Christian Conversions and Dutch Colonialism in Minahasa in the Nineteenth Century

The Christianization of Minahasa in the mid-nineteenth century is one of the most dramatic and important turning points in the region’s social and cultural history. The standard argument for these conversions focuses on the vaunted narratives of the pioneering Christian missionaries J.G. Schwarz and J.F. Riedel, who arrived in Minahasa in the 1830s. This essay, however, argues that the unforeseen effects of the liberalisation reforms of the Dutch colonial state and the long-standing readiness of ordinary Minahasans to convert have been under-recognized crucial factors in the mass conversions. By initiating policies that promoted a market economy and by centralizing government authority in the 1840s-1850s, the Dutch colonial state undermined the authority of the intransigent traditional chiefs and strengthened those who favored conversion. This explanation therefore emphasizes a politico-economic-cultural nexus for mass religious conversions that could offer insights into parallel events in Indonesia and elsewhere.