The Reports of Theophilus Opoku : A 19th-Century Gold Coast Pastor

Theophilus Opoku, a 19th-century pastor in the Gold Coast, wrote 37 reports to the Basel Mission between 1868 and 1908. In this volume, Gilbert and Jenkins introduce and annotate his detailed and vivid reports, which provide rare insight into conversion, rites, everyday life, and conflict in the kingdom of Akuapem.

The Reports of Theophilus Opoku details the letters of a pastor living in the ethnically diverse and structurally fragile kingdom of Akuapem in the south-eastern Gold Coast during the 19th century. Between 1868 and 1908, Opoku wrote 37 reports to his employers — the board of the Basel Mission — which provide rare insight into the process of conversion, life in the newly formed Christian communities, and the uneasy relationship between mission regulations, local culture, king, and colonial government. The reports, written in a vivid narrative style, also include detailed descriptions of customary rites, conflict and cooperation between Christians and non-Christians, and factional disturbances in chieftaincy affairs. Opoku was a pioneer missionary in a rapidly changing society: his letters, which are richly introduced and annotated in this volume, are a testimony to the sincerity of his evangelistic zeal.