에딘버러 선교대회와 이슬람 선교

The Edinburgh World Missionary Conference and Islam Mission

In the past mission history before the Edinburgh World Missionary Conference (1910), Protestant Christian mission to Muslims denied the hope of salvation to anyone outside of Christian faith. The books dealing with Islam in missionary circles at this period were written mainly for helping foster the work of conversion, of proving the superiority of Christianity compared with Islam. To face the great mission challenges in the twentieth century which has been the increasing necessity of dealing theologically with non-Christian religions and the growing tensions between the emphasis on witness and the impetus to dialogue, the Edinburgh Conference was to come as the first conference among a number of world mission conferences. Among the major issues the conference faced was the relationship of the Christian missionary message to Islam. Through the field survey, it became evident that less appreciation of Islam was reported than other religious traditions, although missionaries in the field expressed that Muslim are to be treated with respect. It is noteworthy, however, that these responses reflected for the first time minimum of condemnation of Islam. While the forerunners of the more tolerant attitude toward Islam were a few after the Edinburgh, gradually the 20th century has shown a change from early predictions of the imminent refusal of Islam to a greater appreciation for Islam. Especially, during the last two decades, the emergence of contextualized approach in Islam mission is remarkable. Although a clear tension still exists between dialogue and witness, the emphasis on the balance between two should be kept very carefully in the process of this discussion. Furthermore, as the report of commission 3 concluded, living faith and living theology in Christ should be developed with passion to Christ's great commission. It is because the true success of all missionary enterprises will depend on these.