commands. There was, for the missionaries, therefore, no real possibility that the Zulus did not know about God at some time in their history. Gardiner observed: "What an awful condition for an immortal being! Man, when once departed from God, goes out, like Nebuchadnezzar in his banishment. . . Breath, Lord upon these dry bones, and they shall live"(Gardiner 179). For him, and later missionaries, it was obvious that they had arrived at a time when the traditional knowledge of a Supreme Being was rapidly disappearing. The interpretation was cleverly summed up by Shooter who said: "false deities have gradually darkened their minds, and obscured their remembrance of the true God"(Shooter 160). As a result the missionaries set about proclaiming the truth of God without making any concessions to Zulu religious beliefs. As can be seen most clearly in the preaching of Owen, they proclaiming their understanding of the gospel, expecting that the Zulus would be able to understand and respond to it.In conclusion, the conversion of sections of the Zulu nation to Christianity originally created a sharp division in Zulu society, the emergence of this "traditional religion" provided all Zulu people with a common heritage and identity. The present reality of the belief regarding the Lord-of-the-Sky may, therefore, be seen in terms of the development of a civil religion of Zululand. ...
