Missionary Self-Perception and Meaning-Making in Cross-Cultural Mission
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Missionary Self-Perception and Meaning-Making in Cross-Cultural Mission

The purpose of this article is to outline the missionary self-perception that is mediated in meaningful stories about activities and experiences of Protestants while serving as missionaries abroad.

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Missionary Self in Cross-Cultural Mission
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Missionary Self in Cross-Cultural Mission

exc-5a23fbb6343a9bd737479e06 Religiously motivated missions are part of a long historical tradition in vari­ous world religions. Missions are usually regarded as undertakings to prop­ agate, spread and communicate religious beliefs, values…

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Acculturation of Missionaries – How Religious Orientations Affect Cultural Adjustment?
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Acculturation of Missionaries – How Religious Orientations Affect Cultural Adjustment?

Although it is evident that religiously motivated missions are part of a long historical tradition in various ‘world religions’ (e.g. Smith, 1991) in the course of which experiences of ‘cultural…

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Religious Self-Transformation and Faith Development of Protestant Missionaries
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Religious Self-Transformation and Faith Development of Protestant Missionaries

According to the “Status of Global Mission” (Bonk, 2011, p.29), widely considered as serious statistics of missionary population, in the year 2011 approximately 4,800 mission societies (“foreign-mission sending agencies”; line…

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Religion as Experience: On the Way to an Interpretive Psychology of Religion
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Religion as Experience: On the Way to an Interpretive Psychology of Religion

Another paper presenting an approach to interpretive cultural psychology of religion is finished. The underlying theoretical and methodological approach is located within a hermeneutical, interpretive framework of the psychology of…

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“Mission possible” – The Belief in the Power of the “Better Man”
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“Mission possible” – The Belief in the Power of the “Better Man”

Poster "Mission possible?" - The Belief in the Power of the Better "Man"
Abstract: This paper deals with the question of what experiences individuals do make, who aim for persuading and convincing others of their ‘own’ and how these experiences structure their everyday life and their self-image. To clarify this question a general and anthropological aspect of human being arises: the optimization and standardization of the human others under the provision of one’s own, which leads directly in the vibrant centre of modern societies in a globalized world. The idea of the ‘better man’ is best characterized by a variety of components, such as selfless service and charity to other, readiness to make sacrifices for fellow human being, self-flagellation, self-deception, and expediency of self-abandonment, which are necessary to one’s own task, especially to enforce a change, optimization, and equalization of other. Some of these strategies for alteration derive from previous theoretical considerations and reflexions on empirical research that has recently been accomplished: From the perspective of psychology of religion and culture, the current intercultural practice, the religious self and the meaning-making actions of contemporary Protestant missionaries have been investigated.As will be shown, missionary activity is rooted in both the process of the formation of experiences and the knowledge acquisition, in the course of which individuals ascertain oneself about their self by meanings and interpretations that are culture-specific and at the same time characterized by one’s own biography. Eventually, missionary activity is just one mode of a more general target-oriented human action, which aims at the improvement and perfection of other. The objective of the paper is at least twofold: both results of empirical research and new perspectives of methodological issues on inter- and transdisciplinary research in social, cultural, and religious sciences will be shown.

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Mission possible? Optimization of ‘Others’ in the Context of Missionary Strategies of Persuasion
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Mission possible? Optimization of ‘Others’ in the Context of Missionary Strategies of Persuasion

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In a series of publication projects I focus on the question of how optimization and standardization of ‘others’ and foreigners takes place (or is supposed to take place) in the context of missionary strategies of religious persuasion. Missionary goals are inseparably connected to the Christian imagination of ‘the renewed man’. This concept of man can be characterized best by a range of elements – like e.g. improvisation by cultural adjustment, self-abandonment, willingness to make sacrifices under the banner of selfless service to the neighbor, directive or non-directive persuasive communication, self-alteration of the ‘others’ by assertion of one’s own ‘self’ – that are required to accomplish one’s own aspirations to change and optimize the others.The described strategies of persuasion and change are findings of an empirical study about the intercultural practice of Protestant missionaries. Missionary action represents a mode of purpose and goal-oriented, intentional and strategic action aiming at the ‘improvement’ and ‘perfection’ of others. Finally, the findings and reflections should lead to a ‘prototypical’ abstraction, so that a special type of action can be conceived which aims at optimization and standardization of the humane.
Publications:

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Religious Self and Identity of German Protestant Missionaries
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Religious Self and Identity of German Protestant Missionaries

It seems obvious that the Christian religion is intrinsically intertwined with the missionary assignment and that the gradual and strategic alterations of the others initiated by missionaries are based on…

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Dr. Maik Arnold is Professor for Non-Profit-Management and Vice-President for Research, Innovation and Transfer at University of Applied Science Dresden.