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threaten vital interests and arouse opposition? Within theJewish Nevertheless, believers may be faced with the reality of communityin the NewTestamentera, the issuesrevolved around being cut off by their own communities as they identify with circumcision and the law (Romans 2-3). In the Gentile commu­ Christ. On the one hand, we must oppose the sectarian spirit that nities, issues of sexual ethics, of idols, eating meat calls people to leave their humancommunities in order to join us. offered to idols (1 Cor. 5-10), and relationship to civil authority On the other hand, to be converted to Christ is also to enter into (Rom. 12:14-13:8) became flash points. Apart from the tension the koinonia of the and to encourage cultural, social, and that might arise over these issues, the followers of were political patterns of life at odds with one's native culture and constantly urged to seek peace with their neighbors, to live nation-sometimes even with the or obediently to the laws of the land, and to pray for the emperor. churchin whichonewas raised. This dilemma cannotbe avoided Their suffering should be for the sake of faithful witness to Jesus so longas theCityof Manremainsintermingledon earthwiththe Christ alone (1 Peter 4). City of . In conclusion, the evidence can be said to (1) Notes------­ encourage the followers of Jesus to bear faithful witness to Christ and his righteousness; (2) call people to repentance, conversion, 1. World Council of Churches, "Common Witness and : A StudyDocument" (May 1970),in MissionTrends No.2:Evangelization, and into the name of Jesus Christ; (3) encourage people ed. Gerald H. Anderson and Thomas F. Stransky, C.S.P. (Grand to participate in the koinonia around the Lord's Table and to Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 1975), p. 178. build up the life of the church; and (4) to live as obedient, 2. Webster's New Dictionary of Synonyms (Springfield, Mass.: Merriam­ peaceful, and fruitful members of the humancommunityand the Webster, 1984), p. 189. communities in which they have their family and social relation­ 3. F. F. Bruce, The , 2d ed. (London: Tyndale Press, ships. 1952), p. 85.

Mission and Proselytism: A Perspective

David A. Kerr

he approximately 10- 12 million ofWest Asia / MECC's Fifth General Assembly in 1989.4 As the most ecumeni­ T North Africa (i.e., of the so-called Middle East) represent cal document on the issue in the West Asian/North African a kaleidoscope of Christian churches and cultural traditions.' perspective, it provides an appropriate starting point for this The great majority are Orthodox, members of the Oriental and essay. Eastern Orthodox churches, which account for more than 75 percent of the total Christian population of the region. Proselytism: The MECC Definition churches of both Eastern and Western () rites account for about another 20 percent. The evangelical or Protestant churches The MECC study document defines proselytism as "a practice form a minority of between3 and 4 percent.' These figures, based that involves attempts aimed at attracting Christians from a on Barrett's calculations, relate to the churches that are particular Church or religious group, leading to their alienation today members of the Middle EastCouncil of Churches (MECC), from their Church of origin." It is treated as an issue of ecumeni­ probably the world's most inclusive regional ecumenical coun­ cal malpractice that contravenes biblical understandings of how cil. Successor to the predominantly Protestant Near East Council of Churches, it embraces four families of churches (Oriental Orthodox, Eastern Orthodox, Catholic, and Protestant), with the Assyrian (so-called Nestorian) possibly join­ The underlying assumption ing in the future as a fifth family.3 is that a vacuum This ecumenical achievement is a positive sign of reconcili­ ationbetweenthe indigenous churches, whichfor centuries have exists throughout the lived in disunity and mutual mistrust. It expresses their growing Middle East. willingness to resolve historical problems of division by a con­ certed witness to the 's power of renewal and reconcilia­ tion in a politically torn region. Among the ecclesial issues on the MECC agenda is the God relates to humankind, how Christians relate to one another, problem of proselytism. This was the subject of a special report, and respect for the human right to be free from coercion in Proselytism, , and Pastoral Challenges: A Study Document, religious matters. The problemis analyzed as havingpsychologi­ which the Commission on and Unity prepared for the cal roots in "individual and group egoism," political manifesta­ tions in "feelings of cultural, political and economicsuperiority," DavidA. Kerr, a contributing editor, is Professor of in the Non­and institutional dimensions in "an overtrust in one's present Western Worldat theUniversityof andDirector ofthecenter ofthe methods and programmes." It is perpetuated by ignorance of same name. He wasformerly a professor in Hartford Seminary, Connecticut, Christian traditions other than those of one's own cultural or where hedirected theMacdonald Center for theStudy of and Christian­political background, and it may include the willful "dissimula­ Muslim Relations. tion of the truth about them." Proselytism is therefore seen as the

12 INTERNATIONAL BULLETIN OF MISSIONARY RESEARCH opposite of authentic , which emphasizes "confi­ kingdomof . Here the church traces its foundation to the dence in God and His economy" as the basis of ." apostles Thaddeus and Bartholemew. The Armenian monarchy The MECC document addresses two dimensions of the recognized Christianity as the national from the begin­ issue. In historical terms it is related to the "western missionary ning of the fourth century, even before the conversion of the strategy" of the medieval Catholic missions and their Protestant ByzantineemperorConstantine.? ArmenianChristianshaveever successors." The contemporary dimension is identified mainly since looked to Etchmiadzin as the seat of what they call their with "sects"-by which the MECC means millenarian or messi­ "catholicosate," which, in terms of Armenian canon law, has anic groups, "nee-missionary" groups of funda­ higher authority than a patriarchate." mentalist persuasions, groups that represent syncretistic forms Despite the diversity of cultural, linguistic, and social char­ of religious ,charismaticrenewalmovementswithin acteristics that they represented, the five patriarchates and the established churches, and new religious movements that claim Armeniancatholicosatepreservedthe commonfaith ofthe Nicean to draw upon Asian forms of religious ." While (325) until the early fifth century. This is remembered as proselytism in West Asia/North Africa occurs unconsciously as the period of "the undivided church." Over the following centu- well as consciously, its underlying presupposition is that a missionary "vacuum" exists throughout the region, where in­ digenous churches are considered to be lacking missionary motivation and resources," The refusal of one church With this understanding of proselytism, the present essay to recognize the validity of will examine manifestations of the problem in the complex another is the soil in which history of the Easternchurches' experienceof the Westernchurch and its missions. It will then review contemporary initiatives in proselytism is seeded. intra-Christian dialogue, one of the benefits of which has been the emergence of a clearer understanding of how the Orthodox churches understand Christian witness. Attention will be given ries this ecumenical fellowship proved vulnerable to centrifugal to the MECC's suggested remedies, and in conclusion we shall forces. The ecumenical (431) excommuni­ examine some of the contextual issues that shape the identity of cated the eastern members of the patriarchate of . To Eastern churches. escape the persecution of those whom the Byzantine rulers declared heretics, these Assyrian Christians took refuge in Per­ Historical Dimensions sia." Twenty years later the (451) wit­ nessed doctrinal cleavage between the () of Eastern patriarchates. For the indigenous West Asian/North Afri­ , the remaining of Antioch, and the Arme­ can Christian communities, it is a matter of historic pride and nians of Etchmiadzin on the one hand, and the churches of contemporaryself-understandingthatChristianityhasbeencon­ Constantinople and on the other." tinuously present throughout the region since apostolic times. Oriental Orthodox. Since Chalcedon, the Copts, Syrians, and The cities of , Antioch, Alexandria, and Etchmiadzin Armenians, together with the church of Kerala (India) and the are quite as important for Christians as are Mecca, Medina, and church of Ethiopia, have formed the family of OrientalOrthodox Jerusalem for Muslims, and Jerusalem for . They are the churches. They are"autocephalous," or self-governing,butunited places where the apostles proclaimed and founded in creed and . Each is inseparably identified with the the first churches that carried forward the . people and culture in which it exists and in this sense can be In ecclesiastical language, they constitute the "­ described sociologically as ethnic churches. Contextually, this ates" of the East. They have always seen themselves as existing characteristic has been a source of strength throughout their in an equal apostolic relationship with the Western patriarchates histories and helps explain their remarkable tenacity to the of Rome and Constantinople. From the fourth century, Rome Christian faith, despite their being under Islamic rule. Their was accorded a spiritual primacy as , though numerical decline through the medieval centuries did notdimin­ without the universal authority that Catholics later invested in ish the quality of their spiritual life, which is evident in a wealth the papacy. Constantinople (originally known by its Greek pre­ of theological writing and liturgical expression." Today they Christian name of Byzantium) held political primacy within the continue to account for the majority of West Asian and North Byzantine Empire, to which most of the Eastern churches be­ African Christians. longed. But in ecclesial terms the Easterners have always insisted Eastern Orthodox. Afterthe Chalcedonianseparation,smaller on the coequal autonomy of each patriarchate as the institutional communities of Christians in Antioch and Alexandria remained reality of the biblical conception of the universal church; as the in communion with Constantinople and technically with Rome. human body is made up of many members, so the apostolic Often referred to as Melkites (fromArabic malik, meaning "king," churches are the members of the . in reference to the Byzantine emperor), their is of the The patriarchates have always been the centers of Eastern Chalcedonian kind. In MECC ecumenical parlance they consti­ Christian liturgy, , witness, and church administration, tute the Eastern Orthodox family. Historically their presence has expressed in their ancient ethnic languages (Syriac and Aramaic been strongest in the cosmopolitan coastal regions of West Asia in Antioch and Jerusalem; Coptic in Alexandria). This continued and North Africa. Though historical links with the Greek church to be true long after the seventh century, when the rise of Islam, continue, especially in the patriarchate of Jerusalem, the Eastern its military conquests, and the extension of its political power Orthodox patriarchate of Antioch identifies itself as the churchof under the Islam caliphate reduced the Eastern patriarchates the ." It has contributed in diverse ways to the develop­ socially to the role of Christianminorities in increasingly Muslim ment in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries of Arab national­ societies. ism and is committed to social coexistence with Islam. Relations To the northeastern frontier of the Byzantine Empire lay the between the Eastern and Oriental Orthodox, though strained in

January 1996 13 the past, have grown more intimate through a series of pan­ arrived in West Asia. In 1823 the first of the Ameri­ Orthodox conferences that began in Addis Ababa in 1965. can Board of Commissioners for Foreign Mission (ABCFM) Eastern Catholics. This historical survey has so far exposed began evangelistic work in and Mount . The factors that resulted in the disunity of the Eastern churches. The Maronite patriarch greeted them with an encyclical that con­ refusal of onechurchto recognize the ecclesial validity of another demned their version of the and forbade to is the soil in which proselytism is seeded. It was with the associate with the English bibliyyun ("biblicists"). In May of that extensionof WesternCatholicismintoWestAsia, in consequence year, Leo XII backed the patriarch by issuing a further of Rome's denial of the ecclesial integrity of the Eastern patri­ condemnationof"a certainBible society" whichhad printedand archates under what it deemed as their heretical , that distributed a corrupt version of the Scriptures." the growth of proselytism began. The aim of the missionaries was the revival of "nominal To avoid generalization, it is important to emphasize at the Christians," who, by becoming "Christian in heart," were ex­ outset of this discussion that the oldest and largest indigenous pected to advance the evangelization of Muslims and Jews. The communityof WestAsianCatholics are the Maronites. Exactly as initial ABCFM policy was stated by Rufus Anderson as follows: we have seen to be the case with the Oriental and Eastern "not to subvert them [the indigenous churches]; not to pull them Orthodox sense of ethnic identity, the Maronites have strong down andbuild anew. It is to reform them; to revive among them ethnic ties to Lebanon, where land and faith have combined in ... the knowledge and spirit of the Gospel. ... It is not part of our the Maronite sense of being a . Their union with object to introduce Congregationalismor Presbyterianismamong Rome was gradually consolidated from the era of the Latin them.... We are content that their present ecclesiastical organi­ (between the eleventh and thirteenth centuries), and zation should remain, provided the knowledge and spirit of the though their ecclesiastical customs were subject to extensive Gospel can be revived under it."20 Latinization, they never lost their original Syriac identity, which This statement did not prevent the emergence of separate today they often proudly reaffirm. evangelical churches. Some of the missionaries found it impos­ In contrast to the Maronites, whoclaim to havebeenCatholic sible to credit the indigenous churches with any spiritual vital­ from their origins between the fifth and seventh centuries, other ity." Orthodox and Catholic Christians who associated with the Catholic communities have sprung up as the result of the later evangelical missionaries were ostracized by their church hierar­ missionary activity of the Western . Following chies, thecase of theMaroniteAs'adShidyaqbecomingthecause the mutual anathemas exchanged between Rome and celebre when he was imprisoned by the Maronite patriarch and Constantinople in 1054 and the subsequent failure of the Council died in jail (ca. 1823).22 When in 1826 two Armenians, Gregory of Ferrara-Florence (1437-39) to heal the rift between Latin Wortabet and Dionysius Carabet, asked to be received into an Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy, the Catholic Church devel­ evangelical fellowship, the missionaries decided to form them­ oped a strategy for reunion with the Eastby the conversionof the selves into a church. Oriental and Eastern Orthodox churches to Catholicism. West­ The first evangelical church was established in Beirut. "Be­ ernCatholic missions, initially led by the and laterby ing desirous of enjoying Christian ordinances," its founding the Jesuits, exerted a powerful Latinizing influence upon the members determined (in the words of their charter) "to adopt Maronites and won converts from the other churches. Thus, with some variations, the Articles of Faith and the Form of corresponding to each Oriental and , a Covenant, used by the First Church in Hartford in Connecticut, Catholic equivalent arose: Chaldean (Assyrian) Catholic (1553), U.S.A., to be publicly read on the admission of members.'?' Syrian Catholic (1663), Melkite (Greek) Catholic (1724), Arme­ Increase in the number of converts during the mid-nineteenth nian Catholic (1742), and Coptic Catholic (1895). By recognizing century and the need for an appropriate form of institutional these convert churches as the canonical heirs of the ancient organizationwithin the Ottoman millet system of religious com­ Easternpatriarchates, Rome claimed to be reuniting the church.IS munities encouraged the missionaries to develop a fourfold Together with the Latin Catholic Patriarchate of jerusalem," policy: the conversion of indigenous "nominal" Christians, the these Catholic patriarchates are defined by the Second Vatican organization of convert evangelical churches, the training of an Council as partof "the divinely revealed and undivided heritage indigenous ministry, and the publication of Christian litera­ of the universal Church."17 ture." Anderson acquiesced in the missionaries' practice as a The Vatican designates thesechurchesas Eastern-rite Catho­ result of his 1844 visit through the region, and his original policy lies, in distinction from the Roman (or Latin) Catholic rite of the of nonproselytism evolved to "the of pre­ West. This label emphasizes the Catholic view that they enrich Constantinian and primitive (Pauline) Christianity ... [by] the the universal Catholic Church by preserving distinctive ele­ formation not only of exemplary individuals in their [i.e., the ments of their original canonical traditions. Their alternative Eastemchurches'] midstbutof exemplarycommunitiesas well.'?5 designation as "Uniate" churches (i.e., united with Rome), while But he recognized the consequence of this policychange whenhe having long historical currency, emphasizes rather the fact of later wrote: "This admission of converts into a church, without their conversion, which incurs the Eastern and Oriental Ortho­ regard to their previous ecclesiastical relation, was a practical dox charge of proselytism. The very existence of these churches ignoring of the old church organizations in that region. It was so is therefore problematic; what the Catholics have regarded as a understood, and the spirit of opposition and persecution was symbol of reunion, the Orthodox have treated as "a major ob­ roused to the utmost."26 stacle to the progress of the dialogue" withthe CatholicChurch." The ABCFM policy in this regard is but a concise example of The fact that significant progress has recently been made in this the practice of the nineteenth-century Anglican, Lutheran, and dialogue is an ecumenical achievement to which we shall return Reformed missions in , ,and . AnAnglican later in this article. bishopric was established in Jerusalem in 1841 largely through Evangelical churches. In the nineteenth century, Eastern the efforts of Britain's Church Missionary Society. German mis­ churches, led by the Maronites, joined cause in laying the charge sionaries created the Evangelical Lutheran Church of of proselytism this time against the evangelicalmissions thathad around 1860. In addition to the work of the ABCFM in Lebanon,

14 INTERNATIONAL BULLETIN OF MISSIONARY RESEARCH which gave rise to the present National Evangelical of intermediaries between sister churches but as fellow pilgrims and Lebanon, its activity in Turkey spawned an Armenian who seek to make their own specific contribution to the growth evangelical congregation in 1846, which has grown to become of Christian koinonia." Although a certain ambiguity remains the Union of Armenian Evangelical Churches in the Near East. about the specific ecumenical role of the Eastern-rite Catholics, AmericanPresbyteriansin Cairofounded the CopticEvangelical agreement that Uniatism is no longer a model for ecclesial Church in 1853, which is today the largest and most influential reunion represents a significant defusing of tensions created by Protestant denomination in the region." proselytism. In his discussion of the evangelical churches of West Asia, A second example of intra-Christian dialogue is the growth Norman Horner notes that "the vast majority of their member­ since the late 1980s of bilateral conversations between Western ship came originally from Orthodox and Eastern-rite Catholic evangelical missions and the indigenous churches of West Asia / churches. This has left a residue of mutual suspicion and ill will North Africa. An annual conference of Evangelicals for Middle that canbe overcome only by more creative ecumenical relation­ EastUnderstanding (EMEU), founded in 1987,providesa frame­ ships than yetexist, especiallybetweenProtestant and Orthodox work for dialogue between indigenous Christians and Western churches.'?" evangelicals who are exploring cooperative rather than competi­ tive understandings of mission. Speaking to evangelicals, EMEU Intra-Christian Dialogue director Donald Wagner calls for "a new day for mission ... [in which] we must strive to become authentic partners with the Our overview of centuries of church history in the West Asian/ churches of the Middle East. We will discover thatGod is already North African region will have served its purpose if it illustrates at workin Jerusalem, the West Bank, Beirut,, Baghdad, and the ubiquity of intra-Christian proselytism as an issue with throughout this region. We will not only learn from our sisters which the contemporary churches must deal. It sets discomfort­ and brothers in the faith in these lands, but will find the true ing questions against the cherished Western maxim that the meaning of being the church in new ways that will honor the modern ecumenical movement evolved from the history of Lord and the gospel he gave US."32 missions. The Western trajectory of mission has been experi­ An example of this sort of dialogue has been published in enced as profoundly antiecumenical by the Eastern churches, Turning Over a New Leaf: Protestant Missions and the Orthodox Churches of the Middle East. This book introduces Western evangelicals to the life of the indigenous churches of West Asia in a concise, informed, and sensitive manner that seeks to replace Western mission has been negative stereotypes by "a kinder, gentler understanding."33 It experienced by the Eastern explores aspects of Orthodox theology that evangelicals find churches as profoundly difficult (e.g., works/ faith relationship, theEucharist, and the communionof , ) and develops anti-ecumenical. a frank discussion of differences between their respective under­ standings of and spiritual renewal. It is especially helpful in showinghowOrthodox spiritual renewal draws inspi­ compounding the disunity that already existed and arguably ration from the Orthodox liturgy of worship. weakening the situation of Christian minorities within Muslim These examples show evidence of a process of reconciliation societies. at least between churches (Catholic-Orthodox) and mission Against this background the ecumenical achievements of groups (Western evangelicals) whose understanding of mission the MECC are the more remarkable. Mutual recognition among centers upon the church and the local Christian community. It the different member families of churches has offset the absolut­ must be admitted, however, that these positive developments ist demands thatcontinue to be heard in other regions affectedby have little impact on those groups that, as noted above, the similar historical problems (e.g., the demand by some Orthodox MECC terms "sects." From the EMEU perspective, Donald that Uniatism be abolished by the absorption of the Uniates into Wagner has expressed concern about what he sees as "the the Latin rite of Roman Catholicism)." western orientation and cultural insensitivity" of the evangelical The process of healing these historical wounds can be illus­ AD 2000 movement. He also subjects the theology and policies of trated by two significant examples, both of which have had a the International Christian Embassy-Jerusalem to critical scru­ positive impact on the life of the MECC, though the initiatives tiny, concluding that it "allows the gospel and lordship of Jesus originated elsewhere. The first involves the Catholic and Eastern Christ to become subservient to the modern political ideology of Orthodox churches, which, since 1990, have been trying to re­ Zionism ... reducing the Christianchurch to a mere 'parenthesis' solve the issue of the Eastern-rite Catholic (Uniate) churches. and rejecting the local Christian community."34 Their joint "Statement on the Subject of Uniatism," published as the Freising Declarationof 1990,became thebasisof a continuing Orthodox Understandings of Mission dialogue in which it has been agreed that while the Eastern-rite Catholic churches have come into existence as partof the historic Perhaps the most sensitive issue for continuing dialogue be­ searchfor unity, Uniatismno longer provides a model or method tween Western and Eastern churches is the nature of mission for Catholic-Orthodoxrapprochement. In thecontemporaryecu­ itself. On grounds that the ethnic identity of Eastern churches is menical understanding of the church as a communion of those assumed to deprive them of a real sense of mission, evangelicals who receive the "gifts and graces" of the ," neither sometimes continue the nineteenth-century practice of justifying Catholics nor Orthodox claim exclusive possession of the Holy a proselytizing evangelism of Eastern Christians so that they Spirit's authenticating marks. They embrace one another as might become effective channels of indigenous evangelism. Or­ pilgrims in a Spirit-guided journey toward perfect communion. thodox response to being treated as terra missionis often carica­ In this pilgrimagethe Eastern-rite Catholics/ Uniates servenotas tures Western missions as a continuation of the medieval Cru­

January 1996 15 sades and has resulted in denunciation of the word "mission." either deliberately or through indifference; (2) the penetration of With its Latin connotations of "sending forth," they associate superficially Christian cultures with the transforming power of mission negatively with their historic experience of the imperial the Holy Spirit reaching into "every nook and cranny" of na­ ambitions of the Holy and its successor European tionaIlife; (3) the evangelization of"the structuresof this world," states. especially in the social, economic, and political spheres, where Orthodox churches generally prefer the Greek term martyria the church should give voice to the poor and oppressed; and (4) (witness). The following paragraphs attempt to summarize the the evangelization of secularized men and women for whom content that modern Orthodox have given this term in their transcendence, forgiveness, and the sacramental have no mean­ recent missiological writings and consultations. ing." Witnessasliturgy. The heart of the Orthodox understanding Evangelism. The notion of the people's church must at the of witness is the liturgy. "The Liturgy," writes Metropolitan same time be understood within the historic order of the minis­ Anastasios of Albania (formerly professor at the University of tries within the Orthodox Church. The primary evangelists are Athens), "is a continuous transformation of life according to the the , their and , and the monastic prototype Jesus Christ, through the power of the Spirit. If it is orders. The monastic community has the specific evangelistic true that in the Liturgy we not only hear a message but we role of living as "a sign, a paradigm, an anticipation and foretaste participate in the greatevent of liberationfrom sin and of koinonia of the Kingdom," sanctifying time and seeking the renewal of the (communion) with Christ through the real presence of the Holy inner life through unceasing ." Modern Orthodoxy is Spirit, thenthis eventof ourpersonal incorporationinto the Body rediscovering the power of the laity, especially through the of Christ, this transfiguration of our little being into a member of development of various Orthodox youth movements. Given the Christ, must be evident and be proclaimed in actual life. The persecution that many Orthodox churches have experienced Liturgy has to be continued in personal, everyday situations.... Without this continuation the Liturgy remains incomplete."35 Liturgy afterthe Liturgy. The idea of continuity between the Modern Orthodoxy is liturgy and witness in life is expressed in the phrase "liturgyafter the Liturgy." Ion Bria, the Romanian Orthodox theologian who rediscovering the power of served as Orthodox adviser in the World Council of Churches' the laity, especially through Commission on World Missionand Evangelism, explains it thus: "The mission of the Church rests upon the radiating and trans­ youth movements. forming powerof the Liturgy. It is the stimulus in sendingoutthe to the world to confess the Gospel and to be involved in man's liberation."36 from hostile political authorities, it is important to recognize the Liturgy as witness/mission means the church being in the evangelistic value of the faithful who suddenly find themselves midst of the human community it serves in order to transform it called to physical martyrdom. Evangelism, therefore, while the into the Christ-like image and likeness of God (theosis). This calling of the whole church, is effectively exercised by particular necessitates the radical conversion of societies and individuals representatives who witness "from within the faith and truth of whose lives are characterized by sin, separation from God, and the body of the Church.":" submission to the evils of (social and political as much Cross-cultural witness. The Orthodox churches' firm empha­ as religious). Accordingly, a group of Orthodox theologians who sis on culturally indigenized witness may seem to beg the ques­ met in Bucharest in 1974 to discuss the topic "Confessing Christ tion, often asked by Western missionaries, of the place of cross­ Today" analyzed witness under its "vertical" (divine-human) cultural witnessing in Orthodox priorities. However, Orthodox and "horizontal" (social-individual) dimensions. They empha­ history proudly records the evangelization of the Slavs by the sized that"the first method of evangelistic witness is the sharing ninth-century Greek brothers Saints Cyril and Methodius. This of love by those who have acknowledged the love of God for century has seen innovative forms of intra-Orthodox missionary them." They argued that this primary expression of witness, this cooperation in Africa, Alaska, and the Far East, regions of what self-giving quality of Christian lives that invite emulation, is a is sometimes called the Orthodox diaspora. Cross-cultural evan­ more effective way of transforming human communities than gelism has not figured significantly in the witness of Orthodox "the bold announcement of Christ as Saviour to a world which churches living under restrictive political (e.g., the former Soviet has already heard the words and still remains unresponsive."37 Union and Eastern ) or socioreligious (e.g., Islam) condi­ The context of witness. The ethnic and national identity of tions, which we have already acknowledged. Recent political Orthodox churches means that the primary context of their change in Russia and Eastern Europe opens new opportunities, witness is their own people and nations. For much of the twen­ though the recurrence in Eastern Europe of previously sup­ tieth century, Orthodox churches living under the restrictions of pressed animosities between Eastern-rite Catholics and Ortho­ Communist regimes had no opportunity to witness beyond their dox, on the one hand, and evangelicals and Orthodox, on the own societies. But contemporary Orthodox theologians insist other, has revived Orthodox suspicions of mission as involving that their understanding of witness is not contingent on a par­ one church transgressing the ethnic context of another. Where ticular sociopolitical circumstance. It flows from the Orthodox cross-cultural evangelization is possible, Orthodox agree that its , which identifies the churchwith the people (laos) as subjects must be non-Christians, not Christians from other Or­ "the people's church."38This understanding gives missiological thodox, Catholic, or evangelical churches." priority to the indigenization of faith in a particular culture so Christian witness within Islam. Since the seventh century, that the latter is transformed by gospel values. The Orthodox Islam has provided the social, cultural, and political framework consultation "Confessing Christ Today" identified four dimen­ of Orthodox presence in West Asia and North Africa. It exceeds sions of such indigenous evangelization: (1) the evangelization the scope of this article to review this long history of Orthodox­ of those who are Christian in name but ignore their baptism Muslimrelations.vThe contributionof FatherJosephel-Zahlaoui,

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TO ORDER Send check or money order in U.S. funds to: WILLIAM CAREY LIBRARY, P.O. Box 40129, Pasadena, 91114 Add $2.00 for handling. California residents add 7.25% for tax, L.A. County add $8.25%. To place your order using MASTER CARD or VISA phone TOLL FREE 1·800·MISSION (647.7466) PRICES ARE SUBJECT TO CHANGE WITHOUT NOTICE an Antiochian Orthodox living in Lebanon, to the compendium the criticism of Muslims whose scripture, the Qur'an, argues that Your Will BeDone: Orthodoxyin Mission offers a good example of disunityis a signof God's punishmentuponChristianswhohave a contemporary Orthodox whose concern is with witness in the neglected their divine covenant (5:15).46 The challenge of Chris­ context of Islam." tian witness within Muslim societies, el-Zahlaoui concludes, Rejecting the view that the Orthodox communities have demands concerted "spiritual and theological reflection on the been introverted by the social experience of Islam, el-Zahlaoui meaning of our faith and of our beliefs in the Islamic context in reminds us of important ways in which Orthodox Christians which we live.":" have contributed to the cultural, ideological, and scientific re­ naissance of Arab societies in different periods of their history. A Pastoral Approach to Issues of Proselytism His general point is that "Christianity became an essential spiri­ tual force in the cultural, social and political life of Arab Mus­ The MECC document with which this essay began calls for "a lims." pastoral agreement" alllong churches for the resolution of his­ The contemporary resurgence of conservative religious torical and contemporary problems of proselytism." The key to trends throughout the region confronts all minorities with diffi­ this approach is "a dialogue of 10ve"49 in which Christians of cultproblems. ManyChristians feel threatened, even to the point different traditions learn to listen to one another in their search of fearing for their survival. As in previous times of crisis, many for mutual correction and enrichment. The examples we have Christians opt to emigrate out of the region, usually to the West, givenpointto the growthof such dialoguebetweenchurchesand with the result that the remaining Christian presence is seriously with missionary agencies that operate with an ecclesial commit­ weakened. Hard as this situation makes it for many Christians to ment, however varied this lllay be. The MECC study document give confident witness, el-Zahlaoui insists on the responsibility lists several issues that call for discussion under the category of of the church to relate the Gospel to this crisis. "Thewitness of the "unconscious" proselytism, such as religious freedom and the Gospel challenges us to transform the prevailing destructive freedom of , the issue of "returning to the mother suspicion between the minorities and majorities into construc­ church," mixed marriagesand religious ed uca tion, and the evan­ tive confidence." gelization of nominal Christians. In practical terms, this means that the church must identify Is dialogue possible with what the MECC terms "sects," for with the cause of all victims of injustice in "a fidelity to Christ which, in its judgment, "proselytism is a constitutive element of who calls us to assume on behalf of everybody all true human their identity"? If the MECC has less confidence in dialogue in solidarity." In the Lebanese context el-Zahlaoui emphasizes the this respect, there being "not enough basis for a constructive church's medicosocial and educational services, through which dialogue," it nevertheless recommends"a pastoralstrategy" that it witnesses the presence of God within human suffering and specifically rejects the optionof trying to suppress the freedom of manifests the reconciliatory power of the Incarnation." sects to operate. No haven is offered to the argument that civil The most serious impediment to effective Christian witness law should be invoked against the sects. On the contrary, the is the disunity of Christian churches. "Where the Church should study document insists that the freedom of the sects to operate be a manifestation of God's love to all humanbeings and a united must be upheld, as also the right of the individual to choose his community in God's peace, it often appears as a gathering of or her religious affiliation.50 sects, mutually exclusive of one another." Such disunity invites A pastoral approach to the sects should include challenge in Noteworthy Personalia

We are pleased to announce the appointmentof David A. Kerr Mission will meetJune 20-21 at the same place in conjunction as a contributing editor of the INTERNATIONAL BULLETIN OF MIS­ with the ASM. The theme of their meeting will be "Classroom SIONARY RESEARCH. He is Professor of Christianity in the Non­ andPractice: Is MissionTeachingCredible?" DeanS. Gilliland in the Faculty of Divinity, University of of Fuller Seminary School of World Mission, Pasadena, Cali­ Edinburgh, , where he also directs the Centre for the fornia, is presidentof the ASM, and Edward Poitras of Perkins Study of Christianity in the Non-Western World. He previ­ School of Theology, Southern Methodist University, , ously held appointments as professor of Islam and Christian­ Texas, is president of the APM for 1995-96. For further infor­ Muslim relations at Hartford Seminary, Hartford, Connecti­ mation and registration for both meetings, contact George R. cut, and in the Selly Oak Colleges, Birmingham, U.K., where Hunsberger, Western Theological Seminary, 86 East 12th he directed the Centre for the Study of Islam and Christian­ Street, Holland, Michigan 49423. Muslim Relations. He is a graduate of the Universities of A team of international scholars is planning a Dictionary of London and Oxford. His latest contribution appears in this African Christian Biography. The dictionarywill cover the whole issue, "Mission and Proselytism: A Middle East Perspective." field of African Christianity from earliest times to the present and over the entire continent. Broadly interconfessional, his­ Announcing torically descriptive, and exploiting the full range of oral and The American Society of Missiology will hold its annual written records, the dictionary will be simultaneously pro­ meeting June 21-23, 1996, at Techny Towers, Illinois (near duced electronically in English, French, and Portuguese. Not ). The theme of the meetingwill be "Contextualization: only will the dictionary stimulate local data gathering and Reporting and Reflecting." The Association of Professors of input, but as a nonproprietary electronic database, it will

18 INTERNATIONAL BULLETIN OF MISSIONARY RESEARCH two senses of the word: challenge tothe sects by monitoring their answered. Where continuity between church and ethnicity is activities and raising "awareness of the religious and human strong (e.g., in the Oriental Orthodox churches and the Maronite threats of this phenomenon"; and the challenge of the sects, in church), change of ecclesial affiliation from the mother church is that the churches should be energized for renewal, expressed in unconscionable and treated as a betrayal of community. In cases "a more efficient pastoral work that 'recaptures what has been whereecclesiologyhasreducedor eliminatedthe sense ofethnicity lost' and immunizes (the) faithful against the temptations of (e.g., in Protestant churches), the quality of personal faith com­ 'religious consumerism.' " Without elaborating further, the docu­ mitment/salvation is the primary value of evangelism. ment emphasizes the need for continuing renewal of religious Here the second variable becomes evident. Where faith is education, ministerial formation, pastoral care, and "the balance understood in individualistic terms as a personal relationship between participation and the need for leadership" (which this withGod,freedom of religiousconvictionand the rightto change author reads as meaning the new relationship between religious affiliation tend to be given priority. This is typically the and laity). case with Protestant Christianity, which has been so much influ­ enced by principles of the Western Enlightenment. A quite Issues for Intra-Christian Dialogue The MECC's call for dialogue between Eastern and Western For the ancient Eastern churches implicitly requires us to consider the sociopolitical context in which proselytism continues to evoke contentious churches, community argument. At least three dimensions of Christian identity need to provides the social and be kept in mind. Christian religious identity in West Asia/North Africa. The spiritual context within Lebanese theologian George Sabra reminds us that religion which faith is nurtured. continues to function as a primaryfactor ofsocial identity through­ out the West Asian/North African region. He draws a helpful distinctionbetweenthe"denominational" (or sociological) iden­ different worldview pertains among those churches that are tity of a Christian community and the "ecclesial" (or faith) historically rooted in the cultural and intellectual traditions of commitment of its members. These two dimensions may be West Asia/North Africa, where community provides the social continuous with each other. But modern forces of and spiritual context within which individual faith is nurtured. have tended to erode the ecclesial vitality of many Christians This is at the heart of the monastic tradition of Christianity and who nonetheless continue to be socially defined by their denomi­ is inherent in the shape and content of the liturgy. In different nation. In this context, Sabra argues, the purpose of evangeliza­ ways it is no less evident in the Islamic religious consciousness, tion is to enhance the ecclesial identity of individuals and com­ which has influenced the social character of indigenous Chris­ munities. He then poses the question, If the faith renewal of an tianity. Evangelism in this context is understood in terms of the individual or group leads to a change of ecclesial affiliation, is renewal of an individual's ecclesial identity within his or her this evangelization or proselytism?" denominational identity, not in separation from it. Orthodox Two variables tend to influence the way this question is witness makes this very clear and amounts to a conceptual (and

constitute a uniquely dynamic way to maintain, amend, ex­ D.C. Appointed by the Eastern Province as codirectors are pand, access, and disseminate information vital to an under­ Father James Sullivan, a.M.!., a veteran of forty-two years of standing of African Christianity. Being nonproprietary, it will missionary service in Brazil and a specialist in working with be possible for material within it to be freely reproduced ongoingformation in religious communities, and FatherHarry locally in printed form. Being electronic, the material will be Winter, a.M.!., Ph.D., an ecumenical theologian who served simultaneously accessible to readers around the world. Con­ as associate director of the Texas Conference of Churches tributors will be drawn from academic, church, and mission (1977-79) and then spent twelve years in . Further communities in Africa and elsewhere. To ensure realization of information is available from Center for Mission Stud­ the dictionary's full potential, financial support for the project ies, 391 Michigan Ave. N.E., Washington, D.C. 20017-1586; is being negotiated. Suggestions relating to potential subjects telephone: 202-529-5244; fax: 202-636-9444. and contributors are welcome. For further information, con­ The GeneralAssemblyof the PresbyterianChurch (U.S.A.), tact: Jonathan J. Bonk, Dictionary of African Christian Biogra­ meeting at Cincinnati, Ohio, in mid-July 1995, commissioned phy,Providence Theological Seminary, Otterburne, Manitoba 464 new mission workers to serve in thirty-five countries. It ROA 1GO,; telephone: 204-433-7488;fax: 204-433-7158. was the largest number of long- and short-term Presbyterian The Eastern American Province of the Missionary missionaries ever recognized at a General Assembly. Also of Mary Immaculate announced in February 1995 the estab­ recognized were 56 "global partners" from various nations lishment of the Oblate Center for Mission Studies within the serving in mission to the . Oblate College Graduate School of Theology, Washington,

January 1996 19 thus practical) resistance to the many Western notions of mis­ chology and practice. This is strikingly evident in Lebanon, sion. where a "confessional" system of public life guarantees (in Christian culturalidentityin WestAsia/NorthAfrica. The intri­ theory) that each religious community in the state is represented cate relationship between language and culture is richly evi­ proportionately to its size in relation to the other religious denced in the indigenous Christian communities in West Asia/ communities. While political leadership is exercised on constitu­ North Africa. Our review of the churches has emphasized the tionally secular lines, confessionalism allows the religious hier­ diversity of linguistic cultures (Aramaic, Armenian, Coptic, and archies of bothChristian and Muslimcommunities to continue to Syriac) that distinguished the ancient Eastern patriarchates from exert considerable influence behind the scenes, and openly if eachother and from the West (Greekand Latin). With the rise and political life breaks down in civil or military disorder. expansion of Islam from the seventh century, however, Against this background the antagonism of indigenous has become the lingua franca of most of the peoples of the region. churches to proselytismhas certainpolitical resonance. This may be construed as a case of clerical hierarchies protecting their political influence from further erosion. But since this is how the According to theologian political culture continues to operate, it can also be argued that a politically influential clergy is a positive asset for Christian George Sabra, " minorities in societies that are themselves undergoing various is simply incompatible forms of Islamic religious and social renewal. Burdened by a feeling of vulnerability, many look for the with proselytism." strengthening of their traditional institutions of leadership and feel politically undermined and endangered by proselytism.

The wealth of Christian theological writing from the mid-eighth Conclusion century in Arabic as well as in their ethnic languages is a literary monument of their bilingual traditions. Sydney Griffith, a lead­ This article has attempted to elucidate the controversial issue of ing scholar of this genre of , observes that proselytism in West Asia/North Africa in a dispassionate man­ Christians"actually adopted a way of presenting the traditional ner, based onhistorical evidence and contemporary documenta­ teachings of the church in an Arabic idiom conditioned by the tion, analyzed from the point of view of the indigenous Christian Islamic frame of reference in the midst of which they lived."? communities. In conclusion, the author wishes to commend the Rarely have Western missions been sensitive to this achieve­ statement of George Sabra that"ecumenism is simply incompat­ ment. Indeed, if recognized at all, it has usually been regarded ible withproselytism."54 The weight of historical evidence shows with suspicion as an incipient that must be expunged. that proselytism almost invariably becomes the dynamic of The conversion of indigenous Christians to Western forms of intra-Christianrelations wheredisunityprevailsamongchurches Christianity has had the effect of deracinating them from their or sectarianism is fostered by exclusivist groups. Ultimately, it is cultural-linguistic traditions, marking them out as "aliens at evangelism itself that becomes the casualty of "sheep-stealing" home'f" and burdening them with the criticism of being cultural mission. proselytes. If the renewal of the church arises from the renewal of Christian political identityin WestAsia/NorthAfrica. Under the Christian witness, the qualitative wealth of Christian traditions OttomanEmpire the Christian communities of WestAsia/North in West Asia/North Africa (notwithstanding their quantitative Africa were recognized for legal and political purposes as mil­ decline) suggests that this region has an important role to play in lets-autonomousminorities withinMuslimsociety, represented the twenty-first century, as it did in the first. But this promise will by their clerical hierarchies. For four hundred years (early six­ be realized only to the degree that the churches of the future can teenth to early twentieth centuries) this was the juridical frame­ regain the ecumenical fellowship of the earlyChristiancenturies. work of George Sabra's sociological category of "denomina­ Drawing once again from Sabra's sociological analysis, we can tional" identity. While the millet system has been formally well support his hope that in a truly ecumenical situation "the abolished in the constitutions of the modern Arab states, it evangelizers could aim at reviving ... sociological Christians in continues to exert informal influence in terms of political psy­ and for their own (ecclesial) traditions."55 Notes------­ 1. The author acknowledges indebtedness and expresses gratitude to Orthodox and the Catholics. A briefer summary appears in David Carolyn Sperl, coordinator of Reference and Interlibrary Loan Ser­ Teague, ed., Turning a New Leaf: Protestant Missionsand theOrthodox vices, Hartford Seminary, for assistance in researching the disparate Churches of the Middle East, 2d ed. (London: Interserve; Lynnwood, literature relevant to this study. The colonialist associations and Wash.: Middle East Media, 1992). For a sociopolitical overview of geographic ambiguities of the term "Middle East" and its variant these Christian communities, see Robert Betts, Christians in theArab "Near East" call for the less prejudicial (albeit less elegant) terminol­ East: A Political Study, rev. ed. (Atlanta: Press, 1978). For ogy "West Asia/North Africa," which will be used throughout. the contemporary statement of an Arab Christian, see Mitri Raheb, I 2. Recent introductory studies of these churches include Roland Am a Palestinian Christian (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1995). Stan­ Roberson, The Eastern Churches: A BriefSurvey, rev. 3d ed. (Rome: dard scholarly reference works include Aziz Atiyah, A History of Pont. Institutum Studiorum Orientalium, 1990), which deals with (London: Methuen, 1968);and A. J. Arberry, ed., the Oriental and EasternOrthodox and with the Catholic churches of Religion in theMiddleEast: Three Religions in Concord andConflict, vol. West Asia/North Africa and elsewhere (but excludes the Protes­ 1 (Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press, 1969). tants); and Norman Horner, Guideto Christian Churches in theMiddle 3. For the MECC's account of the churches of its region, see "Who Are East: Present-day Christianity in the Middle East and North Africa the Christians of the Middle East?" MECC Perspectives (Limassol, (Elkhart, Ind.: Mission Focus Press, 1989), which includes informa­ 1986). tion on the Protestant churches as well as the Oriental and Eastern 4. The preamble of the document reads: "After a discussion process

20 INTERNATIONAL BULLETIN OF MISSIONARY RESEARCH started in December 1986, the Commission on Faith and Unity 20. Badr, "Mission to 'Nominal Christians,' " pp. 164-65. Anderson's studied in its lastmeeting (July 1989),before the Vth General Assem­ study of this issue is found in his HistoryoftheMissions oftheAmerican bly, a third draft. Ithas agreed that it should be considered'A Study Board ofCommissioners for Foreign Missions to the Oriental Churches, 2 Document' submitted to the Executive Committee of the MECC and vols. (Boston: Congregational Publishing Society, 1872). to the Churches and made available to institutions, groups or indi­ 21. For example, see Henry Jessup, The Greek Church and Protestant vid uals concerned." Missions; or,Missionsto theOriental Churches (Beirut and New : 5. MECC studydocument, paragraphs6-11. For an elaboration of these Christian Literature Company, 1891). definitions, see George Sabra, "Proselytism, Evangelisation and 22. A contemporary American missionary, Bird, was the first to Ecumenism," Theological Review: NearEastSchool of Theology 9, no. 2 write on this incident in his Martyr of Lebanon (Boston: American (1988):23-36. Tract Society, 1864). Rufus Anderson later wrote a chapter "The 6. MECC study document, paragraphs 13-14. Martyr of Lebanon, Assaad Shidyak" (History, 1:52ff.). 7. Ibid., paragraph 39. 23. Badr, "Mission to 'Nominal Christians,' " pp. 100-102; cf. Semaan, 8. Ibid., paragraphs 20-29. Aliens at Home, pp. 82-85. The missionary significance of the First 9. King Tiridate'sconversion to Christianityat the hands of St. Gregory Church in Hartford lay in its from 1818 to 1867, Hawes, the Illuminator in 301 predates the baptism of Emperor Constantine who played a leading role in the Second . Hawes around 337. was a friend and supporter of Rufus Anderson, as well as his 10. In Armenian canon law the catholicosate has global authority over traveling companion on an extended visit to West Asia in 1844. On Armenians, in contrast to the patriarchate, which has only regional Joel Hawes, see George Walker, HistoryoftheFirstChurch in Hartford, jurisdiction. The church comprises two patriarchates (Jerusalemand 1633-1883 (Hartford, Conn.: Brown & Gross, 1884). Constantinople), which are dependent upon the catholicosate of 24. Badr, "Mission to 'Nominal Christians,' " p. 254. Etchmiadzin. In the fifteenth century a second catholicosate was 25. Ibid., p. 264. created for the Armenian diaspora in Cilicia, Syria (modern-day 26. Anderson, History, 1:47. Lebanon). 27. See Horner, Guideto Christian Churches in theMiddleEast, pp. 65-79, 11. The name"Assyrian" reflects their claim to descend from the ancient for a full list of Anglican and Protestant churches in West Asia/ people of Nineveh. Alternatively, they call themselves "Chaldean." North Africa. In either case they reject their designation by other churches as 28. Ibid., p. 72. Nestorian, after the fifth-century theologian Nestorius, whom the 29. Zissis, "Uniatism," p. 22. Defining uniatism as no more than "a Councilof Ephesuscondemned for allegedly teachingDyophysitism, method of proselytizing the East," Zissis argues that it is a "fraudu­ the view that the person of Jesus Christ included two separate union" that should be abolished, asking that "the Uniates ... be natures. incorporated in the Latin rite of Roman Catholicism." 12. The doctrinal issue turned once again on the problem of defining the 30. Documents ofVatican II,p. 34("DogmaticConstitutionon the Church"). person of Jesus Christ. Was he of a single divine nature as the 31. Summary of salient points in the Joint Commission's 1991 working Orientals were alleged to have asserted (), or of two document entitled "Uniatism as a Method of Union in the Past and natures that were united without confusion, change, division, or the Present Call for Full Communion," published in Journal of the separation as the Western Christians insisted (Chalcedonianism)? Moscow Patriarchate 10 (1991): 60-62. For an interpretation of this 13. The recovery of the theological output of these churches within document by an Eastern-rite Catholic priest, see Joseph Loya, Muslim societies and culture is the goal of important contemporary "Uniatism in Current Ecumenical Dialogue," Ecumenical Trends: research, much of which has been pioneered by Samir Khalil. For a Graymoor Ecumenical andInterreligious Institute 21, no. 6 (June 1992): recent example of this in English, see Samir Khalil and Jorgen 83-86. Nielsen, eds., Christian ArabicApologists During the Abbasid Period 32. Donald Wagner, Anxious for Armageddon: A Call to Partnership for (750-1258) (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1994). MiddleEastern andWestern Christians (Waterloo, Ont.; Scottdale, Pa.: 14. The Arabization of the episcopate and election of the first Arab Herald Press, 1994), pp. 181-82; see also 57-58 and 186-87. For a patriarch at the end of the nineteenth century stands as one of the report on the 1991 Cyprus meeting, see Kim Lawton, "The Other early milestones of Arab nationalism. Peace Conference: Middle Eastern and Western Christians Hold a 15. In fairness to the Roman position, it must be acknowledged that Summit Meeting of Their Own to Resolve Long-standingTensions," Rome viewed the Eastern-rite churches within the Catholic com­ ChristianityToday, November II, 1991, pp. 46-48. munion as symbols of the full communion with the Eastern and 33. David Teague's phrase, which he uses as the title of the chapter in Oriental Orthodox churches that is yet to be achieved. They were which he speaks of what he learned through personal encounter provisional models of reunion, or as the withCopticOrthodoxy in Egypt (TurningOveraNewLeaf, pp. 63-84). stated: "All these directives of law are laid down in view of the 34. Wagner, Anxious for Armageddon, pp. 181,96-113. present situation, until such time as the Catholic Church and the 35. This often-cited quotation appears, for example, in Ion Bria, ed., separated Eastern Churches come together into complete unity" Martyria/Mission: The Witnessof the Orthodox Church (: WCC ("Decree on Eastern Catholic Churches," in TheDocuments ofVatican Commission on World Mission and Evangelism, 1980), pp. 66-67; II, ed. Walter Abbott [New York: Guild Press, 1966], p. 385). see also Ion Bria, ed., Go Forth in Peace: Orthodox Perspectives on 16. Created by the Latin Crusaders after their conquest of Jerusalem in Mission (Geneva: WCC Mission Series, 1986), p. 38. 1099, this patriarchate did not survive the end of the Latin Kingdom 36. Bria, Martyria/Mission, p. 68. of Jerusalem but was reconstituted by the Vatican in 1847. 37. Ibid., p. 226. 17. Documents of Vatican II, p. 373. 38. Ibid., p. 10. 18. For example, see Theodore Zissis, "Uniatism: A Problem in the 39. Ibid., p. 228. Dialogue Between Orthodox and Roman Catholics," Greek Orthodox 40. On the role of monastic witness in Orthodoxy, see ibid. pp. 243-48. Theological Review35 (Spring 1990): 21-31. 41. Ibid., p. 230. 19. For analyses of the history of nineteenth-century evangelical mis­ 42. Case studies of cross-culturalwitness appear in George Lemopoulos, sionary theory and practice in West Asia by indigenous scholars, see ed., YourWill BeDone: Orthodoxy inMission(Geneva: WCC Commis­ Habib Badr, "Mission to 'Nominal Christians': The Policy and Prac­ sion on World Mission and Evangelism, 1989). tice of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions 43. For a sociohistorical analysis, see Robert Haddad, SyrianChristians in and Its Missionaries" (Ph.D. diss., Princeton Univ., 1922; UMI no. Muslim Society (Princeton: Princeton Univ. Press, 1970). For a more 9229015);and WanisSemaan,AliensatHome: A Socio-Religious Analy­ theological perspective, see N. M. Vaporis, ed., Orthodox Christians sis of the Protestant Church in Lebanon and Its Backgrounds (Beirut: and Muslims (Brookline, Mass.: Holy Cross Orthodox Press, 1986). Librarie du Liban/Longman, 1986). 44. "Witnessing in the Islamic context," in Your Will Be Done, ed.

January 1996 21 Lemopoulos, pp. 95-104, from which the following quotations are Habib in his letter to Evangelicals, "Renewal, Unity, and Witness in taken. the Middle East: An Open Letter to Evangelicals," Evangelical Mis­ 45. For further information, see Milia Khouri, "The Mission of the sions Quarterly26 (July 1990): 256-62. See also Roemmele's Orthodox Youth in Lebanon," in Your Will BeDone,ed. Lemopoulos, reply in the same issue, pp. 260-62. pp.181-83. 50. MECC study document, paragraphs 61-64. On this point, George 46. Qur'an 5:15: "For those, too, who call themselves Christians, We did Sabra argues that an appeal to secular authorities, or to the courts take a Covenant, but they forgot a good part of the Message that We other than in cases where proselytizing groups breachnational laws, sent them. So We estranged them, with enmity and hatred between infringes the religious rights of individuals, denies the spirit of the one and another, to the Day of Judgment. And soon will God show Gospel, and betrays the witness of the earliest Christians, who them what they have done" (Yusuf Ali, The Holy Qur'an: Text, courageously stood for freedom of faith against the political, legal, Translation, and Commentary, pp. 245-46). military, and social pressures of the Roman Empire ("Proselytism, 47. The leading contemporary Orthodox theologian to have addressed Evangelization, and Ecumenism," pp. 26-28). the issue of the Christian relationship to Islam is Metropolitan 51. Sabra, "Proselytism, Evangelization, and Ecumenism," pp. 29-31. Georges Khodr of Lebanon; see his "Christianity in a Pluralistic 52. Sydney Griffith, "Faith and Reason in Christian Kalam: Theodore World: The Economyof the HolySpirit," Ecumenical Review23 (April Abu Qurrah on Discerning the True Religion," in Christian Arabic 1971): 118-28. For a discussion of the contextualization of Christian Apologists DuringtheAbbasidPeriod(750-1258),ed.KhalilandNielsen, theology, including Orthodox contributions, in Palestinian Muslim p.5. society, see Andre Mazawi, "Palestinian Local Theology and the 53. See Semaan, Aliens at Home,a socioreligious study of the evangelical Issue of Islamo-Christian Dialogue: An Appraisal," Islamochristiana church in Lebanon. 19 (1993): 93-115. 54. Sabra, "Proselytism, Evangelization, and Ecumenism," p. 25. 48. MECC study document, paragraphs 34-37. 55. Ibid., p. 33. 49. The phrase is used by the former MECC general secretary

Response to David A. Kerr

Gabriel Habib

agree with the historical and conceptual analyses con­ proselytism between these churches should be avoided. More­ I veyed in "Mission and Proselytism: A Middle East Per­ over, thecommissionaffirmed thatUniatismshouldno longerbe spective." I would make only the following minor clarifications. considered a normal pattern of relationships between the Catho­ 1. Referring to the doctrinal divergence produced by the lic and Orthodox churches. Councilof Chalcedon(451),Kerr mentions the Copts, the Syrians 4. I also agree with Kerr's approach to witness within Islam. of Antioch, and the Armenians on the one hand, and the churches However, I would add that the future continuity of presence or of Constantinople and Rome on the other. In this regard I would even survival of Christianity in the Middle East does not depend, suggestthat"of Constantinople"be replaced by"coordinatedby as some would think, on Christians belonging to the land, but Constantinople." This change would help preserve the integrity mainly on the shared monotheistic ethos or revelation given by of the autocephaly of the Orthodox churches of the East, which God to the common father . Therefore, the challenge of viewed the patriarch of Constantinople only as primus inter Christian witness within Muslim societies demands concerted pares. "spiritual and theological reflection on the meaning of our faith," 2. Referring to the Oriental churches, Kerr rightly points out not only "in the Islamic context in which we live," as Joseph el­ that sociologically these churches can be described as ethnic Zahlaoui of the Orthodox Church of Antioch says ("Witnessing churches. However, since these churches consider that the iden­ in the Islamic Context," in Your Will Be Done: Orthodoxy in tification of the faith with a people and its culture is a logical Mission, ed. George Lemopoulos [Geneva: World Council of outcome of the Incarnation, it would be better to follow their Churches, 1989], pp. 103-4), but also in the common monotheis­ preference in speaking of local, rather than ethnic, churches. tic (Jewish, Christian, Islamic) ethos that motivates our life and 3. The references made by Kerr to the Eastern Catholics and rela tionships. the phenomenon of Uniatism are clear and most helpful. I would like only to add that the commission for dialogue between the Gabriel Habib, Lebanese, a member of theOrthodoxChurchofAntioch, resides Orthodox and Catholic churches met at the Orthodox University in Cyprus.HeservedtheMiddle EastCouncilofChurches asgeneral secretary of Balamant, Lebanon, in June of 1994 and declared that from 1977 to 1994.

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