Positioning Missionaries in Development Studies, Policy, and Practice

Jonathan D. Smith

World Development, 2017, vol. 90, issue C, 63-76

Abstract: This article diagnoses major causes of the uncomfortable relationship between missionaries and development scholars and practitioners, and it proposes new ways to clarify the relationship through shared reflection on sacred influences that shape global development. In the past fifteen years the turn to religion in development studies has altered how development scholars and practitioners perceive religious actors, opening up possibilities for renewed partnership. Yet the turn to religion in development has mostly disregarded missionaries. This oversight is partly due to the complicated historical relationship between Western Christian missionaries and development workers. Although missionaries have long participated in the work of development, present-day missionaries remain associated with coercive proselytization, or they are overlooked in literature on religion and development.

Keywords: religion; faith-based organizations; typologies; postsecular; missionaries; sociology of the sacred (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:wdevel:v:90:y:2017:i:c:p:63-76

DOI: 10.1016/j.worlddev.2016.08.016

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