Mpande's - University of Zululand Institutional Repository

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Negatively, it could be argued that a packaged Christianity ill liturgy
presentation, hymnody and organisation brought about ecclesiastical
alienation among the Zulu people in Mpande's time. This largely
frustrated all efforts at ecclesiastical indigenisation by the Zulu potentate,
Mpande. 76
During the 1860's, in forms ofreligious expression the Christian Western
'civilisation' received greater considerations than the potential of the
Zulu people and their traditions. With the emergence of the Zulu
converts and the influence of Rev. Grout, Mpande's people stomached
Christianity in spite of the differences between the Zulus and the
Christian missionaries in approach to conversion. Rather than doctrine,
the Zulus accentuated the existential value of the Christian message in
their specific situation. One may conclude that Christianity had a deep
Colonial disposition in as far as it became the "servant" of the British
imperialists to facilitate colonial expansion. This manifested itself after
Mpande's death in 1872 when Cetshwayo, Mpande's heir, succeeded as
king.
76
Missionary Herald., 1848, p. 70.