Into the Wild: Early Modern Protestant Missionaries and Their Views on Animals

David Onnekink
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引用次数: 1

Abstract

Christianity and the environment have a tense relationship. Although in recent years an eco-theology of stewardship has taken flight, according to theologians as well as philosophers the historical track record of Christians with regard to nature in general and animals in particular leaves much to be desired. However, this view has never been empirically tested. In this article three early modern accounts of Protestant missionaries who lived in Greenland, New Netherland (North America) and Ceylon (Sri Lanka) are analysed in order to uncover attitudes towards animals. The accounts describe local fauna, reflect upon the way in which animals are treated and discuss ‘pagan’ attitudes towards animals. The concepts of tropicality and arcticality are used to help to frame the missionaries’ views on animals in terms of othering non-European fauna. The article concludes that the critique of Christianity’s track record is essentially justified, but also that it was more nuanced and complex than has hitherto been thought. As such, the early modern missionary accounts’ focus on wildlife may well serve as a source of inspiration for present-day missionary organizations.
进入野外:早期现代新教传教士和他们对动物的看法
基督教和环境有着紧张的关系。尽管近年来,一种关于管理的生态神学已经盛行,但根据神学家和哲学家的说法,基督徒对自然,特别是动物的历史记录仍有很多需要改进的地方。然而,这一观点从未经过实证检验。本文分析了生活在格陵兰岛、新荷兰(北美)和锡兰(斯里兰卡)的新教传教士的三个早期现代记录,以揭示他们对动物的态度。这些描述描述了当地的动物,反映了动物被对待的方式,并讨论了“异教徒”对动物的态度。热带和北极的概念被用来帮助建立传教士对其他非欧洲动物的看法。这篇文章的结论是,对基督教历史的批评基本上是合理的,但它比迄今为止所认为的更加微妙和复杂。因此,早期现代传教士对野生动物的关注很可能成为当今传教组织的灵感来源。
本文章由计算机程序翻译,如有差异,请以英文原文为准。
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