Beyond a Post-Modern Critique of Modern Missions: The Nineteenth Century Revisited

The nineteenth century was the great century for Western Christian missions. Missionaries were held in high esteem for their contribution to the “enlightenment” of non-Western peoples. But in the twentieth century, missions became the whipping boy of secular post-modern critics. In a drastic swing of the pendulum, the social sciences began to deny their own Enlightenment theories about “civilizing” the so-called primitive cultures. Absolute cultural relativism and cultural absolutism became the order of the day. Changing another culture in any way, especially the religion, was deemed cultural genocide. Missionaries came in for an exceptionally large share of the blame. Now, however, going beyond the post-modern critique, scholars who are converts of the modern missionary movement and others are calling for a more objective, fair evaluation of it. The history of missions has moved from respect to reproach to reinterpretation.