Things Fall Apart
Cover art for Achebe's "Things Fall Apart"
The white man is very clever. He came quietly and peaceably with his religion. We were amused at his foolishness and allowed him to stay. Now he has won our brothers, and our clan can no longer act like one. He has put a knife on the things that held us together and we have fallen apart.
A few weeks ago I asked my students to read the first fifteen-ish pages of Caleb Olapido’s article “African Christendom and the Twenty First Century” published in Ogbomoso Journal of Theology. The reading carries with it a strong critique of the early missionary endeavors and tactics, specifically how the missionaries came in with “doctrines and dogmas” with a decidedly Western bias and “arrogantly authoritative language”.
In our discussion of the article I broached the subject of his critique of the Western missionary endeavors. I knew this would be inherently somewhat awkward considering that I am in fact a missionary from the west. I tried to open the conversation toward a true dialogue and even tried to speak into some of the strange irony of critiquing an endeavor from which we each in the room inherited our faith and (in my case) position. Most of my students averted their eyes and looked at the floor.
I stumbled to find the right words and never really did. Sensing that I had not yet earned their trust enough to have this conversation, I moved on quickly.
One student did say this, though. “I’ve heard it described this way,” he said. “The white man came in with his religion and got our attention. He taught us to bow our heads and pray. And then while we had our eyes closed and our heads bowed in prayer, the white man walked right in and took our gold and our diamonds and our land out from under us.”
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I had heard of this novel entitled “Things Fall Apart” written by a Nigerian author named Chinua Achebe. It’s a tale published in 1958 about the pre- and post-colonial life of a man named Okonkwo. The most famous passage from that book is quoted above. It’s worth repeating.
The white man is very clever. He came quietly and peaceably with his religion. We were amused at his foolishness and allowed him to stay. Now he has won our brothers, and our clan can no longer act like one. He has put a knife on the things that held us together and we have fallen apart.
I had been planning to read it for a while. But after that class, I went home and bought the book. This evening, I’ve just finished it.
I find myself today grieving. Just like that day in front of my students, I don’t think I have the right words or formed-enough thoughts to communicate the complicated and nuanced realities that I am trying to make sense of in my heart. I just know that I grieve. These are strong, capable, wise, and good people that I have come to love. We brought them Jesus and along the way we did enough harm that, even generations after, people continue to inherited the suffering. And I grieve.
Put Achebe's book on your reading list. It will help you see.