Muddling Toward Maturity Blog

SHOULD AMAZON TRIBES BE ALLOWED TO KILL THEIR OWN CHILDREN?

Short version -- Deadly Cultural Relativism: Leftists Oppose Laws Protecting Indigenous Children From Being Murdered

Full version below:

(Right:  photo of Marcia and Edson Suzuki with their adopted daughter Hakani.  See story below)

John Daniel Davidson writes in The Federalist: [my bolding]

A post at Get Religion caught my eye yesterday with the title, “Should Amazon tribes be allowed to kill their young? Foreign Policy editors aren’t sure.” It linked to a story in Foreign Policy magazine from April 9 about a handful of indigenous tribes in Brazil that engage in the ritual killing of infants and children—namely, those with a disability, twins, and the children of single mothers, all of whom are considered to be a bad omen—and the legal efforts underway to end the practice.

One would think that the answer to the question posed by the subtitle to the Foreign Policy article—“Should Brazil keep its Amazon tribes from taking the lives of their children?”—would be a resounding, “Yes.” Surely no one would argue these tribes have a right to kill unwanted children. Surely even the most committed multiculturalist would not condone such barbarity. Right?

But to assume that would be to underestimate the force of cultural relativism on the Left. If our friends on the Left encountered, in the present day and in real life, the ritual human sacrifices of the Aztecs or the fires of the Canaanite god Moloch, more than a few would insist that we not pass judgement on these indigenous cultural practices, and would probably denounce those who tried to do so as racists and imperialists.

NEW BIOGRAPHY OF ERIC LIDDELL OF "CHARIOTS OF FIRE" FAME

A few weeks ago I perused a list of outstanding books published in 2016 and noticed a new biography of Eric Liddell, the 1924 Olympic gold medalist made famous by the 1981 movie Chariots of Fire.  Liddell went on to become a missionary to China and died in a Japanese internment camp in China in 1945.  The reviews of the new book For the Glory: Eric Liddell's Journey from Olympic Champion to Modern Martyr by Duncan Hamilton are uniformly positive.  

 - "A marriage of prose and detail so fine and fastidious that it takes the breath away." 

 -  This book is better than a movie. For the Glory is the best biography I’ve read on its subject, and may be one of the best non-fiction books I’ve ever read.

This is a book now high on my "to read" list.  I previously blogged about Eric Liddell here, and the post is worth visiting because it not only talks about Liddell, but also about the book, Shantung Compound, that describes the living condition Liddell and others endured in a Japanese internment camp in China along with hundreds of others during World War II.  

Some years ago, Day of Discovery produced an excellent documentary on Liddell's life which is now available on YouTube.

THE LIVING GOD IS A MISSIONARY GOD

Famed evangelical pastor/theologian, Dr. John Stott wrote:

There are the five parts of the Bible. The God of the Old Testament is a missionary God, calling one family in order to bless all the families of the earth. The Christ of the Gospels is a missionary Christ; he sent the church out to witness. The Spirit of the Acts is a missionary Spirit; he drove the church out from Jerusalem to Rome. The church of the epistles is a missionary church, a worldwide community with a worldwide vocation. The end of the Revelation is a missionary End, a countless throng from every nation. So I think we have to say the religion of the Bible is a missionary religion. The evidence is overwhelming and irrefutable. Mission cannot be regarded as a regrettable lapse from tolerance or decency. Mission cannot be regarded as the hobby of a few fanatical eccentrics in the church. Mission lies at the heart of God and therefore at the very heart of the church. A church without mission is no longer a church. It is contradicting an essential part of its identity. The church is mission.                                                  -   John R.W. Stott, Authentic Christianity, pp. 315-316

 

LITERATE, STABLE "MAJORITY WORLD" DEMOCRACIES LINKED TO EARLY MISSIONARY INFLUENCE

John Stonestreet reports "The Truth About Missionaries."  He says:   Download

For the last several generations, missionaries have gotten a lot of bad press. They’re called cultural imperialists or tools of colonial oppression, and in the pages of books such as “The Poisonwood Bible,” or, for an earlier generation, James Michener’s “Hawaii,” they’re presented as paternalistic, ignorant enemies of glorious indigenous cultures.

Even many supporters of so-called “native missionaries” in Asia, Africa, and Latin America suggest that Western missionaries should just “stay home” and “let the nationals do it.” But a funny thing happened on the way to missionary irrelevance: Ground-breaking, peer-reviewed research reveals that the presence of Protestant missionaries is the greatest predictor of whether a nation develops into a stable representative democracy with robust levels of literacy, political freedom, and women’s rights.  [my emphases]

Yes, you heard that right, and you can read all about it in a fascinating and important cover story in the latest issue of Christianity Today. It describes the painstaking work of Robert Woodberry, whose work on the global spread of democracy has turned scholarship on its head.

Woodberry discovered that you can trace a direct link between the presence of 19^th-century Protestant missionaries and a country’s economic and social development.

Why, for instance, does a seminary in the West African nation of Togo have almost no books for its students, while in neighboring Ghana the schools are full of reading material, including much that is written locally? As summarized by CT author Andrea Palpant Dilley, “British missionaries in Ghana had established a whole system of schools and printing presses. But France, the colonial power in Togo, severely restricted missionaries.”

"GLOBAL THEOLOGY IN EVANGELICAL PESPECTIVE" - AUDIO & VIDEO FROM WHEATON CONFERENCE

The 20th annual Wheaton Theology Conference concluded April 9, 2011.  The college has now posted video and audio of each lecture and Q&A as well.  I was privileged to attend this conference and came away with a broadened and deepened perspective on worldwide Christian faith.  I may well put up some additional posts related to the conference as I have occasion to re- listen to the lectures.

WHAT'S THE BEST TERM FOR THE NON-WESTERN WORLD? - "THIRD WORLD"? "TWO-THIRDS WORLD"? "GLOBAL SOUTH"? or "MAJORITY WORLD"?

Timothy Tennent takes a few pages to discuss the merits of each term in his excellent book, Theology in the Context of Global Christianity.  On the designation "Third World" (coined in 1952 by the French demographer Alfred Sauvy), Tennent says:

It quickly entered English as a helpful phrase to speak collectively about Africa, Asia, and Latin America.  It was originally articulated in the context of the Cold War, when the world was polarized by the two "worlds" of the capitalistic, industrialized West and the communist, state-controlled East.  It began as a political expression.  Later, in the 1960s and 1970s, the expression "Third World country" began to be used in an economic

"CHARIOTS OF FIRE" AND THE STORY OF ERIC LIDDELL REVISITED

Many of you will remember the magnificent movie, "Chariots of Fire," (1981) which tells the story of the "Flying Scotsman," Eric Liddell, the man who ran in the 1924 Paris Olympics.  He was supposed to run the 100 meters race, but when he learned it was scheduled on a Sunday, he withdrew because he felt running on a Sunday would be (for him) dishonoring to God.  So on the following Tuesday he ran and won the 440 meter race and became a hero of Scotland, the U.K and the world. 

Instead of resting on his laurels and enjoying his fame, Liddell went to China as a missionary teacher.  As gripping as the story of his Olympic victory is, the rest of Liddell's life in China, his marriage, his internment in a Japanese prison camp, and his untimely death in the prison camp due to a brain tumor, is even more intriguing and moving.  This morning, I went through a box

MARK NOLL - "THE NEW SHAPE OF WORLD CHRISTIANITY"

This looks like a truly fascinating book.  The subtitle reads "How American Experience Reflects Global Faith."   InterVarsity Press has made available the book's Table of Contents and Introduction, and the whole of chapter 2 ("The New Shape of World Christianity") online.   Anyone wanting to be dazzled and stimulated by the jaw-droping spread of Christianity worldwide will be grateful to IVP for making these pages freely available.  (HT: Justin Taylor)

GEORGE VERWER, MISSIONS MOBILIZER AND FOUNDER OF OPERATION MOBILIZATION, RECEIVES HONORARY D.D. FROM BIOLA UNIVERSITY

George Verwer is without doubt one of the most amazing men of our time.  I (along with thousands of others!) am privileged to know him.  His 2009 commencement address to the students of Biola University is vintage Verwer --  15 minutes of high energy, humor, vital connection, and powerful challenge.  Click here for the YouTube coverage.  You won't see another graduation speech like it anywhere.

Verwer's personal website is here.  Operation Mobilization's website is here.  And an 8 minute semi-humorous history of Operation Mobilization can be found here. The photo on the right is Verwer receiving his honorary degree.

RALPH WINTER (1924-2009) - A GIANT OF A MAN, A LEADING MISSIOLOGIST, HAS PASSED AWAY

I have subscribed to Mission Frontiers Magazine for many years, and the first thing I would do upon its arrival would be to read Ralph Winter's  two-page editorial situated right in the front.  Invariably I would be delighted and astonished by the breadth and depth, and sheer visionary power of the man.  I never met him personally but he seemed to me to possess one of the most creative, fertile, intriguing, and bold minds I had ever encountered. 

Assist News Service has provided an initial news article with a short summary of his accomplishments.  I plan to spend time in the near future investigating Winter's website to read more of his work.  It should be noted that in 2005, Ralph Winter appeared in Time Magazine's 25 Most Influential Evangelicals in America.  Winter passed away May 20, 2009.

Update 6/2/09 - Chuck Colson pays tribute and reviews Winter's accomplishments here.

HISTORY OF MISSIOLOGY WEB SITE AT BOSTON UNIVERSITY

This looks like a terrific resource.  A description: 

"The History of Missiology Web site (http://digilib.bu.edu/mission) . . . provides access to classic writings in the history of Protestant mission thought, including works on mission theology, theory, and strategy.  Written by cross-cultural missionaries, mission administrators, and mission promoters, these writings provide unique insight into the beginnings of Christianity in the non-Western world, the founding of indigenous churches, and early theories of comparative religion.  Mission thinkers produced some of the first ethnographic studies of people in primal societies, as well as histories of encounters between WestR4ners and people from Asia, Africa, and the Americas. They also reflected on the implications for Christian theology of varied religions and cultures.

The site consists of several sections.  The first, "Missionary Biographies,' provides biographical sketches, photos, bibliographies, and links to digitized texts in the public domain by missionaries, missiologists,

CHRISTIANITY TODAY'S 2008 BOOK AWARDS

I am always amazed at the quantity and quality of books published each year.  This annotated list will prove stimulating.  Here are a couple of samples with CT comments:

Under the topic Missions/Global Affairs:
Disciples of All Nations: Pillars of World Christianity by Lamin O. Sanneh (Oxford)

Our judges said:

"Global sweep and academic depth. A masterful piece demonstrating the development of global Christianity. Sanneh shows missions as the complex story of missionaries and the national movements that missionaries set in motion, in all its warts and glory."

Under the topic "Theoogy/Ethics":
Resounding Truth: Christian Wisdom in the World of Music by Jeremy S. Begbie (Baker Academic)

Our judges said:

"A profoundly creative, wonderfully engaging reflection on the encounter of theology and music. Impressive for its thoughtfulness, theological depth, and balance. Offers a robust theology of creativity and worship. Begbie's book is as good a way as any to discover afresh how faith comes through hearing."

And here are links to Christianity Today's previous Book Awards: 2007, 2006,  2005, and 2004. 

"Global South" Christians Impacting Denmark

Chuck Colson reports:

A recent Washington Post story described the impact that Christians from Africa, Asia, and Latin America are having on the Danes. Immigrants have started more than 150 churches in Denmark. These churches not only minister to foreign-born residents, but increasingly to native Danes as well.

Karsten Nissen, a Lutheran bishop, called the immigrant Christian churches “a gift to our Danish Lutheran Church” that helps Danes understand how Christians are supposed to live.

According to Bess Semer-Pederson, who runs Alpha Denmark, a course that teaches the basics of Christianity, Denmark “[needs] these immigrant churches, because they are bringing a message that we have forgotten.”  (more)

URBANA OPENS TODAY

Click here for the link.