Until the late 1980s, one could count easily the number of articles, dissertations, and books on the church history of Malawi, a country that is very much associated with the Scottish missionary and adventurer Dr. David Livingstone and, therefore, with the British Christian missions that followed his first visit to the region in 1859 and his death at Chitambo in today's Zambia in 1873. However, since 1994, when democracy returned to Malawi after thirty years of one-party rule, there has been an explosion of literature on religion, not just focused on British missions but on all denominations, sects, and religious movements that have featured in Malawi's history as recently as 2020. The authors of A Malawi Church History 1860–2020 have been in the forefront of this development, a factor that qualifies them eminently to write it.

A Malawi Church History 1860–2020 is an ambitious project. This lengthy book is divided into four chronological thematic sections, each with a set of seven fairly short chapters. The first section, “Founding Charisms 1860–1910,” covers, as the title suggests, the initial period of the serious Christian missionary effort in Malawi, starting with David Livingstone the person and his first entry into the northern Zambezia region, followed by the Anglican's Universities’ Mission to Central Africa (UMCA) and the two Scottish missions, Livingstonia and Blantyre, all inspired directly by him or by his work. The section also discusses missions that arrived in the very late nineteenth century and in the first decade of the twentieth century, including the Dutch Reformed Church from South Africa, the Catholics, and the evangelical missions.

Section 2 starts with a chapter on the Rev. John Chilembwe's Providence Industrial Mission and the anti-colonial rebellion that he led in 1915. Here the authors do not just retell his story and the events preceding it. Instead, they make use of recent local research on the church to show the manner in which it survived his execution and went on to grow into an even more established religious organization. The rest of the chapters in this section are on two subthemes: the development of African Initiated Churches and the expansion and consolidation of the mainstream ones from 1910 to 1960 (when the process of handing over their administrative structures to Africans was beginning in earnest, making them truly African/Malawian rather than Christian missionary in character). The late 1950s to the early 1960s also marked the height of African nationalism which tended to present a challenge to mission-led churches as often they were presented with a choice of siding with the colonial establishment or with African aspirations.

The third section of the book is on the completion of the transfer of the churches to Malawian management and the pains associated with the growth of these institutions in an era of African single-party government which, while professing to be led by Christian principles, became increasingly dictatorial, abused human rights, and did not hesitate to threaten the clergy. The authors also show how clerics were forced to navigate between their call of duty and ensuring that the ruling party and its government did not interpret any uttering or activity as in opposition to them.

The first of the remaining set of chapters shows the extent to which the Malawian churches came of age. It was them that finally started the process of dismantling the nearly 30-year-old dictatorship and, in doing so, asserted their place in the country and in communities in which they served. The Catholic bishops’ risky and courageous Lenten letter of March 1992, printed under secret conditions and read in all its churches simultaneously, articulated in great detail how the government had not only abused the human rights of its citizens but had also led to a situation in which there had developed a privileged wealthy minority while the majority of Malawians continued to live in dire conditions with little hope for improvement. The letter gave encouragement to other denominations to speak out, and two years later, the first free elections took place, and a new government was installed. Churches were to remain the conscience of the nation in the years that followed, despite attempts by some presidents and their administrations to corrupt pastors through bribery.

Other chapters in this section examine the rapid spread of Pentecostalism, a phenomenon that has eroded some faithful away from the more established churches. Refreshingly, this section also has chapters on three important and yet often neglected subjects: the role of women in the church, ethnicity (and the way in which churches can be involved in resolving this major source of discord in many African countries), and—perhaps the most sensitive of the three—the Malawi churches’ united and forceful opposition to recognizing LGBTQ communities. The authors deserve much credit for highlighting this controversial issue.

A notable absence in the book are two topics that deserve attention: the coexistence of Christianity and indigenous religious practices (which have survived nearly a century and a half of European cultural influence) and Islam (to which about 18 percent of Malawi's population belongs). The old tension between Christian missionaries and Islam has persisted and has manifested itself clearly in the post-1994 era as wealthy Muslim countries have poured faith-based aid into Malawi, resulting in a rapid increase in the number of mosques and Islamic educational institutions, in proselytization, and in the general confidence of Muslims in Malawian national affairs. There is therefore justification for devoting some space to these issues even in a book that is specifically on church history.

Despite these reservations, the publication of A Malawi Church History is very timely. This well-written book based on an extensive review of literature—most of which is published locally—is an indication of the advanced state of scholarship on religion in Malawi, and in this regard, it should guide researchers to possible topics for further exploration. Finally, this is the best university level textbook on Christianity in Malawi, and the authors and the ever-adventurous Mzuni Press have to be praised for this.