This paper introduces the theme of this special issue of Missiology by reviewing the history of the love/hate relationships between Christian missionaries and anthropologists, and by examining how twentieth-century missionaries have been forces for both helping and hindering social justice. The author reviews here his own personal struggles of how—as a lay missionary for 25 years—he learned the hard way what human rights means to Filipino tribal peoples. The paper concludes with an appeal to both anthropologists and missionaries to cooperate in working for the human rights of all ethnic peoples.
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