Includes bibliographical references (p. [451]-489) and index.

"Elbourne shows that while the Khoekhoe used Christianity as a tool to combat aspects of colonialism, throughout the nineteenth century there were broad shifts in the relationship of missions to colonialism as the British missionary movement became less internationalist, more respectable, and more emblematic of the British imperial project. She argues that it is symptomatic of the ambiguities of this relationship that many Christian Khoekhoe ultimately rebelled against the South African colony. Across the white settler empire missionaries brokered bargains - rights in exchange for cultural change, for example - that brought Aboriginal peoples within the aegis of empire but, ultimately, were only partially and ambiguously fulfilled."--Jacket.

Prelude: James Read and History -- "The Lord Is Seen to Ride on the Whirlwind": Protestant Evangelicalism in the 1790s -- Terms of Encounter: Graaff-Reinet, the Khoekhoe, and the South African LMS at the Turn of the Nineteenth Century -- War, Conversion, and the Politics of Interpretation -- Khoisan Uses of Christianity -- The Rise and Fall of Bethelsdorp Radicalism under the British, 1806-17 -- The Political Uses of Africa Remade: The Passage of Ordinance 50 -- "On Probation As Free Citizens": Poverty and Politics in the 1830s -- Rethinking Liberalism -- "Our Church for Ourselves" -- Rebellion and Its Aftermath.

Description based on print version record.