Risk Management in a Hazardous Environment (review)

Abstract

Smith claims it was based on factual data, the authors approached the topic already committed to a belief that God universally reveals himself in order that the Christian message will be recognized and accepted when it is preached. In Smith’s words: ‘When the Christian missionary comes with the Good News of God revealed in Jesus Christ as a loving Father – whatever else in his teaching they find it hard to accept, this [belief in God] at least they readily take to their hearts.’ Young concludes rightly that on the whole non-theological studies have ignored Smith’s contributions to the study of African cultures and religions. He cites Brian Morris’s Anthropological Studies of Religion (1987) as an example, where Morris reviews the history of the relationship between anthropology and religion but, in Young’s words, does so ‘without mentioning Smith at all’. If Young’s book lacks a certain critical distance, it does redress such an oversight. After reading Young’s account, if nothing else, the reader will be forced to evaluate the significance of Edwin Smith as an Africanist, whose skills extended to a wide range of academic disciplines and whose impact on African studies Young convincingly demonstrates.