Mutuality, resistance and egalitarianism in a
late colonial Bakongo Christian movement
Ruy Llera Blanes
Institute of Heritage Sciences (CSIC), Spain
In this chapter I describe how a specific Christian movement (the
‘Tokoist Church’, a prophetic, reformist movement that emerged
in late colonial Angola) incorporated anarchist values (mutual-
ism, autonomism and egalitarianism) in its theology and praxis.
Through a discussion of its posterior historical developments, I
discuss how the introduction of hierarchical processes in its organ-
isation contributed towards the current state of internal contesta-
tion it is experiencing. I argue that the case of the Tokoist Church
exemplifies the existence of conflicting theologies within Christian
thought.The ‘Tokoist Church’ is an Angolan Christian prophetic move-
ment that became a cornerstone of anti-colonial resistance in the
1960s and 1970s, and later opposed to the post-independence to-
talitarian MPLA government.^1 They became known in Angola for
their peaceful resistance to the colonial endeavour, as well as for
a particular sense of autochthon dignity they conveyed, which en-
gaged ideologically in the rejection of prior political and religious
establishments and the self-improvement towards a messianic
new kingdom that they envisioned.^2 In the process, they cultivated
a form of utopian mutualist egalitarianism that rejected imposed
hierarchies and governmentalities. From this perspective, as I will
describe throughout this chapter, in its first years of existence
the Tokoist Church exemplified, through specific political utopi-
an stances, a particular version of Christianity that, unlike other
hierarchical traditions, reveals an understanding of Jesus Christ’s
How to cite this book chapter:
Blanes, R. L. 2017. Mutuality, resistance and egalitarianism in a late colonial
Bakongo Christian movement. In: Christoyannopoulos, A. and Adams, M. S.
(eds.) Essays in Anarchism and Religion: Volume 1. Pp. 51–77. Stockholm:
Stockholm University Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.16993/bak.c. License:
CC-BY