Chapter 12: Strangers in Foreign Lands: Entering the Missionary Field

Religions of all varieties have sought to educate, civilize, and convert masses of others to their ways of life and worldviews. Wars have been initiated, in part, as a means to convert the vanquished to the victor’s religion. In the social role of soldier, individuals have forcefully spread their particular religion by subjecting others to their beliefs and rituals. In contrast, missionary work dates back thousands of years and involves (typically) a non-compulsory but highly goals-oriented complex relationships or way of relating between individuals, communities, and foreign and local systems of meaning. Individuals and groups working in missionary roles seek to convert and persuade (and potentially coerce) others to join their faith.