Chapter 6: Expansion in the Premodern Era,

A.D.

30 –1500

The History of Mission

Chapter Outline

• • • • Introduction Mission before Christendom ( A.D.

30–313) Mission and Christendom ( A.D.

313–1500) Mission beyond Christendom ( A.D.

33–1500)

Mission before Christendom (

A.D.

30 –313)

• • • You Will Be My Witnesses Into All the World Troublemakers Everywhere

You Will Be My Witnesses

• • • Ordinary Christians composed the rank and file of witnesses.

Christians used every opportunity to share the good news. • • Since they met in homes for worship, evangelism took place in part through these “cell groups.” Other practices included open-air evangelism, visiting the sick, and caring for the needy.

Christians saw how the power of the Holy Spirit and the preaching of the gospel brought persons to faith. They also recognized the absolute necessity of prayer.

Into All the World

• • • By the year 180, Christians could be found in all the provinces of the empire.

Eusebius Pamphilus, a later church historian, said that • • • Mark first preached the gospel in Alexandria; John went to Ephesus; and Thomas and Andrew ventured east of the Mesopotamian river valley (Eusebius Pamphilus 1955, 65, 82).

Other influential witnesses included Pantaenus, who reportedly visited India (Mundadan 1989, 117).

Troublemakers Everywhere

• • Without legal recognition, Christians faced the danger of meeting together for worship without public sanction.

• • • Their close fellowship often sparked misunderstanding among neighbors who spread malicious rumors about them, such as sexual immorality, cannibalism, and even atheism, since people could not see their god (Bush 1983, 1–61).

Troublemakers Everywhere (cont.)

• Their actions also appeared hostile to traditional values. • • • Christians shunned public office because they refused to “pledge allegiance” to the emperor by throwing incense on an altar in honor of his divinity. Many, but not all, Christians were pacifists, often choosing to avoid military service because of the possiblity of having to kill. Not surprisingly, believers suffered during persecutions and sometimes died from torture or were torn to death by animals in coliseums, the sports arenas of the time.

Troublemakers Everywhere (cont.)

• Tertullian contended that “the blood of the martyrs was the seed of the church,” a comforting hope and frequently true, but one not always confirmed by history.

Mission and Christendom (

A.D.

313 –1500)

By the year 1500 the entire region from Europe to Russia had been Christianized. Though divided politically, the various territorial states had affirmed the Christian faith, boasted Christian rulers, and promoted Christian culture. Yet the outward “victory” of Christianity masked the persistent endurance of non-Christian practices that remained hidden from public view.

Mission and Christendom

• • • • • The Plow of Apostolic Preaching The Sword and the Cross Monks, Nuns, and Friars The Heresy of the Three Languages Applying the Faith

The Plow of Apostolic Preaching

• • • • Missionaries were sent by the church: • • Augustine of Canterbury in Britain Cyril and Methodius in Moravia Captured slaves sowed the gospel seed: • • Nino in Georgia (Caucasus) Patrick in Ireland Businessmen shared their faith: • Frumentius and Aedesius in Ethiopia Some returned from exile to homelands: • Gregory the Illuminator in Armenia

The Sword and the Cross

• • • There were many political conversions: • Clotilda’s marriage to Clovis of the Franks • Vladimir in Kiev Forced political conversions often produced merely verbal pledges to the faith.

East/West tensions culminated in 1054; the resulting split remains today.

Monks, Nuns, and Friars

• • • The work of monks and nuns proved to be exceptionally important in evangelization: • • Basil the Great Benedict of Nursia Monasteries or abbeys became training centers for missionaries: • • Columba in Iona Hilda the abbess of Whitby in England Some established monasteries in Europe as posts for outreach: • • Willibrord among the Frisians Ansgar in Denmark and Sweden

Monks, Nuns, and Friars (cont.)

• • The friars (brothers) in the thirteenth century brought new interest in traveling and preaching. They included the followers of • • Francis of Assisi, and Dominic.

Islam spreads: • • The church eventually responded through the carnage of the crusades. The legacy of bitter antagonism remains today.

Irish/ Celtic and British Missions to Europe, Sixth to Eighth Centuries

The Heresy of the Three Languages

• • Some church missionaries considered only three languages to be suitable for sacred purposes: Hebrew, Greek, and Latin.

Early translation work: • • • Ulfilas (Gothic) Cyril and Methodius (Slavonic) Stephen of Perm (Komi)

Orthodox Missions, Ninth to Eleventh Centuries

Applying the Faith

• Early Contextualization: • Use of icons • • Converting temples into churches Substituting Christian holidays for pagan ones

Mission beyond Christendom

• • • Thomas journeyed eastward, arriving on the Malabar coast of south India in A.D.

50.

The sixth-century Alexandrian merchant Cosmas the Indian Navigator discovered there were Christians in Sri Lanka.

Upon his return to Italy in 1295, Marco Polo, who had traveled to the court of the Mongol ruler Kublai Khan, described breathtaking adventures and unexpected encounters with Christians in far off China.

Mission beyond Christendom (

A.D.

33 –1500)

• • Syrian Christianity Divides Mission to Asia

Syrian Christianity Divides

• • Schisms with Greek and Latin Church over the human and divine natures of Christ Two major forms of Syrian Christianity developed: • • Monophysitism: the incarnate Christ had a single (divine) nature Nestorianism: Christ had two “persons” (human and divine)

Mission to Asia

• • • Syrian missionaries • • • • Monks trained in Mesopotamia and Persia Physicians Merchants who traveled widely along the Silk Road Examples • John of Resh-aina and Thomas the Tanner (Turkey) • Bishop Alopen (China) Roman Catholic missionaries • John of Montecorvino (China) Islamic expansion in the Middle East and North Africa

Nestorian Missions in Asia