Author : Dr. Norbert Friedrich
Publisher : Franz Steiner Verlag Wiesbaden GmbH
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 256 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (555 download)
Book Synopsis The Social Dimension of Christian Missions in the Middle East by : Dr. Norbert Friedrich
Download or read book The Social Dimension of Christian Missions in the Middle East written by Dr. Norbert Friedrich and published by Franz Steiner Verlag Wiesbaden GmbH. This book was released on 2010 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Christian missions in the Middle East were and still are a highly sensitive topic. For a number of academics, they have destroyed indigenous cultures and are nothing else than the religious wing of imperialism. A new development in historiography gives a different interpretation: Missions seem to have strongly contributed to the development of social work, healthcare, education, and science in certain regions of the world - sometimes even implementing basic social infrastructure that has been neglected by local rulers for decades or centuries. In particular, the missions in the Middle East have exhibited a strong "social dimension". Thus, one could even speak of a specific "trademark", for conversions hardly took place in the "house of Islam", and also among Jews during the 19th and 20th century. This volumne brings together some of the essential papers of a conference dealing with questions of cultural, religious and social history in this field of research. It contributes to the historiography of Christian missions, welfare organisations as well as of Christian Churches in the Middle East. The book challenges the predominantly eurocentric depiction of the history of Christianity by juxtaposing a transnational reading of Christian activism in the Orient.