Mormonism's Jesse Haven and the early focus on proselytising the Afrikaner at the Cape of Good Hope, 1853-1855

Abstract

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, as the Mormon church is officially known, has emphasised the Christian vocation to mission almost since its founding in the USA in April 1830. While Mormon historians have written a great deal about the denomination's success in West Africa very little has been written about Mormonism in South Africa. The present paper aims to fill part of the gap by relating the experience of one of Mormonism's first missionaries to the continent i.e. Jesse Haven. In a conclusion the question is addressed whether Mormonism's American origins or its drive to gather in an American Zion made it just too foreign or too un-Afrikaans to be compatible with the emerging identity of the Afrikaans nation.