The Dominican friars in Southern Africa : : a social history, 1577-1990 / / by Philippe Denis.

• Superior document: Studies in Christian mission, volume 21
• VerfasserIn: Denis, Philippe, 1952-
• Place / Publishing House: Leiden ;, Boston, MA : : [Brill Academic Publishers],, [1998]; ©1998
• Year of Publication: 1998
• Language: English
• Series: Studies in Christian mission ; v. 21.
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (352 pages) :; illustrations, maps.
• Bibliography: Includes bibliographical references and index.
• ISBN: 9004320016
• ISSN: 0924-9389
• Hierarchical level: Monograph
• Statement of Responsibility: by Philippe Denis.

The purpose of this book is to gather in a single narrative the rather disparate stories of Dominican friars in Southern Africa over the past four centuries. Dominicans from Portugal and Portuguese India were present in South-East Africa from 1577 to 1835. Patrick Raymond Griffith, an Irish Dominican, became the first resident bishop in South Africa in 1837. A Dominican mission was established in 1917 with the arrival of a group of English friars. A second group arrived from the Netherlands in 1932. The aim is to provide a social history of the Dominicans in Southern Africa, that is, a history that deals specifically with the social and cultural factors of historical development. The Dominicans ministered in a political, social and cultural context which impacted on their apostolic activities and, in turn, was affected by them. The book's terminus ad quem is 1990, when the National Party opened a process of political negotiation, thus ending more than forty years of apartheid rule.