Sociopolitical obstacles to Christian unity in Myanmar: A missiological appraisal

Abstract

In addition to the challenges of competing religious and secular worldviews in Myanmar, there are also a number of inherent social and political realities, which hinder intertribal Christian unity, that must be addressed missiologically. This article considers, first, the theme of isolation in Myanmar’s social construct: specifically, the reality of the “plural society”; the way in which tribes are identified independently of one another (ethnonyms); and the way in which the tribes (as in-groups) view outgroups (“image theory”). Then, it considers the mistrust that has developed in the wake of political destabilization and human rights concerns, while recognizing the political fluidity presently on display in Myanmar’s apparent climate of rapprochement.