'The Testimony Must Begin in the Home': The Life of Salvation and the Remaking of Homes in the East African Revival in Southern Uganda, c. 1930-1955

The late colonial era in Uganda was not an easy time to keep families intact. Colonial officials, missionaries, and concerned East Africans offered their diagnoses of the problems and prescriptions for responding to the dilemma. In this context, Balokole Anglican revivalists articulated new patterns and ideals of family life. These new patterns of family life were not uniform across Uganda or East Africa, but they did share common characteristics that were derived from the spiritual disciplines and religious beliefs of the Balokole revival. As such, this essay argues that the revival movement was not simply a new message of eternal salvation or primarily a form of dissent, but rather a means through which a group of African Christians sought to address quotidian domestic problems and concerns of late-colonial East Africa.