ABSTRACT
An ongoing debate in postcolonial studies concerns the form and nature of resistance in colonized spaces. Crucially in the colonial period this revolves around the role played by the first generation of colonized people to receive European-style education. These were frequently those who had been educated by Christian missions and who had "converted" to Christianity. The word of God has great regard for the authority and greatness of this world. In October 1864, Rev. Tiyo Soga writes about the ways in which the converted treat traditional adherents and criticizes them for refusing the hospitality that traditional Xhosa life demands be given to strangers. In each case, he develops the case for a Christian practice that is lived within and not against the broader culture of the Xhosa people. He suggests again here that religious conversion and Xhosa identity are not mutually exclusive.
