Description: The presence of Indigenous people among the ranks of British missionaries in the nineteenth century complicates narratives of all-powerful missionaries and hapless Indigenous victims. What compelled these men to embrace Christianity? How did they reconcile being both Christian and Indigenous in an age of empire? Tolly Bradford finds answers to these questions in the lives of Henry Budd, a Cree missionary from western Canada, and Tiyo Soga, a Xhosa missionary from southern Africa. He portrays these men not as victims of colonialism but rather as individuals who drew on faith, family, and their ties to Britain to construct a new sense of indigeneity in a globalizing world.
Review Quotes: Offering a fresh perspective on aboriginal leadership and adaptation to Christianity, "Prophetic Identities" is particularly noteworthy in its comparative approach showing the origins of a form of indigenous identity in two very different communities. This book will have a significant impact on the fields of missionary literature, colonial projects, aboriginal-newcomer relationships, and indigenous identity.
- Jean Friesen, Associate Professor of History, University College, University of Manitoba