BOOK REVIEWS 197important role in African education. Dr Zvobgo considers this matter in allits aspects: government subsidies, organisation, reforms, etc.The ministry of healing was also a means of carrying into Africa thetotal salvation of body and soul, as Christ had done. It was a very convincingway to evangelise. So missionaries opened hospitals, dispensaries andclinics. Initially Africans had no confidence in White doctors. Later on themissionaries gained the confidence of Africans by gentleness supportedby spectacular cures, and missionaries took advantage of this confidenceby ministering to their spiritual needs at the same time.In the last chapter, the author presents some statistics, which showthe growth and expansion of Christianity in Zimbabwe. Of interest is thatordained ministries among the Africans, in spite of the stringent rules,began to appear in almost all the denominations from 1924 on: in theCatholic church, however, the first two priests were ordained only in 1947.Dr Zvobgo offers us a very useful book on how to know and understandthe Christian history of Zimbabwe, which will be an essential basis forfurther investigation. It is a precious contribution to the history of Africa,and in particular to that of Zimbabwe, which cannot ignore the role playedby the churches and their missionaries. Churches have always brought toAfrica the equilibrium for harmonious development. The author showsskill and balance in his presentation. Sometimes we would like to see moreinterpretation, and criticism of the events.Istituto Storica della Compagnia di Ges FRANCISCO A. CORRF.IA, S. J.Via dei Penitenzieri, Roma, ItalyPolitics of Repression and Resistance: Face to Face with Combat TheologyBy Canaan Sodindo Banana. Gweru, Mambo Press, 1996, 335pp., ISBN 0-86922-650-9.Racism among Whites is used to justify what Banana calls a 'combattheology'. He writes,... missionary motives were often at variance with the economic interestsof their Governments, but this in no way detracts from the fact thatEuropean Churches often shared the same attitude of superiority towardsthe beliefs, values, customs and traditions of the peoples of lands beingcolonised.Banana provides a detailed account of the responses of the Church tothe challenge to remove White supremacist policies. He articulates wellthe complex relationship between Church and State in politics, against thebackground of a war of liberation in which Banana himself took part asboth Church leader and politician.198 BOOK REVIEWSFollowing Linden's example of a study of the Catholic Church, Ł Bananapays much attention to those Christians in the history of the Methodistand other Churches who opposed racism. Banana refers to the 'doublemandate' of the Church in Rhodesia. By this he means iirst, the way inwhich the Church acquiesced to the demands of the State to educateAfricans to become good subjects in a colonial state. Second, he refers tothe way in which the Church had the responsibility to challenge the Statethat oppressed Blacks.It is important to note the historical orientation of Banana's book, inparticular, the attention paid to the fight between Whites and Blacks in thesecond Chimurenga. Banana provides a useful historical account of howindividuals and groups of Christians resisted White oppression. We mightquestion Banana's depiction of the historical survey of Church reactionsto racism as a 'combat theology'.There is a whole spectrum of liberation theologies in the third worldthat are movements of protest against oppression, espoused along thelines of class in Latin America, race in North America and with women inmind in both the third and first world. These theologies might help thereader understand the meaning of a combat theology. Given that therewas a war of liberation in Rhodesia, Banana identified a terminology whichhighlights the need to counter White racism. The book gives the impressionthat the religious sector masterminded a clearly organised religious 'war'of liberation from White supremacist policies and simultaneously developeda clearly discernible theology. This in fact is more than what the Churchdid by sporadically raising voices of resistance to the oppression of Blacks.Moreover, the wider society was already caught up in a war againstoppression, whether Christians agreed or not.Since the aim of the Church in opposing government policies inBanana's book is to promote 'a lasting spirit of racial tolerance' (p. 27), theterm 'combat theology' sounds awkward. The word 'combat' connotes aconfrontation in which there must be a winner. In contrast. Banana drawsattention to a necessary dialogue within a community whose aim is toencourage harmonious relations among the different adherents of thesame Christian religion. Key to Christianity is the figure of Jesus who hasalready died for the sins of all and risen in victory.To this day, there are differences in behaviour between Christiansfrom a European background and African Christians. Banana speaks of'the illusion of perceived notions of self-importance' among people of thecolour White. Besides this, there are cultural and linguistic issues whichare key to our understanding of the differences between White and Blacksince the dawn of British imperial rule. If lasting harmonious relationsIan Linden (1980) The Catholic Church and the Struggle for Zimlmhwo (London, Longman).BOOK REVIEWS 199across racial barriers are to be achieved in the Church, there is a need,therefore, to look beyond race. The book is simplistic when it quicklyrejects cultural considerations, which go a long way to explain further thetendency towards racial segregation in the Church and wider society (p.22).Zimbabweans of today live in a society marked by a plurality of modesof being-in-the-world and unfortunately they lack a theology that providesguidelines for facing up to modernity. To make racism the main frameworkfor interpreting the segregation of Blacks from Whites is thus useful, butonly in a limited way. I am not suggesting that colonialism and racism havebecome redundant areas of scholarship. Instead, I am drawing attention towider questions about modern African societies, which continue to havedivisions and appalling injustice prevail despite the fact that White rulehas been eliminated.Finally, more attention could have been paid to editing. For instance,on page 8 reference is made to 'Paul's sterling and spirited attempt toidentify the operative dynamics ..." This is not a reference to Paul'sspirited writings of the New Testament, but the Church historian, PaulGundani. On page 26, one has to guess that 'the Commission' refers to theTheological Commission of the Catholic Church. Dodge wrote to Ian Smithduring the times of Rhodesia in 1966 and not, as stated on page 105, in1996.University of Zimbabwe ISABEL MUKONYORAGospel Ferment in Malawi: Theological Essays, Book 2 By Kenneth Ross.Gweru, Mambo Press, 1995, 151 pp., ISBN 086922-615-0.Christianity in Malawi, A Source Book, Book 3 Edited by Kenneth Ross.Gweru, Mambo Press, 1996, 253 pp., ISBN 086922-641-x.These two books, when read together, bring out a composite picture ofthe Christian history and theology in Malawi, spanning a period of morethan a century (1889-1996).In Gospel Ferment in Malawi, Ross begins his theological reflection byanalysing the Christian social witness in Malawi since the issuing of thePastoral Letter of 8 March 1992 up to the holding of the National Referendumin June 1993. For one to understand the thrust of Ross's arguments in thisessay, it is necessary to refer to documents 18, 19 and 20 in Christianity inMalawi. It is Ross's opinion that the publication of these documents by thelargest Christian Churches in Malawi, i.e. the Roman Catholic Church andthe Presbyterian Church (CCAP), provides 'grounds for suggesting thatthe Church, for all its divisions and failures, acted as a liberating force at akey turning point in Malawian history'.