This page is available in:
EN
FR
PT
SW

Bibliographic Resources

This page includes bibliographies with important primary and secondary sources on African Christianity.

The following indexes contain potential DACB subjects, both Africans and missionaries, listed here for reference, to inform and encourage future research.

How to use these pages:

  1. Consult these pages if you wish to write a biography for the DACB and are searching for ideas of people whose biographies do not yet appear in the DACB. A subject without ENG, FR, POR or SWA in the column next to the name indicates that the DACB doesn’t have a biography on that person. Subjects with ENG, FR, POR or SWA in the links columns have biographies. Return to the country page to view the story.

  2. Consult these pages in order to avoid writing a duplicate biography by checking to see whether the DACB has a biography on a specific person. However, we do invite alternate accounts of a subject’s life that enrich and enlarge the biographies already on the website.

  3. Here are some bibliographies resources which could be useful. Here.

Ancient African Church References Complete bibliographic references noted in abbreviated form in the Ancient African Church index.
All Potential Subjects 4911 Potential Subjects
Ancient Christians 590 Potential Subjects
Algeria 60 Potential Subjects
Angola 42 Potential Subjects
Benin 23 Potential Subjects
Botswana 27 Potential Subjects
Burkina Faso 6 Potential Subjects
Burundi 30 Potential Subjects
Cameroon 114 Potential Subjects
Cape Verde 19 Potential Subjects
Central African Republic 11 Potential Subjects
Chad 6 Potential Subjects
[Comoros] 0 Potential Subjects
Democratic Republic of Congo 182 Potential Subjects
Congo 40 Potential Subjects
Côte d’Ivoire 13 Potential Subjects
[Djibouti] 0 Potential Subjects
Egypt 529 Potential Subjects
Equatorial Guinea 1 Potential Subjects
Eritrea 5 Potential Subjects
Ethiopia 652 Potential Subjects
Gabon 92 Potential Subjects
Gambia 12 Potential Subjects
Ghana 133 Potential Subjects
Guinea 13 Potential Subjects
Guinea Bissau 4 Potential Subjects
Kenya 217 Potential Subjects
Lesotho 112 Potential Subjects
Liberia 36 Potential Subjects
Libya 8 Potential Subjects
Madagascar 234 Potential Subjects
Malawi 91 Potential Subjects
Mali 13 Potential Subjects
Mauritania 4 Potential Subjects
Mauritius 9 Potential Subjects
Mayotte 2 Potential Subjects
Morocco 43 Potential Subjects
Mozambique 165 Potential Subjects
Namibia 47 Potential Subjects
Niger 14 Potential Subjects
Nigeria 437 Potential Subjects
Reunion 6 Potential Subjects
Rwanda 36 Potential Subjects
[Saint Helena] 0 Potential Subjects
[São Tomé and Príncipe] 0 Potential Subjects
Senegal 32 Potential Subjects
Seychelles 2 Potential Subjects
Sierra Leone 138 Potential Subjects
Somalia 3 Potential Subjects
South Africa 519 Potential Subjects
Sudan 139 Potential Subjects
Eswatini 56 Potential Subjects
Tanzania 177 Potential Subjects
Togo 45 Potential Subjects
Tunisia 101 Potential Subjects
Uganda 254 Potential Subjects
[Western Sahara] 0 Potential Subjects
Zambia 124 Potential Subjects
Zimbabwe 83 Potential Subjects
Other Subjects 128 Potential Subjects

Newly Redesigned Website for WCC Library and Archives (Parts 1 & 2)

A number of valuable resources in the World Council of Chuches archives have been microfilmed or microfiched and are held at the Yale Divinity Library (among other places.) Microform collections include:

International Missionary Council Archives: 1910-1961:
http://www.idcpublishers.com/ead/138.xml(Yale Fiche Ms85)

World Council of Churches records:

World Student Christian Federation Archives:
(held at the World Council of Churches and Yale Divinity Library) http://www.idcpublishers.com/ead/312.xml  (Yale Fiche Ms1123)

Old and New in Shona Religion Website

A new resource recently unveiled by the Center for Global Christianity and Mission at Boston University School of Theology, this multimedia website showcases the photography and work of Dr. M. L. Daneel. His decades of research among the Shona people of Southern Africa have yielded a wealth of photographs and publications documenting African initiated churches and traditional religions. The Old and New in Shona Religion website makes these resources available online.

Yale Divinity Library Special Collections

Strengths of the library’s special collections include, among other things, documentation of the Protestant missionary endeavor. Click here to access the collection.

For those interested in developing an archive, Martha Smalley has developed an Archival Primer.

Yale’s Mission Periodicals Online can be accessed here.

Mission 21 / Basel Mission Image Archive

Photographs taken at the intersection of European, African, and Asian cultures from 1850 to 1950 Selections from the Archive. See www.bmarchives.org

Writing Biography

To read our new articles on writing biography: “The Strengths and Limitations of Biography” by Director Jonathan Bonk and “The Craft of Writing Religious Biography,” by Dr. Dana Robert, DACB Editorial Committee member, click here.

Programs and Associations

Doctoral Dissertations

History of Missiology and AIC Photo Archive

The Theology Library of Boston University has a collection of missionary biographies, reports, sermons and theologies that provide a rich resource for mission studies.

Day Missions Periodicals Listing

The Yale Divinity Library’s NEH-funded digitization project is now substantially complete. More than 5,500 reports and periodical issues have been digitized. Links to the online materials are available at:

Video Resources from James Ault

James Ault is an award-winning documentary filmmaker, author and scholar. He has recently released his African Christianity Rising documentary film series (plus ancillary educational materials) filmed largely in Ghana and Zimbabwe. You can view his materials on his Vimeo site and on his African Christianity Rising webpage. His African Christianity channels can be accessed here and here.

The Story of Africa from the BBC

The Story of Africa, an online resource presented by the BBC.

Evaluating Sources

Guides for evaluating the authority and reliability of information sources found online or in print:

International Mission Photo Archive

The International Mission Photo Archive offers historical images from Protestant and Catholic missionary collections in Britain, Norway, Germany, France, Switzerland, and the United States. The photographs, which range in time from the middle of the nineteenth to the middle of the twentieth century, offer a visual record of missionary activities and experiences in Africa, China, Madagascar, India, Papua-New Guinea, and the Caribbean.

The Center for the Study of Global Christianity

On its Web site, the Center for the Study of Global Christianity at Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary offers resources for research and a list of their publications.