Cultural Anthropology for Missions

CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY FOR MISSIONS
M.M.NINAN
with (Acts 17:16-34) ‘the unknown God”, a revelation in their own
culture. As the mission went on, Christian message has come to be
encoded fully in the Greco-Roman culture.
Since all European
cultures are closely associated with the Greco-Roman culture we
can fully understand the Christian message in the letters of Paul.
Some of these needed reinterpretation to the present generation
due to the wide gap which developed during the past 1900 years.
Now we come to a new land, into a totally different culture, we
need to re-learn many of those techniques. The Holy Spirit is
striving to establish principles today for an effective mission. But
there will be Judaism and Orthodoxy even today that wants to
maintain the form – ‘having a form of godliness, but denying its
power’ (1 Tim 3:5) . The technique is clearly described by Paul
again: “To the Jews I become like the Jew, to win the Jews. To
those under the law, I became like one under the law, like one not
having the law, so as to win those under the law. To the weak, I
became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all men
that by all possible means I might save some, I do all this for the
sake of the gospel that I may share in its blessings.” (1 Cor 9:19-23)
Cross cultural Struggles of Paul
Corinthian Church - Fight against the liberals
Sex : 1 cor 6 12—
Marriage: 1 Cor 7
Food sacrificed to idols: 1 Cor 8
Idol feasts 1 Cor 10:14
Market meat: 1 cor 10 23
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