The Early Kimbanguist Movement. Charismatic Autonomy and Narrative Unity in the Kongo Sources

This essay explores the origins of Kimbanguism, a composite religious movement centered on the charismatic figure of Simon Kimbangu, a Baptist-trained prophet who began his healing ministry in March 1921 in Nkamba, Belgian Congo. The study primarily draws on Kongo sources, offering an internal perspective on the Christian movement that emerged in Nkamba. These sources mainly belong to the genres of nsamu angunza (history of the prophet) and nsamu miangunza (history of the prophets). Through the interpretation of these sources, the essay shows that, from its inception, Kimbanguism constructed both an innovative ritual space and a self-narrative rooted in the universal history of salvation. In reconstructing this complex ideological and ritual configuration, it particularly examines how the movement framed its conflictual relationship with the missionary church as a historical dynamic of both continuity and advancement.