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The Link Between Mission Praxis and Theological Presupposition Marc Cultural Sensitivity in Christian Mission to Resistant People, an Historical Perspective The link between mission praxis and theological presupposition Marc Coleman Submitted to meet the requirements for the degree of Ph.D. Missiology in the Faculty of Theology Department of Missiology at the University of the Free State Study Leader: Professor P Verster October 29, 2007 Copyright 2007 University of the Free State All rights reserved To Cathy iii "Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature" (Mark 16:15), is Christ's command to His followers. Not that all are called to be ministers or missionaries in the ordinary sense of the term; but all may be workers with Him in giving the "glad tidings" to their fellow men. To all, great or small, learned or ignorant, old or young, the command is given. Ellen White, Education iv v CONTENTS CULTURAL SENSITIVITY IN CHRISTIAN MISSION TO RESISTANT PEOPLE, AN HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE II SECTION I 10 Chapter 1 12 Introduction 12 A The main focus 14 C Defining mission 15 D The goals of this research 16 F A word about the approach to time periods in this historical research 17 G Mission paradigms, missionary approaches and mission theology 18 I The unique contribution of this research 20 H The mission praxis paradigm 22 I Further observations on the MPPs 26 J Ancillary goals of this research 29 K Theological variables 30 L Further motivations 31 M A word on methodology 32 Chapter 2 34 The issues 34 A The incarnational nature of the gospel and syncretism 35 B Gospel proclamation and syncretism 35 C The nature of syncretism 36 D Historical and Old Testament biblical attitudes toward syncretism 38 E Syncretism and contextualization 40 F Classes of syncretism 41 G Syncretism in practice 43 H Syncretism or contextualization 44 I When contextualization becomes syncretism 46 J Indicators of syncretism used in this research 46 SECTION II 52 Chapter 3 53 The development of the Inclusivist MPP 53 A Inclusivism as an emergent missions paradigm 54 B Church fathers who introduced the Inclusivist MPP 55 C The ostensible reasons why Inclusivism was a practical mission paradigm 56 D Inclusivist scholars arise seeking to engage the culture 59 E The theological school of Alexandria 60 F How Philo’s theology affected Alexandrian scholars Clement and Origen 64 G A possible link 66 H The presuppositions of allegorist interpretation 66 I Selections from the writings of Clement and Origen with explanatory comments 67 J Origen and the inspiration of the scriptures: 71 K The ecclesiology of early Inclusivism 75 L The eschatology of early Inclusivism 75 vi M Summary of the prominent aspects of early Inclusivist mission proponents’ beliefs 77 N The effects of early Inclusivism on the church 78 Chapter 4 82 Authoritativism 82 Authoritativism as an emergent mission paradigm in the apostolic era 83 A Authoritativism and the countercultural gospel in Paul, the setting 83 B The countercultural nature of the gospel 88 C Aspects of the theology of those who first espoused the a MPP, the variables 90 Chapter 5 98 Authoritativism and Inclusivism in the mission field; further development of Authoritativism 98 A Inclusivism and Authoritativism contrasted in the British Isles 99 B The ancient British Church and Authoritativism 99 C Early Christianity in Britain 100 D Historical background 101 E Columba, missionary to the Irish and Scots 101 F On to Scotland 102 G Relation to the culture and missionary methods 103 H The beliefs of the Celtic church, the variables 107 Chapter 6 113 The response of Inclusivism in the British Isles 113 A Augustine’s mission to England 114 B the Roman mission methodology, Inclusivism 115 C The reasoning behind the incorporation of pagan usages into Christian worship 118 D Assumption of spiritual transference of allegiance 119 E The Celtic refusal to join the Catholic mission and Augustine’s prediction 121 E Beliefs of the proponents of Inclusivist mission in Britain, the variables 122 Chapter 7 126 Authoritative MPP of the Waldenses 126 A Overview of the Waldenses 127 B The character of the Waldensian church and her beliefs 128 B The testimony of enemies 131 A Summary of major beliefs 134 B The missionary methods of the Waldenses 136 C How the Waldenses spread the gospel 137 D Main missionary method, sharing the Bible in the vernacular 138 Chapter 8 142 Inclusivist mission in the middle Ages 142 A Compulsion and Christian mission 143 C Persecution grows as a missional tool of the church 145 D Compulsion as a Christian mission principle, retracing the history 146 E Examining the beliefs, the variables, of medieval Inclusivism and the use of force 147 F Further development of the principle of forced conversion 149 G Institutionalized salvation 150 H Beliefs concerning the scriptures 151 vii Chapter 9 156 Nestorian Authoritativism 156 B Missionary aspects of the Nestorian church mission methods 158 C Nestorian beliefs, the variables 160 Chapter 10 163 Authoritative mission and the reformation 163 A Protestant Reformation missions and Authoritativism 164 B The eschatology of the reform, renewed emphasis on the end 169 C The problem of early Protestant mission 171 D Authoritativism as the initial Protestant Reformation MPP 172 Chapter 11 178 Neo-Inclusivist mission 178 A Neo-inclusivism 179 B NI’s major characteristics and presuppositions, the variables 180 C Scientific theory superimposed on Protestant belief 184 D The methodology 184 E The imprecise character of NI missions 186 E The problem of NI missions 186 SECTION III 188 Chapter 12 189 Comparing, analyzing the paradigms and drawing conclusions 189 A Revisiting the goal of this research 190 B What this study revealed 190 C Conclusions 197 D The principle of correlation 199 E Recommendations for further study 199 F Measuring the MPPs against Boff’s Categories of Syncretism 200 H Measuring the 3 MPPs by other standards 204 I The Bible, the beginning and the end of all missionary enterprise 205 APPENDIX I 206 APPENDIX II 217 Mission Praxis Paradigm Survey and Indicator (a tool for missionaries) 218 References 224 viii ILLUSTRATIONS Figure 1, Bosch’s view of mission paradigms. ______________________________________________________22 Figure 2, representation of the Authoritative MPP___________________________________________________23 Figure 3, the Inclusivist MPP ___________________________________________________________________24 Figure 4, the Neo-inclusivist MPP _______________________________________________________________25 Figure 5, the mission epochs versus MPPs _________________________________________________________26 Figure 6, the relationship between the MPPs _______________________________________________________28 Figure 7, building blocks of the MPPs ___________________________________________________________205 Figure 9 the Authoritative MPP is represented by this image__________________________________________221 Figure 10 the representation of the Inclusivist MPP_________________________________________________221 Figure 11 the representation of the Neo-Inclusivist MPP_____________________________________________221 ix Section I 10 11 Chapter 1 Introduction 12 13 A The main focus This historical investigation focuses on the perplexing challenge that has confronted Christian missionaries since the beginning of cross-cultural mission endeavor. In Christian mission how important of a role should be assigned to the culture of the evangelized? 1 The subtitle of a very insightful book intended for Christian missionaries, Introduction to Biblical Christianity from an African Perspective , in a very succinct question sums up this dilemma. What place for the culture (O'Donovan 1992: 1)? In cross-cultural mission, this question takes on enormous meaning. Simple, direct, and unencumbered with needless verbiage this query has been at the foundation of theological debate, catechistic controversy, and denominational schism throughout the long and complex history of the mission of the Christian church. At the heart of the debate two issues have existed: the specific role (if any) that culture should play and how the church should accommodate the various religious and cultural beliefs and practices of converted peoples from different backgrounds and cultural heritages while still maintaining biblical fidelity. The main thesis of this research is that in the history of Christian mission to resistant peoples the theology of the missionary predisposes to a particular set of mission principles. Stated otherwise there is a link between what one believes about the Bible and other Christian doctrines and how one goes about the task of doing mission. I argue that history bears out this assertion. The link is more than a casual one. B A narrow definition of culture Xianqun Xu in discussing the indigenization of the Chinese church identifies two major areas of culture that Christian missionaries had to confront. These were the philosophical ideologies of the Chinese and the non Christian (unbiblical) ceremonies inherent in Chinese culture. An example of the latter would be Chinese ancestor veneration (Xu, 1997). Another author, Andrew Eungi Kim (2000), sees the indigenization of Christianity in Korea as revolving around the same two elements; the ideologies of the non Christian world and/or its rites and ceremonies. In this study, when referring to culture, the context is cross-cultural mission and the specific inclusion of culture in mission refers to the two areas mentioned here: pagan or unbiblical philosophies or ideologies and pagan
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