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  • From: "David C. Hindley" <dhindley AT compuserve.com>
  • To: "Corpus-paul" <corpus-paul AT franklin.metalab.unc.edu>
  • Cc: <danhynes AT africamail.com>
  • Subject: RE: In search of wisdom
  • Date: Wed, 23 Oct 2002 08:48:54 -0400


Jürg Buchegger says:

>>Sure I do understand your point (especially in some US-context), but your
black/white classification of "evangelical-missionary" as non-critical, not
"knowing" (the proper use/existence?) of the (!) "historical-critical
method" etc.) worldview is an unfair clichee of yours. There is room to
disagree, but please try to interact with the strongest arguments of the
conservative-evangelical standpoint on Paul.<<

Of course I was speaking from a US standpoint, as here *most* missionary
oriented churches are conservative-evangelical and, *in general*, reject the
historical-critical method due to conflicts with statements of faith, such
as infallibility of scriptures and commonly held (and frequently also
recently - last 200 years - formed) concepts about key early church figures
and their history. Paul is generally regarded as the perfect archetype for
all missionaries, although this ignores the fact that the modern concept of
"missionaries" was only developed a couple hundred years ago and would be
foreign to someone like Paul.

I thought Dan Hynes was influenced by one of those romantic pictures of
"Paul the great missionary." Instead, I hold out Albert Schweitzer as the
example of the great missionary. However, keep in mind that Schweitzer had a
heck of a time getting any missionary society to sponsor him (European, as I
do not think he looked for a North American sponsoring society) primarily
because he was perceived as a liberal himself (ironically, moderate and
conservative evangelicals in the US now like to think of Schweitzer as the
man who uncovered, and consequently invalidated, the "folly" of the
liberals). In the end, Schweitzer contributed a great deal to African
missions in the capacity of a physician and spokesperson. Virtually all his
books are in print (except the one on Pauline criticism, although used
copies abound), covering his critical, missionary and musical contributions
to literature. I hope Dan will take the initiative and check a few out of
the library.

Respectfully,

Dave Hindley
Cleveland, Ohio, USA







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