In the words of Brian McLaren from long ago:
“In addition, the term probably reflects a kind of post-colonial embarrassment about the term “missionary” which has too often been associated with a colonial version of Christianity that inadvertently (one hopes)exported and (and imposed) Euro-American culture right along with the gospel of Jesus.”- A Generous Orthodoxy, page 116
Say what Brian? Inadvertently? Ummmm what embarrassment could you be referring to? Is it Christian colleges and seminaries renaming their Missions programs “Inter-cultural” or “Cross-Cultural” studies? No, we’re not talking about actual intercultural studies like The Institute for Intercultural Studies. It’s a PR move to keep us from talking about the problematic history of missions by just not calling the classes “Missions.”
This really wouldn’t be a problem if Christians had only seen all along that recognizing God’s mission in the world of love and justice in the world comes first before imposing any of our idea of sharing the Good News with others. Thanks Christopher Columbus!
the comment section on this post is rather quiet….
I was wondering if you would be willing to put in post say quotes from these schools about the purposes of their departments?
additionally besides the wonderful: “The Institute for Intercultural Studies” are there other examples of schools doing Intercultural Studies well?
Finally if Missions departments have become Intercultural Studies why do we still have Missionaries? Shouldn’t they be IS-aries or something?
The post is getting hits, i think people get the gist & agree
re this post:
“LIKE”
Thanks JK.
I’m so glad it’s getting hits and people agree. The bait and switch is disguisting especially when it’s done under the guide of academe. Especially since there is a high probablity for cases of mistaken ID