선교현장 이해를 위한 민족지 고찰

Abstract

This study aims to consider the importance of the ethnography, a branch of the cultural anthropology, to understand cultures of mission fields. Ethnography is one of the qualitative methods to survey and research directly in the field the cultures, traditions, and languages etc. which a people has kept throughout the history. Applicating ethnography to mission is important because understanding cultures of mission fields is necessary to the missionaries and thorough preliminary investigation would prevent cultural clash. Moreover, it is not too much to say that in the cyber age of 21st century with radical cultural transformation we are facing a call to establish mission strategies for the future by enlarging and changing the range of the study of ethnography in accordance with the fourth industrial revolution. Regrettably, Christianity in the past has transmitted the gospel with Western imperialistic colonialism. But in the process of missionary works done without any preunderstanding of mission fields, the arrogance of Western missionaries regarding cultures of the fields as to be uncivilized not only blocked settlement of the gospel but also resulted in spoiling the Christian faith on the one hand. On the other hand, uncritical ‘acceptance’ respecting the cultures immoderately has brought about Missiological issues such as syncretism and pluralism. For these trends cultural anthropologist Paul G. Hiebert has advised there should be an effort to combine wisely traditions of the fields and the christian ones by ‘critical contextualization’. And then many christian missionaries have attempted constantly to applicate christian traditions as well as traditions of the fields through understandings of the fields. Whereas Korean church send secondly largest number of missionaries overseas today, their works do not bear contentable fruits compared to the number. This may be ascribed mainly to the lack of the study of ethnography. Korean missionaries tend to choose their fields either referring to prayer and so called revelation arbitrarily, or depending on poor experience of short term vision trips. Western mission agencies, however, usually select tactic field and dispatch a specialist in research at first, who try to understand cultural traditions and find best mission strategies for the field living there with natives about a year, and then send a missionary. In this sense, the study of ethnography shall be applied actively to the missionary sending system of the Korean church, and suggested to reduce trial and errors of missionaries. This study examines at first hand the importance of understanding other cultures, examples of the study of ethnography, and missionaries applying it, and then seek to find out mission strategies which can be established through ethnographical researches. Mission demands suitable ‘strategy’. From non-evangelized people who has nver heard the good news to human race of 21st century who would refuse gospel including the non-evangelized, the target of our mission is not only comprehensive but vast. Korean church has to remind that while her mission would be more systematic and rich with the study of ethnography its efficiency maybe increased accordingly.