Who Is the Subject of Mission? The Need to Decolonize Mission From the Perspective of “the Margins”

The critique of mission history often involves perpetuating the overestimated impact of the missionaries from opposite sides. It was not so much the missionaries who mattered, but what mattered more was whether the people were responding to the message or not. Today we see the translating function o...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inTransformation (Exeter) Vol. 37; no. 2; pp. 131 - 139
Main Author Knuth, Anton
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published London, England Sage Publications, Inc 01.04.2020
SAGE Publications
Subjects
Conference Papers
Mission history
self-Christianization
Northeast India
Pacific
Global Christianity
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Summary:The critique of mission history often involves perpetuating the overestimated impact of the missionaries from opposite sides. It was not so much the missionaries who mattered, but what mattered more was whether the people were responding to the message or not. Today we see the translating function of the missionaries in a clearer way and the people’s reception as the crucial factor in the process of modern Christianization. The World Council of Churches in its declaration “Together Towards Life” (2013) separates mission from its entanglement with colonialism as a mission from the margins by grounding it in the triune God (missio Dei), but it seems to overlook the contributing factor of the people as the human subject of the Christianization process. Instead of following a simple input-impact model, we have to acknowledge more those who were adapting themselves to the Christian faith from within their own context.
ISSN:0265-3788
1759-8931
DOI:10.1177/0265378820914641