Kimbangu: An African Prophet and His Church

Marie-Louise Martin was a missionary and scholar, and this academic book, published by Basil Blackwell in English translation, is an early and influential study of Simon Kimbangu and the Kimbanguist Church, the prophetic Christian movement he founded in the Belgian Congo, drawing on colonial records and direct engagement with the church's own community and leadership. Its strength is firsthand documentation of the movement at a relatively early point in its history, from someone who engaged directly with Kimbanguist leaders rather than relying solely on colonial administrative accounts hostile to the movement. Its limit is that, written from a missionary and mid twentieth century vantage point, its interpretive framing reflects that background, and the church's own considerable growth since needs separate, more recent sources to cover.