| No. 45 | [ Home Page ] [ Index ] | March/April 1996 |
New Commentary
An historic church reemerges with new vision
His Holiness Karekin I, the new Catholicos of All The Armenians, was interviewed recently. Here are some of his comments, translated into English: "When I was elected and enthroned as Catholicosof All The Armenians, I felt it in my bones that my task was to initiate, with the help of our clergy and lay people here in Armenia and in the Dihtmlora, a process of organized and programmed action for the re-Christianization of our own country. That Christian faith in the minds and lives of the people must be nurtured by education. That means transmitting to the people the true meaning of principles proclaimed by Christ in his gospel and adopted by our fathers. Now it is the time to re-energize, to reactivate that church in the day to day lives of our own people...We have teachers whom the church sends to the schools to teach the Christian faith. The church can do much work by organizing courses for university students, for parents, and for young couples, to give them the true instruction in the Christian faith."
The Armenian Apostolic Church has recently opened two new churches in St. Petersburg, two others in the Ukraine, and has an active, evangelizing vicar in the south of Russia. A church has recently been rebuilt and consecrated in Samarkand; a renewal movement has started there. In Armenia, church and state are separate, as in the USA (AGBU, December 1995:13). Armenian Christians have made a significant, and largely unrecognized, contribution to world evangelization.
Patience and knowledge
Sometimes research takes a very long time. Jane Goodall's 35-year study of chimpanzees produced important, new, unexpected discoveries nearly every year, things that would have been missed had her work ended earlier. When she began in 1960 she was warned by Louis Leakey that her proposal might require 10 years. She laughed at the idea, thinking it could be completed in three years. A shorter study would have left the world not only with missing knowledge, but with severe misconceptions. For example, Goodall said, "Had my colleagues and I stopped after ten years, we would have been left with the impression that chimpanzees are far more peaceable than humans." In the fourteenth year of the study began the "four-year war," resulting in many chimpanzee deaths. Inter-community violence between bands of primates had never been observed before (National geographic, December 1995:110). Similar principles apply to Christian research. If research is always restricted to short-term studies, or one-time snapshot statistical portraits, the resulting picture will likely be not only incomplete but misleading. Christian researchers, and those who learn from their work, must insist on patience.
New Martyrs
Rwandan Christian martyrs: tens of thousands
In one of the most horrible eruptions of violence in our century, 500,000 Rwandans were killed from April to June of 1994. Mostof the murderers were Hutu militia, and almost all of the victims were Tutsi civilians. A large number of those killed can be countedas Christian martyrs. This has been confirmed by an extensive, carefully-researched report, "Rwanda: death, despair and defiance," released by the London-based human rights group, African Rights. "More Rwandans died in Catholic and Protestant church and parish buildings than anywhere else during the killing frenzy." This was not merely because all kinds of people fled to church properties. Priests, pastors, nuns, lay church staff, and seminarians were special targets. The killers deliberately desecrated church buildings, another sign of their severe anti-Christian hostility. As the report stated, "Many of Rwanda's finest priests and nuns died... [The killers attacked] the moral and spiritual fabric of the community. The aim was annihilation." The report praised the moral courage of many priests, pastors, and nuns who stood against the genocide. Some Christian leaders hid the hunted, cared for the wounded, fed the hungry, and confronted the authorities. Others did not. The report exposes church leaders who could have played a stronger role in stopping the killing, but remained silent. And at the worst of it, some clerics and nuns actively participated in the killing of Tutsis (Christian century, 8 November 1995:1041-1042).
In Sudan the civil war, including the tactic of deliberate starvation, has caused 1.3 million deaths, mainly among Christians in the South (Time, 10 April 1995:46).
New Analysis
China's missing girls
China's one-child per family policy combined with a traditiona lpreference for boys has resulted in an imbalance of boys born.In a normal situation about 105 boys are born for every 100 girls(a natural imbalance that compensates for higher male mortality).In China as a whole there are 113.8 boys reported at birth forevery 100 girls. In some provinces it is as high as 115. The unaccounted for 10% of baby girls are victims of a combination of sex-selective abortion, abandonment, infanticide, and underreporting (Population today, Feb 1996:4-5).
The question for both church leaders and missionaries in China is "What role will the church play in helping to right this injustice_" Ironically, women in China represent a disproportionally high share of the Christian church, especially in rural areas. They also carry a heavy load of responsibility working a "double day"óputting in a full day at paid jobs and coming home to near total responsibility for household and child-care tasks.
New Editorial
Evangelization through Christian carpets_
by E. Michael J.
Volkmar Gantzhorn, scholar, artist, and art historian, set outto research and write a new definitive, authoritative, and comprehensive history of oriental carpets, especially of their patterns and symbols. The result is his large and lavishly illustrated The Christian oriental carpet: a presentation of its development, iconologically and iconographically, from its beginnings to the18th century (Köln, Germany: Benedikt Taschen, 1991, 532p).His research far exceeded all prior investigations into this topic. Gantzhorn visited every relevant museum and private collection of importance in the world and amassed the most extensive annotated photographic collection of oriental carpets ever compiled. To this he added extensive research into related artistic, architectural, and literary works. Gantzhorn's scholarly process not only produced some startling discoveries but also, as can happen with such aproject, turned upside-down many of the most widely-accepted theories in the field.
It had long been known that some oriental carpets were Christian,but they were considered to be the minority in a field of art and craftsmanship developed and dominated by Muslims. Gantzhorn discovered the opposite was in fact the case. The first textiles which we now call "oriental carpets" were not from Central Asia but were produced in the Armenian highlands long before the birth of Islam. Oriental carpets were developed and made almost exclusively by Christians, most of them Armenian, from the very beginning until the 18th century. Gantzhorn began his study with the expectation that the title of the resulting book would be The oriental carpet. But his central finding, thatoriental carpets have been, for the most part, Christian, forced him to insert the word "Christian" into the book's title.
Gantzhorn proved that sites in Persia, Central Asia, Egypt, and elsewhere known as carpet-producing centers were key nodes in the ancient and international web of the Armenian dihtmlora. Muslim lords and conquerors often moved entire Armenian craftsman communities intact, to serve their own urban centers and capitals. And these craftsmen continued through generations to produce carpets with centuries-old patterns and symbols that spoke of Christian truth.
Gantzhornís extensively-attested and illustrated catalog of these meaningful symbols is vast. It includes the cross, crosses with emanating symbols of light, the use of red as the color of Christ, the S-symbol for God from the Armenian alphabet, the Armenian E-shape for the Almighty, the tree of life, the "fiat lux"symbol (God as Creator), an anagram of the Armenian word "Jesus"in the shape of a lion, Greek crosses, and the "Gloriacrucis." Many of the symbols, borders, and patterns appear also on Armenian codices and other biblical and sacred manuscripts. Some appear on Armenian architecture, notably in the elaborate interior ornamentation of the Armenian cathedral of New Julfa, near Isfahan, Persia.
Some relatively common symbols and design elements that prior scholars in the field had explained as from non-Christian origin Gantzhorn proves convincingly to be Christian. Examples include: the "Turkish" or "Moorish" star patternswhich are in fact modified crosses, the "Chinese dragon carpets" which are in fact based more on Armenian S-shapes(symbol for God), and "Muslim" hanging lamps in arch-forms that are in fact Christian (Christians used such lamps in churcheslong before they appeared in mosques).
This study proves oriental carpets to be distinctively Christianartifacts not only in their symbols and patterns, but also intheir uses, which until recently have been liturgical and connectedwith kings and rulers. This is illustrated in the large numberof paintings and other works of art, reproduced in the book, fromthe earliest centuries through the 18th century, that show Christianoriental carpets exclusively on Christian altars, before Christianaltars, and before or under thrones. They are symbols of spiritualand temporal power.
One particularly fascinating finding has to do with the use ofdistinctively Christian carpets by the Mongols who ruled Chinaand much of Asia in the 13th and 14th centuries. Mongol art reproducedin the book clearly shows carpets with crosses and other distinctChristian symbols used by Mongol khans and rulers in the 13thcentury. There is nothing about these carpets that could characterizethem as anything but Christian. Gantzhorn notes that Genghis Khaníshead wife was a Nestorian Christian Kereit, Kublai Khanísvery influential and powerful mother was a Christian, and otherChristians held high positions in the Mongol empire. Their carpetswere symbols both of their high rank and of their faith. Thishad wide-ranging impact, as Gantzhorn notes: "As a resultof the great spread of the Christian faith in Asia during themiddle of the 13th century, we find carpets exhibiting Christianornamentation even in China during the Sung period, and from thenon also in the paintings from the time of the Il-Khans and Timuridswho followed."
Before this new definitive study, oriental carpets were generallythought of as connected with the Muslim world and Muslim culture.This book and its startling discoveries suggests a list of fascinatingquestions and possibilities. Were Christian carpets, with theirsymbols, a means of Christian witness in the Middle East, Persia,North Africa, Central Asia, and even China, from the 9th throughthe 18th centuries_ Did these lands and peoples, through thesebeautiful carpets and their Christian artisans, hear more aboutthe Christian faith than we have earlier thought_ (One instructiveclue: some older Christian carpets that were later owned by Muslimshave crosses and cross-stars deliberately defaced). Do these Christianoriental carpets represent a sustained, significant wave of Christianwitness in World A that has not been recognized before_ And finally,does Armenian Christianity, with its distinctive artistic, iconographic,and cultural forms and expressions, offer a special gateway tothe evangelization of Central Asia, Iran, and other parts of theMuslim world_
On the purpose of art
"Art is the gift of God, and must be used unto His Glory"
óHenry Wadsworth Longfellow
New Events
The resurgence of Buddhism in Mongolia
Renewing a link that stretches back at least to the 16th century,Tibetan Buddhists are helping with the revival of Buddhism inMongolia after years of destruction. Experts estimate that morelamas were martyred in Mongolia under strongman marshal HorloogiynChoybalsan in the late 1930s than in Tibet during the CulturalRevolution. The slaughter in Mongolia was ordered by Soviet dictatorJoseph Stalin. At one point 60,000 lamas were shot as part ofan attempt to destroy Buddhism in Mongolia and erase its influenceon national life. Now, thanks to the fall of communism and withthe help of Tibetan Buddhists, temples are being rebuilt, monasteriesare returning to life, and priests are being trained. The DalaiLama, spiritual head of Tibetan Buddhism, is playing a centralrole. He has quietly visited Mongolia several times since 1980.His visit in August 1995 was much more visible, and included publicreligious rites with huge crowds. The Dalai Lama initiated thousandsof Mongolian Buddhists into the Kalachakra, a high level of religiousmembership and practice. It is a significant sign of todayísgovernment attitudes that such events were allowed to be organizedby the Mongolian Buddhism Association (Asiaweek, 22 September1995:46-49).
"Confessing Movement" growing
In April of 1995, 900 church members of the USA United MethodistChurch met in Atlanta and declared that the denomination "suffersfrom private versions of the faith that do not find their rootin scripture" and that their church is "now incapableof confessing with one voice of integrity the orthodox trinitarianfaith." This was a major event for the "ConfessingMovement" that had been organized a year before. This movementis often identified with the "paleo-orthodoxy" ofUnited Methodist theologian Thomas Oden, who is active in it.Many disillusioned British Methodists are showing great interestin what has happened in the USA, and are starting to take actiontoward organizing in a similar way (Christian century, 25 October1995:984).
New Trends
Population growth and extinction of species
Population growth is a cause of worldwide biodiversity loss accordingto the Global Biodiversity Assessment, a report prepared by 1,500experts and published by UNEP (United Nations Environment Programme).Accelerating demands on resources, economic development, and overconsumptionare some of the factors behind a threefold increase in extinctionssince 1810 (shortly before the world reached 1 billion in population),compared to the period 1600 to 1810.
According to the report, biodiversity loss jeopardizes suppliesof food, wood, medicine, and energy, as well as decimating theecology (reported in Population today, Feb 1996:8). This trendshould be disturbing to Christians, and particularly to WorldA advocates, because most of the least-evangelized world standsto lose their few remaining resources as a result.
New Global Plans
Global plan slogans and mottos
The history of global plans to evangelize the world was presentedin Barrett and Reapsomeís Seven hundred plans to evangelizethe world: the rise of a global evangelization movement (New Hope,1988). (Copies are available for a limited time at the specialpostpaid price of $5.00. Send a check made out to "GEM"to the address on page 2). Our statistical table in the January1996 issue of the International bulletin of missionary research,page 25, shows that by mid-1996 the number of global plans isexpected to reach 1,190 (and on to 3,000 by AD 2025!). Many ofthese plans have made use of succinct slogans packed full of meaning.Below is a selection of some of the more prominent ones:
The one troubling feature of all these slogans is that they allcontained a solemn and sacred promise to the worldís populationat that time, but that the promises were all broken for the vastmajority alive then. The promise was: "to bring to youduring your lifetime the life-giving Good News about Jesus Christand His salvation, which we believe is essential to your eternalwelfare."
With each slogan, enthusiasm subsided within 10 years, the planfizzled out within 20, and the promise became completely forgottenwithin 30 as that generation died off, unsaved and unevangelized.No Christian leader of those plans has ever been on record asapologizing or even acknowledging that the solemn promise wasbroken.
New People Profiles
When first we set eyes on the Buginese, we see a lively and attractivegroup of young people, interested, interesting, friendly. Butthe caption then tells us they are part of todayís 1.1billion persons who have never once heard the name of Jesus fromany of the worldís 1.9 billion Christians. Faced with thislapse of obedience on the part of Christís followers, the10 slogans above sound hollow and hypocritical. The purpose ofthis profile is to indicate what resources are now available tohelp Christians to honor their promises.
New Books
Recent titles with bearing on our monitoring purpose
Population, consumption, and the environment: religious andsecular responses edited by Harold Coward (State Universityof New York Press, 1995, 319p, $18.95) examines how differentreligious traditions view the problems of overpopulation and excessresource consumption.
Future libraries, R. Howard Bloch and Carla Hesse, eds.(University of California Press, 1995, $40/$16), is a collectionof essays pertinent to Christian missionary research.
Loaded with important factual information, The liberating gospelin China: the Christian faith among China's minority peoplesby Ralph Covell (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Books, 1995, 318p)ends with a significant missiological chapter, "Why didsome receive and others refuse the liberating gospel_"
Why teams don't work: what went wrong and how to make it rightby Harvey Robbins and Michael Finley (Princeton, New Jersey:Peterson's/Pacesetter Books, 1995, 224p, $21.95) is a practicaland insightful book with much to offer to both healthy and unhealthymissionary teams.
Exploring the territory at the intersection of global geographyand psychology, Simon Schama has written the fascinating Landscapeand memory (Toronto: Random House, 1995).
Lords of the rim: the invisible empire of the overseas Chineseby Sterling Seagrave (New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1995,354p, $27.50) is a thorough and readable history that sheds lighton many nations, especially in east Asia.
The noted French historian Jean Lacouture has written a well-researchedhistory of a major mission force in Jesuits: a multibiography(Washington, D.C.: Counterpoint, 1991 French, 1995 Englishtranslation by Jeremy Leggatt, 550p, $29.50).
Francis Fukuyama, author of The end of history, has producedanother ground-breaking essay, which studies the relation betweenmacroeconomics and the varying major human cultures of the world,in Trust: the social virtues and the creation of prosperity(New York: Free Press, 1995, 457p, $25).
Biblical scholar Richard Elliott Friedman combines a unique, liberalinterpretation of the Bible with a creative study of the historyof religion in the Western world and thoughts on the relationbetween Christianity and science in The disappearance of God:a divine mystery (Boston: Little, Brown & Co., 1995, 335p,$24.95).
Substantial articles on many World A countries appear in TheOxford encyclopedia of the modern Islamic world, 4 vols.,John Esposito, ed. (New York: Oxford University Press, 1995, $395).
Global perspectives on health care by Eugene B. Gallagherand Janardan Subedi (Prentice Hall, 1995, 370p, $29.40) exploresglobal strategies for dealing with regional and national healthcare problems.
Joel E. Cohen's book How many people can the earth support_(W.W. Norton, 1996) confronts a dizzying range of estimates (from1 billion to 1 trillion) and the more basic question of "Whatdo people want from life_"
Ted Trainer advocates a change in the structure and scale of economicorganization in The conserver society: alternatives for sustainability(Zed Books, 1995, 246p, $19.95).
The United Nations publication The world's women: trends andstatistics (1995, $15.95) is now in a second edition coveringthe welfare of women globally.
Monitoring the world economy, 1820-1992 by Angus Maddison(Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development, 1995,255p, $30.00) contains a wealth of data for the entire 172-yearperiod, dividing it into five phases of economic growth.
Going against the postmodern grain, Jonathan H. Turner theorizesabout macrostructural properties of human societies in Macrodynamics:toward a theory on the organization of human populations (Rutgers,1995, 242p, $50.00).
Central Asia watchers will benefit from studying Muslim Eurasia:conflicting legacies edited by Yaacov Roíi (Frank CassPublishers, 1995, 330 p, $25.00 pb).
Counterworks: managing the diversity of knowledge editedby Richard Fardon (Routledge, 1995, 240p, $18.95) discusses howglobal processes affect local cultures with examples from Bolivia,Cuba, Greece, and other countries.
Forms and meanings: texts, performances and audiences fromcodex to computer by Roger Chartier (University of Pennsylvania,1995, 128p, $12.95) considers how the different ways a text istransmitted shape its meaning and define its audience. Recommendedreading for those interested in communicating the gospel effectively.
For a liberal view of the renewal of Christianity see StephenGlauz-Todrankís Transforming Christianity: 10 pathwaysto a new reformation (Crossroad, 1995, 132p, $14.95). The10 pathways are: from exclusivistic to pluralistic, from hierarchicalto democratic, from God above to God within, from doctrinal tointuitional, from sin-based to love-based, from body-denying tobody-affirming, from enfranchised to ecological, from schismaticto unifying, and from a religion about Jesus to a religion ofJesus.
The rise of Christianity: a sociologist reconsiders historyby Rodney Stark (Princeton University Press, 1996, 288p, $24.95)brings the tools of quantitative and qualitative sociology tobear to explain the success of early Christianity.
Good news on intelligence. Daniel Golemanís Emotionalintelligence (Bantam Books, 1995, 352p, $23.95) argues thata crucial range of abilities such as self-awareness, impulse control,persistence, zeal, self-motivation, empathy, and social deftnessdefine a different way of being smart than current IQ tests.
Electronic technology, corporate strategy, and world transformationby Maurice Estabrooks (Quorum Books, 1995, 288p, $59.95) describestransformations taking place in business and the world economythrough the application of electronic technologies.
Look for the new four-volume Encyclopedia of cultural anthropologyedited by David Levinson and Melvin Ember (Henry Holt, 1996, 2,000p,$395.00). This single-source reference brings together the workof 310 of the worldís most respected authorities, coveringvirtually every htmlect of this important field of study.
For the probable drastic effects of postmodernism on the futureof science see John Horganís The end of science: facingthe limits of knowledge in the twilight of the scientific age(Addison-Wesley, 1996, $25.00).
Library journal says that The mosque edited by Martin Frishmanand Hasan-Uddin Khan (Thames and Hudson, 1996, 365 illustrations,$50.00) does "an exemplary job of presenting and illuminatingthe belief system of Islam...highly recommended."
Mongolia: the legacy of Chinggis Khan edited by MorrisRossabi (Thames and Hudson, 1996, 310 illustrations, $60.00) providesa visual survey of this little known culture.
New Statistics
Items from various countries
| North America | 19,000,000 |
| Europe | 6,400,000 |
| Asia | 920,000 |
| C. & S. America | 107,000 |
| 88% of born-again Christians have heard of spiritual gifts. |
| 39% of them also can identify a spiritual gift they believe they possess. |
| 75% have heard of the gift of tongues or of speaking in tongues. |
| 7% say they have spoken in tongues. |
World Evangelization Statistical Monitor
How are Christians expanding their spending for the cause of worldevangelization_ The analysis below is derived from our new annualtable from the January 1996 issue of the IBMR, p. 25. All figuresare average annual rates of increase, covering 1970-1996.
| growth rate | |
| Personal income of church members | 3.91% |
| Personal income of Pentecostals/Charismatics | 8.53% |
| Giving to all Christian causes | 3.98% |
| Churchesí income | 2.46% |
| Parachurch and institutional income | 6.39% |
| Ecclesiastical crime | 33.75% |
| Income of global foreign missions | 4.94% |
| Computers in Christian use | 60.12% |
New Technologies
New information on World A delivered via e-mail
In January 1996 GEM launched a new publication, The Monday MorningReality Check, which delivers free weekly information on WorldA and world evangelization via e-mail every Monday.
QuickQuote
Todayís Christian workforce
"We talk in hesitating tones of the possibility of seeing a million converts now; but those who fill our places a centuryhence will look out upon a scene where not a million converts,but a million workers, appear."
óBishop J. M. Thoburn, India, 1895