The Gospel & World Cultures

Course Description

 
This course focuses on the cultural aspect of early encounters between Christian missionaries and indigenous peoples on each of the six continents. In each context, the pioneering phase of the gospel’s transmission and reception produced new embodiments of Christian faith and practice.  These historical case studies help us understand how the Christian message impacted diverse cultures and how accompanying political and economic interests often complicated the process of Christianization. By examining such sources as missionary and indigenous records, vernacular Scripture translations, catechetical and devotional compositions, and artistic representations, students will be introduced to the complex cultural continuities and discontinuities that produced the—often surprising—outcomes of evangelization. The course will therefore spotlight the pivotal church councils, synods, and ‘rites controversies’, which debated and demarcated the possibilities and limits of indigenous cultural agency and self-expression. It will also consider how these missionary legacies impacted subsequent generations of indigenous and national Christians and the wider societies they live in.