Fishers of men and hunters of lion: British missionaries and big game hunting in colonial africa

From the time of the earliest Christian communities, missionaries viewed themselves as fishers – a metaphor referring to the gathering of people into Christian churches through the proclaimed message of the Christian gospel. But as one examines the lives of many British missionaries to colonial Africa, it is clear that they did a lot of hunting as well. And yet missionary hunting has not been analysed with respect to the missionaries’ most basic intention: The religious conversion of non-Christians to Christianity. Missionaries often spoke of their hunting exploits in religious terms, either as a form of spiritual retreat with other missionaries, or as a way to demonstrate to African onlookers God’s providence in the natural world.