Missionaries & Christianity

 

I.  Overview

         A.  Controversial topic

         B.  Contact with foreigners

                  1.  inevitability of change

                  2.  missionariesÕ purpose

II.  Polynesia

         A.  Protestant Evangelicals

                  1.  What did they believe?

                           a) sin inherent

                           b) good vs. evil

                           c) urgent need for salvation 

                           d) Christian ethics

                           e) Bible as literal truth

                           f) civilizing mission

                  2.  Different Organizations

                           a) London Missionary Society (LMS)

                                    -- Tahiti (1797 & 1801)

                           b) Wesleyan Missionary Society (WMS)

                                    -- Tonga (1822 & 1826)

                           c) American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM)

                                    -- Hawaii (1820)

         B.  ÒEuropeanÓ Missionaries

                  1.  John Williams = voyaging LMS missionary

                  2.  John Thomas = WMS in Tonga

                  3.  Hiram Bingham = ABCFM in Hawaii

         C.  Pacific Islander Missionaries

                  1.  Pita Vi (Tongan, WMS)

                  2.  LMS training schools

                           a) Takamoa Theological College (Cook Islands)

                                    -- TaÕunga o te Tini 

                           b) Malua Training Institution (Samoa)

                                    -- faifeÕau to Melanesia

         D.  Results

                  1.  missionary role:  teach, preach, and heal

                  2.  stress caused by change --> conversion

                  3.  1830s vs. 1840s

                  4.  positive or negative?

III.  Melanesia

         A.  Why was conversion difficult?

                  1.  sandalwood traders

                  2.  nature of Melanesian religion

                  3.  language difficulties

                  4.  no political unification

                  5.  lack of support

         B.  John Geddie (Presbyterian)

                  1.  Aneityum, New Hebrides (1848)

                  2.  mass conversion by 1852

                  3.  cultural transformation

         C.  Bishop Selwyn (Anglican)

                  1.  reconnaissance voyage (1848)

                           -- clerical loophole (ÒnorthÓ latitude)

                  2.  Òfifth columnÓ = a Melanesian priesthood

                           a) educate & train in New Zealand

                                    -- return home each year

                                    -- learn English

                           b) Bishop Patteson (1861)

                                    -- resident missionaries select boys

                                    -- move headquarters

                                    -- Mota

                                    -- Norfolk Island

                                    -- learn Mota language

                                    -- killed in 1871 on Nukapu

                  3.  a philosophical shift

                           = didnÕt promote total cultural change

         D.  Florence Young

                  1.  Queensland Kanaka Mission

                  2.  South Seas Evangelical Mission

                  3.  Different from other missions

                           a) role of women

                           b) definition of church

                           c) Christian living 

IV.  Micronesia

         A.  Spanish Catholics (1770s)

                  -- Guam & Northern Marianas

         B.  ABCFM

                  1.  Kosrae & Pohnpei (1852)

                  2.  Gilberts & Marshall Islands (1857)

         C.  Acceptance of Christianity

                  1.  relief & salvation 

                  2.  converted chiefs

                  3.  ÒindigenizedÓ Christianity

                  4.  material civilization

V.  Reasons for the spread of Christianity

         A.  political

                  1.  role of chiefs

                  2.  church & state connections

         B.  social & economic

                  1.  literary skills

                  2.  Western technology & trade

         C.  religious 

                  1.  filling a void

                  2.  true belief

 

 

Think/Write Question

What do you think leads to conversion?  Is it more typically rooted in pragmatic concerns, or does it reflect a basic spiritual need in the human condition?

 

After reading Ta'unga and Kauwealoha's accounts of their missionary experiences, do you think their Christian perspective is similar to other foreign missionaries, or do they offer a unique islander perspective?