In the Way: A Study of Christian Missionary Endeavours

Christian missionaries, usually regarded as relics of an outgrown and mostly discredited colonialism, are still playing an active role in many parts of the world. Their number is, in fact, increasing. In this book, Kenelm Burridge examines their work from a new perspective, combining anthropology with insights from history, sociology, missiology, and theology. He exposes and explicates the contradictions and ambiguities involved in missionary endeavours and establishes a theory about theapparently inevitable processes that arise out of the nature of Christianity and the building of a Christian community. Burridge presents the missionaries as a class of men and women dedicated to a cause which involves them and others at personal and collective levels when faced with the particular problems of inculturating a transcultural faith without unnecessarily affecting the local culture. He also acknowledges the achievements in practical affairs and social developments which have characterized the work of missionaries, in spite of their often being at odds with local governments and secular agents. Discussing the difficulties of manifesting Christian love, Burridge comments on the ambivalences that characterize the Christian systemic. He shows how missionaries, caught in the processes of Christianity, find themselves moving between God and the world, torn between conviction and scepticism, and between their faith and social work. The author points out that this is a continuous and cyclical process which missionaries sometimes fail to resolve, while at other times it leads to renewal of faith. In the Way not only contributes to a better understanding of missionaries and the significance of their work, it also shows how central the missionary impulse is to Christianity, and how frequently it has been lost and rediscovered throughout history.
ASIN: 0774803762
VSKU: GBV.0774803762.A
Condition: Acceptable
Author/Artist:Burridge, Kenelm
Binding: Hardcover
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