'All things to all men?' : Protestant missionary identification in theory and practice, 1860-1910, with special reference to the London Missionary Society in central Africa and central China
From the earliest Christian missionary endeavours, when St. Paul made himself to become ~all things to all men~ (1 Cor. 9:19-22), Christian missionaries have avowed the principle of 'identification' - the sympathetic adaptation of one's behaviour and message to the culture within which one engages in missiop. But the precise nature of this 'identification' seems to have undergone significant changes as the 'Christian' West came to dominate the rest of the world idealogically, politically, and economically. Utilizing representative sources of the period, this study attempts to portray missionary identification as it was understood and practiced by Protestant missionaries between 1860 and 1910. The record is examined at several levels: Anglo-American Missionary Conference reports are used to paint the broad picture of missionary attitudes and concerns; the London Missionary Society - with special reference to its activities and personnel in Central Africa and Central China - serves to fill in the details of the larger canvas. The result depicts Protestant missionaries of the time as having been so enmeshed in European civilization as to preclude any significant adaptation to non-Western life - in either theory
Bonk, Jon
London Missionary Society ; Protestant churches
'All things to all men?' : Protestant missionary identification in theory and practice, 1860-1910, with special reference to the London Missionary Society in central Africa and central China. From the earliest Christian missionary endeavours, when St. Paul made himself to become ~all things to all men~ (1 Cor. 9:19-22), Christian missionaries have avowed the principle of 'identification' - the sympathetic adaptation of one's behaviour and message to the culture within which one engages in missiop. But the precise nature of this 'identification' seems to have undergone significant changes as the 'Christian' West came to dominate the rest of the world idealogically, politically, and economically. Utilizing representative sources of the period, this study attempts to portray missionary identification as it was understood and practiced by Protestant missionaries between 1860 and 1910. The record is examined at several levels: Anglo-American Missionary Conference reports are used to paint the broad picture of missionary attitudes and concerns; the London Missionary Society - with special reference to its activities and personnel in Central Africa and Central China - serves to fill in the details of the larger canvas. The result depicts Protestant missionaries of the time as having been so enmeshed in European civilization as to preclude any significant adaptation to non-Western life - in either theory
all thing men protestant missionary identification theory_practice special_reference london_missionary_society central_africa central china early_christian missionary endeavour paul make become all thing men cor christian_missionary principle identification sympathetic adaptation behaviour message culture within engage precise_nature identification seem undergone significant_change christian west come dominate rest_world politically_economically utilizing representative source period study_attempt portray missionary identification understood practice protestant missionary record examine several level anglo american missionary conference report use paint broad picture missionary attitude concern london_missionary_society special_reference activity personnel central africa central china serf fill detail large depicts protestant missionary time enmesh european civilization preclude significant adaptation non_western life either theory