Popular Notions of the Missionary Task in a Post-Missionary Era

Abstract

This study considers how missionaries might change their host culture through their presence and influence by responding to the question: “Do missionaries destroy or preserve culture?” Three novels are explored for themes relevant to this important concern, including Death Comes for the Archbishop (1927), Things Fall Apart (1959), and The Poisonwood Bible (1998). Missionaries are viewed as ones who preserve culture by clarifying intercultural differences and making connections between cultures. Missionaries tend to disregard cultures by misunderstanding religious worldviews and associating the church with secular powers. Missionaries can be catalysts of the gospel message without dismantling the host culture.