Missionary Presence Research Articles

Macau, the Imaginary City: Culture and Society, 1557 to Present , and: Political Development in Macau (review)

230 China Review International: Vol. 5, No. 1, Spring 1998 Jonathan Porter. Macau, the Imaginary City: Culture and Society, 1557 to Present. New Perspectives in Asian Studies, vol. 195. Boulder, Colorado: Westview Press, 1996. x, 240 pp. Hardcover, isbn 0-8133-2836-5. Lo Shiu Hing. Political Development in Macau. Hong Kong: Chinese University Press, 1995. xxix, 300 pp. Paperback, isbn 962-201-658-8. Many learned monographs on Macau have appeared since the late 1980s, but these are mostly in Portuguese and Chinese. The two books reviewed here are rare examples of English-language works on this subject. The first tide considers the entire history of Macau; the second is restricted to more recent times, mainly to the last two decades. I shall therefore look at the historical account first. Porter defines his work as "an essay in cultural history." It does not follow a strict chronological arrangement but rather examines Macau's past in terms of "a series of images." Macau is presented "as a place in its own right and as a threshold between two larger worlds," namely China and Portugal or Europe (p. 8). Porter's book is a gracefully written account combining personal experience with scholarly expertise, but it is equally true that the topics covered by this study do not really present anything new from an academic standpoint. Macau's history has nearly always been understood as a series of encounters between different cultures , irrespective of whether these concerned the arts, daily life, politics, commerce , and so on. If there is anything remarkable about Porter's work, other than its refined language, it is perhaps that the author has tried to balance his views between both sides, the Portuguese and the Chinese, and that he has attempted to place Macau's role in a greater geographical context—that of South China. By and large, this observation concerns all chapters, including the ones on the city's urban development, its architecture and fine arts, the different facets of its religious life, its administrative structure, and so on. And yet, some doubts remain : Porter quotes a large number of Chinese sources, but Portuguese-language works are clearly underutilized. In some sense this is "mended" by the author's effort to delve into the deeper layers of the Portuguese mind. Now and then, however, gaps of factual knowledge are arbitrarily filled by resorting to the accounts of English and American visitors who stayed in Macau during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. The importance of these observers is clearly inflated and their views are not always critically assessed. Harriet Low, for© 1998 by University example, is but a marginal figure in the history ofMacau, and her opinions do ofHawai'i Pressnot always reflect the "real" situation. Dozens of Portuguese sources could have been used to give inside views on the times and on the things diis lady was able to experience in Macau. Questions also arise in connection with the role of Rong Reviews 231 Hong. Saying he was a "mirror image" ofJohann Adam Schall von Bell (p. 125), the great Jesuit who helped to spare Macau from destruction when the Qing ordered the evacuation of China's coastal areas to defend themselves against the Zheng clan, is an extremely courageous remark. Nor do I think that the Protestant Cemetery and the presence of Protestant missionaries in Macau were as important for this city as the audior tends to suggest. Incidentally, for the Protestant Cemetery, readers may now be referred to Bernard Mellor's beautiful edition of the works by Lindsay and May Ride (Hong Kong, 1996). There are a few additional details that might be pointed out here. In discussing Macau's urban development, Porter should have given more attention to the issue ofland reclamation. The Macau peninsula's shorelines on the maps in chapter 6 (pp. 182 and 184) are not accurately drawn. Labeling the work ofthe Jesuits as "aggressive evangelism" surely would not appeal to everyone (p. 58). The more correct name of the captain who ruled Malacca from 1511 to 1514 is Rui de Brito Patalim (p. 63). There are also some incorrect pinyin transcriptions (for example, Xiyuji, on p. 170). Several...

American Women in Mission: A Social History of Their Thought and Practice.

The stereotype of the woman missionary has ranged from that of the longsuffering wife, characterized by the epitaph Died, given over to hospitality, to that of the spinster in her unstylish dress and wire-rimmed glasses, alone somewhere for thirty years teaching heathen children. Like all caricatures, those of the exhausted wife and frustrated old maid carry some truth: the underlying message of the sterotypes is that missionary women were perceived as marginal to the central tasks of mission. Rather than being remembered for preaching the gospel, the quintessential male task, missionary women were noted for meeting human needs and helping others, sacrificing themselves without plan or reason, all for the sake of bringing the world to Jesus Christ.Historical evidence, however, gives lie to the truism that women missionaries were and are doers but not thinkers, reactive secondary figures rather than proactive primary ones. The first American women to serve as foreign missionaries in 1812 were among the best-educated women of their time. Although barred from obtaining the college education or ministerial credentials of their husbands, the early missionary wives had read their Jonathan Edwards and Samuel Hopkins. Not only did they go abroad with particular theologies to share, but their identities as women caused them to develop gender-based mission theories. Early nineteenth-century women seldom wrote theologies of mission, but they wrote letters and kept journals that reveal a thought world and set of assumptions about women's roles in the missionary task. The activities of missionary wives were not random: they were part of a mission strategy that gave women a particular role inthe advancement of the reign of God.By moving from mission field to mission field in chronological order of missionary presence, Robert charts missiological developments as they took place in dialogue with the urgent context of the day. Each case study marks the beginning of the mission theory. Baptist women in Burma, for example, are only considered in their first decades there and are not traced into the present. Robert believes that at this early stage of research into women's mission theory, integrity and analysis lies more in a succession of contextualized case studies than in gross generalizations.

The protestant missionary presence in the former Soviet Union*

(1997). The protestant missionary presence in the former Soviet Union. Religion, State and Society: Vol. 25, No. 4, pp. 333-351.

La Chine en Europe

Bruno Neveu : China in Europe. The West's contact with China and its civilisation from the 16th century onwards was almost solely through Catholic missionaries. In the 18th Century the mainly French Jesuits in Peking played a role as cultural intermediaries which was crucial for the development of the Enlightenment's Orient. An analysis of recent historical works shows clearly the exceptional talents of the Jesuits who were at the Imperial court, and the coherence of their apologetic principles. But one should not forget the presence of other missionaries (Augustins, Dominicans, Carmelites) ; they were more concerned with popular teaching and aware of the place of Taoism alongside the educated class's Confucianism, whose image in Europe was attractive but inexact. On the other hand, the reactions of the Chinese to the introduction of Western religious, philosophical and scientific reality is beginning to be better known thanks to the research of Sinologists.

The missionary presence in literacy campaigns in the indigenous languages of Latin America (1939–1952)

The missionary presence in literacy campaigns in the indigenous languages of Latin America (1939–1952)

The Catholic Church's Role as Mediator: Bolivia, 1968-1989

In no other Latin American country in recent times has the Catholic Church played the role of mediator to help resolve na tional political and social crises to the degree that it has in Bo livia. Beginning in 1968 and up until the present, the Church has acted as mediator in practically every major clash between the miners and the national government and in the many im passes that were produced by the elections for the presidency. In all of these cases the Church, which was invited by the con tending parties to act as mediator, served as virtually the only nationally acceptable forum in which deep social and political antagonisms could be conciliated. Up until the 1960s the Bolivian Catholic Church, like the Catholic Church in every other Andean country, was small, tra dition-laden, and politically conservative. The impact of the na tional revolution of 1952, and most of all the Second Vatican Council, turned it into one of the most progressive churches in Latin America. Also, the presence of many missionaries from Europe and North America (in the 1970s, 80 percent of all clergy were foreigners) gave progressive groups a clear major ity.1 This shift in the Church was especially noticeable during

‘Culture’ in culture-bound syndromes: The case of anorexia nervosa

Anorexia nervosa is presently considered a Western culture-bound syndrome. A cultural focus on dieting and ideals of thinness for women are assumed to be implicated in the disorder. While research indicates that the majority of non-anorectic women in the United States are preoccupied with body weight and dieting, it is not clear what ‘thinness’ means to anorectics themselves or that norms about dieting are always involved in subjective experiences of anorexia. Meaning-centered studies of anorectics—especially those in non-clinical settings—are needed to clarify the cultural contexts of the disorder. Case studies of two anorectic women from Minneapolis-Saint Paul, Minnesota, show that for some anorectics self-starvation is encoded in religious idioms and symbols about the body, food, and self. A review of the literature illustrates a long-standing relation between self-starvation and religious ideals in Western culture and points to an association between contemporary anorexia nervosa and asceticism. The case studies presented here demonstrate that this asceticism may be subjectively expressed through religious concepts about the body and food and suggest that future research formally investigate the religious practices and beliefs of anorectics seen clinically. The author explores the implications of these findings for definitions of ‘normality’ and ‘abnormality’, key issues in ethnopsychiatry. These findings also suggest that future cross-cultural research might examine asceticism about the body and food inreligious other than Judeo-Christian, cultural groups with rituals of fasting and vomiting, and the presence of fundamentalist churches and missionaries in those non-Western cultures for which there are recent reports of eating disorders. Anorexia nervosa's designation as a syndrome limited to Western cultures or those cultures influenced by them may reflect unexamined assumptions on the part of researchers that dieting and secular ideals of slimness are primarily involved in the disorder.

ECUMENICAL RENEWAL OF CONGREGATIONS

International Review of MissionVolume 81, Issue 321 p. 57-79 ECUMENICAL RENEWAL OF CONGREGATIONS MISSIONARY PRESENCE IN THE GERMAN CONTEXT Dietrich Werner, Dietrich Werner is at present a research assistant in the Ecumenical Institute of the University of Bochum. This article was translated from German by the Language Service of the World Council of Churches.Search for more papers by this author Dietrich Werner, Dietrich Werner is at present a research assistant in the Ecumenical Institute of the University of Bochum. This article was translated from German by the Language Service of the World Council of Churches.Search for more papers by this author First published: January 1992 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1758-6631.1992.tb02283.x Read the full textAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onEmailFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditWechat Volume81, Issue321January 1992Pages 57-79 RelatedInformation

Color and Conversion: The White Missionary Factor in the Christianization of Igboland, 1857–1967

Patterns of conversion to Christianity in Nigeria indicate that paganism collapsed more rapidly among the Igbo of southeastern Nigeria than among the Yorubas of the southwest. Early missionary accounts, dubbed as “missionary historiography,” have explained this phenomenon by the presence and labors of white missionaries. This is the white factor in the missionary enterprise. “Nationalist historiography,” however, has challenged “missionary historiography” by focusing on the role of black “native agents” in evangelization. Black replaces white color. This paper analyzes six cogent reasons why the presence of white missionaries elicited a favorable response to Christianity among the Igbo.

On Being a Missionary: Models of Self-Understanding

Four models of what it means to be a missionary are proposed, namely, the missionary as (1) means of exchange; (2) student and researcher; (3) reporter; and (4) moment of solidarity. The models are self-consciously not biblical or theological, but rather, try to account in common terms for the day-to-day reality and purpose of a missionary's presence in another culture. They are intended to have practical value and could serve as an aid to orientation for new personnel. Certain abiding theoretical questions are briefly discussed in conclusion.

Missions and Renewal in Latin-American Catholicism

Not enough attention has been paid to the impact of Catholic North American and European missionary work on the contemporary state of Christianity in Latin America. Another important aspect of recent missionary history is the effect of the Protestant missionary presence in Latin America on the Catholic Church there. This article makes an initial exploration into these processes, examining especially how Latin-American Catholicism is experiencing a change in three areas: a self-critical redefinition of the meaning of being a Christian, a fresh understanding of the Christian message in which the Bible plays a vital role, and a change of pastoral methodologies more relevant to the situation of the continent.

William Penny (1809-1892)

To William Penny belongs the distinction of undertaking the first maritime search for the ships of Sir John Franklin. ... One of Penny's concerns was that the arctic regions north of Canada, which were ostensibly British on the basis of many discovery expeditions since Frobisher's in 1576, might fall to the United States if Britain failed to exert her authority there. [He applied for a land grant in 1852 to forestall the plans of American whaling interests to establish bases on Baffin Island. Unfortunately, this was denied.] ... By expanding the frontier of the Davis Strait whale fishery, by developing the technique of wintering on board whaleships, by pointing the way into Lancaster Sound for subsequent Franklin searches, and by initiating the first missionary presence on Baffin Island, William Penny influenced the course of Euro-American activity in the eastern Arctic during the nineteenth century.

Jesuit Science through Korean Eyes

Jesuit Science through Korean Eyes DONALD L. BAKER Tour centuries ago Michael Ruggieri (1543-1607) and Matteo Ricci (1552-1610), two Italian priests from the Society of Jesus, arrived in southeastern China and began preaching the merits of European civilization and religion to a bemused Chinese audience. Within a couple of decades word of this Catholic missionary presence in China had traveled thousands of miles to Korea in the northeast. Though no Jesuit priest from China ever reached Korea, Jesuit publications did. As early as the first quarter of the seventeenth century, Koreans were reading and commenting in print on works on religion and natural science by European authors. Two and a half centuries before the Hermit Kingdom was forced to open its land to the Western world, the Korean response to the West had begun. Fr. Ruggieri soon returned to Europe to obtain more support for the mission. Ricci stayed and learned that he could make his Christian message more palatable to Chinese taste by packaging Christianity in Confucian colors and further strengthening its appeal through association with Western accomplishments in cartography, astronomy, and mathematics. The Riccian approach of cultural accommodation to Chinese Confucian mores was partially curtailed by papal decrees in the early eighteenth century.1 The other feature of Ricci's plan for bringing the Chinese to Christ, his borrowing of European advances in science and technology to promote Western religion, overcame initial 1. For a detailed account of the dispute over how to maintain the purity of the Christian message in a Chinese environment, see Antonio S. Rosso, Apostolic Legations to China of the Eighteenth Century (South Pasadena, Calif.: P.D. and lone Perkins, 1948). 207 208Journal ofKorean Studies opposition within the church and survived.2 By 1644 the GermanJesuit Adam Schall had been appointed director of the Imperial Bureau of Astronomy in Peking. Except for a brief hiatus in the 1660s, Jesuits continued to serve as China's official astronomers until Rome ordered the global suppression of the Society of Jesus in 1773.s This Riccian presentation of Catholicism as compatible with Confucianism and cloaked in scientific and technological expertise is the version of Western learning that Koreans first encountered. Over the last few decades much has been written in the West on this early cross-cultural contact between Sino-Confucian culture and Western European civilization. The 190-year Jesuit mission is generally adjudged a failure, since China did not become Christian. The scholarly debate over the reasons behind that failure usually revolves around competing evaluations of the validity of adapting Catholicism to Confucian language and customs. Donald Treadgold, for example, argued that "The Jesuits of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries had an opportunity to convert the Chinese empire." If the authorities in Rome had not blundered by condemning the Jesuits' compromises with Confucian terminology and tradition, the Jesuits' proselytizing, enhanced by the popularity of Western science, might have generated a Chinese Christian civilization.4 George Dunne agreed that the Jesuits could have converted a substantial segment of the Chinese population if they had been allowed to preach a synthesis blending the "partial truths of Confucianism" with the "supernatural revelation of Christianity ," just as their predecessors in the early church had done with Greek philosophy.5 The papal rejection of Jesuit flexibility has had its defenders. Kenneth Scott Latourette, in his monumental History of Christians in China, suggested that whether or not the rites and terminology disputes had arisen it is unlikely the Society of Jesus would have won lasting acceptance for its alien religion in China. "No large body of Christian missionaries could have lived and worked in China at this time, no 2.George H. Dunne, Generation of Giants: The Story of the Jesuits in China in the Last Decades of the Ming Dynasty (Notre Dame, Ind.: University of Notre Dame Press, 1963), p. 123. 3.For a concise summary of the Jesuit use of astronomy to gain acceptance in China, see Jonathan Spence, To Change China: Western Advisors in China, 1620-1960 (New York: Penguin Books, 1960), pp. 3-33. 4.Donald Treadgold, 7"Ae West in Russia and China (Cambridge: At the University Press), 2:31,33. 5.Dunne, Generation of...

The role of foreign missions in an independent Papua New Guinea

Missionaries and their work make up a large slice of Papua New Guinea's history. Since the beginning of colonisation, there has been an influx of missionaries to Papua New Guinea (PNG). One source estimates the presence of 3000 missionaries for a population of 2A million, suggesting that PNG 'must be one of the most intensively evangelised countries in the world'. Altogether, there are more than 34 autonomous mission organisations proselytising in PNG. Most scholars have acknowledged the profound influence of the missionary upon PNG societies. This presence can be seen not only in the areas of religion, health and education, but on a far broader scale as well. Marriage customs, child rearing, dress, cultural and artistic expressions, individual attitudes and outlooks, and even horticultural methods have all been affected. Several authors, in fact, have suggested that missions have frequently played a greater role and exerted more influence than the Government. Despite its importance, the missionary presence in PNG has been the subject of relatively little study. Indeed, of the few authors who have elected to write about missions, most have referred to the limited data available. While 'no one can move around in the Territory of PNG for long without being impressed by the near-universal significance of the Missions and Churches', wrote Grosart, 'almost everyone who has written about the territory ... [has given little] more than a passing recognition [to] their existence'. There are a few reasons for this dearth of material. Quite frequently missions are viewed by anthropologists and other social scientists 'as simply another distorting or confusing element which obscures the true native culture which they wish to record accurately or they simply may not be interested in studying missions'. Another explanation is the reluctance of many anthropologists to focus critical enquiry upon missions' functioning. This is partly due to the ethnographers' often sizeable reliance upon the missionary for supplies, logistical support, linguistic assistance, and companionship in geographical locations where the missionary is often the only European resident.

RETHINKING THE AMERICAN MISSIONARY PRESENCE IN THE PHILIPPINES

International Review of MissionVolume 64, Issue 254 p. 177-184 RETHINKING THE AMERICAN MISSIONARY PRESENCE IN THE PHILIPPINES William Henry Scott, William Henry Scott Mr Scott, for 25 years a missionary of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the USA, teaches in the History Department, University of the Philippines, Quezon City. This article first appeared in Solidarity (Manila), Aug.-Sept. 1974. It is reprinted here, somewhat abridged.Search for more papers by this author William Henry Scott, William Henry Scott Mr Scott, for 25 years a missionary of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the USA, teaches in the History Department, University of the Philippines, Quezon City. This article first appeared in Solidarity (Manila), Aug.-Sept. 1974. It is reprinted here, somewhat abridged.Search for more papers by this author First published: April 1975 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1758-6631.1975.tb01171.x Read the full textAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditWechat Volume64, Issue254April 1975Pages 177-184 RelatedInformation

Educational Change in Pre-Colonial Societies: The Cases of Buganda and Ashanti

Two pre-colonial African kingdoms, Ashanti and Buganda, are compared in an attempt to determine why some societies accept foreign innovations in education more readily than others. After discussing the merits of the thesis that certain social structures possess a greater inherent assimilative capacity than others, another proposition is advanced, suggesting that a favorable political relationship with potential sources of innovation is a necessary condition for their acceptance. Of the two cases considered, only in Buganda did the leaders have a favorable relationship with foreign traders and missionaries whose new arrangements for education were eagerly welcomed, at least by some. On the other hand, the Ashanti rulers were inhibited from acceptance of such innovations by an unbreachable impasse in diplomatic relations with the major foreign power concerned, Britain. This impasse in turn prevented the stable presence of missionaries, who might otherwise have introduced more modern forms of education.