This dissertation argues that development has failed in fulfilling one of the primary tasks that it set for itself as an expression of Christian mission. Christian development failed to resolve the crisis in Christian foreign mission that emerged in the first half of the twentieth century as Christians became increasingly concerned with the colonial legacy of Christianity. By the end of World War II, the age of Christian foreign missions seemed to be ending for many Christians. In response to this crisis, Christian development gave new life and new theological justification for Christian foreign missions. By offering a critical history of the emergence and maturation of Christian development, this dissertation traces the attempts to resolve this crisis in Christian mission and shows how these attempts went astray as development increasingly involved Christians in precisely those sorts of missionary activities that constituted the original crisis. Yet, Christians were right to identify a crisis in Christian mission that stems from the colonial legacy of Christian mission, and this insight should retain its critical function in the current expression of Christian mission as development.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:VANDERBILT/oai:VANDERBILTETD:etd-11162009-214430 |
| Date | 02 December 2009 |
| Creators | York-Simmons, Kevin Norman |
| Contributors | Professor C. Melissa Snarr, Professor Fernando Segovia, Professor Ted Smith, Professor Victor Anderson |
| Publisher | VANDERBILT |
| Source Sets | Vanderbilt University Theses |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://etd.library.vanderbilt.edu//available/etd-11162009-214430/ |
| Rights | unrestricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached hereto a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to Vanderbilt University or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report. |
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