The Karen and the Politics of Conversion

The history this essay explores confirms the claim that a combination of political backdrop, social change, tribal religion, and cross-cultural appropriation of the gospel has positively contributed to religious conversion among the ethnic Karen in Burma from their primal religion to Christianity. T...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Church history and religious culture
Main Author: Mang, Pum Za (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Brill 2016
In: Church history and religious culture
Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains:B Burma / Karen / Christianity / Conversion (Religion) / Ethnic identity / History 1824-1948
IxTheo Classification:CD Christianity and Culture
KAH Church history 1648-1913; modern history
KAJ Church history 1914-; recent history
KBM Asia
Further subjects:B Burma Karen Burman ethnicity nationalism Christianity and Buddhism
Online Access: Volltext (Verlag)
Description
Summary:The history this essay explores confirms the claim that a combination of political backdrop, social change, tribal religion, and cross-cultural appropriation of the gospel has positively contributed to religious conversion among the ethnic Karen in Burma from their primal religion to Christianity. This essay further contends that Christianity has protected the Karen from Burman coercion and assimilation, continued to differentiate them from the Burman, and will likely protect them from Burman aggression and absorption in the future, proving the historical truth that the fate and future of the Karen are tightly bound up with Christianity. It is also observed that the Karen would have been assimilated into the religion, culture, language, and ethnicity of the Burman had they refused to convert from their ancestral religion to Christianity.
ISSN:1871-2428
Contains:In: Church history and religious culture
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1163/18712428-09603001