Reclaiming The C Word Book

When I was in undergrad I saw there was a sociology course offered on "Technology and Society." At the time I thought that sounded incredibly boring but after reading Neil Postman, Jacques Ellul, and Albert Borgman I came to regret not taking that class - technology is pervasive and has radically shaped our culture, especially in the modern digital age where the Internet connects us to others and provides us with a wealth of information.

When I first arrived at Regent College I became aware that there was the option to focus on World Christianity but I thought THAT sounded incredibly boring. However, since then I've become fascinated with the global spread of Christianity, particularly after reading R.D. Woodberry's excellent article "The Missionary Roots of Liberal Democracy."

Dana L. Robert's "Christian Mission: How Christianity Became a World Religion," has only increased my fascination and appreciation for Christianity's global dispersion. Robert divides her book into two sections, the first being "The Making of a World Religion" which traces the history of Christian mission from the early Church to the present day; the second part deals with selected topics in Christian mission such as "the politics of mission" (where Robert addresses the contentious debate over whether missionaries were henchmen of Western cultural and colonial imperialism or sincere evangelists fulfilling the Great Commission) and the role of women as caretakers, healers, and religious workers (those both celibate and those who were married to missionaries or clergymen; Robert does well to note that it was the distinctly PROTESTANT missionary family that helped to model and demonstrate to indigenous peoples how a Christian family ought to live and act, p. 46-47, 130).

Robert provides a powerful apologetic for Christian mission, noting that missionaries helped bring the best of modernization to North America and the Global South while often opposing Western colonial regimes that oppressed indigenous people (Robert critiques Christian organizations if she believes they erred, but also asserts that missionaries were thwarted in their calls for reform by the colonial socioeconomic system that was in place, p.101). Robert states that "the emergence of what today are called 'human rights' is directly related to the often ineffective attempts of missionaries to act as a buffer between governments or abusive social systems, and the people among whom they lived" (p. 99). Christian mission has always involved the translation of the Christian message into other cultures, though there have been divergences on how this is to be done best; Roman Catholicism prefers "inculturation" whereas Protestantism opts for "vernacularization" (p. 21, 35-38). The best Christian missionaries have taken the time and effort to learn about the culture they are in and to identify with it. Indigenous Christians themselves have often taken leading roles in ministry and been vital partners in the evangelism process; in fact, Robert asserts that indigenous Christians had a much deeper impact than western missionaries themselves (p.49, 94-95). Missionaries spread not only the Gospel but also education and the very Western ideals and values by which indigenous people would eventually challenge their colonial authorities (p. 50, 52). Missionaries were also crucial in relaying information of the wider world back to Europe itself and in publicizing the mistreatment and abuse of indigenous peoples by colonial authorities (p. 43, 100). Robert notes that during the first half of the twentieth century Roman Catholic missionary efforts were revitalized and the Second Vatican Council affirmed the place of lay Catholic missionaries (p. 114). In the centuries preceding Vatican II, Roman Catholic missionary efforts had been stunted, especially of female religious due to Pope Boniface VIII's ruling in 1298 that forced them into enclosures which destroyed their ability to perform outreach work; this was particularly tragic as Christian women have proven among the most versatile missionaries since they can interact with both men, women, and children and indigenous mothers have often been the most strategic and key figure in the family to convert (p. 121, 128). Robert notes that globally-speaking, Christian women outnumber Christian men roughly 2:1 (p. 118). Though there has certainly been chauvinism, misogyny, and male suppression of women in Christianity, Robert insists that Christianity also brought moral rigour and stability to families and that Christian women have been able to attain positions of power, stating, "Women's education carried with it the potential not only for Christianizing the family and providing wives for local pastors, but for building strong women's leadership as part of the modernization process embraced by social progressives in the early twentieth century" (p. 137). Robert also points out that "The ideal of Christian motherhood has been used to empower women, and to underscore female domesticity - paradoxically, sometimes both at the same time" (p. 131).

Robert has written a rich and persuasive introduction to the history of Christian mission. At a time when many people look to the Christian Church's past and only see repression and tyranny, Robert shows that, in fact, Christian missionaries conveyed not only the Gospel, but also Western ideals and practices such as education, the latest technological and scientific discoveries, and women's rights to the rest of the world and that indigenous peoples themselves often took on the responsibility for evangelizing their neighbours and discipling believers. I highly recommend this book to all readers.