Two Sides of the American Catholic Mission Coin: Mission Funding and Credit Unions
Jonathan Bonk has suggested that the wealth imbalance between missionaries and those to whom they are sent distorts the reception of the gospel message. This article examines that premise among twentieth-century American Catholic missionaries by identifying two sides of the mission coin: people repr...
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
American Catholic Historical Society
2006
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| In: |
American catholic studies
Year: 2006, Volume: 117, Issue: 1, Pages: 23-42 |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | Jonathan Bonk has suggested that the wealth imbalance between missionaries and those to whom they are sent distorts the reception of the gospel message. This article examines that premise among twentieth-century American Catholic missionaries by identifying two sides of the mission coin: people representing three types of mission funding and missionary encouragement of credit unions. Underlying the examples is the thesis that they are a system of interconnecting relationships of gift exchanges expressed in and impacting social, cultural, and religious, as well as economic realms. The monetary is closely associated with the economy of salvation. Indigenous people critiqued not so much the personal affluence of missionaries as the composite cultural and economic world from which missionaries came. As missionaries critiqued the American global empire and chose alternative economic lifestyles, they lost some American Catholic financial support but affected the theological direction of the "economy of salvation" paradigm. Prior to 1970, giving to the missions was viewed as charity, and therefore, supererogatory. After 1970, as a result of addressing economic issues of injustice, mission included the social/structural dimensions at the heart of Catholic spirituality and life, and was, therefore, essential. |
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| ISSN: | 2161-8534 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: American catholic studies
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