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A Commission to Convert: Missions in Theory and Practice
Honors Junior Seminar
Fall 2002
TTh 2:40-3:55 pm
McAlister 402
7135 3310
Instructor: Dr. Donna Bowman
Office: McAlister 310 Office Phone: 450-3631
Office hours: MW 8-10 am, TTh 12-2 pm, or by appointment
E-mail: donnab@mail.uca.edu
Description: Many (but not all) religions consider it a duty to spread their message throughout the world. Missions and missionaries have shaped the world irrevocably. In this class, we will look at the rationale behind sending out missionaries to convert others to one's way of thinking and/or way of life. We will examine how mission activities have affected history, and we will compare the personal and social impact of organized conversion practices to the way missionaries have understood themselves. Often, missions result in culture clashes; films, novels and other types of narratives, along with social science, will help us understand these events. We will also explore the Christian study of theology of missions, so we can comprehend the many ways the missionary imperative has been understood and theorized. If we affirm the value of religious pluralism, what happens to missions? We will engage in a dialogue between our moral philosophy, epistemology, theology, and practice, to discover our own positions on whether missions are necessary and beneficial today. Students will research their own religious traditions to find out what type of missions are encouraged and discouraged and why.
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Texts:
- David J. Bosch, Tranforming Mission: Paradigm Shifts in the Theology of Missions. This history of approaches to missions across time and denominations will serve as a source for readings as well as your research.
- Shusaku Endo, Silence. A short novel of missionaries to Japan and their converts during the persecutions of the Tokugawa regime.
- Jonathan Spence, The Memory Palace of Matteo Ricci. A sort of imaginative biography, weaving the life and work of a Jesuit missionary in China with the notions of language, image, and religio-magical power.
- Barbara Kingsolver, The Poisonwood Bible. This lengthy novel of a Protestant missionary family in the Belgian Congo is told from the perspectives of several different characters.
- Handouts, web readings and book excerpts throughout the course.
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Requirements:
- Attendance. All class sessions are mandatory. This is a seminar, and to be a member in good standing of a seminar, you must be in class, where the main work of the course -- discussion -- takes place. If you miss class, it should be for a reason you would not be ashamed to make public. And if you must miss class, you should e-mail or phone me ahead of time if at all possible. Repeated absences, excused or unexcused, will lower your grade.
- Participation. Our pursuit of ideas and answers is a group effort, and we will need everyone to listen, question, respond, and lead.
- Films. At the MTV time (Monday afternoons at 3 pm), four films related to class topics will be shown. Each student is required to attend at least two of these films. If you have class during the MTV time slot, you will be responsible for obtaining the film before the MTV screening and viewing it on your own. After viewing each film, you will respond to it in a threaded discussion on the listserv (see requirement 6, below). These threaded discussions are only mandatory for those who saw the film; others can participate if issues are raised to which they wish to respond. Your completion of this requirement will be assessed by your participation in at least two of these threaded discussions.
- Case study presentation. Students in teams will lead at least five class sessions. You will be responsible for researching the history of the mission effort in a particular country and historical period, by a particular Christian group or groups, and teaching the class with a well-organized presentation. These sessions will serve as context for our in-depth discussions of novels and other materials related to the case study. Detailed assignments are available here.
- Conversation Starters. For each reading in which a case study is not being presented, you will prepare a “Conversation Starter.”
The gist. Write one or two sentences that set forth what you believe to be the central thesis or theses of the reading assigned for the session under consideration. Do not simply copy from the text, but state the core thesis or theses as clearly as possible, in your own words. What, on the whole, is this reading trying to say?
Key terms/phrases. Now that you've stated “the gist,” what are the specific "building blocks" this reading uses to make it s central point or points? Make a brief list of the key terms or phrases (usually 5-10) found in the assigned reading, and write very brief explanations of each. These explanations need not be in complete sentences, and they may all be strung together in one “paragraph” to conserve space on the page.
Response questions. Compose at least three questions that probe more deeply into the significance of the text. Ideally, these should be “real” questions, questions you find interesting, questions that point to areas about which you really “need to know.” These questions should:
- ask about possible comparisons between this text and something else we have considered in this course, or which you have considered in other courses;
- ask for evaluations of the meaningfulness, usefulness, or truth of the text;
- ask about the plausibility of particular, creative responses to the text; and always
- focus on specific points.
Each Conversation Starter is to be one page (no longer), typed and single-spaced. The date of the class session to which each sheet corresponds is to appear at the top of the page. Your name is not to appear on the front. Write your name on the back of the sheet.
At the start of each session, two Conversation Starters for that session, produced by members of the class, will be distributed to all class members, the copies having been made in advance. Responsibilities for this will rotate among all members of the class.
At each session, all Conversation Starters produced by all members of the class will be collected by the instructor. Grades of "satisfactory" or "unsatisfactory" will be given, and the sheets will be returned at the next class session. Incomplete or missing sheets will be given grades of "unsatisfactory." 2-3 grades of "unsatisfactory" will lower your final grade for this course by one letter, 4-5 by two letters, and 6 or more will result in a failing grade. Sheets turned in after class will not be accepted. If you have to miss class, and wish to receive a grade of "satisfactory" for that session's Conversation Starter you must, before class, either:
- deliver your sheet to the instructor's office (MAC 310 — place in envelope on door); or
- fax it to the instructor at (501) 450-3284 (and e-mail the instructor at donnab@mail.uca.edu to let her know).
Conversation Starters written and received throughout the semester should be kept in one file/folder, and brought, as a collection, to every session.
- Listserv participation. Periodically throughout the semester, I will post a question or topic on the listserv. Join in the threaded discussion that follows as many times as you like, but at least once per discussion, with a substantive and thoughtful response to the initial question or to one of your classmate’s posts.
The required threaded discussions are only one way that the listserv for this class can be used. You are encouraged to use the listserv to pose questions, give answers to others, and generally ruminate on any topic related to the class. It’s a way to “keep the conversation going” outside of class time, and a way for you to help each other through some difficult but important ideas. The website for the listserv (general information, subscription options, archives) is http://l2.uca.edu/mailman/listinfo/missions. Send your postings to missions@l2.mailman.edu (that's an L after the @).
- Paper. You will write one research paper of at least 10 pages. The topic is the missionary history, current activity, and missiology of your religious tradition. For Christians, write about your denomination. For non-Christians, write about your faith, with information about your particular sect if appropriate. For those of no particular religious faith, write about some institution in which you are involved (tangentially or substantially) that engages in any sort of missionary activity. The paper is due November 14. Detailed assignment available
here.
- Final exam. The exam will be a choice of essay questions designed to allow you to integrate information from various sections of the course.
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Schedule of classes:
August 29 (Th): Introduction and orientation
September 3 (T): The marketplace of religion
Read: Laurence R. Iannaccone, “Religious Markets and the Economics of Religion,” Social Compass 39(1) (1992), 123-131.
September 5 (Th): Conversion (lecture and discussion)
Read: Begin reading Silence.
September 10 (T): The status of Christianity in a pluralistic world (I)
Read: Ernst Troeltsch, “The Place of Christianity Among the World Religions,” from John Hick, ed., Christianity and Other Religions: Selected Readings (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1991 (1980)), pp. 11-31.
September 12 (Th): The status of Christianity in a pluralistic world (II)
Read: Karl Barth, “The Revelation of God as the Abolition of Religion,” ibid., pp. 32-51; “Declaration on the Relation of the Church to Non-Christian Religions,” (Vatican II document), ibid., 80-86.
September 17 (T): Missions in the Bible and the early church (lecture and discussion)
Read: Finish reading Silence and begin reading The Memory Palace of Matteo Ricci.
September 19 (Th): Mission paradigms (I)
Read: David J. Bosch, Transforming Mission: Paradigm Shifts in the Theology of Mission (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1991), excerpts: Chapter 7, “The Medieval Roman Catholic Missionary Paradigm,” and Chapter 8, “The Missionary Paradigm of the Protestant Reformation,” pp. 214-261.
September 24 (T): Mission paradigms (II)
Read: Ibid., Chapter 9, “Mission in the Wake of the Enlightenment,” pp. 262-345.
September 26 (Th): Case study presentation: Jesuits in Japan
Read: Look back over Silence to prepare for our discussion.
October 1 (T): Endo’s Silence
Read: Finish reading Memory Palace and begin reading The Poisonwood Bible.
October 3 (Th): Missions in Japan
Read
October 8 (T): Case study: Christians in China
Read: Look back over Memory Palace to prepare for our discussion.
October 10 (Th): Spence’s Memory Palace
Read:
October 15 (T): Women missionaries in China: Lottie Moon
Read: Hyatt, Our Ordered Lives Confess, pp. 65-136.
October 17 (Th): Case Study: Christians in Native America
Read: Finish reading The Poisonwood Bible.
October 22 (T): Christianity and Indian religion: a positive relationship, with guest speaker Dr. Conrad Shumaker
Read: John M. Oskison, “The Problem of Old Harjo” and Leslie Silko, “The Man to Send Rain Clouds”
October 24 (Th): Missionaries and the “Indian Problem” with guest speaker Dr. Jane Simonsen
Read: George E. Tinker, “Henry Benjamin Whipple: The Politics of Indian Assimilation,” in Missionary Conquest: The Gospel and Native American Cultural Genocide (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1993), pp. 95-111.
October 29 (T): Case study: Protestants in the Third World
Read: Look back over The Poisonwood Bible to prepare for our discussion.
October 31 (Th): Kingsolver’s The Poisonwood Bible
November 5 (T): Christianity in Africa
Read: Mercy Amba Oduyoye, “The Modern Missionary Movement and Christian Dogma in Africa,” in Hearing and Knowing: Theological Reflections on Christianity in Africa (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1986), pp. 29-44.
November 7 (Th): Case study: Mormons in the U.S.
Read:
November 12 (T): Reflections of a Mormon Missionary with guest speaker Gordon Shephard
Read:
November 14 (Th):
Read:
** PAPER DUE **
November 19 (T): Missions in Islam
Read:
November 21 (Th): Missions in Buddhism
Read:
November 26 (T): American Academy of Religion Annual Meeting -- NO CLASS
November 28 (Th): Thanksgiving Holiday -- NO CLASS
December 3 (T): Missions and Politics
Read: Excerpt from Christopher Hitchens
December 5 (Th): Final thoughts
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FINAL EXAM:
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