Twenty-second International Conference on New Directions in the Humanities

Abstract

This close reading of the royal chronicles of Gowa and Talloq (Makassar, Indonesia) brings to high unexpected traces of Biblical influence. A surprising find in a kingdom known for its devout Islamic faith, this paper explores the literary evidence for the influence of Portuguese Christian missionaries known to have been present in Makassar. Biblical narrative tropes were borrowed from Latin gospels and used to describe the arrival and agreement between Malay traders and the indigenous rulers of Gowa and Talloq. While we have long known that Portuguese missionaries were present in Makassar in the late 16th century, it has long been assumed that their influence came to nothing after the kingdom’s formal conversion to Islam in 1605. This interpretation of narrative episodes from the royal chronicles sheds new light on the appeal and persistence of Biblical texts despite the ultimate failure of missionaries to win converts.