Christian Moderns

Christian Moderns follows Protestant Dutch missionaries and their encounters with the Sumbanese people of Indonesia in the early 20th century. The missionaries aimed to convert the Sumbanese and transform them into what they viewed as proper modern subjects. Through ethnographic research and historical analysis, Keane examines how Protestant ideologies shaped notions of agency, sincerity, and materiality among both missionaries and converts. The book focuses on the complex dynamics between Protestant moral frameworks and indigenous Sumbanese religious practices and beliefs. The work documents specific missionary-indigenous interactions while tracing broader questions about modernity, religion, and colonialism. Keane draws on linguistic anthropology and semiotics to analyze how religious conversion intersected with changing ideas about language, objects, and ritual. At its core, the book explores fundamental tensions between different cultural understandings of human subjects and their relationship to the material world. The analysis reveals how Protestant missions were not just about religious conversion but about instilling particular modern moral frameworks and modes of self-understanding.

Readers describe Christian Moderns as dense but rewarding, with detailed ethnographic research about Protestant missionaries and indigenous communities in Indonesia. Positives from reviews: - Clear explanation of semiotic ideology and its role in religious conversion - Thorough historical context about Dutch colonialism - Strong theoretical framework linking language, materiality, and agency Common criticisms: - Academic writing style makes it challenging for non-specialists - Some sections are repetitive - Could have included more Indonesian voices and perspectives From a PhD student on Goodreads: "Keane's analysis of moral narratives and materiality opened up new ways of thinking about my own research." Ratings: Goodreads: 4.1/5 (42 ratings) Amazon: 4.5/5 (8 ratings) Google Books: 4/5 (3 ratings) Most academic reviews appeared in anthropology and religious studies journals rather than consumer review sites.

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🔹 Webb Keane conducted extensive fieldwork in Indonesia's Sumba island, studying the complex interactions between Protestant missionaries and local communities - research that formed the foundation for Christian Moderns. 🔹 The book explores how Protestant Christianity helped shape modern ideas about human agency, materiality, and sincerity - concepts that many Westerners now take for granted as universal human traits. 🔹 The term "semiotic ideology" - a key concept in the book - refers to how different cultures have varying beliefs about what signs and symbols mean, and how they work in the world. 🔹 The Dutch Calvinist missionaries featured in the book viewed local Sumbanese practices like ritual exchange and ancestor worship not just as religious differences, but as fundamental moral and cognitive failures. 🔹 Christian Moderns won the 2008 Clifford Geertz Prize from the Society for the Anthropology of Religion, recognizing its significant contribution to the anthropological study of religion.