Bak Rasmussen, Ane Marie. *A History of the Quaker
          Movement in Africa*. London and New York: British
          Academic Press, 1994. Pp. xvii & 168.

          This book is a short, solid, sensible, straight
     forward account that will give most readers all they need
     or want to know about Quakerism in Africa. Its title is
     a bit misleading, since the monograph deals almost
     exclusively with Quakerism in Western Kenya where Quaker
     faith and practice differ significantly from those, for
     instance, among the white population in the Republic of
     South Africa. The matter, however, is really of small
     importance because, of Africa's 175,000 Quakers, 150,000
     reside in Western Kenya.
          Much more to be regretted is Bak Rasmussen's sudden
     and unexpected death in 1992 before she had completed the
     thorough comparative study she had in mind to do.
     Although others--notably her husband, Joseph Wasiki
     Mululu; Harold V. Smuck, for years a Quaker missionary in
     Kenya; and Kathleen Staudt, a political scientist who was
     closely familiar with Bak Rasmussen's work--have reviewed
     the manuscript and have added elucidative material, the
     book seems unfinished and unrounded. There are too many
     avenues left unexplored, too many questions left
     unanswered that one feels should have been dealt with.
     Other investigators will surely pick up on these, of
     course, and will find this book immensely helpful in
     their researches.
          Ane Marie Bak Rasmussen, a Dane with developed
     interests in both Africa and theology, undertook her
     study of Quakerism in Kenya as part of a broader inquiry
     into the relationship between Kenyan Quaker history and
     that of the Holy Spirit Churches. The latter are
     revivalist Christian groups that, as the Quakers, depend
     upon an awareness of the indwelling divine presence, or
     Light, in all persons, but diverge from Quakerism in
     emphases upon conversion, public confession of sins,
     speaking in tongues, and belief in coming of Christ.
          Had Bak Rasmussen survived, it is probable that she
     would have proceeded to do a comprehensive study in
     comparative religion. She presumably would have
     contrasted the Quakers' emphases upon faith and social
     praxis with the Holy Spirit Churches's stress on faith
     and individual redemption and salvation via the mediation
     of charismatic leaders. Instead, we have here basically
     a chronological and descriptive recounting of Quaker
     institutional organizations and activities in Kenya since
     the arrival of the first three American Quaker
     missionaries in 1902.  (They were, by the way, the first
     Christian missionaries in Western Kenya, having followed
     the newly built railway from Mombasa to Kisumu and
     Kakamega.)
          Quakers in Kenya, whether, as at first, foreign
     missionaries or, as today, altogether Kenyan in
     nationality and culture, have always stressed not only
     individual spiritual development but also service to
     others. From the beginning, therefore, Quakers have
     played major, even preponderant, roles in secondary
     education, in vocational and agricultural training, and
     in health and medicine, at least in Western Kenya.
          What is chiefly lacking in Bak Rasmussen's present
     book is an adequate examination of how the Quakers,
     through their non-evangelical activities, fit into the
     surrounding political, economic, social and cultural
     environment of Kenya.  Kenyans who received their formal
     education in Quaker secondary schools, for example, early
     emerged as a small, westernized elite, and they acquired
     substantial economic and social power. This elite
     perforce had to work with established Kenyan authorities,
     whether those of the British colony or those of the post-
     independence period. Particularly intriguing is the
     question of how Quaker institutions have fared under the
     government of Daniel arap Moi.
          Unfortunately, in the testament left by Bak
     Rasmussen such subjects are scarcely addressed. More
     generally, while the book provides information, it lacks
     any real organizing principle, any conceptual or
     theoretical coherence. To be sure, the information is
     abundant, and it has been carefully collected from
     interviews, archives and other sources both inside and
     outside Kenya.  But it is not, and, with the materials it
     brings together, it cannot be a finished and fully
     satisfying work of scholarship.
          One final note: the book's first chapter, a brief
     history of Quakerism from its 17th century English
     origins through its American transformations and schisms
     during the 19th century to the midwestern missionary
     outthrusting of the early 20th century--this chapter is
     simply superb.

     John Plank, Professor Emeritus
     University of Connecticut


     Copyright, H-Africa 1995. All Rights Reserved, except for
     Fair Use.

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