This article discusses general historiographical perspectives
emerging from a religious encounter between Danish missionaries and
the Bachama people in northern Nigeria in the twentieth century. The
general points relate to the role of Christian missionaries in the making
of modern Christianity. It is argued that missionaries should be seen as
the spearheads of modern Christianity through their experience of religious
pluralism and relativism in religious encounters outside Europe.
The paper uses the concept of the border to characterise a particular
“borderland Christianity” emerging from missionary situations. By way
of conclusion it is argued that the borderland experience of missionaries
was made part of Western Christianity and constitutes a potentially important
but neglected part of the historical development of Christianity
in the modern world.