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Making the South Seas a “Chinese” Mission Field: Chinese Evangelical Missionaries to Southeast Asia, 1920s to 1950s
In: Mission StudiesAbstract
The emergence of Chinese evangelicals as missionaries in the first half of the twentieth century is an understudied topic. This paper thus seeks to foreground their voices by focusing on their Southeast Asian evangelistic work. By drawing on publications related to the Chinese Foreign Missionary Union and Alliance Bible Seminary, it is clear these missionaries were able to show their competency as transnational, inter-cultural workers that could undertake effective missionary work. This is shown in three ways. First, I argue that these evangelicals sought to carve out the South Seas (Nanyang) as a “Chinese” mission field by constructing narratives that emphasized a Chinese-Christian obligation to evangelize the region. Second, these evangelicals added a racial dimension to these narratives by claiming that they were more suited to evangelize the Nanyang peoples. Thirdly, I suggest that they eschewed “top-down” missionary methods and employed a grassroots approach in their engagement with different communities.
Resumen
La aparición de misioneros evangélicos chinos en la primera mitad del siglo XX ha sido un tema poco estudiado. Por lo tanto, este artículo busca hacer oír sus voces concentrándose en la obra evangelística realizada en el sudeste asiático. El autor se basa en publicaciones sobre la Unión Misionera Extranjera China y el Seminario Bíblico de la Alianza y propone que estos misioneros pudieron demostrar que eran obreros interculturales transnacionales competentes que podían realizar un trabajo misionero efectivo. Esto se demuestra de tres maneras. Primero, se argumenta que estos evangélicos buscaron desarrollar la zona de los mares del sur (Nanyang) como campo misionero “chino” mediante la construcción de narrativas que enfatizaban un mandato chino-cristiano de evangelizar la región. En segundo lugar, estos evangélicos agregaron una dimensión racial a estas narrativas al afirmar que ellos eran más aptos para evangelizar a los pueblos de Nanyang. En tercer lugar, el autor sugiere que evitaron los métodos misioneros “verticalistas” y emplearon un enfoque desde las bases en su interacción con las diferentes comunidades.
摘要
本文关注的是在二十世纪上半段任职海外传教士的华人基督徒。虽然这些基督徒可算是华人传教士事业中的先锋，但是他们在不同研究领域中还是受到少数的注目。因此，本文把焦点转移到这些传教士的身上，透过中华国外布道团和建道神学院的有关史料来分析他们在东南亚的布道事工。从分析中，笔者建议这些传教士成功地显示他们在跨文化的海外传教工作上胜任。胜任的证明主要有三个要素。其一，本文认为这些传教士使用不同的论述来解释中华基督教会对南洋具有的属灵义务，有效地把南洋列为「华人」传教的特别区域。其二，这些传教士也借用了当代的宗族观念与论述来证明他们是最合适向南洋社区传教的一组人。其三，笔者建议他们不愿跟随「自上而下」的传教方法，而有效地使用基层的传教方式来接触不同的南洋群体。
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Making the South Seas a “Chinese” Mission Field: Chinese Evangelical Missionaries to Southeast Asia, 1920s to 1950s
In: Mission StudiesAbstract
The emergence of Chinese evangelicals as missionaries in the first half of the twentieth century is an understudied topic. This paper thus seeks to foreground their voices by focusing on their Southeast Asian evangelistic work. By drawing on publications related to the Chinese Foreign Missionary Union and Alliance Bible Seminary, it is clear these missionaries were able to show their competency as transnational, inter-cultural workers that could undertake effective missionary work. This is shown in three ways. First, I argue that these evangelicals sought to carve out the South Seas (Nanyang) as a “Chinese” mission field by constructing narratives that emphasized a Chinese-Christian obligation to evangelize the region. Second, these evangelicals added a racial dimension to these narratives by claiming that they were more suited to evangelize the Nanyang peoples. Thirdly, I suggest that they eschewed “top-down” missionary methods and employed a grassroots approach in their engagement with different communities.
| All Time | Past Year | Past 30 Days | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abstract Views | 253 | 253 | 50 |
| Full Text Views | 23 | 23 | 0 |
| PDF Views & Downloads | 61 | 61 | 3 |