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Daniel Shaw, Singing Samo Songs: From Shaman to Pastor: An Ethnohistorical Approach to Socio-Religious Expressions among the Samo of Papua New Guinea DOCX PDF HTML Michael Lamb, A Commonwealth of Hope: Augustine’s Political Thought DOCX PDF HTML Special Issue Call for Papers for April 2025 Special Issue: "Lausanne IV: Reviews, Analyses, and Projections" DOCX PDF HTML David Beine    Andrew Ndegwa    GME Editorial Team    http://ojs.globalmissiology.org/index.php/english/article/view/2844 http://ojs.globalmissiology.org/index.php/english/article/view/2844 http://ojs.globalmissiology.org/index.php/english/article/view/2842 http://ojs.globalmissiology.org/index.php/english/article/view/2842 http://ojs.globalmissiology.org/index.php/english/article/view/2846 http://ojs.globalmissiology.org/index.php/english/article/view/2846 http://ojs.globalmissiology.org/index.php/english/article/view/2848 http://ojs.globalmissiology.org/index.php/english/article/view/2848 http://ojs.globalmissiology.org/index.php/english/article/view/2842 http://ojs.globalmissiology.org/index.php/english/article/view/2842 http://ojs.globalmissiology.org/index.php/english/article/view/2842/7154 http://ojs.globalmissiology.org/index.php/english/article/view/2842/7156 http://ojs.globalmissiology.org/index.php/english/article/view/2842/7157 http://ojs.globalmissiology.org/index.php/english/article/view/2846 http://ojs.globalmissiology.org/index.php/english/article/view/2846/7142 http://ojs.globalmissiology.org/index.php/english/article/view/2846/7143 http://ojs.globalmissiology.org/index.php/english/article/view/2846/7144 http://ojs.globalmissiology.org/index.php/english/article/view/2848 http://ojs.globalmissiology.org/index.php/english/article/view/2848 http://ojs.globalmissiology.org/index.php/english/article/view/2848/7136 http://ojs.globalmissiology.org/index.php/english/article/view/2848/7137 http://ojs.globalmissiology.org/index.php/english/article/view/2848/7138 http://ojs.globalmissiology.org/index.php/english/about/aboutThisPublishingSystem Global Missiology - ISSN 2831-4751 - Vol 21, No 2 (2024) April Editorial “The Lamb Who Was Slain” J. Nelson Jennings Published in Global Missiology, www.globalmissiology.org, April 2024 “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!” So rang out “the voice of many angels, numbering myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice,” the Apostle John described (Revelation 5:11-12). As demonstrated by the living creatures, elders, angels, and “every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them” (5:13) listed in that heavenly scene, the crucified and risen Jesus Christ eminently deserves immeasurable praise and accolades beyond our imagination. Christians rightly celebrate the risen Jesus’s victory over death and the devil. The promised seed of the woman has indeed bruised the head of Satan (Genesis 3:15), he came “to destroy the works of the devil” (I Jn 3:8), and Jesus’s followers are thus assured that “The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet” (Romans 16:20). Paul also wrote, “Thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (I Corinthians 15:57), prompting some Christian traditions to emphasize the victorious side of Christian living. At the same time, “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain,” John recorded (emphasis added). John also reported how the risen Jesus directed incredulous Thomas to examine his scars rather than more glamorous aspects of his miraculous glorified body: “Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side” (John 20:27). Among the best-known messianic prophecies is the depiction in Isaiah, “He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief” (Isaiah 53:3). Jesus was made “perfect through suffering” and thus became our “merciful and faithful high priest … able to help those who are being tempted” (Hebrews 2:10, 17-18). Of course, Christ’s, as well as his followers’, suffering and victory are not mutually exclusive, either-or realities. Jesus did not only suffer and die, nor did he somehow only victoriously rise from the dead. Christians both humbly reflect on Christ’s suffering and joyously celebrate his resurrection. Lent and Passion Week are complete only with Easter Sunday, and vice versa. The fact of the matter is, however, that we Christians, both as individuals and as traditions, can tend to emphasize either suffering or victory, either sobriety or joy, at the expense of the other. Our Christological sensibilities are related: either Jesus’s painful suffering and crucifixion or his glorious resurrection and reign get more attention than the other. Surely such a costly over- emphasis, one way or the other, is due to our experience, history, and context. To generalize, those Christians whose lives have been relatively comfortable, whose heritages have been in socio- economic-political ascendancy, and whose current context is relatively privileged tend to focus on Jesus’s honor, glory, and omnipotent reign. In contrast, Christians who have experienced an inordinate amount of suffering, whose ancestries have been marked by socio-economic-political subordination, and whose current context has them facing systemic barriers gravitate toward Jesus’s suffering, humility, and empathy. While the latter type also emphasize Jesus’s victory and http://www.globalmissiology.org/ http://www.globalmissiology.org/ 2 Global Missiology - ISSN 2831-4751 - Vol 21, No 2 (2024) April power in order to overcome adversity, the former can all too easily neglect his suffering, pain, and weakness due to their own inexperience of such realities. Such generalizations are difficult to substantiate apart from extensive research, but everyone can at least self-examine—both individually and regarding one’s church tradition—based on their own experience, history, and context. Speaking personally, both my church heritage and I generally fall (with some notable exceptions in previous generations) in the former category described just above: comfortable, ascendant, and privileged. Christologically speaking, our focus has been more on the glorious, reigning Jesus—who suffered and died, to be sure, but who currently rules the world in majesty and controls all aspects of life. Hymns and worship songs have been in major keys, with lyrics largely directed toward divine omnipotence and majesty. To be sure, sobering hymns such as “O Sacred Head” have made an occasional appearance, and the mostly minor key “What Child Is This” has sometimes come up during Advent. More prominent, however, have been such stirring and inspirational selections as “Great Is Thy Faithfulness,” “Praise to the Lord, the Almighty,” “Jesus Shall Reign Where’er the Sun,” and “Joy to the World.” (I will leave it to you to consider musical characteristics of more contemporary and other genre of Christian songs.) My heritage and I, and others like us, need to be reminded that the Jesus whom we worship and follow is “the Lamb who was slain,” as John’s account in Revelation 5 clearly depicts him. Somehow the crucified and risen Jesus still bears, and apparently will forever bear, the scars from the horrific wounds inflicted on him when he was crucified. He is a “merciful and faithful high priest … able to help those who are being tempted” because he, too, has lived in human weakness and been exposed to temptation. Jesus Christ, glorified and reigning as he is, also knows all about minority status, socio-economic-political subordination, and systemic barriers and prejudices. The articles in this issue of Global Missiology help point to Christ as both crucified and risen, as the one who knows suffering and who reigns in majesty. Jim Harries’ article, on what missionaries can learn from anthropologists’ approach to understanding people, includes analyses of underlying abuses of power and communication in cross-cultural relationships; all these realities hint towards Christ’s gracious work through weakness and pain, frustratingly unredeemed as those struggles still are. Renee Rheinbolt-Uribe examines a Colombian community of Christ that was catalyzed by a North American mission agency’s work—despite all sorts of misaligned priorities and cultural misunderstandings about human relations, gender, and selfhood. The “1619, 1919, and Today” article compares difficult historical and contemporary episodes, within which the crucified and risen Christ was, and is, somehow present and at work. This issue’s two book reviews also open up studies of how the crucified and risen Jesus guides his people in living out the gospel in concrete socio-religious and political contexts. Having been born into poverty, carried into exile, tempted in every manner, and shaped by unimaginable suffering, Jesus Christ is risen and reigning—scars and all. Global Missiology - ISSN 2831-4751 - Vol 21, No 2 (2024) April Anthropologists Taking an Interest in Christianity, and Missionaries in Anthropology: A Constructive Contextual Engagement Jim Harries Published in Global Missiology, www.globalmissiology.org, April 2024 Abstract Missionaries adopting anthropologists’ “radical openness” to people can, in vital ways, improve Western comprehension of, and ongoing participation with, indigenous African Christianity and its theologies. Many anthropologists have recently turned to studying Christianity. Western missionaries’ selective adoption of anthropologists’ rules of engagement, guided by “vulnerable mission” principles, could facilitate a healing of damaging extant intercultural comprehension gaps. Drawing on personal field missionary experience, and especially the work of Vähäkangas, this article seeks to bring hope to greater unity between theological expertise in the West governed by written texts and predominantly oral ecclesial expression in Africa and elsewhere. Key Words: Africa, anthropology, mission, theology Introduction While the term “anthropology” used in this article refers predominantly to social anthropology, there is also some overlap with linguistic anthropology, biological anthropology, and archaeology. This discussion is not primarily about missionaries’ interest in what we could call “secular” anthropology. I am aware that many missionaries and missiologists have long engaged heavily with anthropology. It has been ironic that missionaries have taken advantage of insights arising from a discipline that has often sought to undermine them: “Findings and theories in the discipline of anthropology have been interpreted as undermining or even discrediting the claims of Christianity [yet at the same time] anthropological insights have been perceived to be compatible with or even to reinforce Christian faith” (Larsen 2014, 1). The focus here is not on historical ways in which missionaries and missiologists have taken an interest in anthropology. Rather, what is germane here are the implications of movement in the other direction: (secular) anthropologists researching Christianity and, at least to some extent, other people’s ways of life as if they were theological systems. I refer to people’s “ways of life,” rather than to their “religions,” because of the enormous problematic I consider to be associated with the nature of the category “religion” in English usage in the West (Havea et al. 2022). It is this movement of anthropology exploring Christianity that I here encourage missionaries to investigate. I look at “the utility of theological concepts for anthropological inquiry” (Havea et al. 2022, 298), noting that we are seeing “an increased interest in a dialogue between anthropology and theology,” from the side of anthropologists. Such increase is “evidenced in part by a suite of edited volumes on this theme” (Havea et al. 2022, 298). For example, see Lauterbach & Vähäkangas (2020), Lemons (2018), and Tomlinson & Mathews (2018). This article brings a “contextual critique” by drawing insights from and being influenced by the author’s positioning in East Africa and his close interactions with indigenous people. (I have lived in East Africa from 1988 to date.) The critique is constructive because it shows how anthropology’s move towards theology empowers (or potentially empowers) missionaries. The http://www.globalmissiology.org/ Global Missiology - ISSN 2831-4751 - Vol 21, No 2 (2024) April 4 article is theological in presupposing a theological reality: a broadly evangelical view of Jesus, of the gospel, and of Christianity. The reputation of anthropologists has been that they bracket-off issues related to God and theology. Recently, however, many anthropologists have taken a deep interest in Christianity. This change that is influencing the whole discipline should be of interest to missionaries, and here I attempt to inform them on what is going on. Today’s anthropology originated in a gradual move away from its foundation in Christian missionaries’ desire to understand the people they were reaching, into becoming a secular university discipline (Harries & Maxwell 2012, 7). The rise of materialist anthropology after World War II “sealed the separation of missionaries and professional anthropologists” (Harries & Maxwell 2012, 24). The discipline of anthropology as a whole has acquired a reputation for being anti-Christian. Anthropology is considered by many to be a complement to sociology. Traditionally at least, sociology is the study of one’s own people, while anthropologists set out to explore other people, their cultures and ethnicities (BJYU’s 2024; Bodenheimer 2019). Anthropology is perhaps best known for its efforts at studying the “primitive.” Classically, anthropologists study the ways of life of primitive people from a secular perspective. They tend to explain away whatever is not built on recognizable Western secular foundations. Thus, according to Mair, they articulate, on a Marxist basis, what people understand themselves as doing through religious motivation. To use Mair’s own words, religious people—preeminently missionaries—have acted on the basis of “the reality of power, greed, and exploitation” (Havea et al. 2022, 315). Many anthropologists have “despised” Christianity and Christian mission, Beidelman being perhaps a particularly extreme instance of such (Beidelman 1982). (Certainly though, not all anthropologists have been of this ilk. Some, such as Turner, Douglas, and Evans-Pritchard, have themselves been active Christians; see Larsen 2014.) Since the most recent turn of the century, there has been a broad change in direction. In the new direction, anthropologists have themselves been challenged to consider why, if they study every other way of life under the sun, they had been avoiding taking Christians, churches, and theology seriously. Many have recently taken up this theological challenge and also extended it to non-Christian religious traditions. The study of Christianity by anthropologists is made especially challenging given anthropology’s own roots in the Church. This These Christian roots fundamentally confront anthropology’s self-understood outward looking gaze. Anthropologists used to consider themselves as standing on a relatively firm neutral platform from which they could legitimately evaluate everyone else, as if others are set out in a panorama in front of them (Havea et al. 2022, 304). Their discipline has more recently required them to be reflexive, and to consider aspects of their own identity and origins, e.g., C. A. Davies’ Reflexive Ethnography (1999). They are being challenged to question whether the foundation of secularism on which they stand is as firm as it once felt. Many are realising that several of the key building blocks on which the discipline of anthropology has been constructed actually originate in the gospel. Anthropologists are often not afraid to pull their punches. As probably with every discipline in the world, certainly theology included, there are many internal disagreements. Yet, a “return” of anthropology to an examination of the Christian Scriptures, if primarily through their impact on Global Missiology - ISSN 2831-4751 - Vol 21, No 2 (2024) April 5 human society, indicates the possibility of a kind of re-invigoration of the Church, especially in its foreign-mission endeavours. What follows is a theologically-informed critical engagement with anthropology. The critical aspect is rooted in appreciation for the distance that anthropology has managed to travel already to rectify prior epistemological weakness. First, though, is a drawing on the author’s own experience in interaction with Mike Vähäkangas’s demonstration of how anthropology can assist missionaries in the evaluative part of their task. Indigenous African Christianities, Theology, and Anthropology Christian believers, including expatriate missionaries, frequently struggle to comprehend, and in some cases to value, activities and beliefs of churches that have African roots. Vähäkangas helpfully and clearly articulates how anthropology can help to provide insights that can enable relating to widespread African Christian contexts (Vähäkangas 2020). His particular focus in the chapter I will consider in detail here is on the Kimbanguist Church in the Congo. I will also draw on considerable personal experience of relating to and interacting with Kimbanguist believers. This church, that has many branches around the world, claims to have millions of members. Its founder, Simon Kimbangu, was “persecuted” by the colonial powers ruling Congo (Vähäkangas 2020, 139-140). His persecution, followed by the forced dispersion of his followers, rather than having the desired intent of nipping Kimbanguism in the bud, actually spread it and drew attention to it. Strikingly, the Kimbanguist Church has been a member of the WCC (World Council of Churches) since 1969 (Vähäkangas 2020, 135). There has been much discussion as to whether it should continue to be a member. The major issue under discussion is usually the Kimbanguist doctrine of incarnation. Many Kimbanguist believers—and this seems to be a part of the oral tradition if not their written tradition—consider Simon Kimbangu to be the Holy Spirit who Jesus said would come after his departure (John 16:7) (Vähäkangas 2020, 140). For many analysts, a doctrine that claims the founder of a church other than Jesus to be the Holy Spirit would be a clear indication that the church concerned is not genuinely Christian at all. On this basis, the Kimbanguist Church should be expelled from the WCC (Vähäkangas 2020, 135). At the same time, much of the practice of the church is clearly Christian (Vähäkangas 2020, 134). Refusing such a church’s Christian identity by refusing its WCC membership may well create waves, some of which will later be judged to be unhelpful. The WCC is presumably trying to be careful to avoid causing problems that would interfere with its aim of bringing people into the body of Christ. European churches and their branches have been profoundly influenced by Hellenistic thinking. From early on Greek influence, that has profoundly formed church history, has contributed to related churches participating in a tradition of literacy. Ecumenical debates thus frequently revolve around differences between churches found in written documentation (Vähäkangas 2020, 135). For their part, many African peoples have only very recently been exposed to Hellenism and to literacy. Unless Hellenism is considered integral to Christianity itself—a position that may make it impossible for African people to be Christian when not under Western domination—then presumably one can be genuinely Christian without being Hellenistic. However, the nature of this kind of Christianity that is genuinely Christian without great Greek influence remains a mystery to many in the West. (While Kimbanguism is the case study here under review, I am drawing on over 30 years of experience of close mother-tongue engagement Global Missiology - ISSN 2831-4751 - Vol 21, No 2 (2024) April 6 with a variety of indigenously founded churches in East Africa. The issue of “not being Hellenistic” is widespread even if the doctrine of incarnation may not be a particularly prominent concern.) The question then arises: if practitioners of not-Hellenistic Christianity give only minimum weight to written documentation, how should Hellenised Christians evaluate them? Is written documentation on doctrine and theology necessary for a church to be truly Christian? How does the nature of African understanding and African languages impact evaluations of orthodoxy? Unless we say Christianity must be Hellenistic, which understandably missiologists and theologians are reluctant to do, are we to form two categories of “Christianity,” namely Hellenistic and non-Hellenistic? How would these two categories relate to one another? Vähäkangas points out that the absence of written documentation and a “common conceptual universe” can be very disarming to theological investigation (Vähäkangas 2020, 136). It is at this point that he suggests anthropology can help. Anthropology is “radical[ly] open … to others” (Vähäkangas 2020, 137). Such an openness can be a foundation to a kind of thorough exploration of the nature of the “other” that is not open to missionaries, for whom doctrinal prerequisites must be in place before they can enter into close fellowship. In the absence of authoritative written materials, the only way for an outsider to discover what an indigenous African church is actually about is through participating in its oral expressions. Hence Vähäkangas identifies an “essential” role, or at least a potentially very helpful role, that can be filled by anthropology, with issues of theological orthodoxy in mind. He suggests “participatory observation, informal discussions, and semi-structured interviews” (Vähäkangas 2020, 145) be the anthropological method that will provide data on “lived belief” that will in due course help missionaries to gain at least some understanding and, as need be, to carry out their evaluations. Vähäkangas stops far short of implying that anthropology is a kind of “substitute” for theology. Instead, he points to an “abyss” that separates anthropological analysis from practiced faith (Vähäkangas 2020, 138) (and from the ways of life of non-Western people, i.e., people not historically profoundly influenced by Hellenism in general). That is to say that, while contemporary anthropological methods can produce data, use of its secular foundations in analysing data would render it little more than useless to the non-Hellenistic people studied (Vähäkangas 2020, 137-138) as well as, at least to a certain extent, to those who take faith in God seriously, in particular missionaries. Many anthropologists work on a Marxist basis, assuming a context of “the reality of power, greed, and exploitation” (Havea et al. 2022, 34). Vähäkangas seeks to find a way of utilising anthropology’s approaches to research without rendering its findings so reductive as to be a negation or an attack on living faith. Vähäkangas thus articulates the parameters of an approach similar to the one I have taken over the last 36 years, since 1988: I have frequently visited indigenously led African churches in East Africa. While in some ways very clearly Christian, these churches at the same time engage in various practices that would, by “Hellenistic Christians,” be considered beyond the pale. Condemning them for being so would imply that their use of the Bible, calling on the name of Jesus, proclaiming Christian doctrines, plus healings, worship, prophecy, and much dedication and commitment to God might all be worse than useless. Instead of quickly jumping to a condemning conclusion, I have taken advantage of my reading in anthropology to acquire an understanding of common practices as a means of comprehending why the people concerned did things that Western Global Missiology - ISSN 2831-4751 - Vol 21, No 2 (2024) April 7 Christianity roundly condemns, as well as why at the same time those same people do not find them condemned in their own devoted understanding of the Christian Scripture. By way of example, members of these churches often relate closely to their ancestors. They do this by learning from them through dreams and visions and by taking advantage of insights acquired to interpret contemporary events—why someone is sick, how failure in business could be avoided, which colour of candle would be most effective against an evil spirit, for example. From “where they stand” with no indigenous written tradition, no alternative to guidance from ancestors is available. Community life requires rules that go beyond what the Bible offers— compare, for example, how Catholic theologians have acquired a comprehensive set of laws from Rome (Holland 2019, 269)—and the community has followed those rules for all of known oral history. The absence of alternatives requires an ongoing following of ancestral command—an ancestral “command” that is not written but is spiritually “revealed.” Anthropology has long opened doors for me to relate to such people while, as Vähäkangas articulates, the same anthropology provides little or no reason as to why or on what basis to relate. Those guidelines come from the Scripture and Christian tradition—-hence my motivation for relating to African churches has been to share the good news of Jesus with them. For its part, anthropology provides some tools and suggests research approaches that I have found helpful. A “Vulnerable” Approach Much missiological engagement in Africa has been grounded on certain assumptions regarding translation, broadly speaking that translation can in a simple way convey meaning from any source to any target language. Even though a foreign imposition onto Africans, Western missionaries in Africa increasingly acquiesce to use of European languages in their engagements with African people. They assume that what they say (even though they are communicating as if to Hellenised people in Western contexts, with minimal adaption to what to them are little-understood African circumstances) will be understood by local people as if they too are European. The same missionaries typically control significant (at least in local terms) budgets, that they seek to direct to those Africans who are following doctrines of European origins that please them. Hence African people have ample motivation for maintaining, as far as possible, an appearance of understanding and implementing Western norms. Often lacking the kinds of anthropological orientations described above, many missionaries stand across-from, rather than together-with, indigenous people, maintaining an identity and role as a “benevolent foreigner.” The alternative approach that I advocate here is that a missionary should engage key people he is reaching entirely using indigenous languages and resources. I have articulated this “vulnerable” approach in more detail elsewhere (Harries J. 2015). My primary reason for stressing entirely using indigenous languages and resources is to avoid the deep jealousies that can be created in indigenous contexts should resource provision or language exposure and guidance be extended on the basis of some sort of partiality. Because one cannot help but be partial, i.e., prejudiced in who one relates to, helping everyone the same is an impossible dream, so that handing out goodies (whether linguistic or material) will be problematic! Refusing to have foreign resources available for distribution facilitates relating to people of different doctrinal and theological persuasions. That is to say, as illustrated in the section above, indigenous African people—not having the background that could enable them to “appropriate” Western theology lock-stock-and-barrel—will invariably need to develop a theology that at the same time enables them to maintain certain “traditions.” To condemn the continuation of such Global Missiology - ISSN 2831-4751 - Vol 21, No 2 (2024) April 8 traditions is to drive them underground. I suggest that appropriate theology, developed by encouraging people to engage with the gospel, is more helpful than judgemental condemnation of what the outsider does not understand. Participation or at least non-condemnation, not as a donor but as a witnessing believer, in what goes on keeps an outside missionary engaged and on a learning curve. To those who might find such a vulnerable approach a little weak-kneed, I acknowledge that more confrontational approaches have biblical precedent. I do suggest, however, that more confrontational approaches require a concomitant positioning. A widespread biblical precedent for confrontation is a self-positioning in weakness. Classic biblical examples abound: Stephen stood up to the Sanhedrin. Then he was stoned to death (Acts 7:59-60). Paul stood up to Jewish Christian practices. Eventually he was executed (tradition tells us after frequent beatings and stonings) (1 Corinthians 11:23-27). The prophet Jeremiah stood up to King Zedekiah and was thrown into a cistern (Jeremiah 38:6). Those who threw him in intended him to die there. A readiness for suffering, including death, is a kind of ratification that one is serious about one’s radical advocacy. Such a commitment requires missionaries who refuse to use lawyers and legal procedures in their defence, who do not live in singularly heavily guarded homes, who refuse to pack their bag and flee if there is trouble, who do not “buy” friends using their foreign-sourced money, and other advantageous resources. In short, a missionary should only openly confront in a way that both requires an exclusive following of a practice or teaching (theologically or otherwise) and assuming a position sufficiently vulnerable to suffer or even die, in consequence of people’s refusal to agree and comply. Anthropologists’ strengths identified by Vähäkangas include their “radical openness to the other” (Vähäkangas 2020, 137). Anthropology is deeply rooted in a tradition of non- judgementalism, endeavouring instead always to identify reasonable cause for what might initially seem the most extraordinary behaviour. This sympathetic approach is a strength of anthropology. Then, however, their further analysis generally renders anthropologists, as far as local communities are concerned, extractive. Haynes asks, “What’s harder to do … is finding ways to critique the structures that ethnography reveals in terms that are meaningful to those they study” (Havea et al. 2022, 324). That is, anthropologists’ write ups typically require them to position themselves in a long academic tradition put in place by their anthropological forefathers that is unfamiliar to, and may make little sense to, those studied. An “anthropologist” is one who is familiar with previous anthropologists and can engage with their writings and thinking. Those previous anthropologists and that anthropological tradition are not rooted in the field where they do their research but in (usually) distant Western universities that function on the basis of much Hellenistic thinking. I believe there is a reason why anthropologists currently maintain this distant detached stand. They realise that they have little to say that is relevant in their research context. Some fear, for example, that seeking to have things to say in a context replete with spirits and “religious” forces will turn them into theologians. Yet despite its Christian origins classical anthropology is also deeply rooted in secular atheistic liberalism—although, as Boggs points out, the way that anthropology functions on the basis of “culture theory” constantly also compromises liberalism (Boggs 2004, 189). That is to say, as explained by Vähäkangas, “Anthropology … challenges the secular modern claims of universality. On the other hand, it is a secular modern project” (2022, 97). Broadly speaking, it can be very open in its research, but very narrow in its write-ups. Missionaries and theologians operate differently. They can be “transcending the researcher- researched barrier when studying faith communities” (2022, 97). “A theologian is a member of the Global Missiology - ISSN 2831-4751 - Vol 21, No 2 (2024) April 9 studied community” Vähäkangas adds by way of explanation (2022, 97). From personal experience, when I as a Western missionary visit an African Church, I am also a fellow forgiven sinner seeking to know God’s will for my life. There is a need both for honesty regarding the extractive nature of anthropology and for closing the gap between anthropology and theology. If anthropologists are not to lose their “radical openness,” they ought also to seek to be locally relevant and not only (or primarily) to please an evaluative committee in an alien (Western) context. Anthropologists’ functional theological naïveté renders them incapable of bridging the gap between their own discipline and theology. Missionaries, then, must rise to the challenge of meeting both needs and, at least on occasion, wear anthropological hats. Missionaries to Be Anthropologists My proposal is not that missionaries lean more and more on secular anthropologists. While secular anthropologists have produced much information that can be useful to missionaries, they actually conceal certain more controversial and adverse aspects of their work. Their short-term in-and-out approach—often less than a year on the field, such as Gammelin who did only eight months of fieldwork before writing a research article (Gammelin 2020)—plus their deep engagement with orientations to indigenous peoples rooted in secular modernity, make them often unsuitable bedfellows for missionaries. There has long been a pattern, at least in African contexts, of anthropologists being dependent on missionaries in many ways, drawing on them for expert insights while building their own towers (cf. the tower of Babel in Genesis 11) from a position of misunderstanding of the work the very missionaries are doing. Perhaps the latest turn of anthropology to studying Christianity and mission may finally help to rectify anthropologists’ heretofore disjointed relationship with missionaries. Some readers may be wondering on which specific bases I fault anthropologists. Here are some examples: 1. The late Ralph Winter endeavoured to avoid the problematic associated with an identity as a missionary in Guatemala, so he chose instead to go to the field as an “anthropologist.” He then regretted having done so, finding that on the field the reputation of anthropologists was worse than that of missionaries. (Winter 2008, 43ff.). I believe that, amongst the reasons for these different reputations is that, for all their many failings, missionaries work according to comprehensive and mutually agreed upon moral codes such as those regarding alcohol consumption and sexual promiscuity. Missionaries set out to love the people they are reaching. Many anthropologists do not consider themselves bound by any such moral requirements, ethical codes, or heartfelt sympathies toward people they research. 2. A set of discussions edited by Havea et al. (2022) help me to make a few more points. This set of discussions is between anthropologists and representatives of what are referred to as “world religions.” (I recommend reading all of these discussions.) I here simply point to some “confessions” made in some honest reporting: a. The presence of the “abyss” between people studied and the theory and writing up underlying anthropological work is illustrated by Rasayanagam acknowledging that, although he is non-exclusive (radically open) in the way he carries out his research, he has been very narrow and exclusive (Havea et al. 2022, 310), ghettoizing the “religious” Global Missiology - ISSN 2831-4751 - Vol 21, No 2 (2024) April 10 amongst his students in the way he once presented his insights in a classroom (Havea et al. 2022, 308). b. As described earlier, “vulnerable mission” involves missionaries engaging people by using indigenous languages and resources. Indigenous language knowledge is needed to enable a grasping of what people are “actually” saying. Avoidance of liberal use of outside resources is needed to ensure that people don’t talk for money. Many anthropologists work through translators (evidenced by the relatively short time, for example less than a year, that they spend on the field), and some make gifts to their informers (Havea et al. 2022, 331). The key prerequisites for missionaries to engage in anthropological research are also, in my view, those of vulnerable mission. Linguistically, local language knowledge is needed to acquire close understanding of the categories in which indigenous people think. The question of resources links specifically with theological concerns for doctrinal orthodoxy. I am inclined to agree that for a missionary sent to the field to promote orthodox (small o) Christian belief to make significant financial contributions to what is to many not Christianity at all can be problematic. Indigenous African churches, such as the Kimbanguist Church explored by Vähäkangas, may fall into that “problematic” category. A pre-emptive judging regarding who is orthodox and whose theology is problematic is likely to generate indigenous jealousies, suspicions, and conflicts. Such judgement would be implied if a missionary is generous to those he considers orthodox but not generous to those about whom he has doubts. The way to avoid this kind of judgementalism has to be to not have to be partial in decisions about resources, i.e., for a missionary to delegate generous giving to others. Those “others” must be those whom the “vulnerable missionary” does not directly influence. Conclusion The field of anthropological research has long been functioning largely independently of the Church. For much of its history it has been known to be antagonistic to Christianity. A recent turn to extending its study to include Christianity offers enormous hope for improved mutual understanding between anthropologists and Christians—missionaries in particular. Anthropological methodologies have much to offer to the Church, particularly anthropologists’ non-judgemental openness to others. The Church also has much to offer to anthropology, especially an evident morally defensible motivation for long term close association with the “other,” i.e., the desire to share the gospel of Jesus with them. While Christians, including missionaries, have long taken advantage of insights they obtain through learning outcomes of anthropological research, in this article I suggest that some missionaries should be more serious about themselves researching people they are reaching. Researching beyond the boundaries of orthodox Christian participation, without raising questions of misdirected efforts, is rendered possible if the missionaries concerned commit themselves to a constant confining themselves to use of indigenous languages and resources. Missionaries are, after all, supposed to reach the lost. Is understanding “the lost” and why they are lost not a part of that outreach? References Beidelman, T. O. (1982). Colonial evangelism: A socio-historical study of an East African mission at the grass roots. Indiana University Press. Global Missiology - ISSN 2831-4751 - Vol 21, No 2 (2024) April 11 BJYU’s (2024). Difference between Sociology and Anthropology. BYJU’s Exam Prep. https://byjus.com/free-ias-prep/difference-between-sociology-and-anthropology/ Bodenheimer, R. (2019). Anthropology vs. sociology: What’s the difference? ThoughtCo. https://www.thoughtco.com/anthropology-vs-sociology-4685772 Boggs, J. P. (2004). The culture concept as theory, in context. Current Anthropology. 45 No. 2, 187-209. Davies, C. A. (1999). Reflexive ethnography: A guide to researching selves and others. Routledge. Gammelin, L. (2020). Gendered narratives of illness and healing: Experiences of spirit possession in a charismatic church in Tanzania. Vähäkangas, M. & Lauterbach, K., eds., Faith in African lived Christianity: Bridging anthropological and theological perspectives. Brill, 327-347. Harries, J. (2015). Self-imposed strictures and the role of western missionaries in cross-cultural mission to Africa. Missio Dei: A Journal of Missional Theology and Praxis. 6, No. 2. http://missiodeijournal.com/article.php?issue=md-6-2&author=md-6-2-harries. Harries, P. & Maxwell, D. (2012). Introduction: The spiritual in the secular. Harries, P. & Maxwell, D., eds., The spiritual in the secular: Missionaries and knowledge about Africa. Studies in the history of Christian missions. Eerdmans, 1-29. Havea, J., Tomlinson, M., Al-Azem, T., Rasanayagam, J., Juewei, V., Mair, J., Bongmba, E. K., Haynes, N., Lamb, R., Sivakumar, D., Furani, K., & Moosa, E. (2022). Dialogues: Anthropology and theology. Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute. 28, 297-347. Holland, T. (2019). Dominion: the making of the Western mind. Little Brown. Larsen, T. (2014). The slain God: Anthropologists and the Christian faith. Oxford University Press. Lauterbach, K. & Vähäkangas, M., eds. 2020. Faith in African lived Christianity: bridging anthropological and theological perspectives. Brill. Lemons, J. D., ed. (2018). Theologically engaged anthropology. Oxford University Press. Tomlinson, M., & Mathews J., eds. (2018). Conversations among theology, anthropology, and history. St Marks Review. 244(S1). TranslateDay (2023). 10 Most Translated Books in the World—2023 Updated Edition. TranslateDay. https://www.translateday.com/most-translated-books-in-the-world/ Vähäkangas, M. (2020). How to respect the religious quasi-other? Methodological considerations in studying the Kimbanguist doctrine of incarnation. Faith in African Lived Christianity – bridging anthropological and theological perspectives, Vähäkangas, M. & Lauterbach, K., eds. Brill, 133-155. _____ (2022). Judging from the Inside: A Theological Reading of Joel Robbins’s Theology and the Anthropology of Christian Life. Suomen Anthropologi. 46(3): 96-100. https://byjus.com/free-ias-prep/difference-between-sociology-and-anthropology/ https://www.thoughtco.com/anthropology-vs-sociology-4685772 http://missiodeijournal.com/article.php?issue=md-6-2&author=md-6-2-harries https://www.translateday.com/most-translated-books-in-the-world/ Global Missiology - ISSN 2831-4751 - Vol 21, No 2 (2024) April 12 Winter, R. D. (2008). Frontiers in mission: Discovering and surmounting barriers to the missio dei, 4th ed. WCIU Press. Global Missiology - ISSN 2831-4751 - Vol 21, No 2 (2024) April Maternal-thinking, Missio Dei, and Managerial Missiology: A Colombian Case Study Renee Rheinbolt-Uribe Published in Global Missiology, www.globalmissiology.org, April 2024 Abstract “Maternal-thinking” in missiology emphasizes the importance of mothers in God’s eyes. Maternal- thinking emphasizes motherhood and womanhood, and it has implications for mission, church, and society. This article examines a case study in Colombia, highlighting the impact of mothers in a congregation in crisis due to the collapse of a mission agency. Missio Dei acknowledges God’s reach beyond Christian institutions, the space that many times mothers have influenced throughout Christian history. However, in today's world, the concept of motherhood is often perceived through the lens of the dominant USA culture, identified as the “Age of Systems.” Moreover, related to how the current missions epoch is enmeshed in managerial missiology, the case study is evidence of how inadvertently the oppression of mothers and women from other cultures can be made “in the name of Christ.” This article’s comparison of the dominant culture in the West to a Colombian experience offers suggestions for research and corrective measures. Key Words: managerial missiology, maternal-thinking, missio Dei, motherhood, womanhood Introduction “Maternal-thinking” (Ruddick 1995) is a vital tool that reveals the pivotal role of motherhood in the missio Dei. Maternal-thinking in missiological research is a pivotal lens, it seeks to highlight biological mothers, mothering, and maternal imagery in texts and empirical data. Missiology has historically provided much rich empirical data in the Global South (GS) from the grassroots level, where many times mothers are sustaining communities, families, and congregations (Freeks 2018). Motherhood is a cherished and highly valued role in the eyes of the Godhead. Based on this assumption, the article first will view evidence across multiple academic disciplines, extending far beyond the realms of theology. However, in today's world, the concept of motherhood is often perceived through the lens of the dominant USA culture, which can inadvertently lead to the oppression of women from other cultures. So-called “Managerial Missiology” (Escobar 1991), in this “Age of Systems” (Cayley 2005; 2021), can export these USA values and practices globally through religious branded organizations (RBOs) (Rheinbolt-Uribe 2023). The second point of this article is to show the serious consequences of such value exportation, as demonstrated by a case study involving a congregation in Colombia that was impacted by the collapse of an international mission agency. Thirdly, it is vital to adopt a maternal perspective of missio Dei to overcome these challenges and bring hope to humanity through the spread of the gospel message, especially viewing mothers’ activity throughout Christian history. By embracing this viewpoint, we can gain deeper insights into the value of motherhood and its possible significance in different cultures worldwide. Such insights serve as a reminder that motherhood is not just a biological process but a spiritual and emotional one that connects us all as human beings. The article’s fourth point demonstrates the wide potential of the maternal-thinking lens. As we continue to grow in appreciation of the diverse http://www.globalmissiology.org/ Global Missiology - ISSN 2831-4751 - Vol 21, No 2 (2024) April 14 ways motherhood is celebrated, respected, and practiced around the world, the benefit is to work towards empowering and uplifting women in the church, mission, and society. Maternal-thinking: An Interdisciplinary Approach The main theme of this article relates to motherhood and womanhood. An interdisciplinary focus is necessary to attempt to grasp this theme. Motherhood has a broad meaning. The founder of Motherhood Studies, Andrea O’Reilly (2021), helps with providing such definitions for key terms like “biological mothers,” “mothering,” and “motherers.” Poet Naomi Ruth Lowinsky (2009) provides the term “motherline.” Many academic disciplines speak to this theme of motherhood. The following eight sections provide a few connections between academic disciplines and motherhood. Motherhood in Literary Criticism, Psychology, Anthropology, and Economics Literary critic Gayatri Spivak (2003, 386) beautifully depicts empowerment within motherhood by noting it to be “[A] natural power we carry within ourselves.” Darcia Narvaez, et al. (2016) sum up the psychological research about motherhood. There is clear evidence that mothers play a crucial role in shaping their child’s development, both during pregnancy and after birth. The quality of a mother’s care influences various aspects of a child’s health and behavior, such as their immune system, stress response, attachment, and social orientation. Anthropologist and primatologist Sarah Hrdy (1999) was forced to set aside her original hypothesis that a maternal instinct does not exist. She did so after analyzing the overwhelming data in research on animals, historical study, and her lived experienced as mother. Genevieve Vaughn (2015), in her groundbreaking work in economics, introduced the concept of “maternal gift economy.” She appeals to the logic of motherhood as a radical way for economic and social transformation. Motherhood in Theology and Biblical Studies The disciplines of theology and biblical studies also have rich scholarly work around motherhood. An example of the richness available in these disciplines is seen from a quote by theologian Amy Peeler (2022, 62), in which she graphically describes the vital role of motherhood and womanhood in the Incarnation process: The Son of God is then born, which, no matter how this happens, with pain or not, by separating the hymen or not, means that the embodied God passes through the birth canal of a woman. Because he is completely human and was born in the time before formula and bottles, he nursed at the breast of a woman. From that moment until he was grown, her hands held him; her arms enveloped him; her lap gave him a place to rest. God’s choice to allow the body of a woman, even the most intimate parts of herself, to come into direct contact with the body and blood of the Son stands against any who would deny women by virtue of the fact that they are women access to the holy (emphasis original). In African culture, theologian J. Kabamba Kiboko (2001, 213) highlights a concept “thinking- with-the-womb,” which suggests that women not only think with their head and heart but also with their womb, seen as the center of life. This idea was used during a Bible study among Sanga women in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where a 98-year-old woman recognized the importance of Global Missiology - ISSN 2831-4751 - Vol 21, No 2 (2024) April 15 the Samaritan woman’s womb in her story with Jesus. This concept reflects the belief that the womb is a source of knowledge and nurturing, “as it was chosen by God as the place to nurture the Savior.” Theologian Kat Armas (2021, 12) presenting abuela theology (“grandmother theology”), raises the question: “What if the world’s greatest theologians are those whom the world wouldn’t consider theologians at all?”. Armas’s question arose from what might be called her training in “kitchen theology,” whereby she learned about God while her grandmother cooked and talked. These examples are only a minute sample of the wealth of the scholarly work that can be discovered on the topic of motherhood in theology and biblical studies. There is also robust research to delight the mind and heart within religious studies and spirituality. Motherhood in the God-image This article agrees with the “Christian confession that God, who created the world, is good. Moreover, Christians confess that what God created is good, and God’s good creation is intended for good. This confession is also a political claim that has consequences for both faith and public life” (Forster 2022, 5). Based on this affirmation, this article also assumes that the Godhead is gender-neutral and is depicted in the biblical text as a good Parent: both a motherly Father and a caring Mother (cf. Claassens 2012; Rheinbolt-Uribe 2017; Peeler 2022). Hannah Whitall Smith (as cited in Rheinbolt-Uribe 2017, 1) stands out with this unmatched description: But God is not only a father, but He is also a mother as well, and we have all known mothers whose love and tenderness have been without bound or limit. And it is certain that the God who created them both, and who is Himself father and mother in one, could have never created earthly fathers and mothers who were more tender and more loving than He is Himself. Therefore, if we want to know what sort of Father He is, we must heap together all the best of all the fathers and mothers we have ever known or can imagine, and we must tell ourselves that this is only a faint image of God, our Father in Heaven. Embracing this robust God-image of our Christian God is vital for grasping the development of maternal-thinking as a guiding light for related insights into mission, church, and society. Motherhood in Missiology The theological concept of missio Dei intertwines quite nicely with motherhood and missiology, as my earlier research shows (Rheinbolt-Uribe 2023). The oft-repeated maternal phrase overflowing with maternal imagery, “mission is the mother of theology” (Bosch 1991, 16, 521) hints at how the feminine and motherhood is a foundational concept in missiology. Missio Dei is a theological recognition that the Creator of the Universe works beyond the borders of human endeavors and institutions to reach out in love to both humans and nonhumans. As asserted by pastoral theologian and missiologist Lynne Taylor (2020, 54), quoting a Uniting Church in Australia document: “God has been at work in nurturing and sustaining the First Peoples, people who had already encountered the Creator God before the arrival of the colonizers.” Missio Dei complements and questions church-centered mission, especially managerial missiology. Motherhood in the Age of Systems Maternal-thinking should not be confused with Western feminism, although there is overlap in that both concern females and the female body. The closest Western feminism comes to the logic of Global Missiology - ISSN 2831-4751 - Vol 21, No 2 (2024) April 16 this article is “matricentric feminism” (O’Reilly 2021). That perspective not only empowers females but carries a family-centered and community-centered emphasis as well (cf. Freeks 2018 for empirical data in Southern Africa). Missiologist, theologian, and social critic Ivan Illich (1981; 1983) describes the tension of what can be perceived by many as a binary battle between males and females that is common in Western feminism. I agree with Illich´s placing of the dominant USA culture within the Age of Systems (Cayley 2005; 2021) (although it is beyond the scope of this article to present my full argument regarding the connection of the missiological implications of the dominant USA culture, managerial missiology, and the Age of Systems). Illich refers to the Age of Systems as a modern unisex regime with a “loss of gender” including “genderless education” (Illich 1983, 10-13; Cayley 2021, 225, 242). Illich is deeply concerned, rightly so, with the ways in which complex systems could diminish human freedom and well- being. Illich (1983, 80) boldly asserts: “The concept of sex role could not come into being until society’s institutions were structured to meet the genderless needs of genderless clients with genderless clients with genderless commodities produced in a genderless world. The sex role builds on the existence of genderless man” (emphasis original). Illich, throughout his life work, continually calls for a reevaluation of our reliance on these systems and a return to more human- centered ways of living and organizing society. I understand USA laws as assuming this unisex logic, along the lines of the “genderless man”. I assume that is the reason for USA federal law that entitles a new mother, but only under certain circumstances, to a maximum of 12 weeks of unpaid leave (U.S. Department of Labor n.d.). The USA system for care and allowances is market-driven, so the private sector and individual states are allowed to decide how to best approach the vulnerable moments of workers, such as the welcoming of a new baby into the family unit. Conversely, many countries in the world have a nationwide view of systemic care, are protected by federal law, for such moments as childbirth and adoption. In contrast to the previous mentioned USA federal law, Colombian federal law provides 18 weeks of paid leave for mothers and two weeks of paid leave for fathers, as well as many other benefits (Angulo et al., 2021). I have grave concerns in regard to consequences of global missions that apply the template of the USA legal paradigm following the logic of the market as in managerial missiology. Managerial missiology is defined by theologian and missiologist Samuel Escobar (1991, 11): “As a typical school of thought coming from the modern United States, the quantitative approach is predominant and the pragmatic orientation well defined. . . the evangelistic task is reduced to a process that can be carried out in accordance with standard marketing principles.” The closely bound relationship between marketing principles and missions in this Age of Systems has led to new denominations. I coined the term religious branded organization (RBO) (Rheinbolt-Uribe 2023) as a category in religious studies for new denominations that expand as a brand without ties to historical denominations. Illich (2005, 620) locates the 1980s within the Age of Systems, the epoch within which managerial missiology gaines strength (Escobar 1991). The 1980s was also the decade when the denomination in the case study grew internationally. Motherlessness in the Age of Systems English literature professor Wendy Nielson (2022) connects this motherhood theme with technology, arguing that motherless creations in the West have resulted from technology. She Global Missiology - ISSN 2831-4751 - Vol 21, No 2 (2024) April 17 concludes that men, as creators of “life,” would then become the “mothers.” Hrdy (1999, 506) she suggests that encouraging a system where very young infants are cared for by a paid communal daycare could potentially lead to adults who are “‘more qualified’ for life in the modern world [to work in the Age of Systems], . . . as they are less securely attached and less capable of forming close relationships.” Nielson’s and Hryd’s conclusions link to maternal images in Illich’s Age of Systems, in particular the use of the words “motherless” and “womb-less” to describe these systems (Cayley 2021, 383). Illich sees a corrupting effect on people’s understanding of themselves: “We become a part of a system, as if a part of a computer” (Cayley 2021, 250). This Western motherlessness can easily be linked to the “self-made man” and the ahistorical theme of the Enlightenment epoch of “emancipated, autonomous individuals” (Bosch 1991, 267; cf. Illich 1983, 10). Furthermore, this motherlessness, the legacy of the West, could be expressed personally as, “I have no mother. I came to this earth out of nowhere.” On a reflective note, within managerial missiology I would argue that a society creating autonomous individualism is a valuable trait, as adults can work more efficiently within the Age of Systems for the purpose of Christian mission. Motherhood in Feminism Feminism and motherhood have a rocky relationship, a full examination of which is beyond the scope of this article. Indigenous researcher Bagele Chilisa (2020: 300-306) provides a sweeping overview of the history of feminism. The origins of first-wave and second-wave feminism can be attributed predominantly to white women residing in the West. These feminisms she terms as Liberal, Bourgeois, or Individualistic Feminism and Radical Feminism or Marxist-Socialist Feminist Theory. Much of the activism in these first two waves was made possible by Black or endarkened women caring for the white women’s children, while leaving their own children behind due to economic reasons. Chilisa also highlights aspects of third-wave feminism, describing Black feminisms, African feminisms, borderland-Mestizaje feminisms, Asian feminisms, and other marginalized non-Western feminisms. She specifically links to the concept of maternal-thinking within African feminism “as woman-centered and mother-centered,” linking to Kiboko’s thinking-with-the-womb. Motherhood in Tacit knowledge My biological motherhood experiences are what allowed me to connect with my own female body, its embodied knowledge, and my motherline. All of these have led to my developing of the tool of maternal-thinking within the missio Dei. In my own personal experience as the daughter of USA medical mission practitioners in the highlands of Guatemala and as a mission practitioner within the denomination being studied here, I have reflected upon the reality of the unisex approach latent in my background. These experiences led to appreciating the tacit knowledge of Colombian culture I was learning through being around young mothers and grandmothers, as well as to admiring the protection offered by Colombia’s federal laws. The Colombian tradition of quarentena, a 40-day rest period for new mothers, is a common practice rooted in biblical customs (cf. Leviticus 12:1-8; Luke 2:22, 27). During this time, the mother is cared for by her own mother or a close female family member; she stays at home and solely focuses on caring for herself and her newborn. Initially, I did not respect this practice but Global Missiology - ISSN 2831-4751 - Vol 21, No 2 (2024) April 18 came to appreciate its value after experiencing the challenges of having twins. Both Hrdy (1999) and Narvaez et al. (2016) conclude that the vital bond between newborn and biological mother correlate with this custom. In contrast, in the USA, new mothers are expected to resume normal activities shortly after giving birth. (The customs in Colombia and the USA are distinct due to several factors, although a full description is beyond the scope of this article.) A bird’s eye view of many disciplines that connect to motherhood allow for a robust understanding of the maternal-thinking lens used in the following case study. Case Study: Motherhood, Managerial Missiology, and Age of Systems The modus operandi of the USA-based denominational mission agency in this article’s case study fits into the category of managerial missiology. I applied maternal-thinking as a lens while reading the official book that guided mission theology and methods for the denomination in Latin America, ironically titled Bent on Conquest (Giambarba 1988). Maternal-thinking led me to focus on the teaching where young converts were discouraged to have closeness to their parents. This approach was based on a literal understanding of Jesus’s words in Luke 14:26: As the gospel expands across the globe, encountering family systems much stronger than those in the United States, the disciple’s love for Jesus must never be rivaled by his love for a person, whether father or mother, wife or children, brother, or sister. If he loves one of them or himself more than following Jesus, he has failed the test of discipleship. Jesus will not name him among his own (Giambara 1998, 5). The second and third of Escobar’s (1991, 12) characteristics of managerial missiology can be observed in both the above quote and denominational literature: (ii) “prepackaged theologies translated from English” and (iii) “a reductionist understanding of the Gospel and Christian mission.” (The first of the three (1991, 11) is the relationship of managerial missiology to quantitative methodologies.) The mission theology and methods, prior to the agency’s collapse, were quite distinctive in their prioritization of kinship within the church “family” over physical or blood relationships. Text analysis of denominational literature confirmed a narrower biblical interpretation as well, namely that the spiritual “family” was not the mystical body of Christ that unites all Christian believers but only the members of that particular denomination. Matricentric Colombian Culture Meets the Motherlessness West This USA denomination’s exclusive teaching and practice about church family are quite different from the Colombian culture, which places a great emphasis on the importance of family and kinship ties. The family is considered the cornerstone of society, and it is often seen as the primary source of support and comfort for individuals. The Colombian culture is matricentric, which means that family life is centered around the mother (Gutierrez de Pineda 2000; Serrano 2016). In many homes the mother is considered the head of the household, and she is often responsible for maintaining strong family ties and traditions. In contrast, the USA-based denomination’s teachings and practices could be seen as a direct attack against the mothers and motherhood, as they prioritized the church “family” over physical or blood relatives. Interestingly, however, the manner in which the leadership structure of the congregation was configured held both female and male leadership in parallel. This ecclesial model is based on a Global Missiology - ISSN 2831-4751 - Vol 21, No 2 (2024) April 19 tool termed “one-on-one discipling” (cf. Rheinbolt-Uribe 2023, 89, 215, 364). The women were encouraged to place their confidence in, and allegiance to, the female leadership figure, as a spiritual mentor. Similarly, men would be encouraged to place theirs in the male leader and spiritual mentor. The man oversaw the men, and the woman was responsible for the women. From personal experience I can confirm that a woman’s maternal experience was not factored into this structure; the load could be extremely heavy for a young mother with several children. The church planting methodology can be identified within Western feminism in that the females were empowered within the structure in the manner that was developed in the USA. My personal view is that the structure was built upon the logic of the Age of System’s unisex regime, a type of “forced feminism” (cf. Jacoby & Jacoby 2002, where they document the consequences of this structural reality and the consequences on many mothers’ mental, spiritual, and physical health). The mission agency was not alert to the maternal aspect of the female existence, especially from the cultural and legal perspective of Colombia. The fourth and final point in this article will highlight the policy and legal aspects related to this theme. The potential implications of the case study as to possible “forced feminism” or Illich’s “genderless man” within managerial missiology are vast and especially for mission endeavors from the West to the GS (cf. Hofstede 1998 for research in cross-cultural psychology as to the intersection of religion, gender, and sexuality). I assert that the prevailing perspective in the GS tends to be the opposite of a Western motherlessness, as the interconnectedness of reality centers around recognizing the significance of one's mother, father, and ancestors (Bosch 1991, 264, 355; Chilisa 2020, 47; Rheinbolt-Uribe 2023, 60, 66-67). Theological and biblical studies confirm this interconnectedness, as signaled in the article’s first section (cf. Armas, Bosch, Claassens, Kiboko, Peeler, Rheinbolt-Uribe, and Taylor). From my extensive research I have seen that the disparities in viewpoints between the USA and Colombia are obvious but would suggest furthermore that such disparities could be a wider global issue, particularly when it comes to the approach to motherhood. More Details in the Case Study The international collapse of the USA mission agency in 2003 had great consequences on the associated church in Colombia (COL). The church was planted in 1992 with a mission team of 10 people (3 USA/7 COL). The profound impact of the collapse can be viewed quantitively in this membership report (Castellanos 2011, 65, 76): • 2002 (prior to the collapse) - 2000 adults • 2003 (after the collapse) - 200 adults • 2010 (after the regrouping stage) - 700 adults A maternal-thinking lens allowed me to see that the congregation in Colombia had been built on “sacred ground” (cf. Chilisa 2020). That sacred ground was the role and place of the mother in Colombian life. As previously noted, the mission agency’s theology and methods of mission meant to undermine the role of the mother, but the culture and a resilient spirituality proved stronger than the mission’s theology and methods. This is evident from how many mothers joined their children, who were university students, into the church planting process. Instead of fighting with their children over their involvement in this new denomination, many mothers “leaned in” and became a part of the congregation. Global Missiology - ISSN 2831-4751 - Vol 21, No 2 (2024) April 20 Mothers in Jesus’s Movement: “Leaned In” In the biblical text there is a shift in Mary, Jesus’s mother. During Jesus’s ministry there is evidence of Mary’s concern about his sanity, highlighted in an episode depicted in Mark 3:20-35. The Acts narrative (Acts 1:14), however, reveals that she decided to “lean in” wholeheartedly; Mary joined her son’s followers, the Jesus movement. I think that it is safe to describe Mary’s “leaning in” as thinking-with-the-womb, as a woman thinking not only with her head and heart but also with her womb, noted earlier to be “the center of life” in African life. I observe the missio Dei in Mary’s life, as well as in examples of women, many of them presumably mothers, in the Jesus movement throughout the book of Acts. I highlight three examples of many: (i) Cooking and opening their homes for daily fellowship as narrated in Acts 2:42-47; (ii) Holding prayer meetings amid crisis, such as in Acts 12:12; (iii) Equally receiving persecution for being part of the Jesus movement as described in Acts 8:3, as both men and women were going to prison. The mothers in the Colombian congregation helped kept the community together during the tough times brought on by the mission agency’s collapse. The collapse was a financial collapse as well as in the area of legal and ecclesiastical authority. The mothers continued to open their homes, cook, and give biblical teaching. Some of the church’s family units, centered around the mother, stayed connected with the congregation during the crisis. Other family units left to attend another congregation or met as a house church. The missio Dei clearly was at work in these mothers, just as in Jesus’s mother Mary and the examples in the book of Acts. Using maternal-thinking makes it is obvious that the USA-based denomination in the case study mission methods and theology were not sensitive to the maternal factor within the cultural dynamics of the Colombian culture. Also, it should be clear how in the crisis within the Colombian congregation the mothers were vital for sustaining the Christian faith. And in contrast to the mission agency’s mission theology and methods, there is a vital role of mothers in the New Testament, with special emphasis on the role of Mary, the mother of Jesus, and the women in the Jesus movement community in Jerusalem. Mothers: Faith Sustainers Despite accusations that Christianity has suppressed women, there is evidence of mothers being empowered within Christianity. Missiologist and historian Dana Robert (1997, 2019) emphasizes that women and mother empowerment is often hidden in mission history. But when applying maternal-thinking, overwhelming evidence of the missio Dei related to mothers’ empowerment within Christianity comes to the forefront. Mothers Active throughout Christian History The missio Dei can be observed throughout Christian history when mothers have sustained and nurtured their communities during crisis and difficult times. Historian Philip Jenkins (2008, 63, 73, 176) emphasizes the importance of both biological and spiritual mothers in continuing the Christian faith, even in times of extreme persecution. In revisiting the “lost history” of Christianity in the Middle East, Africa, and Asia, Jenkins notes how within the “destruction of churches and Christian communities. . . women were a critical factor in preserving underground faith” (176). Global Missiology - ISSN 2831-4751 - Vol 21, No 2 (2024) April 21 Similar evidence was provided by Annemie Bosch during our series of interviews. During her husband’s (David Bosch) doctoral studies in Switzerland, she was told by a German minister that grandmothers from Eastern Germany would secretly cross the border at night to have their grandchildren baptized. The empirical data from the Colombian Christians interviewed pointed to the influence of their grandmothers and mothers as the first persons who taught them about faith in God. The data is very rich, not only as to the profound spiritual influence of their motherline but also in many cases the communal way of being raised by the extended family. Armas’s abuela theology and kitchen theology link to this data, as well as does Spivak’s emphasis on the natural empowerment within motherhood. This extended family influence confirms the Colombian view of family and community. This logic could be extended to other GS communities for comparison. Mothers Sustaining and Planting Congregations Although it was not the primary focus of the USA-denomination’s approach, I made it a point to prioritize the well-being of mothers and grandmothers in the congregation. To address their specific needs, we formed a group called "Nohemi's," named after Ruth's mother-in-law in the book of Ruth. This group offered classes on various topics related to womanhood, including female friendships, widowhood, menopause, and motherhood. Members of the group shared their own knowledge and experiences, while also inviting guest speakers from different countries to provide diverse perspectives. The most remarkable aspect of this group has been the enduring bond and support that has withstood the challenges faced by the congregation. Rather than putting mothers on a pedestal or diminishing their role, the group aimed to cultivate a deep yearning for spiritual growth and unity among its members. Many of these women have not only sustained the congregation in crisis but have also been pivotal for planting and sustaining congregations in their hometowns and cities. Such central women’s roles are missiological examples of aforementioned Vaughn’s “maternal gift economy.” The collapse of the mission agency empowered many of the mothers, as they stood firm while the institution had a complete melt-down. These mothers who are self-funded, non-institutional itinerant ministers, or evangelists have made a significant contribution to the growth and spread of the gospel message in different parts of this country. Their dedication, commitment, and selflessness are a testament to the transformative power of faith and resilient spiritualty—and specifically of motherhood and womanhood. Implications, Consequences, and Potential of Maternal-thinking Research This article has emphasized the importance of maternal-thinking in cross-cultural mission work and diverse societies. Understanding and adapting to the maternal norms and roles of different cultures is crucial. However, challenges arise due to the dominant influence of the USA in global mission structures and funding. Differences in guidelines and laws regarding maternal care between the USA and other countries can create issues. For example, it is questionable whether a USA mission board and donors would support a mission practitioner from Colombia taking 18 weeks of paid maternal leave, paying to have a family member care for her while working for the mission agency, as well as other benefits that a Colombian would receive in their home country. Instances of Inadequate Measures to Safeguard Mothers Global Missiology - ISSN 2831-4751 - Vol 21, No 2 (2024) April 22 Two examples from a USA mission agency in Latin America highlight the issue of inadequate family laws and customs. In one case, a missionary couple with a newborn baby were expected to immediately relocate internationally. In another case, a pregnant mission practitioner and her husband were unexpectedly dismissed for failing to contact their home church weekly. This second example of a “hire and fire” practice is common in managerial missiology and has been observed in other mission agencies (cf. Borgall 2016; Rheinbolt-Uribe 2018). Much more data is needed as the GS multiplies their missions in this epoch of missiology “from everywhere to everyone” (cf. Rheinbolt-Uribe 2015 for empirical data comparing with the research population of GS and Western missionary mothers). Research is needed on job agreements, workplace environment, ethical questions in the termination of contracts, and in some cultures the acknowledgment of the significance of the extended family. I believe such research could uncover information that certain mission agencies might prefer to overlook. Consequences for Mission and Church If GS families are traveling far from their home culture, but their culture and even its laws and guidelines are not respected, the consequences for the family can be profound (cf. Jonas 2022 for specific examples in the Southern Africa context). Research in GS families seeking to understand issues in the second and third generation in transnational mission practioners is of upmost importance. There exists extensive research as to the issues and consequences on Western families in their international mission endeavors (cf. Baker and Priest 2014). If my assumption is correct, and managerial missiology is a common expression and structure of mission endeavors, not only from the USA but also GS mission organizations, much prayer and reflection are needed. Consequences for Church and Society Maternal-thinking allows to uncover many areas of potential research for denominations and mission agencies. As the case study shows, there are aspects that can also prove to be crucial for societies that are expanding in their intercultural dimensions. Maternal-thinking can supply themes for fostering intercultural understanding and dialogue, as well as show a path for reflection into the dominant systems and structures. It asks questions that can potentially seek to engage with the values of those on the outskirts or the periphery. An engagement using maternal-thinking could result in the transformation of policies and laws, such as providing greater protection for women during their journey to and through motherhood. I reject the notion that the only solution is for mothers to withdraw from civil society. Potential for Christian Mutuality Additionally, cultures that are considered peripheral to the West can offer valuable insights, solutions, and wisdom on these matters that are of utmost importance for the future of all human beings, particularly in the West. Following Bosch (1978), there needs to be a willingness to embrace this mutual exchange of knowledge in the spirit of Christian mutuality. As many Western mission practioners before me, I have had the opportunity to engage in a process of mutual transformation. I have been transformed by being immersed in the Colombian culture and with Colombian mothers. The Western Christian community, as well as those in the GS, have the opportunity to continue down the road of personal transformation. This article argues for the area of maternal-thinking, illustrating the impact of its implementation in discovering other ways of living and thinking—in churches, mission endeavors, and even civil societies. Global Missiology - ISSN 2831-4751 - Vol 21, No 2 (2024) April 23 Conclusion A wide range of points have been made in relation to maternal-thinking within Christian mission and society, understood as mothers and mothering participating in the missio Dei. Overall, this article seeks to demonstrate the amazing insights that can be acquired using maternal-thinking as a lens. The first point in the article was meant to detail an interdisciplinary overview of motherhood, so as to have a robust understanding of maternal-thinking. Secondly, data from the case study was revealed so as to encourage a corrective in the use of managerial missiology. The third point was to argue for an awareness of the resilient spirituality of mothers in the difficulties faced within Christian communities throughout Christian history and in contemporary Colombia. The fourth and final point was to argue for research into legal and policy applications and correctives within church, society, and mission organizations. The need to recognize and empower mothers is emphasized in the New Testament. However, Western concepts of motherhood may not be applicable to all cultures. A case study in Colombia demonstrates how this difference led to oppressive theologies and mission methods. These issues need to be researched, recognized, and corrected. Western Christians have the opportunity to continue to learn from other cultures and recognize the importance of mothers, while the GS must avoid repeating the mistakes of the West. Maternal-thinking concludes this article with this important thought from the book of Isaiah 66:13: “As a mother comforts her child, so I will comfort you.” We are in the hands of a comforting Parent; and, if we allow, we can be comforted and spread that comfort. This maternal view of the missio Dei emphasizes a Creator whose reach is beyond the ethical constraints found in the market logic of managerial missiology in the Age of Systems. My underlying desire is that Christians continue to embrace the God-image of a comforting Godhead in all aspects of their lives, whether they live in the West or the GS. Every corner of our world yearns for more comfort. References Angulo, H., Webster, F. & Rosseau, S. (2021). Colombia expands family leave, pregnancy bias protections. Mercer. https://www.mercer.com/en-us/insights/law-and-policy/colombia- expands-family-leave-pregnancy-bias-protections/ Armas, K. (2021). Abuelita faith: What women on the margins teach us about wisdom, persistence, and strength. Grand Rapids, MI: Brazos Press. Baker, D. P. & Priest, R. J. (eds.). (2014). The missionary family: Witness, concerns, care. Pasadena, CA: William Carey Library. Borgall, S. J. (2016). The emergence of Christ groups in India. Oxford, UK: Regnum Books International. Bosch, D. J. (1978). Towards true mutuality: Exchanging the same commodities or supplementing each others’ needs? Missiology: An International Review, 6(3): 283-296. https://doi.org/10.1177/009182967800600303 _____ (1991). Transforming mission: Paradigm shifts in theology of mission. 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The motherline: Every woman’s journey to find her female roots. Sheridan, WY: Fisher King Press. Narvaez, D., Gettler, L., Braungart-Rieker, J., Miller-Graff, L., & Hastings, P. (eds.) (2016). Contexts for young child flourishing. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. Nielsen, W. C. (2022). Motherless creations: Fictions of artificial life, 1650-1890. New York, NY and Oxon, UK: Routledge. O’Reilly, A. (2021). Matricentric feminism: Theory, activism, practice (2nd ed.). Toronto, CA: Demeter Press. Peeler, A. (2022). Women and the gender of God. Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B Eerdmans Publishing Co. Spivak, G. C. (2003). A critique of postcolonial Reason. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Rheinbolt-Uribe, R. (2015). “She did what she could, when she could”: Different paths chosen throughout the ages by missionary mothers. Masters thesis. Lincoln Christian University. https://www.academia.edu/106976568/_She_Did_What_She_Could_When_She_Could_Diff erent_paths_chosen_throughout_the_ages_by_missionary_mothers_2015_ _____ (2017). “As a mother comforts her child, so will I comfort you”: Implications of Yahweh’s self-revelation as a maternal figure in Third Isaiah -- Is. 66:10-13. Masters thesis. Lincoln Christian University. https://www.academia.edu/106979933/_As_A_Mother_Comforts_Her_Child_So_Will_I_Co mfort_You_Implications_of_Yahwehs_self_revelation_as_a_maternal_figure_in_Third_Isaia h_Is_66_10_13_2017_ _____ (2018) Mini case study: Complexity of applying ethical code for transnational mission practioners. Self-published. https://www.academia.edu/107083795/Mini_Case_Study_Complexity_of_applying_ethical_ code_for_transnational_mission_practioners_2018_ _____ (2023). Transforming mutuality in a theology of mission: A missiological evaluation of a Colombian congregation case study [PhD dissertation]. 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Macon, GA: Mercer University Press. https://www.douglasjacoby.com/wp-content/uploads/WOMEN%20II%20rev.pdf https://www.douglasjacoby.com/wp-content/uploads/WOMEN%20II%20rev.pdf https://www.academia.edu/106976568/_She_Did_What_She_Could_When_She_Could_Different_paths_chosen_throughout_the_ages_by_missionary_mothers_2015_ https://www.academia.edu/106976568/_She_Did_What_She_Could_When_She_Could_Different_paths_chosen_throughout_the_ages_by_missionary_mothers_2015_ https://www.academia.edu/106979933/_As_A_Mother_Comforts_Her_Child_So_Will_I_Comfort_You_Implications_of_Yahwehs_self_revelation_as_a_maternal_figure_in_Third_Isaiah_Is_66_10_13_2017_ https://www.academia.edu/106979933/_As_A_Mother_Comforts_Her_Child_So_Will_I_Comfort_You_Implications_of_Yahwehs_self_revelation_as_a_maternal_figure_in_Third_Isaiah_Is_66_10_13_2017_ https://www.academia.edu/106979933/_As_A_Mother_Comforts_Her_Child_So_Will_I_Comfort_You_Implications_of_Yahwehs_self_revelation_as_a_maternal_figure_in_Third_Isaiah_Is_66_10_13_2017_ https://www.academia.edu/107083795/Mini_Case_Study_Complexity_of_applying_ethical_code_for_transnational_mission_practioners_2018_ https://www.academia.edu/107083795/Mini_Case_Study_Complexity_of_applying_ethical_code_for_transnational_mission_practioners_2018_ https://ocrpl.org/theses/transforming-mutuality-in-a-theology-of-mission-a-missiological-evaluation-of-a-colombian-congregation-case-study/ https://ocrpl.org/theses/transforming-mutuality-in-a-theology-of-mission-a-missiological-evaluation-of-a-colombian-congregation-case-study/ Global Missiology - ISSN 2831-4751 - Vol 21, No 2 (2024) April 26 _____ (2019). Faithful friendships: Embracing diversity in Christian community. Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing. Ruddick, S. (1995). Maternal thinking: Towards a politics of peace (2nd ed.). Boston, MA: Beacon Press. Serrano, E. (2016). Por que fracasa Colombia?: Delirios de una nación que se desconoce a si misma (Why is Colombia failing?: Delusions of a country that does not know itself). Bogota, CO: Grupo Planeta. Taylor, L. (2020). Making room for the missio Dei in missiological research. Mission Studies, 37(1): 52-77. https://doi.org/10.1163/15733831-12341696 U.S. Department of Labor (n.d.). Family and Medical Leave (FMLA). U.S. Department of Labor. https://www.dol.gov/general/topic/benefits-leave/fmla Vaughan, G. (2015). Homo Donas: For a maternal economy. Milan, IT: VandA.ePublishing. https://doi.org/10.1163/15733831-12341696 https://www.dol.gov/general/topic/benefits-leave/fmla Global Missiology - ISSN 2831-4751 - Vol 21, No 2 (2024) April 1619, 1919, and Today J. Nelson Jennings Published in Global Missiology, www.globalmissiology.org, April 2024 Abstract The 1619 arrival of about 20 Africans on the east coast of North America and the 1919 Korean Independence Movement from Japanese colonial rule do not appear to have much in common— with each other or with realities today. However, comparing the two events unexpectedly sheds light on each, highlights stubbornly persistent difficulties connected to those events that occurred generations ago, and carries implications for World Christianity today. Key Words: African Americans, history, Japan, Korea, slavery, United States of America Introduction Today's world is a globally interconnected world. The world's peoples and civilizations interrelate at speeds and distances unimaginable to our ancestors of only a few generations ago. Enhanced technologies in travel, communications, industry, and commerce enable layers of interconnections—some fair and friendly, some unjust and oppressive—on a global scale. At the same time, within the whole of human history wide-ranging travel, trade, and imperial spread are not new. Ancient empires ruled throughout the world's regional spheres. Closer to modern times, the Mongol Empire achieved the largest geographic spread up to its day, building on Chinese and South-Central Asian networks. Not long thereafter, transoceanic navigations by Europeans more broadly interconnected all the human-inhabited earth's land masses. Spaniards, Portuguese, English, Dutch, French, Scandinavians, Russians, and others brought together various Pacific Islanders, American peoples, Africans, Asians, and Europeans. Trade and commerce fueled much of the interconnections that developed. Sadly, so did the conquering of others’ lands, as did the enslavement and trade of fellow human beings. It is those dark sides of the modern world's interconnections that bring together this study's two events and ongoing realities. Koreans and African Americans both recently commemorated pivotal events that occurred separately by three centuries. For Koreans, 2019 marked the centennial of the 1919 independence movement that sought to throw off Japanese colonial rule. Also in 2019, African Americans commemorated the quadricentennial of the 1619 arrival in Tsenacommacah (“densely inhabited land”), in present-day Virginia, of the first small group of Africans to be exploited by English intruders to North America. Besides holding deep importance for contemporary Koreans and for African Americans in today’s United States, both commemorations involved ongoing problematic relationships with the dominant peoples involved earlier, namely Japanese and Euro-Americans. This article comparatively examines Koreans’ 1919 independence movement and a group of Africans’ 1619 landing in Tsenacommacah. At first glance such a comparison may seem foolhardy, given the significant temporal and geographic distances between those two events. A closer look, however, reveals how what occurred on the eastern shores of North America in 1619 and in Korea in 1919 were part of the same modern spread of Europeans, resulting empires, and correlative enslavement and trafficking of whole peoples. The two events were simply at opposite http://www.globalmissiology.org/ Global Missiology - ISSN 2831-4751 - Vol 21, No 2 (2024) April 28 ends of the modern imperial timeline. Through analyzing these two starkly different episodes that share common historical features, the study carries high hopes of shedding fresh light on how constructively to deal with today’s continuing discordant relations, as well as of making connections with contemporary World Christianity. The article will first offer some clarifications regarding the two episodes and their comparison. Next will be separate explanations and analyses of each event. Some of the two episodes’ lingering effects, as well as suggestions for handling those effects, will then be examined. Clarifications As will come out later in more closely examining each event, neither was an isolated episode. Both were connected to, and precipitated by, much larger processes. Japan’s colonization of Korea was part of modern imperialism (primarily European as it was). Similarly, Africans arriving on the shores of present-day Virginia, USA in 1619 was only one of several such instances of Africans having been transported to locations far and wide from their homelands. The 1619 case was part of European ventures in the New World, associated international economic and trade activities (here involving the English raising tobacco in North America for British markets), and complex dealings with myriad Native American nations and tribes. Moreover, while any event has particular characteristics that make it stand out from all others, and though many members of the aforementioned Korean and U.S.-African diasporas might think that each of the 1919 and 1619 events they specially commemorated in 2019 was unique, in fact neither event was particularly distinctive, especially when set within wider world history. Regarding the March 1, 1919 Korean Independence Movement, agitations for independence from colonial powers are legion throughout the history of the world’s smaller and larger empires, including during modern times. For example, there were the 1857 Indian War of Independence, Latin American wars of independence during the late 18th and early 19th centuries, and even several other 1919 independence movements, including in Afghanistan, Syria, and Ireland. As for the early 17th-century enslaved Africans—or indentured servants, as many historians point out (Painter 2019)—along with others of the world’s peoples who have been forcibly transported away from home, the Africans that arrived in that part of North America in 1619 both followed numerous other groups of enslaved Africans trafficked into the Americas over the previous 100+ years (including some into North America, in particular contemporary Florida and New Mexico, as well as quite possibly South Carolina and Virginia) and preceded millions of other enslaved Africans transported to the Americas over the next 250 years (Thomas 1997, 174, 783-785; Guasco 2017). As is often the case with events memorialized as historically pivotal, both 2019 commemorations unwittingly perpetuated damaging, mythical characterizations of what actually happened. In the case of the Africans’ arrival in North America, a common description of that event has been that these were the first African “slaves” to come to “America”; and, that they landed at “Jamestown, Virginia.” One overarching, problematic aspect of such a characterization is the subliminal connotation of a pre-existing Anglo-U.S. backdrop against which the Africans’ arrival occurred. Such a framework not only isolates the U.S. situation as unique in the Western Hemisphere by using the “America” label, but it prematurely and allegedly sets those Africans into a systemic slavery that was still in its infancy. Rather than thinking only of impersonal systems at work, it is vitally important “to approach the subject of Africans in America [not to mention the indigenous and Europeans] in a historically responsible way … as actors in their own right” (Guasco 2017). That description also neglects a centrally important reality of the setting described Global Missiology - ISSN 2831-4751 - Vol 21, No 2 (2024) April 29 further below, namely that the English who were present were recent arrivals in Tsenacommacah, part of the Powhatan Confederacy. The seedlings of a majority white, “Christian” United States of America were not even close to germinating, much less having put down roots in some sort of permanent home that welcomed new African guests. The Paspahegh were the long-time settled residents; the English and now these Africans were the new immigrants. Another related and problematic two-sided point is how calling those 1619 arrivals “slaves” runs the risk of, first, essentializing a status and system that developed historically: The first Africans to arrive in America in 1619 were sold into bondage as indentured servants, not as slaves, and that distinction really matters…. Slavery was not an inevitability. Slavery, and the racism behind it, was a choice made by the [various] Founding Fathers. A conscious choice to exploit the labor of Africans for the economic benefit of the planter-merchant aristocracy (Ford 2019). Hence second, “Calling them slaves obliterates a quintessential aspect of the legacy of slavery and race in America; removes a cornerstone from understanding where we began as a nation now divided; and places just beyond our grasp the tools we need to heal.” This same analysis continues: “Healing America’s racial divide is daunting. The threads of this division are deeply woven into the nation’s fabric. Restorative, rather than retributive, justice offers one path forward, a path that begins with an honest discussion about slavery” (Ford 2019). Indeed, discussions in the U.S. since the 2019 commemoration about dealing with slavery’s legacy—in particular racism and reparations—have lacked traction due in large part to differing historical understandings, including between the creators of the much-celebrated “1619 Project” (The New York Times Company 2023; Hannah-Jones et al., 2021) and several deeply critical historians (Influence Watch 2023). Related public discussions—e.g., about “Critical Race Theory” (The Economist 2021; Ford 2022)—and political initiatives—particularly about reparations (Malveaux 2022)—creep along painfully or stall altogether. Regarding the March 1, 1919 Korean Independence Movement (Samil Undo in Korean), one necessary clarification for outsiders is that at that time there was neither a “North Korea” nor a “South Korea.” That division took place in the 1950s and has shaped subsequent frameworks for understanding and thinking about “Korea.” The Korean Peninsula was one political entity in 1919, so today all Koreans around the world, as well as both North Korea and South Korea as countries, commemorate the Samil Undo as a single, anti-Japan Korean movement 100 years ago. Another possible outsiders’ assumption is that the occupying Japanese colonizers had a legal, legitimate presence, and that the Korean “rebels” thus had no moral justification for their agitation. Indeed, such a viewpoint was maintained by the United States at the time (including at the 1919 Paris Peace Conference), pledging to the Japanese not to give credence to a colonial rebellion among their holdings, in particular “the Korean nationalist movement” (US Department of State 1965, 56). (Interestingly the U.S. managed to alienate the Japanese anyway, particularly at the 1919 Paris Peace Conference. U.S. President Woodrow Wilson, who chaired the conference, overturned a majority decision to include Japan’s proposed “racial equality” amendment to the League of Nations charter. The conference also granted only half of Japan’s requests for German territorial holdings in Asia following World War I (New World Encyclopedia Contributors, 2022).) For their part, Koreans—however non-Korean outsiders might view the justifiability of the March 1 Movement—uniformly understand it to have been not only justified but morally right, ingenious, and heroic. Global Missiology - ISSN 2831-4751 - Vol 21, No 2 (2024) April 30 Having covered these few points of clarification, it is now appropriate to consider each event in further detail. Africans to the Americas How did those “20. and odd Negroes,” as described by the English settler John Rolfe (Rolfe 1620), arrive on the Mid-Atlantic shore of North America in 1619? To ask that question in an anonymous English settler’s terms, “How did these Black Africans come to Jamestown, named after our king who chartered the Virginia Colony in 1606, leading to our arrival here the following year?” From the resident Native American Paspahegh tribe’s standpoint, “Who are these Black people joining the recently arrived white intruders who have settled in Tsenacommacah, an area ruled by the Powhatan Confederacy?” Possibly noted by one of the Africans, “Here is yet another new place we have come by yet another ship through yet another body of water.” This particular arrival of 20 or so Africans was part of a vast, multi-directional, and longstanding forced migration of Africans across unknown land and sea routes to unknown places of varied terrains and locations. For Africans, the furthest of these places, starting soon after 1500, were across what medieval Arabs had described as the “Green Sea of Darkness”; these places were in what Europeans had first called “The New World,” then labeled “America” in the early 1500s after the Italian explorer Amerigo Vespucci (1454–1512). In actual fact, the first trans-Atlantic enslaved people, shipped in the immediate aftermath of Christopher Columbus’s 1492 voyage to what the Spanish came to label as the Caribbean Islands or the West Indies, were some of those islands’ inhabitants shipped west-to-east to Spain. After Portuguese southward oceanic ventures throughout the 1400s, Africans captured and taken from Africa’s western coast ports began to be transported to the West Indies in the early 1500s (Thomas 1997, 19, 48-67, 87-93). Over the next 370 years, over 12.5 million enslaved Africans embarked in various African ports to various European powers; 10.7 million (approximately 86 percent) survived the arduous trans-Atlantic journey and actually disembarked in the Americas. West-Central Africa consistently supplied the greatest numbers, and Portugal—aside from the British during most of the eighteenth century—consistently transported more enslaved Africans than any other single country (SlaveVoyages n.d.). Not surprisingly, then, the approximately 20 Africans brought to Tsenacommacah/Jamestown in 1619 were Angolans transported to the West Indies by the Portuguese, then captured by a Dutch ship, transported northward, then sold to “the [English] Governor and Cape Marchant [sic] … for victualls [food supplies]” in Jamestown (Rolfe 1620; Thomas 1997, 174). John Rolfe had started to raise tobacco in the area, eager British markets made the crop viable, and these Africans helped to supply the labor need. Tobacco had joined sugarcane in the Americas as cash crops ravenous for increased slave labor. Indigo, rice, and eventually cotton joined these crops that, especially with the demise of native populations, required vast numbers of new laborers from Africa. With the trade fueled by high demands in European markets, the triangular Trans- Atlantic slave trade soon developed into a firmly entrenched, horrific, world-changing, and human- degrading system (Lowcountry Digital History Initiative n.d.). Koreans Subjugated by Japanese Coincidentally, Japanese aggression on the Korean Peninsula began simultaneously with the early stages of Europeans' worldwide spread and the Africans’ 1619 arrival in Global Missiology - ISSN 2831-4751 - Vol 21, No 2 (2024) April 31 Tsenacommacah/Jamestown. With delusions of conquering China, Japanese daimyo Hideyoshi Toyotomi invaded Korea a generation after Portuguese traders and government officials, as well as Jesuit missionaries, had arrived in Japan in the mid-sixteenth century and expanded their activities in Japan’s southwestern feudal domains. Even though Hideyoshi’s forces were eventually driven out of Korea without ever reaching China, Koreans’ historical memory highlights Japan’s 1592-1598 invasion. Koreans also celebrate the brilliant exploits of Admiral Yi Sun-sin’s several defeats of the Japanese navy, a central component of Korea’s expelling the Japanese forces, etched in Korean memories as ear and nose cutting devils (Song Sung pyo 2004). Japan’s ensuing 200+ year sakoku jidai (“closed country era”) saw it seclude itself from most all international contact except for tightly controlled and sporadic contact, including with Korea. By the 1850s, however, expanding Western powers were knocking on Japan’s doors for trade (and for easier access to China), beginning with the continuously westward-expanding United States of America. Aware that other Asian nations that had tried to resist Western contact had been effectively colonized, after much infighting Japan opted to open its doors and indeed to absorb all aspects of Western civilization that would foster Japan joining the ranks of modern economic and military powers. By the 1870s, Japan’s development of international trade relations included incursions into Chinese and Korean markets. Japan’s expansion led to its 1894-1895 military victory over China, increased presence on the Korean Peninsula, militarily outlasting Russia in their 1904-1905 war, then official annexation of Korea into the Japanese Empire in 1910. For their parts, both Great Britain and the United States, in large part out of common concern to check Russian advances in East Asia, supported Japanese actions and withheld any assistance to Korea’s cause for its independence from its new colonial power. March 1, 1919 Declaration of Independence Koreans did not simply acquiesce quietly to Japan assuming control in Korea. Uprisings were especially prominent between 1905 and annexation in 1910. However, by one account “Japan crushed them with efficient savagery.” Hence, “By 1910, when Japan formally annexed Korea, little open resistance remained in the land.” However, this same account continues: “The flame of patriotism and independence remained alive in Korea. Revolutionary groups and movements sustained the Korean hope for freedom” (Schnabel 1972, 4-5; cf. Hong 2007, 47), particularly with the formation, several miles east of Seoul, of some disbanded soldiers, malcontents, and famous tiger-hunters into the “Righteous Army” (uibyong in Korean) that had occasional successes against Japanese troops (McKenzie 1920, 132-170; cf. Hong 2007, 47). Such resistance to Japanese rule fed into the March 1, 1919 Independence Movement. The Movement went public with the signing by 33 cultural and religious leaders of a Declaration of Independence (Declaration Project 2023), written by poet-historian Choe Nam- Seon (Nahm and Hoare n.d.). On March 1, when mourners were assembled in Seoul after King Gojong’s death on January 21, the declaration was read in a Seoul restaurant (as well as in townships throughout Korea), then delivered to the Governor General’s office. The Declaration begins as follows: We herewith proclaim the independence of Korea and the liberty of the Korean people. This we proclaim to all the nations of the world in witness of human equality. This we proclaim to our descendents so that they may enjoy in perpetuity their inherent right to Global Missiology - ISSN 2831-4751 - Vol 21, No 2 (2024) April 32 nationhood. Inasmuch as this proclamation originates from our five-thousand-year history, inasmuch as it springs from the loyalty of twenty million people, inasmuch as it affirms our yearning for the advancement of everlasting liberty, inasmuch as it expresses our desire to take part in the global reform rooted in human conscience, it is the solemn will of heaven, the great tide of our age, and a just act necessary for the co-existence of all humankind. One can see here how the declaration draws on U.S. President Woodrow Wilson’s lofty ideals of international equality articulated at the recently convened (in January) Paris Peace Conference, as well as Korea’s own long history and rich heritage. After addressing the wrongs of Japan’s breaking of promises made in the Treaty of 1876 and the bright future ahead once independence is restored, the declaration concludes with the following paragraph, three pledges, date, and 33 signatures: We hereby rise up! Conscience is on our side, and truth marches with us. Men and women, young and old, leave your darkened corners and partake in the joyful resurrection along with all creation! The spirit of our many ancestors protects us from within, and the tide of the new world from without. To begin is to succeed! Let us march straight into the light! We hereby pledge the following: 1. Today’s undertaking reflects the demands of our people for justice, morality, survival, and prosperity. Therefore, we will act solely in the spirit of liberty, never in the spirit of enmity. 2. To the last person and to the last moment, we will forthrightly express the will of the Korean people. 3. We will respect order in all our actions and ensure that our demeanor and claims are always honorable and upright. The first day of the third month of the 4252nd year of the founding of Korea, Followed by 33 signatures—not including the author (Declaration Project 2023). The Japanese predictably responded with arrests, numerous killings, and destruction of homes, schools, and churches. With no outside help Korean independence was not achieved, despite sustained resistance. At the same time, by April 10 a provisional government in exile had been established in Shanghai, and Korean aspirations for independence were kept aflame until liberation came in August, 1945 with the surrender of Japan to the Allied Forces. March 1 was declared a public holiday soon after Korea’s 1945 liberation from Japan, and it remains so in both North Korea and South Korea to this day. Religious Influences Christianity’s supporting role in the Korean Independence Movement is well documented (Kim 2016). Korean Christians’ participation in nationalist and independence initiatives involved a tapestry of denominational affiliations and their sometimes conflicting loyalties to expatriate missionaries and to Korean nationalism (Matsutani 2012). Christians and churches suffered traumatically under Japanese rule, and Japanese demands that all Koreans render proper homage at Shinto shrines intensified pressure on Christians during the war years of the 1930s and 1940s (Kim 1997). Global Missiology - ISSN 2831-4751 - Vol 21, No 2 (2024) April 33 Korean Buddhists were also involved in the Independence Movement, as were members of the native Korean religious movement Chondogyo (Moon 2018). Indeed, Chondogyo members played a particularly significant role, constituting 15 of the 33 signers of the March 19 Declaration of Independence and hundreds of those subsequently arrested and imprisoned. In particular, the central tenet of Chondogyo, innaecheon (“people are equally important to heaven”), gave explicit support to Korean desire and demand for equal standing with—independence from—their Japanese colonizers (Chung 2018). Comparisons As noted earlier, at first glance the two episodes that were separately commemorated in 2019 have next to nothing in common. Geographically, they occurred on opposite sides of the globe. The larger contexts within which the events took place—the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade and Japanese imperial expansion—had no direct connections with each other. The peoples involved were totally different as well: African, English, and Paspahegh on one hand; Korean and Japanese on the other. Furthermore, the scales of what transpired could not have been more different. In 1619, a small group of Angolans were obtained to farm tobacco in Tsenacommacah/Jamestown. By contrast, the Korean March 1, 1919 Declaration of Independence ignited a massive political uprising that over the next year saw about two million Koreans take part in over 1,500 demonstrations, with 7,000 killed and 16,000 wounded, 46,000 arrested and 10,000 tried and convicted, plus the burning by the Japanese of 715 homes, 47 churches, and two school buildings (The Editors of Encyclopaedia Brittanica 2023). With such differences, it would have been surprising indeed if there had been a joint commemoration between African Americans and Koreans in 2019 of their respective 1619 quadricentennial and 1919 centennial. Even so, also as noted earlier the two events have some commonalities that give merit to their serious comparison. In terms of wider history, both the Americas and East Asia—along with Africa, other parts of Asia, and the Pacific—were deeply affected by the same worldwide migration of European peoples from the 1500s to the mid-twentieth century. (Note as well that today’s commonly used labels of “America,” “Asia,” “Africa,” and others originated in the early years of European explorations and migrations.) Indeed, European migrations were direct precursors both to Africans being forcibly transported across the “Green Sea of Darkness” to the Americas and to Japan’s aspirations to invade China via Korea, imposing a self-isolation for over two centuries, then being pried out of isolation into modern imperial development and expansion into Korea and elsewhere. Furthermore, both events took place in the early stages of a country’s modern international expansion. Along with Spain, Portugal, France, and the Netherlands, in 1619 England had been exploring distant lands for a few generations, and English people had recently begun migrating to trans-oceanic regions that held promise of adventure and wealth. Similarly, in 1919 Japan had been economically exploring for a few generations, and Japanese people had recently been migrating to trans-oceanic regions that held promise of adventure and wealth. Moreover, both England and Japan had officially authorized the possession of other people’s territories and wealth, as well as the subjugation of those resident peoples. To be sure, England’s presence in 1619 along the mid- Atlantic shores of North America, and rule over the Powhatan Confederacy, had not yet reached the stage of Japan’s colonial rule over Korea in 1919. Even so, England’s King James I had presumptuously granted in 1606 a charter to the London Company of investors and intruders to “begin theire plantacions and habitacions in some fitt and conveniente place between fower and Global Missiology - ISSN 2831-4751 - Vol 21, No 2 (2024) April 34 thirtie and one and fortie degrees of the said latitude all alongest the coaste of Virginia and coastes of America.” There was no self-imposed inland limit to where the English could go, and territorial claims by European rivals or resident “naturals” could be ignored (Grymes 2020). Another important common feature of the 1619 and 1919 episodes involves the active contributions of their fellow Africans and Koreans that had preceded them. In the Angolans’ case, different African groups had already affected areas of the future United States, particularly in South Carolina in 1526 and Roanoke Island in 1586 (Guasco 2017). After the initial few years of resistance to Japan’s 1910 annexation of Korea, the March 1, 1919 Independence Movement in Seoul and elsewhere on the Korean Peninsula was immediately preceded by about 400 Korean students in Tokyo issuing a similar declaration of independence on February 8 (Jung 2019). In January, 39 Korean activists in Manchuria had issued their own independence proclamation, and in both December (1918) and January groups in the U.S. and in Shanghai had decided to dispatch representatives to the Paris Peace Conference. In sum, neither the 1619 nor the 1919 event occurred in a vacuum, apart from fellow Africans’ and Koreans’ activities. Contemporary Relations Both during and following the 2019 quadricentennial and centennial celebrations, there has been much unresolved tension between the peoples who are direct descendants of those involved in 1619 and 1919. To be sure, steps have been taken to rectify the harms inflicted, on both interpersonal and structural-governmental levels. In the U.S., the 1960s Civil Rights Movement and resulting Affirmative Action initiatives have, in many people’s minds, leveled what before was admittedly an unequal playing field of social, economic, and political rights and opportunities. At the same time, the undeniable US white-back wealth gap—a six to one ratio, “nearly as large today as it was in the 1950s” (Maas 2022)—spurs political initiatives for some sort of reparations, while opposition remains multifaceted and strong (The Economist 2019). Regarding Korea-Japan relations, for its part the Japanese government, per the 1965 Treaty on Basic Relations between Japan and the Republic of Korea, agreed to give Korea $800 million USD ($300 million in grants, $500 million in loans) as economic cooperation to compensate for previous harms inflicted; the accompanying understanding was that Japan-ROK relations were thereby normalized and that any problems regarding property or claims had been fully and finally resolved. Despite these and other steps, however, legal and financial challenges continue—particularly over wartime forced labor and sexual abuse of “comfort women” (Shin 2023)—as do interpersonal mistrust and discord. Generally and anecdotally speaking, descendants of the offending sides—white U.S.- Americans and Japanese—are satisfied that more than enough has been done by way of apologies and reparations. Those same descendants can be oblivious, however, to the unresolved trauma that both African Americans (as well as Native Americans) and Koreans carry on a daily basis. Indeed, white U.S.-Americans and Japanese seem puzzled and annoyed at public outbreaks of that unresolved trauma, be they through #blacklivesmatter, Korean comfort women statues, African American demands for reparations (National African American Reparations Commission 2023), South Korean initiatives regarding the Dokdo/Takeshima island dispute (Tokmak 2023), or ROK judicial decisions ordering Japanese companies to recompense wartime forced laborers (Song 2023). In the spirit of harmony and reconciliation, what needs to happen to bring resolutions? Global Missiology - ISSN 2831-4751 - Vol 21, No 2 (2024) April 35 For people of faith, prayer is a necessary and vital contribution. In the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus taught his followers to ask God to make God’s kingdom a reality in the world, as well as that the world’s people would live according to divine desires and teaching. God desires peace and justice between peoples. Whatever other concrete steps they might take to bring harmony and reconciliation among U.S.-Americans and between the peoples of Korea and Japan, God’s people are to offer prayers for peace and justice, for God’s kingdom to come, and for God’s will to be done. Another step is for all people to recognize positively, on individual and structural levels, the significant constructive relations that do in fact take place. In the U.S., through the arts, media, sports, school integration, interracial church initiatives, and all sorts of other means, there is increased Black-white interaction compared to two generations ago. In South Korea and Japan, positive interactions take place economically, through pop culture and sports, intermarriages, tourism, university students, common military alliances (and shared military fears vis-à-vis North Korea and China), Christian ministry initiatives, and otherwise. The linguistic similarities between Korean and Japanese enable meaningful interaction through these various avenues when parties apply themselves to learning the other’s language. In both contexts, the offending sides—white U.S.-Americans and Japanese—must acknowledge their ingrained racial prejudices toward African Americans (and Native Americans) and Koreans, respectively. Awareness of those prejudices often comes through personal interaction with people of the offended side, so that kind of interaction must be pursued as well. Such oft- heard statements by white U.S.-Americans as “I do not have a racist bone in my body” (Holmes 2021) indicate a lack of self-awareness, often reinforced by insulation from people who are different. Generations of slavery and systemic racism have instilled deeply ingrained psychological and emotional racist instincts that will not disappear simply or quickly. Similarly, Japanese prejudices against Koreans that developed during the colonial period are perpetuated by ongoing caricatures regarding differences in emotional expression, communication styles, eating habits, and other cultural subtleties. Close and sustained interpersonal interaction is key in both cases to expose and constructively change white U.S.-Americans’ and Japanese peoples’ ingrained prejudices. Similarly, those who have long been offended need psychological and emotional healing. Put differently, they need resolution for the historic trauma that has been inflicted. Some of that resolution must result from changes and steps by the offenders, as noted both above and below. At the same time, intentional adjustments by the offended, such as terming their ancestors “people who were trafficked and enslaved” rather than simply “slaves,” “forced laborers,” or “comfort women,” can help psychologically to restore people’s full humanity (Aird 2015). Changing terminology, intentionally remembering and honoring earlier generations, and acknowledging today’s ongoing psychological and emotional trauma can help to bring healing and resolution. Systemically, on an international level particular bodies and actions of the United Nations can address matters—for example, through the U.N. General Assembly’s proclamation of the decade 2015-2024 as the “International Decade for People of African Descent” (United Nations n.d.)—in order to “understand the contemporary challenges facing black people [and colonized Koreans] in the light of events that occurred centuries ago, but are still reverberating today” (Aird 2015). The U.N. International Court of Justice could possibly serve to adjudicate economic and territorial disputes between South Korea and Japan (Choe and Gladstone 2018), if both parties agreed to Global Missiology - ISSN 2831-4751 - Vol 21, No 2 (2024) April 36 approach the ICJ (Miller 2014; Sakaki 2019). Apart from appealing to the ICJ, ROK and Japanese governments, corporations, and other structures could seek to collaborate regarding needed redresses. The two countries’ trilateral military, security, and economic agreements with the United States bolster cooperative efforts, even if particular contentious issues remain unresolved (The White House 2023). In the United States, legislation and judicial initiatives on local (City of Evanston n.d.), state, and national levels could continue to be pursued to correct structural inequities that stem from racial injustices. Government interventions in such areas as redressing contemporary practices of outlawed “redlining” regarding housing (Jan 2018) and reforming mass incarcerations weighted toward Black U.S.-Americans—part of what has been termed “The New Jim Crow” (Alexander 2012)—are a continuing need. There is no more important step than proper education. Much education takes place through media, particularly movies. Some of these can be constructive, while some can feed on unresolved trauma for box office gains. In terms of school textbooks, collaborative efforts are essential for avoiding truncated and biased publications, whether in the United States or in East Asian countries. The 2001-2005 efforts by various Japanese, Korean, and Chinese participants to produce an East Asian middle school history textbook serves as an excellent model for addressing misunderstandings, pursuing truth, and enabling healthy relationships in the future (China-Japan- Korea Common History Text Tri-National Committee 2015). As noted earlier, what and how to teach race relations and slavery in the U.S. is an ongoing contentious issue. Conclusion Examining together the 1619 arrival in current-day Virginia of a small group of Angolans that had been trafficked across the Atlantic via the Caribbean, and the March 1, 1919 Independence Movement in Korea, affords making comparisons that otherwise would remain invisible. Through considering these events’ similarities and differences, the road ahead toward resolution, justice, and reconciliation can both clear up and, not surprisingly, lengthen. Those who have recently commemorated the 1619 quadricentennial and 1919 centennial events can learn from viewing the other event as a mirror: for example, Koreans can perhaps see in a new light why they sequester off immigrants through examining redlining practices in the U.S. For its part, World Christianity can learn afresh about opportunities for healing, reconciliation, and justice, whether between Christian communities or on a wider social scale. However the 1619 and 1919 events are remembered, discussed, and leveraged, may God grant wisdom, collaborative spirits, and manifestations of the heavenly kingdom here on earth. References Aird, Enola (2015). Enola Aird: Remembering the people who made a way out of no way. New Haven Register. https://www.nhregister.com/opinion/article/Enola-Aird-Remembering-the- people-who-made-a-way-11353571.php Alexander, Michelle (2012). The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness. New York: The New Press. 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Feb. 8 Independent Declaration distributed worldwide in 4 languages. The Korea Times. https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/nation/2023/12/113_263338.html Kim, Robert S. (2016). Christianity and the Korean Independence Movement, 1895-1945. Providence. The Institute on Religion and Democracy. https://providencemag.com/2016/07/christianity-korean-independence-movement-1895- 1945/ Kim, Sung-gun (1997). The Shinto Shrine Issue in Korean Christianity under Japanese Colonialism. Journal of Church and State, Vol. 39, No. 3, 503-521. https://www.jstor.org/stable/23921260 Lowcountry Digital History Initiative (n.d.). African Passages, Lowcountry Adaptations: Plantations and the Trans-Atlantic Trade. Lowcountry Digital History Initiative. http://ldhi.library.cofc.edu/exhibits/show/africanpassageslowcountryadapt/introductionatlanti cworld/plantations_before_the_transat Maas, Steve (2022). Exploring 160 Years of the Black-White Wealth Gap. National Bureau of Economic Research. https://www.nber.org/digest/202208/exploring-160-years-black-white- wealth-gap Malveaux, Julianne (2022). An Executive Order for Reparations. National African-American Reparations Commission. https://reparationscomm.org/reparations-news/commentary/an- executive-order-for-reparations/ Matsutani, Motokazu (2012). Church over Nation: Christian Missionaries and Korean Christians in Colonial Korea. Doctoral dissertation, Harvard University. http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn- 3:HUL.InstRepos:9882530 McKenzie, F. A. (1920). Korea’s Fight for Freedom. New York: Fleming H. Revell Company. https://archive.org/details/koreasfightforfr008219mbp/page/n137 Miller, J. Berkshire (2014). The ICJ and the Dokdo/Takeshima Dispute. The Diplomat. https://thediplomat.com/2014/05/the-icj-and-the-dokdotakeshima-dispute/ Moon, Hyun Jin Preston (2018). Interfaith Cooperation through Shared Values: Exploring the March 1 Korean Independence Movement of 1919. Hyun Jin Preston Moon: One Family Under God. https://www.hyunjinmoon.com/interfaith-cooperation-shared-values-korean- independence-movement-1919/#.XB4GVWhKizx Nahm, Andrew C. and Hoare, James E. (n.d.). Choe Nam-Seon. Historical Dictionary of the Republic of Korea. RLPG Books. Published digitally by Wilson Center Digital Archive. https://digitalarchive.wilsoncenter.org/resource/modern-korean-history-portal/choe-nam-seon National African American Reparations Commission (2023). About NAARC. National African American Reparations Commission. https://reparationscomm.org/about-naarc/ New World Encyclopedia Contributors (2022). Paris Peace Conference, 1919. New World Encyclopedia. https://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/p/index.php?title=Paris_Peace_Confe rence,_1919&oldid=1088111 https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/nation/2023/12/113_263338.html https://providencemag.com/2016/07/christianity-korean-independence-movement-1895-1945/ https://providencemag.com/2016/07/christianity-korean-independence-movement-1895-1945/ https://www.jstor.org/stable/23921260 http://ldhi.library.cofc.edu/exhibits/show/africanpassageslowcountryadapt/introductionatlanticworld/plantations_before_the_transat http://ldhi.library.cofc.edu/exhibits/show/africanpassageslowcountryadapt/introductionatlanticworld/plantations_before_the_transat https://www.nber.org/digest/202208/exploring-160-years-black-white-wealth-gap https://www.nber.org/digest/202208/exploring-160-years-black-white-wealth-gap https://reparationscomm.org/reparations-news/commentary/an-executive-order-for-reparations/ https://reparationscomm.org/reparations-news/commentary/an-executive-order-for-reparations/ http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:9882530 http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:9882530 https://archive.org/details/koreasfightforfr008219mbp/page/n137 https://thediplomat.com/2014/05/the-icj-and-the-dokdotakeshima-dispute/ https://www.hyunjinmoon.com/interfaith-cooperation-shared-values-korean-independence-movement-1919/#.XB4GVWhKizx https://www.hyunjinmoon.com/interfaith-cooperation-shared-values-korean-independence-movement-1919/#.XB4GVWhKizx https://digitalarchive.wilsoncenter.org/resource/modern-korean-history-portal/choe-nam-seon https://reparationscomm.org/about-naarc/ https://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/p/index.php?title=Paris_Peace_Conference,_1919&oldid=1088111 https://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/p/index.php?title=Paris_Peace_Conference,_1919&oldid=1088111 Global Missiology - ISSN 2831-4751 - Vol 21, No 2 (2024) April 39 Painter, Nell Irvin (2019). How we think about the term ‘enslaved’ matters. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/aug/14/slavery-in-america-1619-first-ships- jamestown Rolfe, John (1620). A Letter to Sir Edwin Sandys, January 1619/20. Image 267 of Records of the Virginia Company, 1606-26, Volume III: Miscellaneous Records. US Library of Congress. https://www.loc.gov/resource/mtj8.vc03/?sp=267 Sakaki, Alexandra (2019). Japan-South Korea Relations—A Downward Spiral. Trans. by Meredith Dale. Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik; German Institute for International and Security Affairs. https://www.swp-berlin.org/10.18449/2019C35/ Schnabel, James F. (1972). United States Army in the Korean War: Policy and Direction: The First Year. Washington, D.C.: Center of Military History, United States Army. https://apps.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a353574.pdf Shin, Hyonhee (2023). South Korea court orders Japan to compensate ‘comfort women’, reverses earlier ruling. Reuters. https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/south-korea-court-orders- japan-compensate-comfort-women-reverses-earlier-ruling-2023-11-23/ SlaveVoyages (n.d.). Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade - Estimates. SlaveVoyages. Rice University. http://www.slavevoyages.org/assessment/estimates Song, Jiwon (2023). South Korea's top court orders a 3rd Japanese company to compensate workers for forced labor. ABC News Network. https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/south-koreas-top-court-orders-3rd-japanese- company-105960579 Song Sung pyo (2004). Nose cutting war. Song Sung pyo. http://www.ko2ja.co.kr/japan_history/view.asp?idx=146&pdsCode=200407280013&cgrCod e=8C The Economist (2019). The idea of reparations for slavery is morally appealing but flawed. The Economist. https://www.economist.com/united-states/2019/06/29/the-idea-of-reparations-for- slavery-is-morally-appealing-but-flawed _____ (2021). What is critical race theory? The Economist. https://www.economist.com/the- economist-explains/2021/07/01/what-is-critical-race-theory The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica (2023). March First Movement. Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/event/March-First-Movement The New York Times Company (2023). The 1619 Project. The New York Times Magazine. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/08/14/magazine/1619-america-slavery.html The White House (2023). The Spirit of Camp David: Joint Statement of Japan, the Republic of Korea, and the United States. The White House. https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements- releases/2023/08/18/the-spirit-of-camp-david-joint-statement-of-japan-the-republic-of-korea-and- the-united-states/ Thomas, Hugh (1997). The Slave Trade: The Story of the Atlantic Slave Trade: 1440-1870 (New York, NY: Simon & Schuster). https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/aug/14/slavery-in-america-1619-first-ships-jamestown https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/aug/14/slavery-in-america-1619-first-ships-jamestown https://www.loc.gov/resource/mtj8.vc03/?sp=267 https://www.swp-berlin.org/10.18449/2019C35/ https://apps.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a353574.pdf https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/south-korea-court-orders-japan-compensate-comfort-women-reverses-earlier-ruling-2023-11-23/ https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/south-korea-court-orders-japan-compensate-comfort-women-reverses-earlier-ruling-2023-11-23/ http://www.slavevoyages.org/assessment/estimates https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/south-koreas-top-court-orders-3rd-japanese-company-105960579 https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/south-koreas-top-court-orders-3rd-japanese-company-105960579 http://www.ko2ja.co.kr/japan_history/view.asp?idx=146&pdsCode=200407280013&cgrCode=8C http://www.ko2ja.co.kr/japan_history/view.asp?idx=146&pdsCode=200407280013&cgrCode=8C https://www.economist.com/united-states/2019/06/29/the-idea-of-reparations-for-slavery-is-morally-appealing-but-flawed https://www.economist.com/united-states/2019/06/29/the-idea-of-reparations-for-slavery-is-morally-appealing-but-flawed https://www.britannica.com/event/March-First-Movement https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/08/14/magazine/1619-america-slavery.html https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2023/08/18/the-spirit-of-camp-david-joint-statement-of-japan-the-republic-of-korea-and-the-united-states/ https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2023/08/18/the-spirit-of-camp-david-joint-statement-of-japan-the-republic-of-korea-and-the-united-states/ https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2023/08/18/the-spirit-of-camp-david-joint-statement-of-japan-the-republic-of-korea-and-the-united-states/ Global Missiology - ISSN 2831-4751 - Vol 21, No 2 (2024) April 40 Tokmak, Elcan (2023). Dokdo/Takeshima Island as an Obstacle in South Korea-Japan Relations. ANKASAM. https://www.ankasam.org/dokdo-takeshima-island-as-an-obstacle-in-south- korea-japan-relations/?lang=en United Nations (n.d.). International Decade for People of African Descent 2015-2024. United Nations. https://www.un.org/en/observances/decade-people-african-descent US Department of State (1962). A Historical Summary of United States-Korean Relations: With a Chronology of Important Development 1834-1962. Department of State Publication 7446. Washington, D.C.: Bureau of Public Affairs. https://www.google.com/books/edition/A_Historical_Summary_of_United_States_Ko/XwO q75VaU_wC https://www.ankasam.org/dokdo-takeshima-island-as-an-obstacle-in-south-korea-japan-relations/?lang=en https://www.ankasam.org/dokdo-takeshima-island-as-an-obstacle-in-south-korea-japan-relations/?lang=en https://www.un.org/en/observances/decade-people-african-descent https://www.google.com/books/edition/A_Historical_Summary_of_United_States_Ko/XwOq75VaU_wC https://www.google.com/books/edition/A_Historical_Summary_of_United_States_Ko/XwOq75VaU_wC Global Missiology - ISSN 2831-4751 - Vol 21, No 2 (2024) April Book Review R. Daniel Shaw, Singing Samo Songs: From Shaman to Pastor: An Ethnohistorical Approach to Socio-Religious Expressions among the Samo of Papua New Guinea Reviewed by David Beine Published in Global Missiology, www.globalmissiology.org, April 2024 Shaw, R. Daniel (2022). Singing Samo Songs: From Shaman to Pastor: An Ethnohistorical Approach to Socio-Religious Expressions among the Samo of Papua New Guinea. Durham, NC: Carolina Academic Press, xxvi + 249 pp., $45.00, paperback, ISBN-10: 1531023797; ISBN-13: 978-1531023799. During the 2022 American Anthropological Association meetings in Seattle, Washington, Daniel Shaw, a Senior Professor of Anthropology and Translation at the Fuller Graduate School of Mission and Theology, handed me his book with a suggestion: “You should read this.” Before delving into this review, it is important to acknowledge a potential bias: Dan and I have been colleagues for many years, both serving as International Anthropology Consultants with SIL International. With this disclosed bias, it is also worth noting that I may possess a somewhat unique perspective on the subject matter, being one of the relatively few individuals qualified to address this topic from both a professional anthropological and Christian missionary standpoint. Dividing the review into two sections, catering to anthropologists and missionaries respectively, seems appropriate given the dual audience of Shaw’s work. For anthropologists, Shaw’s book offers a profound ethnographic exploration reminiscent of the deep descriptions crafted by Cliford Geertz. Drawing from five decades of fieldwork among the Samo people in Papua New Guinea’s Western Province, Shaw’s rich data and emic analysis provide invaluable insights into Samo rituals and their symbolic significance. Edited by renowned anthropologists Pamela J. Steward and Andrew Strathern, the book, part of Carolina Academic Press’s Ritual Studies Monograph Series, promises to enhance researchers’ understanding of religious change and innovation in traditional cultures, particularly those in the Pacific region. Even for non-specialists in Oceania, Shaw’s treatise remains accessible and engaging. He seamlessly integrates the ideas of major anthropological theorists into the Samo context, making the book highly readable. Cognitive anthropologists, in particular, will find Shaw’s application of schema theory fascinating, while his extensive discussion of kinship systems will appeal to anyone interested in the topic of kinship. At the heart of Shaw’s anthropological description lies the three-day long Samo initiation ceremony known as Kandila. Through detailed descriptions and helpful illustrations, Shaw navigates the intricate nuances of Samo cosmology, ritual form, and the evolving nature of religious experience over decades. By structuring the book around the Kandila ceremony, Shaw not only provides a comprehensive analysis of Samo cultural evolution but also demonstrates a reflexive approach to ethnography that acknowledges the researcher’s presence and biases—a model that could inspire future ethnographers. From a missionary perspective, Shaw’s work presents a wealth of insights into mission praxis and missiology. One concept likely to provoke controversy among readers is “syncretism.” Shaw http://www.globalmissiology.org/ Global Missiology - ISSN 2831-4751 - Vol 21, No 2 (2024) April 42 challenges the notion of a monolithic Christianity, arguing that indigenous peoples often develop their own versions of faith in response to their cultural context and understanding of scripture. Shaw’s approach contrasts with what he terms “mission Christianity” propagated by Western missionaries, which can inadvertently foster syncretism by imposing foreign forms of faith onto indigenous cultures. Shaw's discussion of “hybridity” versus syncretism, contextualization, and the sociological functions of shamanism offers a paradigm-shifting perspective for missionaries. He contends that embracing indigenous forms of Christianity, rooted in orthodox beliefs yet expressed through culturally relevant practices, can guard against syncretism and foster a deeper, more authentic understanding of faith. This understanding challenges missionaries to reconsider their approach and recognize the value of indigenous expressions of Christianity, even if they diverge from traditional mission church forms. In conclusion, Shaw’s book serves as a compelling case for the relevance of anthropology in contemporary mission praxis. By bridging the gap between these disciplines, Shaw encourages a more nuanced understanding of cultural dynamics and the importance of contextualized approaches to mission work. Mission leaders would do well to heed Shaw’s insights and consider how anthropology can enrich and inform their strategies in an increasingly diverse and interconnected world. Global Missiology - ISSN 2831-4751 - Vol 21, No 2 (2024) April Book Review Michael Lamb, A Commonwealth of Hope: Augustine’s Political Thought Reviewed by Andrew Ndegwa Published in Global Missiology, www.globalmissiology.org, April 2024 Lamb, Michael (2022). A Commonwealth of Hope: Augustine’s Political Thought. Princeton & Oxford: Princeton University Press, 448 pp., $39.95/£35.00, Hardcover, ISBN: 9780691226330; $29.95/£25.00, paperback, ISBN: 9780691226347; ebook, ISBN: 9780691226354. Introduction Written by Michael Lamb, A Commonwealth of Hope is a challenge or a counternarrative to the commonly held assumption that for Augustine, the eminent bishop of Hippo, earthly goods and therefore political goods do not have much value. Using detailed, well-supported and nuanced arguments, Lamb compellingly challenges Augustinian pessimism and the pessimistic value of political goods it sponsors. Born in 354 AD, in what is now Algeria, Augustine is “one of the most influential thinkers in the history of political thought” (Lamb 2014, abstract). His “importance to the subsequent history of Europe is impossible to exaggerate” (Ryan 2012, 149), and even critics as fierce as Bertrand Russell (1972, 334-335) recognize the magnitude of his influence. Despite the fact that Augustine explicitly extols the virtue of hope and implicitly encourages it, Lamb argues that later scholars anachronistically misappropriate Augustinian works as pessimistic in light of devastating events such as the World Wars and the Holocaust (xii, 4). By situating Augustine in his actual historical, political, and rhetorical contexts, rather than reading him out of context, this book aims to correct Augustine’s image of pessimism and thus offer much needed hope in the public square. Dr. Michael Lamb is an award-winning teacher who currently serves as the Executive Director of the Program for Leadership and Character as well as an Associate Professor of Interdisciplinary Studies at Wake Forest University. He holds a doctoral degree in politics from Princeton University and for over a decade has researched, written, and taught on Augustinian political thought among such other topics as ethics, leadership, and character development. Summary In the first chapter of A Commonwealth of Hope, Dr. Lamb offers an Augustinian conceptual grammar of faith, hope, and love. Lamb’s purpose in beginning this book by offering nuanced distinctions of these concepts is to challenge common interpretations that omit the distinctions that Augustine himself draws (31). According to Lamb, “recognizing the relations among faith, hope, and love permits a tentative specification of hope’s structure and function” (31). In the following chapter, Lamb demonstrates that Augustinian love is not as otherworldly as critics assume. Augustine validates love for temporal goods. Since God is the supreme good, everything that he creates is good. Hence, according to Augustine, rightly ordered love for temporal goods is valid. Rightly ordered love is love for temporal goods as well as loving others “for God’s sake” as opposed to loving for selfish gain which is sinful and leads to pride or superbia (34). In fact, Lamb notes that for Augustine evil is not an independent force but the “wrongful use of a good for improper ends (perversion)” (39). http://www.globalmissiology.org/ Global Missiology - ISSN 2831-4751 - Vol 21, No 2 (2024) April 44 Similarly, in the third chapter, Lamb demonstrates that Augustinian hope is not only for the world to come but is also valid in this world. Hope, just as love, says Augustine, has to be properly ordered. Rightly ordered hope allows us to hope for temporal goods for the purpose of participating “in God’s goodness here and now” rather than for selfish gain (63). The next two chapters are analyses of objects of and grounds for Augustinian faith and hope respectively. In these analyses, Lamb demonstrates that Augustinian hope relies on faith and can be rationally justified (112). Additionally, “contrary to assumptions about Augustine’s otherworldly account of hope,” Lamb highlights “how Augustine allows hope in human neighbours as long as that hope is properly ordered” (112). Years before Augustine became a priest in Hippo, he was a world class rhetorician and as such he was appointed to the incredibly prestigious position of professor of rhetoric in the imperial court in Milan in 384 AD. In the sixth chapter, Lamb expertly uses Augustine’s oft ignored voluminous corpus of homilies to demonstrate how the master rhetorician used rhetorical practices such as repetition and rhyme as pedagogies of teaching hope to his congregants and audiences. In so doing, Lamb situates Augustine within his highly philosophical and oral historical context. Lamb convincingly argues that, in order to read Augustine correctly, one must first understand this historical context in which he lived. The Bishop of Hippo’s most political book is the City of God. Scholars often cite Book 22 of this magnum opus as evidence of Augustinian pessimism (151). However, in the seventh chapter, Lamb situates Book 22 in its appropriate rhetorical and historical contexts and demonstrates that it offers much temporal hope rather than pessimism. Augustine’s emphasis on temporal hope therefore pushes back against prevailing notions of his worldly pessimism. In this pushback, Lamb observes that decontextualized reading “ignores important contextual and structural features of this passage” (152). The following chapter demonstrates how Augustine’s “inaugurated or partially realized eschatology enables participation in the heavenly city here and now” (168). Moreover, this participation is not only for the institutional church, as communitarians argue, but for all the members of the public or the commonwealth. This public participation is because “a commonwealth (res publica) is simply the property, or public thing of [the] people” (178). According to Augustine, a city belongs to the public. The public therefore ought to pursue civic peace for the good of all in the city. In this way, participation in the heavenly city has been inaugurated in this saeculum or “secular age” and will be fully realized after the eschaton, in heaven. In the ninth chapter, Lamb further strengthens his case for Augustinian hope by drawing from Augustine’s extensive correspondence with Roman officials, Catholic bishops, and friends who solicited spiritual as well political advice (203). As evidenced from this rich corpus of letters, “Augustine often sought the welfare of his city, conversing and collaborating with diverse citizens and leaders—both Christian and non-Christian—to challenge injustice, combat domination, and pursue hopes they shared in common” (227). Finally, in the tenth chapter, Lamb tackles the controversial question of whether non- Christians can actually possess “true virtue” and therefore true hope. In answering this question, Lamb demonstrates that a correctly understood Augustinian account of hope allows for non-Christian virtue and therefore hope as well. Evaluation Global Missiology - ISSN 2831-4751 - Vol 21, No 2 (2024) April 45 Michael Lamb is a political theorist of note who has coedited volumes on virtue and on ethics. Moreover, his work has been published in several edited books and academic journals. In addition to having studied political theory for over a decade, he has also practised it. He has served as chief of staff on election campaigns for state senate, governor, and U. S. Congress in his home state of Tennessee (Wake Forest University n.d.). Lamb has also been an adviser of universities on civic engagement. His ground-breaking scholarship and practical experience in political theory contribute to making him an authority in this discipline. In particular, he stands out as an expert on Augustinian political thought. Published in 2022, A Commonwealth of Hope is a welcome and timely reminder of how to live out Augustinian hope in our deeply divided world. Just as in the greatest biblical commandment, this book is a reminder that rightly ordered hope i.e., true hope, is hope that glorifies God and serves man. Whether it is in the deeply fractioned public square in the United States, the highly corrupt and dysfunctional institutions in African countries, or even the ongoing wars in Europe and the Levant, this book is a timely call to “active citizenship, not only in the heavenly city but in the earthly commonwealths where citizens seek civic peace in the secular age” (273). As a counternarrative that offers hope by challenging pessimistic trends that seemingly dominate current political culture, this book finds a home within the discipline of political theory. Political theory is “the study of politics, concepts, and the historical record of political thought” (University of Massachusetts Amherst n.d.). More broadly, students of a variety of disciplines will find this work to be of much interest. In writing this book, one of Lamb’s aims is “to make Augustine new for us again” (xiii). As such, students of disciplines such as religious studies, theology, world Christianity, classical studies, patristics, and Augustinian studies will find this volume to be of much benefit. As a book that prescribes hope not as an emotion or attitude, but as active citizenship through practising and pursuing justice along with speaking out against oppression, this volume is also encouraging and beneficial to general readers, particularly those interested in issues such as social injustice and civic peace. The list of sources that inform this study is impressively lengthy. The book’s listed bibliography spans about thirty pages. Unsurprisingly, the author draws primarily from Augustine’s titanic corpus and also from secondary works on the Bishop of Hippo. In addition to City of God, Augustine’s sermons and letters feature prominently. Moreover, because this book is a challenge against prevailing Augustine-based pessimistic scholarship in political theory, the author draws from many prominent political theorists such as Hannah Arendt, Martha Nussbaum, John Rawls, and Reinhold Niebuhr. Lamb skilfully and diligently explicates their interpretations of Augustine and then challenges those interpretations by developing “an alternative interpretation that unsettles these common ways of reading—or misreading—Augustine as a pessimist” (10). Renowned ancient philosopher Cicero, as well as distinguished Italian priest Thomas Aquinas, also feature prominently in this study. A major strength of this book is that Lamb makes Augustine fresh again and presents him as contemporarily valid by especially drawing from his large body of sermons and letters that spanned the length of his career as a priest in Hippo. His sermons, for instance, are “the largest body of oratory surviving from any ancient speaker” (O’Donnell 2005, 137). Despite the fact that Augustine’s sermons and letters span his whole career and form the very heart of his life and work, they are “significantly underanalyzed, especially in political theory, where scholars focus instead on more systematic treatises” (118). Global Missiology - ISSN 2831-4751 - Vol 21, No 2 (2024) April 46 Along with being well-researched, another major strength of this book is its interdisciplinary nature. In order to present a more complete and nuanced view of Augustinian political thought, the author strengthens his arguments by drawing from disciplines such as classical studies, religious studies, theology, philosophy and rhetoric. Regarding this multidisciplinary approach, Lamb explains that Augustine lived in a period before academic specialization, thus accurately situating the Bishop of Hippo in his context means that “his views on politics cannot be easily excised from his reflections on religion, ethics, and theology” (6). Conclusion In producing this volume, Michael Lamb has painstakingly worked to reveal to us an Augustine who was not passivistic nor defeatist. Even though Augustine’s political philosophy cannot be mapped neatly on a contemporary right-wing and left-wing political spectrum, we can learn much from the bishop. He “advocated and modelled engagement in public life, frequently collaborating with other citizens, pastors, and political leaders to reduce poverty, fight injustice, and resist domination by wealthy and powerful elites” (12). Through this book, Lamb stands out as an exemplar of academic rigour. Despite the fact that Augustine’s “efforts to preserve freedom, equality, and community fall short of contemporary civic ideals,” the author ought to be commended for carefully presenting a hopeful Augustine, who is able to inform us in our current political complexities and to help guard us against both presumption and despair (12). References Lamb, M. (2014). A Commonwealth of Hope: Virtue, Rhetoric, and Religion in Augustine’s Political Thought (doctoral dissertation). Princeton University. http://arks.princeton.edu/ark:/88435/dsp019g54xk88w. O’Donnell, J. J. (2005). Augustine: A New Biography. New York: HarperCollins. Russell, B. (1972). History of Western Philosophy. New York: Simon & Schuster. Ryan, A. (2012). On Politics: A History of Political Thought: From Herodotus to the Present. New York: Liveright. University of Massachusetts Amherst (n.d.) Political Theory. https://polsci.umass.edu/graduate-programs/fields-concentration/political-theory. Wake Forest University (n.d.) Michael Lamb. https://humanities.wfu.edu/michael-lamb/. http://arks.princeton.edu/ark:/88435/dsp019g54xk88w https://polsci.umass.edu/graduate-programs/fields-concentration/political-theory https://humanities.wfu.edu/michael-lamb/ Global Missiology - ISSN 2831-4751 - Vol 21, No 2 (2024) April Call for Papers: “Lausanne IV: Reviews, Analyses, and Projections” For Publication in Global Missiology, www.globalmissiology.org, April 2025 The April 2025 issue of Global Missiology - English will examine the Fourth Lausanne Congress on World Evangelization, or “Seoul-Incheon 2024,” that will have taken place in September, 2024. Lausanne I-III gathered in 1974 (Lausanne), 1989 (Manila), and 2010 (Cape Town), hence Lausanne IV (Seoul) marks the fiftieth anniversary of the Lausanne Movement. The following topics are examples of requested articles: - The Lausanne Movement and the Worldwide Christian Movement - Preparations for the Lausanne IV Congress - Participant Experience of Lausanne IV - Analyses of Lausanne IV: Historical, Biblical-theological, Missiological, Religious, Socio- economic, Political - Immediate and Future Effects of Lausanne IV Proposed titles with approximately 100-word abstracts are due October 31, 2024. Full manuscripts of approved paper proposals will be due January 31, 2025. Manuscript guidelines, including a template for formatting, can be found on the Global Missiology website at http://ojs.globalmissiology.org/index.php/english/about/submissions#authorGuidelines. Please address all submissions and questions to globalmissiologyenglish@gmail.com. http://www.globalmissiology.org/ http://ojs.globalmissiology.org/index.php/english/about/submissions#authorGuidelines mailto:globalmissiologyenglish@gmail.com