ABSTRACT
The polysemic concept of polydoxy denotes, among other things, the interactions between multiple socioreligious systems. Polydox dynamics are particularly evident in zones of vibrant interaction. The friction of “systematic misunderstandings”1 that mark intercultural relationships are a major part of the reality of missionary environments and encounters. Encounters, that is, where movable concepts and agents interact to articulate, embody, and contest varieties of doxa, of opinion, custom, and engaged perspective. Reading polydox encounters as contexts that involve friction, and learning from them, is crucial for a constructive theology that aims to come to terms with the ambivalent heritage of missionary Christianity and seeks a way forward through a complex, circumspect, resolute progressive missiology. The story of the Anglican Colenso mission in South Africa, the eventual heresy trial of its founder Bishop John William Colenso (1814-83), and the lifelong activism of his daughter Harriette give clues to the polydox dimensions of Christian evangelism in general, and to Christian missionary efforts in Southern Africa in particular. This story is unique in its particulars, tracing moments in the encounter between a specific family of Anglican missionaries with the Zulu in the province of Natal. But it offers, more generally, a picture of the polydox friction that occurred regularly in Christian mission settings. In this case, we can see it at play in debates around the history and origin of the Zulu, their religious roots and salvation status in comparison to Jews and Christians, the cultural and religious meaning of polygamy, the legal and political status of the Zulu monarchy, and the negotiation of hybrid identities between the cultures of encounter. The fact that the Colenso family so clearly adapted their own theological claims to the circumstances of the Zulu (leading to charges of heresy against the bishop) lifts up the profound mutuality of influence that takes place in these encounters.
