Modern Asians and Western Churches
As a missionary in his first year, eager to apply the “indigenous principle,” I have been hearing but one thing lately: “The trend is to become Western.” It is my impression that this is far too much a rationalization on the part of missionaries. Of course, I realize that “if the natives want to ‘go...
| Authors: | ; |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Sage Publishing
1962
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| In: |
Practical anthropology
Year: 1962, Volume: 9, Issue: 3, Pages: 134-136 |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | As a missionary in his first year, eager to apply the “indigenous principle,” I have been hearing but one thing lately: “The trend is to become Western.” It is my impression that this is far too much a rationalization on the part of missionaries. Of course, I realize that “if the natives want to ‘go Western,’ the indigenous thing to do is to let them make that choice.” But long before they make such a choice, it seems that the missionaries mold that choice in their minds.People advise me to take a look around in this area of Hong Kong to see the Western, modern buildings, etc., and label other efforts “reactionary” and “antiquarian.” Yet I cannot help but believe that “the Western trend” in an area like Hong Kong, is only a short-lived fad which will never make a dent in Chinese ways. Is it not likewise true, in the history of Africa for example, that a trend to go “enthusiastically Western” is followed by a stronger trend to assert and exalt that which is native?Now I am coming to my point: Is it not the role of the missionary at times to encourage natives to develop their own ways further and to discourage Western mimicry? For example, even if Africans or Chinese liked Western music, is it not the wiser thing to encourage them to compose their praises of God in their own idiom of music? (And, without becoming autocratic at all, to discourage Bach and Wesley?) Even in Hong Kong, our churches smell so Western that if I were a mainlander they would hardly appeal to me; in either case, the perfume of “non-Chinese” is all over it.—Manfred Berndt. |
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| Contains: | Enthalten in: Practical anthropology
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1177/009182966200900305 |