This week helps provide a global
background to looking Christianity in New Zealand and asks us to
think about the sorts of people involved in the world-wide spread of
Christianity including Presbyterianism.
The web pages are
http://www.schoolofministry.ac.nz/reformed/global.htm and
http://www.schoolofministry.ac.nz/reformed/agents.htm
The BBC page
http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/christianity/features/missionaries/ has some
very interesting interviews which you may (or may not!) be able to listen to on
your computer. The first one gives very good background to the missionary
movement. You need Real Player and it may not work well without a broadband
connection. Don't waste time if it does not work for you, but you should be able
to visit the
page and look at the summaries.
Reformed Christianity first spread outside Europe with the Dutch in the 17th
century, but it is from the early 19th century that the movement becomes
significant. It is interesting to note the different groups and roles involved
in this including:
1) Governments who developed trading links and started empires around the world.
2) Soldiers civil-servants and merchants who took their faith with them and built churches for themselves and bases of outreach to local people.
3) Ministers sent with government churches (In 1813 Christian mission to India became legal and the East India Company provided for Church of Scotland ministry as well as Church of England since both were British churches established by law), and as pastors to migrants.
4) Missionaries sent to non-Christian people.
We will see some of these groupings, though not all, in the first century of New Zealand Presbyterianism.
A story with some parallels, and some important differences, can be found in the stories of the Reformed churches in Asia and the Presbyterian Church of Malaysia (and Singapore). See the chapter on Presbyterianism in Malaysia http://www.schoolofministry.ac.nz/reformed/malaysia.htm which is also in the Reader.
Lesley Orr Macdonald's chapter on Women and the Foreign Missionary Movement is an important corrective, though it is a bit long.
Week 8 Discussion Question:
Identify a particular group of people of interest to you in the spread of Christianity in the 19th century and discuss why you think they were important.
John
John Roxborogh