Christianity as a Missionizing Movement (2/18)
New Terms:
- gospel: text “good news”; In early times it referred to good news by the emperor
- Gospel: describe the Christian message
- Missionizing: spreading the good news
- Evangelize: spreading the good news, gospel
- Christianity is distinct from Judaism by evangelizing the good news and converting people
The Great Commission
- Baptizing is how you become Christian
- Matthew 28—justification for missionizing
Major Dates
- 1st Century: Christianity spreads to India
- 5th Century: Patrick in Ireland
- Taken by pirates from Britain to Ireland as a teen but eventually escapes and returns home
- Christianity spread throughout the Roman Empire
- Patrick had a vision to go back to Ireland and bring the message of Christianity
- Returns to Ireland as a cleric
- First bishop of Armagh
- Not the first Christian missionary to Ireland, but probably the most famous/popular
- Patrick is one of three patron saints of Ireland: protect the city before God
- 563: Columba est. monastery on Iona
- Intended to train people to be missionaries
- Another patron saint of Ireland
- Brigit is third patron saint
- 716: Bonifice missionizes Germanic tribes—eventually made archbishops over what is now Germany and baptized thousands
- Known for baptizing thousands of people
- Known for spreading Christianity to Germany
- 781: Nestorian Christians have been present in Xi’an China for 150 years (spread along the spice route from Europe to China)
- Nestorians believe that Christ has a dual nature (Jesus as human and Christ as spirit)
- A stele in Chinese and Syriac documenting the history of Christianity in this community. Describes it as the “illustrious religion”
- Evidence of Christianity as early as 7th century
- Steles are found in both Chinese and Syriac to symbolize a blending of cultures
- Christ is represented in a cross-cultural context
- 10th Century: Christianity spreads into Poland, Russia, and missionaries from Norway begin working in Iceland
- 14th Century: Franciscan and Dominican missionaries go to India, China, Java, Borneo
- 1382: Bible is translated into English by Joh Wycliff
- The movement he is associated with, the Lollards (critiquing the clergy but do not choose to leave the church), is often thought of as a precursor to the Reformation
- Declared a heretic after his death
- 15th Century: “Conversion: of Jews and Muslims in Italy and Spain
- Issue becomes whether or not they were forced into conversion
- Some move to places where they can practice Judaism and Islam in private
- 1496 First Christian baptized in America
- 1504 Francis Xavier, a Jesuit, lands in Goa, India
- 16th Century: Missionizing of much of Central and southern North America and Japan, where there is resistance
- 17th-20th Centuries: Global missionizing with an emphasis on translating the NT into every language
Columbus
- Columbus being an explorer made us glorify him as a hero
- Justifies himself
- Describes the people as controllable people—he wants to make them slaves, both of God and of himself
- Ignorant about their culture and religion
- Speaks of the explosion of Muslims and Jews from Spain (Reconquista) by Christians and
- Christianizing of the world—his voyage is a continuation of the Reconquista.
- He talks about controlling the people and acquiring treasure, but it is also a mission trip to spread Christianity to people who “need God”
Francis Xavier
- Assessment of people of India is negative and different of Columbus’s assessment
- Went on mission for the Portuguese and says that he is glad that he did not go for Indians
- Opinion is that people are barbaric
- Instrumental in starting missionary movements throughout the Southeast
- Ironic the way he perceives the people and then is critical in spreading the gospel to them
- Different letters have different attitudes depending on the people and the outcome of his mission.
- More success in Japan = positive
- Less success in India = negative
Arroyo’s Reading
- Complexity of conversions
- Some people convert by force while others evangelize and encourage conversion
- Similarly, people can accept or reject the conversion
- Different ways to understand the stories of conversion
- Conversion creates a lot of cultural conflict
Mar Thoma Church
- Traces itself back to St.Thomas int he first century
- St. Thomas is said to have traveled to India and taught of Jesus
- Present when the Portuguese arrive in India, but forced to follow the Roman church
- But eventually they declare their independence and associate themselves with the Syrian Orthodox tradition
- Earliest Christian Church in India
No comments:
Post a Comment