are in close touch with all members of theirrespective congregations, and are well informed on the activities of members.They also have the power to impose sanctions, usually in the form of some kindof suspension of rights of membership, to maintain the clearly defined taboosof the churches. In this way, these churches are able to maintain more rigidcontrol over their members than is possible in non-prescriptive churches.Possibly, Theisen here is simply focusing on the negative side of tightly-knit, co-operative communities: I have mentioned the 'internal cohesion' ofcertain churches which Theisen relates to the economic successes of theirmembers. Certainly the difference between 'prescriptive' and 'non-prescriptive'churches cannot be reduced simply to a matter of sanctions and control. TheMethodists in Matshetshe, who did not achieve the economic successes ofproscriptive churches, also give a degree of autonomy to local church councils,which also operate sanctions against breaches of certain church regulations.They are particularly strong on marriage rules, demanding that all marriedcouples hold a Methodist marriage certificate and denying membership to anywho are 'illegally' married. They discourage many traditional practices, but donot take a very strong stand on issues relating to traditional religious beliefs.The stand against all traditional religion is characteristic of all 'proscriptive'churches.This is perhaps a significant symbolic defiance of communal norms andvalues. Returning to the case of Bare, the Salvation Army had a permanentchurch, which stood out from the crowded and hurriedly assembled huts of theresidential area, and from which every Sunday the uniformed armyostentatiously marched out behind their band through the village, ostensibly toattract new members to their congregation. People who were happy to standout in this way, were also prepared to reject the demands of traditional religion,and took a more favourable attitude towards the efforts of employees of govem-24See ML. Daneel, Old and New in Southern Shona Independent Churches: Vol. 1:Background and Rise of Major Movements (The Hague, Mouton, 197 i), 262; Old and New inSouthern Shona Independent Churches, Vol. 2: Church Growth Š Causative Factors andRecruitment Techniques, 95-9.45ment extension services, notwithstanding the prevailing wartime feeling againstanything to do with government. Equally, they had few inhibitions againstbehaviour, and particularly success, which according to traditional valuesmight have laid them open to suspicions of witchcraft. They had turned them-selves into an exclusive group, who were free to innovate in a variety of ways.This freedom from the values of the wider society requires strictconformity to the values of the exclusive group. The cohesion of theproscriptive churches is bought at a price, and two of them were sufferinglosses in membership. In Matshetshe, a number of people had been leaving theBrethren in Christ Church for other churches in the area, ostensibly on thegrounds that their former church was too inflexible in its application of its rules.People have also been leaving the Reformed Church in Gutu, a point whichleads us on to Daneel's researches on independent churches in Gutu.Daneel looked at the social background of the peoples that he wasstudying, including their economic statuses and agricultural production.Although the few relatively well paid professionals were usually members ofmission churches, the overall picture was that members of independentchurches had more livestock and produced greater agricultural yields than didmembers of mission churches, and that traditionalists were poorest of all.25The independent churches in question would come under Theisen'sclassification of proscriptive churches, in that they emphasize prohibitionsagainst all forms of traditional religion, and most of them against alcohol,tobacco and sometimes against all forms of medication. The detection andcleansing of witches is a perennial practice in the more popular of theindependent churches, which further suggests an intolerance of any deviancefrom community norms.A number of problems arise out of Daneel's material. Theisen argues thatindependent church members are less successful than members of proscriptivemissionary churches. When Daneel's data on the Roman Catholic Church andon the African Reformed Church are separated out from the broad category of'mission churches', we find that statistically Catholics were only slightly morewealthy than traditionalists, and that Reformed Church members werecomparable from the economic point of view with members of independentchurches. In agricultural production, the Reformed Church had of all groupsthe largest percentage of high producers and were second only to traditionalistsin their percentage of low producers. A further point that needs to be taken intoconsideration is that family size tends to be larger in the independent churchesthan in mission churches since the former allow polygamy, and consequentlytheir production must be spread over a larger population.It is possible that outside the area in which independent churches werenumerically dominant (that is, outside the areas studied by Daneel),25See DaneeL Old and New in Southern Shona Independent Churches: Vol. 2: ChurchGrowth Š Causative Factors and Recruitment Techniques, 56-67, 93-100,46independent churches sometimes acquired the status of poor peripheralgroups. This view is supported by Dr Weinrich's study of a southern Shonacommunity in the early 1960s.26 She presents a picture in which Christianmission churches were at the top of a class structure measured by educationand income, pagans were at the bottom, with independent churches inbetween. Her data on agricultural income, however, included only two familiesfrom an independent church, too few for any conclusions to be drawn; and therest of this data supports the ranking given by Daneel, with Reformed Churchmembers more successful than Catholic and traditionalists poorest of all(although Weinrich has these further behind Catholics than does Daneel). Thevariations could be due to changes over time, the gaps between less sucessfulpeasants closing as land becomes increasingly scarce, or they may be duevariables relating to the different locations of the three sets of data.On education, Daneel agrees with Weinrich: mission church members areon the whole better educated than members of independent churches, andtraditionalists have on average less education than any Christian groups. Afurther point made by Theisen is that independent churches have outstandinglyhigh rates of infant mortality, due partly to their reluctance to seek medicationat least until their faith-healers have patently failed. Theisen also points outthat, in his studies, children in the independent churches were smaller and hadall the symptoms of being less well nourished than children of other Christianchurches. This fits in with Daneel's finding that although Reformed Churchmembers tended to harvest more grain than their counterparts in independentchurches, the former sold less: and they had higher supplementary incomes inwage employment Although Daneel's data show a correlation between theindependent churches and successful agricultural production, this successdoes not necessarily correlate with development in other spheres of life.The treatment of sickness is important Daneel states that healing is themost specific power of attraction to the popular 'spirit-type' churches.27 Theprophets and faith-healers in these churches claim to be able to exorcisetroubling spirits that cause illness Š and the anxiety that goes with it. The factthat affliction and its solution is important in conversion to these churchespoints to the importance of adequate intellectual explanations for disquietingevents. But it also points to other problems which may be causing anxiety, andwhich may be partly resolved in independent churches: economic problemsover daily subsistence, political problems concerning domination by Whites,identity problems in a changing world, and others. Daneel makes littlereference to attendant kin of patients seeking healing, and presumably, as hasbeen found elsewhere,28 healing is sought and received on an individual basis2<>Sister M. Aquina, "Christianity in a Rhodesian Tribal Trust Land', 1-4G; 'People of theSpirit: An independent church in Rhodesia". 203-19; "Zionists in Rhodesia", 113-36.-"Daneel, Old and New in Southern Shona Independent Churches: Vol. 2: Church GrowthŠ Causative Factors and Recruitment Techniques, 186-8.:8MuIlings. 'Religious change and social stratification in Ladadi, Ghana", 71-9.47rather than in the context of a kinship group as is the case in traditional healing:this in turn suggests that the problems resolved in independent churches relateto the changing structure of social relations in which individuals are free tochoose their own ways and their own associates.An important point which emerges from Daneel's material is thateconomic success is not a guarantee of popularity. The independent churchmembers are successful in peasant agriculture, and these churches wereclearly still growing rapidly at the time of DaneeKs study. But the RomanCatholic Church was also growing (membership in the Gweru diocese, whichembraces Gutu, had increased by over 70 per cent in the seven years leadingup to 1966) with little corresponding economic advantage to back it up; whilethe Reformed Church was losing as many members as it was recruiting,notwithstanding the relative wealth of its members.Daneel discusses in some detail the difference between the ReformedChurch and the Roman Catholic Church in Gutu,29 He was primarilyinterested in differences which could explain the greater number of defectionsfrom the Reformed Church. He argued that the two churches had few practicaldifferences in most fields. The Catholic Church, however, fortuitously startedto introduce schools into Gutu shortly after the Reformed Church had causedfrustration through enforced retrenchment and in recent years the Catholicauthorities had made a popular political stand against the White governmentwhich contrasted with the non-committed approach of the authorities in theReformed Church (a point which Daneel, perhaps, underplays). Nevertheless,Daneel argued that the most significant difference between the two churcheswas in their approaches to traditional customs and religion.Daneel points to a theological difference between the Roman Catholicview that man can acquire naturally a degree of goodness and of knowledge ofGod, and the Protestant view that without grace man is utterly corrupt Thisdifference has resulted in different approaches to traditional culture. TheRoman Catholic Church (at least in recent years) has tried to adopt and adaptmuch of traditional culture, even incorporating traditional rites in honour ofancestral spirits into Catholic ritual. The Reformed Church, on the other hand,has been rigidly opposed to various aspects of traditional cultures; certaintraditional marriage procedures are disciplined as adultery; the Church took aradical stand against beer drinking (which has become slightly lenient inpractice in recent years); nor are traditional expressions of joy in ululating,clapping and dancing allowed in services; any participation in traditional ritesis condemned. A further point made by Daneel is that the Reformed Churchformally brings disciplinary offences before a council and imposes sanctions,with the result that it is seen to implement its rules more rigidly than doCatholics.29Daneei, Old and New in Southern Shona Independent Churches: Vol. 1: Backgroundand Rise of Major Movements, ! 88-281,48The aspects of church organization which Daneel sees as making theReformed Church less popular are closely associated with those that infheisen's view have made its members economically successful: tightŁŁ )rganization and control, and an intolerant exclusiveness towards other pointsŁ >f view Š the converse of breadth in the scale of social relations.There are, however, other possible interpretations of the data. One paysattention to the different social and economic forces that operate at variousstages in a person's life.30 The Reformed Church was the earliest Christiandenomination in the area, introducing to people the resources ofmissionary organizations. Whether because enterprising young men were ablethrough the Church to free themselves of the restrictions of elders, or becausethe wealthiest in the community were best able to tap the resources provided bymissionaries, leading church members, as elsewhere in the country, quicklybecame identifiable as a wealthy elite. At a later stage in a man's life, he mightseek to increase his wealth and status by increasing the size of his family Špolygamy necessitated conversion to an independent church. In this model, itwould be relatively wealthy Reformed Church members (though not thecontrolling elite) who convert to the independent churches. Alternatively, areason for conversion could be frustration among middle-ranking ReformedChurch members at the economic and political control of the wealthy elite,which would explain the low incidence of middle producers in the ReformedChurch.Another reason for conversion from the Reformed Church to independentchurches could be political. This could be symbolic: a reaction against achurch which is associated with South Africa and which made no politicalstand on behalf of its Black members. The political factor in some casescertainly operated at the level of leadership; ambitious individuals cuttingthemselves free from subordination to a foreign authority, to acquire moreautonomous authority in an independent church. Or the political factor couldbe construed in material terms; some people may have considered it to be totheir greater material advantage in the long term to take a strong nationaliststand, rather than to compromise such a stand in the Reformed Church forshort-term access to resources.The data do not enable us to separate out these factors. In practice, theyare all probably influential, together with the medical and religious factorsemphasized by Daneel, with particular individuals joining for differentreasons.The wealth of independent church members does coincide with Theisen' semphasis on the importance of control and exclusiveness. The independent- hurches accept much of the traditional cosmology in terms of explainingevents, and in particular of explaining sickness in terms of spiritual causes.'"Following Bond, 'Religious co-existence in Northern Zambia: lntellectualism andŁmaterialism in Yombe belief. 23-36.49They reject, however, traditional afflicting spirits as evil: spirits relating tofamilies or local communities are to be exorcised rather than accommodated.and only the universal high god is to be appeased. Although the independentchurches may offer substantially identical replacements for some traditional -religious practices 31 and are usually sympathetic to backsliders,32 in theirideology they all reject traditional religion in any unmodified form. Most rejectthe consumption of alcohol and smoking. The point I wish to make is that the _religious groups which have a distinctly higher standard of living than others inrural populations are those which encourage a positive rejection of aspects oftraditional culture, symbolic of their immersion into new patterns of social.relations.Nevertheless, in the independent churches there is also an emphasis onpositive aspects of religious behaviour, including weekly attendance at x,services, style of dress, styles of family life (including polygamy), and closecommunity ties within the churches. Theisen's data indicate that regularchurch attendance is as important as proscriptions; and admission to a mission .church is often associated with new forms of behaviour (such as those learnedat school), I suggest that what is important is that the churches in questionencourage a strong community identity, reinforced by distinctive modes of —behaviour.In specific instances, church behaviour includes a factor which provides aclear economic advantage. A. P. Cheater's study33 of a small group of farmers .belonging to one of these independent churches, who had migrated to afreehold-farming area, shows a development of their success in agriculture. Inthis relatively wealthy area, a group of fourteen farmers belonging to theindependent church of Apostles of Maranke stood out from the community atlarge as being property-owners of considerable substance. Cheater analyses "this economic factor in terms of the exploitation of female labour. Femalelabour was an important factor in the freehold farms generally:'4 although inthis progressive community polygamy carried the stigma of backwardness, the *Apostles* religion appealed to Old Testament precedents in order to legitimatethe institution, which they espoused as an ideal. Through the labour of womenin polygamous households, male heads were able to increase their outputs and "profits, and to invest in capital equipment for their farms. This advantage in ,available labour was reinforced by the tight network of mutual aid within whichthe church members operated, which in turn was reinforced by an ethnic factorlwhereby most of the church members had a common place of origin.11 See M.F.C. Bourdiilon. T. Mashita and M. Glickman 'Traditional religion and anindependent church", in M.F.C. Bourdiilon (e<±). Christianity South of the Zambezi: Vol. -2(Gwelo, Mambo Press, 1977), 193-209.-See. for examples, Murphree, Christianity and the Shona."A.P. Cheater, 'The social organization of religious difference among the Vapostori weMaranke'. Social Analysis (1981). VII, 24-49.<4See A.P. Cheater. 'Women and their participation in commercial agricultural production:The case of medium-scale freehold in Zimbabwe". Development and Change {1981). XII. 349-77.50I do not wish to generalize from this rather special case. The vast majorityof independent church members studied by Daneel were not emergentcapitalists. Indeed, Cheater points out how in a number of ways the Vapostoriwhom she studied had modified aspects of church organization and life style tofit in with the bureaucratic institutions in the freehold community. Neverthe-less, the case of the freehold farmers highlights a number of important points.The Vapostori provided an ethic which had a clear economic advantage; thisadvantage was recognized by church members; nevertheless, the expressedmotives for attending services and the organization of the Church were basedon religious rather than economic issues.Finally, this case emphasizes the fact that the rejection by independentchurches of traditional culture is often selective. Polygamy, which haseconomic advantages for men, is usually maintained. So are accusationsof witchcraft, which help to control church members Š especially women.Traditional explanations of illness maintain their force, with modified ways ofdealing with them. Independent church members reject, however, thetraditional economic order and the cults which purport to maintain it Indeed,an important aspect of their ideology is to mediate between a need for thetraditional cosmology to interpret misfortune, and a rejection of the cultsconcerned with control over family and land, which had patently beensurpassed both economically and politically. Equally, they reject anysuggestion, whether patent or subtly symbolic, on the part of mission churchesthat White people are superior to Blacks.I shall now try to draw the data together into some conclusions. The first is thatthe broad schemes of change in terms of an increase in scale or a movementfrom the microcosm to the macrocosm obscure the social mechanisms workingin individual communities. To understand religious changes, one needs toknow something of the political, economic and social contexts in which theytake place. These contexts involve a fluidity of relationships over time.Although economic success in peasant agriculture normally results fromrelations with the macrocosm, a key factor in this success is often an ability tocut oneself off from some aspects of traditional community life, A change inreligion can often provide an ideological justification for breaches in traditionalmoral behaviour. Christianity offers a new way of life, and those who act inviolation of certain traditional values, whether it be to refuse to spend money ata neighbour's beer drink or to hoard surpluses in order to educate one'schildren, can give their behaviour a certain moral respectability by selectivelyappealing to their new religion, provided that religion is socially acceptable."Ł'?If a church is too disruptive of traditional values, justified behaviour in the eyes of itsmembers may be rejected by the community at large. See Bond's account of hostility in Uyombe.Zambia, to members of the Lumpa sect(G.C. Bond. "A prophecy that failed: The Lumpa Churchof Uyombe. Zambia', in G.C. Bond. W. Johnson and S.S. Walker (eds). African Christianity,137-60).51Male members of independent churches use religious ideology to justify .polygamy to their economic advantage. One way in which religion can assist:certain people to improve their economic status is to relieve them of theconstraints of social values and obligations.Another way in which religion can help to improve people's incomes is bycreating tightly-knit co-operative communities. In such communities,individuals necessarily lose a degree of autonomy. Life styles are communally ^determined and carefully controlled Behaviour in such communities contrastswith the broad tolerance that one might expect as societies increase in scaleand incorporate a variety of values and cosmologies.As societies increase in scale, a wider choice of possibilities may be madeavailable to its members. These are likely to break up what homogeneity ofpractices and values may have previously existed in any society. Contact with x.the wider world is thus likely to result in divisions within a society beingaccentuated Š especially divisions based on wealth differentials. The socialrelations of individuals within the society do not necessarily become broader...Indeed, they are unlikely to do so while their primary material interest remainswithin the local agricultural community.As a plurality of options becomes open to individuals in society, they rbecome less totally tied to the kinship or neighbourhood groups into which theywere born. Symbolic systems which focus on these groups lose their force.Individuals who successfully enter the world which encourages individual.initiative for the acquisition of wealth and status are likely to adopt acosmology in which the old symbols focusing on corporate groups arereplaced by symbols which allow a freedom of association. A Christian churchprovides a ready cosmology, together with a set of social relations with peoplewho have chosen, and are able to follow, a given style of life. Seen in this way, *the various Christian churches are responses to stratification, as much ascauses of it The way of life prevalent in a particular church may be as much abarrier against relationships with those who cannot afford the life style, as it is a *result of the help given to church members: in either case it becomes a symbolintegral to church affiliation.In practice, all the studies I have referred to took place before the "independence of Zimbabwe. It is not certain that Christianity will continue to ,carry overriding connotations of progress. Even in the 1960s, traditionalreligion, centering on legends of a glorious past, began to attract manypolitically progressive persons.36 Since independence, there have been casesreported in which traditional spirit mediums are leaders in the improvement offarming techniques, and show initiative in overthrowing outdated customs: this *is accompanied by adapting traditional genealogies in order to unitefragmented local cults into a unified national religious system.37 Whether such36See P. Fry. Spirits of Protest (Cambridge, Cambridge Univ. Press, 1976), 107-20."This comes from as yet unpublished research carried out by David Lan.52religious initiatives will prove successful remains to be seen. For the momentthey are simply a warning against assuming that Christianity will maintain itspast superiority over traditional religion in encouraging agriculturalinnovations.My emphasis OE the relationship between material interests and religiousaffiliation is dictated by my topic. I agree with my Marxist colleagues inrejecting a conception of the symbolic order which attributes to it a dynamicautonomy divorced from economic and political processes in human life. But Ialso agree with Wim van Binsbergen when he points to the limitations of anycurrent Marxist approach with respect to religious symbols.38 Whatever thematerial base that gives rise to, and supports, certain symbols in the firstinstance, the symbols appear to acquire an autonomous power to influencebehaviour, which I suspect defies a Marxist framework. I have no clearsolution to the understanding of symbols Š perhaps my own confusion is amore accurate portrayal of their nature than any neat theory. But I would liketo return to Horton's emphasis on the intellectualist function of religion. Onedemand made of a symbolic system is that it helps people to order, andcognitively to control, puzzling events in their lives. Economic processescomprise an important core to these events, and consequently must beinfluential in determining the acceptability of any symbolic system. But theinfluence of a symbolic system OE the economic order implies the importanceto behaviour of some kind of intellectual completeness. Economic processesdo not comprise the totality of events to be explained; there are political eventsat both macro and micro levels; there are relations with friends and kin, manyof which are dominated by psychological rather than economic factors; thereare sickness and other personal misfortunes; and there are many puzzlingevents which impinge on peoples' curiosity rather than their interestConsequently symbolic systems come under these relatively autonomousinfluences as well.The success of different forms of Christianity in Africa, as of othersymbolic systems, depends on their ability to cope with a wide range ofproblematic events Š in general terms, to relieve stress. We should, however,be careful to discern precisely what kinds of problems are being solved in anyone situation, and we should not presume that proven success in any one field(such as agriculture, where success can be easily measured) implies a moregeneralized success in others.8W.MJ. van Binsbergen, Religious Change in Zambia: Exploratory Studies (London,Kpoan Paul 1Q8H MRoutledge and Kegan Paul, 1981), 69.53