The Making of a “Not Yet Pure Christian” Village

Abstract

In 1969, David Sidaway, a missionary at the Benuk Anglican Dispensary, lamented that

Christianity has made comparatively little impact on the Biatah-speaking Land Dayak, and, as one might expect, when they do become Christian their interpretation of the faith is coloured by their former traditional beliefs since they come from a pagan world in which magic and superstition are everything. (1969: 139)