다시 평가해보는 19세기 서구 선교사

Re-thinking the Western missionaries in the 19th Century

what kind of persons were the missionaries in the 19th century? were they great missionaries from whom we can learn a lot of things? Or imperialists whom we should not follow? Largely by 1950s they were undoubtedly considered as dedicated and pious workers spreading the gospel whom we should imitate their virtues. Yet after 1950s there have appeared various negative assessments on them. People tend to put nicknames on them such as 'imperialists', 'people contaminated by orientalism', and 'denominationalists." In fact the missionaries in the 19th century sometimes, consciously or unconsciously, helped or co-operated imperialists, and in that sense they deserve that kind of negative evaluation. However, is not there anything that we can learn from them? Out of the two views what view is correct and more beneficial for today's mission? This article tries to evaluate the missionaries with a more holistic and objective view for today's mission. Missions in the 19th century were carried out with the backdrop of imperialism. Naturally the missionary activities could not but be affected by the imperialism. So it is true that they worked with the imperialists and helped them, whether they recognized it or not, However, it is not a fair to evaluate them only as imperialists. If this view is to be justified, it needs to have a proof that the deepest motivation and final goal of the missionaries' work were the same as those of the imperialists. But mostly the major reason and purpose that the missionaries went to their mission fields was different from those of the imperialists. As Preman Nills mentions, "While imperialists were concerned about gaining gold by exploiting the gentiles, the missionaries were filled with the desire to deliver the heavenly treasure to the gentiles." As all human-beings are generally in the limitation of their contemporary era, the missionaries in the 19th century were also in a similar boundary. So when we evaluate them, we need to consider their situation also. Furthermore, as David Bosch advises, we have to remember that there is a high possibility that our behavior could be worse than that of the missionaries, if we were in the same situation. We need to have a more balanced view to see both aspects of them. In other words we need to see not only their weak points but also their good aspects. Then we should do our best to learn and practice their zeal and limitless dedication for saving souls, and not to carry out what they wronged.