Tag / education

by daviddawson462742281

The Need for Qualitative Missions Research

I was privileged to receive my foundational missionary and theological training in the U.S. in the 1990s. My initial training was in Youth With a Mission, and then I went to study at Life Pacific Bible College, although I didn’t complete my studies there. I also sat under the teaching ministry of several excellent churches of the denominations Foursquare, Assemblies of God, and Calvary Chapel. In these contexts, I received much invaluable head and heart knowledge, mostly of Biblical studies, Theology, and church / missions history. While thankful for this, looking back today I perceive a lack of social science training in the models of ministry education I received. 

The social sciences include fields such as sociology, psychology, anthropology, economics, and political science. As a missionary today, I feel that someone with this vocation could do very well to invest in these fields as a core aspect of cross-cultural Christian service. Interestingly, both the fields of anthropology and missiology have suffered in recent decades due to questions of the validity of outsider interference in indigenous cultures. Missionaries have consistently argued that such outsider interference in indigenous societies is inevitable. Whether religiously motivated or not, social science professionals can help the interaction of cultures to produce fruitful results versus harmful ones. 

When most people think of research, they likely conceptualize quantitative research, which is focused on measuring quantifiable data such as numbers, statistics, and trends. Much vital quantitative research has been done by missionaries to determine areas of need and opportunity in contexts varying from urban metropolises to remote villages. Less understood by most is qualitative research, which seeks to understand meaning through translation, description, and thematic analysis (Tisdell et al., 2025, p. 19). In quantitative research the primary instruments are non-human technological ones that do mathematical and statistical analysis. But in qualitative research the researcher is the primary instrument. The qualitative researcher’s focus is on participants of some social phenomena (Tisdell et al., p. 20-21). The goal is to discover and understand a human cultural phenomenon such as experiences and perspectives (Ellis & Hart, 2023, p. 1760). Qualitative research seeks to produce detailed descriptions of individuals’ experiences as they understand them, articulated in their own words (Chenail et al., 2011; Daniel 2019). 

In the 2010’s I began doing social science research in Brazil using data from local academic journals and scholarly publications. This was when I was doing my MA in Global Leadership at Fuller Seminary. But my approach to research at that time still focused entirely on texts rather than interactions with real people. During my doctoral studies which began three years ago, I have developed a passion for qualitative research. As a missionary, I have access to so many people with important experiences and perspectives that could benefit the church and missions efforts. People are often wary of sharing their experiences in fear of being exposed or misinterpreted in harmful ways. Most anthropologists extended field work consists of several months to a few years. But missionaries can develop rapport with communities through decades of engagement. In this way, missionaries can gain access to data unavailable to secular sociologists and anthropologists. 

Description is not the only way qualitative research can be used, it can also aim to prove theory or to give voice to marginalized communities. Qualitative research can be used to promote justice and denounce inequality. We live in a time where many missions organizations face a crisis of purpose due to pluralism and cultural relativism. Engaging in the social sciences is a way that Christian doing cross-cultural service can make significant contributions. Missionaries can raise awareness of the needs of underserved communities by investigating their experiences and perspectives. In a time where missions work is seen as a holdover from Western colonial exploitation, qualitative research is a way for Christians to demonstrate our love and respect for human cultures. Just as Jesus’ incarnation demonstrates God’s open attitude towards human culture, of all people missionaries should have the greatest intercultural curiosity. And just as Scripture commands us to love the Lord with all our minds, surely there are those who will be called to contribute significantly to social science research. If a missions culture emerges that values such endeavors, perhaps we will see a generation arise such as that of Daniel. I pray that servants of God will show themselves to increasingly be of exceptional excellence in intercultural research. Would that this be done to the glory of the Creator from whom all cultural creativity and value flows. 

References

Chenail, R. J., Duffy, M., St. George, S., & Wulff, D. (2011). Facilitating coherence across

qualitative research papers. The Qualitative Report, 16(1), 263. https://doi.org/10.46743/2160-3715/2011.1052

Daniel, B. K. (2019). Using the TACT framework to learn the principles of rigour in qualitative

research. Electronic Journal of Business Research Methods, 17(3), 118

Ellis, J. L., & Hart, D. L. (2023). Strengthening the Choice for a Generic Qualitative Research Design. The Qualitative Repor, 28(6), 1760

Tisdell, E.J., Merriam, S.B. & Stuckey-Peyrot, H.L. (2025). Qualitative research: A guide to design and implementation (5th ed.). Jossey-Bass. ISBN: 978-1394266456.

by daviddawson462742281

Do Traditional Cultures Still Exist?

Cliggett’s Intent and Purpose in Writing Grains from Grass

            Lisa Cliggett’s Grains from Grass (2005) studies the Tonga people of the Gwembe Valley in Southern Zambia. Her findings can speak to Western readers who are disillusioned with the individualism of their own societies. This disappointment motivates many Westerners to search for cultures that still honor the sacredness of the family (p. 1). But Cliggett disabuses Western readers of such a stereotype in her study of the Tonga people. In this community, diverse systems of collaboration, generosity, and charity exist based not primarily on “moral duty or altruistic sentiments” but on “necessity in the face of limited choices”. Of particular interest to this research is the relevance of gender-specific survival modes. Cliggett explores family dynamics related to survival in economically vulnerable communities. She discovers the significance of kinship networks for combating poverty and injustice. Cliggett’s understanding of vulnerability considers differences in access and control of resources among different members of Tonga society. Her findings correct simplistic notions regarding impoverished nations, let alone a continent such as Africa (Cliggett, 2005, p. 2-19). 

            Cliggett (2005) investigates the ways that older women and men in the Gwembe Valley interact with a relational world acutely affected by scarcity of resources (p. 22). And this research explores the ways family and community provide for or ignore the needs of elderly women and men in ways not obvious to an outside observer. The purpose of such analysis is to correct oversimplified visions of social problems in Africa on the one hand, as well as ingenuous ideas of the noble altruism of African families. It is argued that care for the elderly needy is not a natural phenomenon to any human society whether industrialized and modern or agricultural and traditional. A more nuanced vision of the multifaceted process of decision making in relation to helping needy family members is needed. This helps societies worldwide to be wiser about the connection between family relationships, poverty, and globalization. Thus, Cliggett addresses naïve Western notions of former times and other places where the support of family members simply flowed out of the goodness of human nature. Caring for the elderly is not a “natural” component of non-industrialized societies, which begs the question, “Where can we find positive examples of this behavior?” Cliggett’s aim to identify differences – “gender, class, generational or historical” – amidst generalizations about “poor and disaster prone” peoples, yields a more comprehensive view of our world’s complex reality. The result is a framework that ties together the agency of the individual, kinship economic models, and long-term analysis of at-risk populations. Cliggett (2005) hopes this will produce theoretical concepts which give “broader meaning” to the phenomena social science research observes in vulnerable communities (Cliggett, 2005, p. 22-75). 

The Resource Bases of Elderly Tonga Women and their Strategies to Access Them

            Cliggett (2005) gives a general description of Gewmbe villagers’ economic situation as consisting of resource ownership, small entrepreneurialism, government assistance, and wage employment (p. 80). In times of economic adversity all these factors are used by individuals in ways that reflect their gender, age, social networks, and the “capacity to negotiate relationships” for survival (p. 80). 

Cliggett (2005) found that women made the adjustment to old age with less disruption, and even with positive expectations regarding its potential benefits. Tonga society practices matrilineal kinship in which primary family identity is shared between women and their children (p. 20). Perhaps surprisingly, in this system widowhood or divorce can give women new freedom to work autonomously, or preferably to be supported from the households of their adult children. Thus, elderly women’s means of survival are connected to their maternal identity in relation to the children they spent their lives sacrificing for and serving. Matrilineal kinship strongly influences how the Tonga people strategize for obtaining resources. But this social system is not tidy, rather, individuals must make compromises and bargain creatively (Cliggett, 2005, p. 19-20). 

Women have been excluded from significant sources of sustenance and have therefore formed innovative means for self-perseveration in old age (Cliggett, 2015, p. 64). Women have less access than men to resources that can be used to generate income, but the former employ diverse types of “craft and service-oriented skills”. The primary way elderly Gwembe women provide for themselves is developing social networks from which they can receive food and other goods. As Gwembe women advance in age, they hope these strategically built relationships can help them procure food, housing, service, and general needs. The most precarious situation for an elderly woman is if she has no close adult male kin who can provide help (Cliggett, 2015, p. 83-108). 

The Resource Bases of Elderly Tonga Men and their Strategies to Access Them

            Tonga men tend to hold on to their position of social power as they age and cannot work the fields and care for themselves (Cliggett, 2015, p. 19). As stated earlier, matrilineal kinship means fathers do not share primary family identity with their children. In this family model, elderly men mitigate against disenfranchisement by exerting their right to adult son’s labor and through bride price, the amount paid for daughters. Despite men’s lack of shared clan identity with wives and children, they do have kinship roles giving them control over resources at the level of the nuclear family. Thus, men’s relationships with their offspring are largely based on formal rights. Women’s relationship with their adult children, on the other hand, depends on connection through kinship and the ties of the “mother-child experience”. By the time they become elderly, men have generally been able to accumulate an amount of wealth which can be used to support themselves. And in a polygamous society, an elderly man is likely to have at least one living wife residing in his home who can care for him (Cliggett, 2015, p. 20-38). 

Tonga men are more able than women to clear new bush fields and a man’s inheritance is traditionally passed on to male heirs. Therefore, predominant male ownership of land has been perpetuated over several generations (Cliggett, 2015, p. 65). Cash-producing activities that men have access to include selling agricultural tools they make, milk from cattle, and garden produce. Men can also offer their services in home construction, brickmaking, and other forms of manual labor. By the time a man is older, one reason his need for such forms of small income decreases is because of accumulated resources. A second reason is that a man’s dependents, such as daughters soon to marry and sons with incomes of their own, will provide additional resources. It is through residential arrangements with extended family members that most elderly men receive the bulk of their food and have their basic needs met (Cliggett, 2015, p. 83-97). 

The idea of a father receiving and “income” from his adult children seems strange to a Westerner like me who prizes independence and would see a parent being supported in such a way as a sign of failing to achieve independence. But from a Zambian perspective, such an arrangement can be seen as a form of retirement at the end of a life lived in significant part to supporting offspring.

How Such Strategies Relate to Elderly Men and Women’s Connections to the “Ritual World”

            In Africa, roughly a century of European slave trade followed by a century of industrialization and colonization have deeply affected “social, economic, and belief systems” (Cliggett, 2015, p. 53). In Zambia, differences in how global economic vulnerability has affected different regions produced richer and poorer regions. Seasonal fluctuation of food availability has led to agricultural migration, profoundly altering people’s connection to their land. This in turn has undermined the importance of ritual institutions and their leaders, elderly men (Cliggett, 2015, p. 56-62). 

            The funeral homestead is a “market of sorts” where people exchange and sell as well as singing funeral songs and developing relational networks, i.e. catching up on local gossip and current events (Cliggett, 2015, p. 82). Thus, a wide range of goods could be found by villagers and visitors at these recurring rural markets. Women’s participation in religious funeral rights is fundamental in the form of food preparation. The preparation of food is empowering to women, in fact the funeral period officially ends when the women finish clearing out the fire ovens (Cliggett, 2-15, p. 82-121). 

            Christianity has grown in the Gwembe valley, but the elderly population is not a significant presence in church life (Cliggett, 2015, p. 117). I wonder if elderly men and women do not see as much of the benefits of Christianity as a theology and community versus the younger more entrepreneurial population. The Pentecostal type of Christianity that has been so influential in Africa is highly individualistic, emphasizing God’s intervention in the life of the individual, the potential to receive his blessing on finances and health. Perhaps the elderly see this as not contributing to the traditional cultural and social institutions that benefit them, or worse, perhaps they see them as threatening. Ancestor worship is a traditional part of indigenous Tonga religious practice, and I am curious how different Christian denominations have interacted with this practice. 

            Men are seen as having agency regarding the spirit world in a direct way while women are beset upon by spirits, at times harmlessly but in some cases dangerously (Cliggett, 2015, p. 132). Women can use the cultural belief that they are vulnerable to possession by evil spirits as a means for requesting help (p. 140). A situation of spiritual attack makes an elderly woman victim a sympathetic plight for members of her kinship network. 

Some Effects of Migration on Traditional Kinship Support Paradigms

            Economic pressures and opportunities lead many of the Tonga people to migrate away from their home villages. But connections with family back home are generally maintained, not through remittances but sporadic gifts. Such contributions would not amount to a reliable or significant source of income (Cliggett, 2015, p. 148). And for those who migrate, making their new lives work is the main priority. The imposition of requests for help from visitors from a migrant’s home village makes greater distance helpful. The farther migrants move away, the more of a “buffer from such impositions” exists. The best way a visitor from back home can obtain a gift from a prosperous migrant relative is to make the request in person. Often the gift request is attended to, and sometimes at significant cost to the giver. But the gift is based on the nature of the interaction and is not a given, therefore the person requesting goes to great efforts to be gracious and diplomatic. Such gifts do not amount to a reliable source of income for villagers who remain back home. At best these contributions are a helpful part of a village’s economic system, but not a main source. If a migrant does not maintain ties with his or her home village, there is also a downside. This will result in being cut off from social ties to the home village and material, emotional, and spiritual benefits it can offer (Cliggett, 2015, p. 152-5).

Conclusion

            Cliggett (2005) makes a compelling argument that simplistic stereotypes of the drama and needs of the African people result in misguided endeavors to save victims and solve problems without tackling foundational causes (p. 48). The “framework of vulnerability” approach rightly advocates for multifaceted research on issues such as environmental crises, access to food, and kinship. This approach mitigates against tendencies in the social sciences to generalize about the circumstances of all members of a village, region, or nation (p. 49). I agree with the notion that at-risk populations’ foundational problem is relational. And each member of a family negotiates for resources within the kinship network with differing “desires, abilities, and power” (p. 50). 

I understand the need to find out who copes better or worse among vulnerable populations. First, those who cope poorly can learn from those who have innovated, negotiated, strategized, and succeeded. Second, I appreciate the importance of determining what unjust phenomena may be creating situations of inequality of coping. Thirdly, it is vital simply to determine who the poorest copers are to target them as those in greatest need. 

            Cliggett’s work demonstrates that support is channeled through “continually negotiated social networks” in different ways by elderly men and women (p, 158). With the participation of multiple family members in the chain of resources, a decision or failure to perform by any individual threatens the entire system. Cliggett (2004) demonstrates how individual’s in the Gwembe valley are able not only to survive but to prosper (p. 167). This account of individual human agency in poor communities emphasizes the endeavor to progress and flourish contra the caricature of acquiescence and acceptance of poverty. Cliggett’s work effectively counters the error of overly attributing worldview – how people think in sweeping generic national-ethnic terms – instead of observing reality of experience and agency on the ground (p. 167). I agree with the general position of this work as it posits that the most simple and foundational method of combatting the reductive tendency towards sociocultural analysis is the place the target community in “center stage” (p. 168), rather than giving too much credence to stereotypes and generalizations about vulnerable peoples such as the Tonga of the Gwembe valley. 

References

Cliggett, L. (2005). Grains from grass: Aging, gender, and famine in rural Africa. Cornell University Press.

by daviddawson462742281

Learning Through Problem Solving

Introduction

Problem bases learning (PBL) often begins with a case study that groups work through, trying to solve a problem. The case study can be contextualized for the audience, such as a problem they might face in their setting. This involves discussion, being willing to share ideas with others, being willing to question and explore ideas, and coming to conclusions. My study begins with a brief overview of PBL, extracting some of its fruitful and complex aspects for intercultural application. As a missionary in Portugal, I share some general findings regarding PBL’s reception here where its main application has been higher education. 

My area of service in Portugal is ecumenical post-supersessionist (PS) advocacy. The Society for Post-Supersessionist Theology describes PS as “a family of theological perspectives that affirms God’s irrevocable covenant with the Jewish people as a central and coherent part of ecclesial teaching” (Society for Post-Supersessionist Theology | Jewish-Christian Relations, n.d.). PS advocacy is described as seeking “to overcome understandings of the New Covenant that entail the abrogation or obsolescence of God’s covenant with the Jewish people, of the Torah as a demarcator of Jewish communal identity, or of the Jewish people themselves” (Society for Post-Supersessionist Theology | Jewish-Christian Relations, n.d.). 

I conclude with insights and recommendations concerning the use of PBL in my work in Portugal. I consider the most daunting obstacle to PS advocacy in this context is the almost complete lack of awareness of the need. I find little evidence that Catholic leadership and laity in Portugal see supersessionism as a major problem causing consequences today. However, articulating PS advocacy in terms of problems to solve could be highly persuasive in this context. The predominantly Catholic population, and particularly its leadership, have many motives for desiring the outcomes PS advocacy purports to achieve. Most significantly, PS advocacy offers to restore the identity of the church as a community of intergroup reconciliation versus its caricature as an institution of bigotry and repression. 

            PBL offers an outsider such as me the opportunity to deal with problems in a foreign context as a facilitator of discussion, not an accuser. Its emphasis on practical real-life situations helps generate interest and is useful for teaching heterogeneous groups work together. The facilitator must explain that learning is demonstrated in the ability to participate constructively in dialogue, not in showing how much you know. In addressing the problem of supersessionism, PBL requires participants to learn understand and communicate within the paradigms of other cultural worldviews. Most significant in this case are the following interlocutors: Portuguese Catholics, Jews, and Messianic jews. The latter are the most natural dialogue partners, present as a potential dialogue partner only since the emergence of the Messianic Jewish movement in the mid 20th century. The need to engage emotional involvement in PBL participants in Portugal with PS related problems is most effectively met by a compelling telling of the consequences of supersessionism as experienced by the Jews. 

            PBL meets with cultural compatibility in Portugal in its egalitarian nature but must respect conservative values in the sphere of education. The Academy in this nation stills sees a liberal arts education as involving the ethical and epistemological formation of students. Relegating the teacher to merely an arbiter of the manifestation of students’ latent wisdom and creativity will not be accepted. 

What is Problem Based Learning

         Problem-based learning (PBL) is a pedagogical model that is learner centered and provides occasions for participating in goal-directed inquiry (Nguyen, 2018). The basis for PBL is the notion that “when we solve the many problems we face every day, learning occurs” (Barros & Tamblyn, 1980). Initially applied to medical education in the 1950s, PBL has since been use in diverse fields, primarily teacher education (de Chambeau & Ramlo, 2017). 

Generally, PBL begins by raising a bona fide problem with students, with learning occurring as they attempt to discover solutions (Nguyen, 2018; Hung et al, 2008). Of key importance is situating the learning experience in a genuine context (Barrows, 1994). The syllabus is organized around the framework of problems instead of topics or fields of study (Maggi, 2003, p. 2). Teachers thus perform the function of facilitators instead of dispensers of knowledge, guiding students in their collaborative inquiry and reflection (Wilkerson & Gijselaers, 1996). Students develop the ability to learn independently and assume responsibility for their own investigation (Bell, 2012).

Some General Drawbacks to PBL

            The liabilities of PBL lie mostly in defining the role of teachers, sometimes termed tutors or facilitators as mentioned above. Teachers have less reign over content, they are placed in a more vulnerable position, and their workload is increased (Ribeiro, 2011). Students are likely to complain if the problems they are asked to engage with are so extensive and indefinite that establishing focus and learning goals is impossible within the limits of the course (Hung, Mehl, and Holen, 2013). Research indicates that the more practical the problem cases are, the more motivated the students will be to engage in learning. In cases where students perceive the problem cases as related to real situations they might face, they are more attentive (Nguyen, 2018). 

Research also indicates that if too much detailed instruction is given in a problem-solving exercise, students’ creativity may be stifled (Nguyen, 2018). The teacher should avoid prescribing tasks related to problem cases. Further instruction can be offered by the teacher, but ideally after students have first sought information on their own. The priority is to avoid doing anything that stifles students’ creativity (Nguyen, 2018)

Some Benefits of Applying PBL Across Cultures

Although students tend to prefer working in groups of their own choice and with people like themselves, learning to cooperate with people of diverse profiles helps prepare them for real world situations (Nguyen, 2018). In culturally mixed groups, students are challenged to develop their skills of persuasion, presentation, negotiation, and group work skills (Nguyen, 2018). PBL students who interacted with persons the normally wouldn’t had higher levels of collegial learning because of differences in language and academic preparedness (Singaram et al., 2011). PBL with heterogeneous groups can accelerates a sense of “familiarity and togetherness” that fosters intergroup relations (Singaram et al., 2011). The interaction and social cohesion in PBL develop students’ ability to “adjust and comply with team members in diverse resource constraint environments” Singaram et al., 2011). Students who are used to greater access to resources can learn to comprehend colleagues from contexts where scarcity is a challenge. In general, PBL provides an opportunity for students to learn the need for unity in diversity and the ability to “define their roles and responsibilities” as they navigate intercultural contexts (Singaram et al., 2011).

Some Drawbacks of Applying PBL Across Cultures

Heterogeneous Groups

         Research has indicated some potential cultural pitfalls when using PBL. Participants feel uncomfortable with each other when sufficient ground rules are not laid down (Singaram et al., 2011). Some students resist being placed in heterogeneous groups. “Psychological divisions and past prejudices” often motivate students to segregate themselves into groups of the same culture, which decreases class morale (Singaram et al., 2011). The same can happen along lines of socioeconomic diversity leading to “unequal social status in the group”, leading to “unbalanced discussions, quiet students, withdrawing” (Singaram, et al., 2011). In mixed groups, PBL requires management of dynamics “across culture, languages, race, social class and academic background” (Singaram et al., 2011). It isn’t inappropriate for facilitators to take an active role in forming groups that reflect the right mix of diversity. Criteria for such diversity include race, gender, and academic strength (Singaram et al., 2011). Giving participants learning activities that require them to explore subjects through the eyes of the cultural “other” mitigates against the tendency to self-segregate into same-culture groups (Sweeney et al., 2008).

         Another cultural impediment to successful application of PBL occurs in cultures where speaking is privileged above listening (Remedios et al., 2012). Across cultures, a general tendency of the loss of attention to the role of listening in collaborative learning has been observed. This has been attributed to the global predominance of unidirectional learning through discourse (Remedios et al., 2012). 

Western Versus Non-Western

         International literature on PBL has tended to ignore varying effects on students of different cultural backgrounds (Remedios et al, 2012). In the West where PBL was first developed, the methodology emerged as intensely interactive and requiring substantial group dialogue (Barrows, 1986; Colby, 1986; Nash et al., 1991). PBL generally takes place in small group learning events where participants’ progress is recognized by their disposition to move from the familiar to the unfamiliar and to share their comprehension of complex theory (Remedios et al., 2012). 

         In many non-Western cultures, students are primarily rewarded for the level of knowledge they can demonstrate, not their ability to engage in critical thinking and dialogue. PBL’s dialogical nature has proven to be an impediment to implementation in some Asian cultures (Khoo, 2003; Dixon et al., 1997). Research also indicates that PBL places demands on students to perform cultural speech functions like:

demonstrating the capacity to effectively analyze clinical and theoretical data; performing smooth turn-taking; accepting creative silence; supporting views by reference to existing (even if limited) knowledge; identifying topics where personal/group knowledge may be weak or inadequate (Hawthorne et al., 2004). 

The difficulty of using these skills in PBL exercises is exacerbated for students who are learning in a second language (Remedios et al., 2012). 

         Bakhtin emphasizes the complex nature of dialogue as collaborative and ‘double-voiced’, i.e., negotiating meaning with others (Morson & Emerson, 1990; Schuster, 1985). According to Bakhtin, dialogue involves the gradual appropriation of other’s language, interpreting it through significance found in one’s own personal narrative, motivations, and morality (Morson & Emerson, 1990; Schuster, 1985). This indicates that in cross-cultural PBL applications, students must develop some level of appreciation for linguistic and cultural context to be able to express meanings and cooperate with others (Remedios et al, 2012). But due to the significance of historical, geographical, and linguistic context, the limited understanding of vocabulary and meaning will always be a challenge for cultural outsiders (Remedios et al., 2012). 

         PBL presupposes that individual students be open to learn from and teach fellow students, an ‘egalitarian’ approach where all members are deemed to have valuable contributions to make (Remedios et al., 2012). This assumes that no privilege is to be given to any participant due to age, ability, experience, position, or knowledge (Remedios et al., 2012). This egalitarian approach is more easily applied in Western contexts than in more hierarchical, power-distant cultures (Ott, 2021). Research indicates that participants in PBL whose cultural values impede them from learning from their peers (or some they deem of inferior status) will not receive the full potential benefit (Remedios et al., 2012). Therefore, it is imperative that tutors explain the need to develop cultural literacy skills, such as the ability to perceive the rules of a particular context and navigate accordingly (Schirato & Yell, 2000). 

         Research on PBL in China found that participants tended to value group solidarity and harmony over maximizing results according to the problem being addressed (Walker, 1996). Some participants were found to be reluctant to assert their own opinions of possible solutions as superior to those of others. Most of these Chinese participants spent most of time “deconstructing and clarifying the problem”, working busily on “ordering and making sense of the problem, and relating it to the readings” (Walker, 1996). According to Western standards, the Chinese PBL groups seemed overly polite, ordered, and unemotive. Walker (1996) concludes: 

Current thought in the West, for example, strongly promotes teacher involvement in school decision making, the promotion of constructive conflict and dissolution of hierarchical boundaries. Although such moves may fit evolving norms of practice in Western education systems, their utility may be impeded in Chinese settings by ingrained cultural norms which guide behavior in different directions.

Some General Findings on PBL in Portuguese Context

Shared Protagonism of Teachers and Students       

         The use of PBL in higher education in Portugal has yielded positive results relevant to possible application for my work in PS advocacy. In a study of college students developing grade-school curriculum, participants who were allowed to find “individual paths and possible solutions in a creative, critical and pondered way” progressively showed less concern with the application of “preconceived formulas” (Fragata et al., 2020). Portuguese college students responded positively to becoming active participants in the process of solving “non-routine problems” instead of adopting a passive stance or applying previously used methods (Fragata et al., 2020). 

         My study of Portuguese scholarship on PBL revealed a prevalent perspective that students’ pedagogical protagonism must be balanced with the teachers’ role (Trindade, 2014, p. 47). The general thinking is that university students still need

  1.  to learn to adhere to formal systems of knowledge, 
  2.  to learn new concepts and conventions, 
  3.  and to learn their application before facing the challenge of a new profession. (Trindade, 2014, p. 47). 

An internal debate to Portuguese academics is the point to which teaching contexts where epistemological conflicts arise between students preconceived ideas and culturally validated ideas be left up to students to resolve (Trindade, 2014, p. 48). Portuguese research on PBL also points the potential incoherence related to its goal of stimulating student participation and creativity. This lies in the fact that many students are uncomfortable with PBL, particularly the required dialogue and collaboration. Forcing students to engage in this form of learning seems to contradict the goal of promoting students’ autonomy. This study concluded with the position that a professor is not someone who only removes obstacles and provides resources, facilitating learning and promoting cooperation among students. The professor must also take responsibility for “orienting, challenging, and diagnosing” at the level of planning as well as execution. The study is critical of approaches to teaching that take away all the resources and tools that support “the instructive intensions of professors” (Trindade, 2014). 

         This, however, should not undermine the need for learning projects to be designed for students’ learning, instead of to sustain the teachers’ instructive activity (Trindade, 2014). At the end of the article comes the strongest statement, that PBL rightly argues for students’ learning being universities’ focus, not the preservation of teachers’ vocation. However, students’ learning is “a phenomenon whose cultural dimension cannot be neglected” (Trindade, 2014), and higher education should contribute to both personal and social development. Such growth depends on more than students’ ability to appropriate new information and learn new procedures. Higher education should also “establish epistemological ruptures that, corresponding to other forms of constructing and using knowledge, are a necessary condition for that appropriation to happen (Trindade, 2014). In other words, universities should preserve the initial goal of a liberal arts education: not just preparation for a vocation, but the formation of an able citizen (Currie, 2021). 

Types of Problems and Questions

         Another study was done using PBL with Portuguese high school students and teachers related to solving climate change, an intentionally complex problem. It was found that students formulate and teachers anticipate mainly the same two types of questions: “encyclopedic and meaning-oriented” (Loureiro, 2008). Both students and teachers formulated large numbers of meaning-oriented questions, that can be described as “high-level”. But the other type of high-level questions – relational, value-oriented, and solution-oriented – were rare or non-existent (Loureiro, 2008). Hence, a teacher’s ability to “anticipate students’ most frequent questions as well as the specific contents they focus on” may facilitate their application of PBL. 

         In general, PBL was found to help students “develop skills that are required to both understand and solve everyday problems and carry out lifelong learning” (Loureiro, 2008). The kind of problem selected appeared not to influence the predominant types of questions formulated by students. But the amount of information available related to the problem did affect the number of questions raised (Loureiro, 2008). Portuguese participants in PBL thrived when they had access to quality, relevant information for their individual and collective research. 

         However, this study also concluded that some subjects involve too much information to be engaged in certain classroom settings. However, complex subjects are appropriate because they tend to provoke emotional involvement and stimulate discussion (Loureiro, 2008). The contrast between extensive information and complexity related to problems seems to indicate that the former causes learner fatigue and bogs down research. Complexity, on the other hand, generates engagement and lively debate. Lastly, the study was optimistic about teachers’ ability to choose problem subjects that lead to questions that center learning on students while fulfilling the course curriculum (Loureiro, 2008). 

Insights and Recommendations for use of PBL in PS Advocacy in Portugal

Consideration of Portuguese History and Place of an Evangelical Missionary

At the outset, PBL’s application to PS advocacy is clear in that the latter addresses a problem it intends to mitigate against. In my practice of PS advocacy, the goals of solving this problem include 

  1. seeing the universal Christian church in all its diverse expressions repent of this sin,
  2. being healed of its consequences (most notably its own internal divisions), 
  3. seeing the healing of its relationship to the Jewish people, and
  4. seeing the restoration of its call to be a community of reconciliation (Eph. 2:14-18; II Cor. 5:20-21). 

In majority Roman Catholic Portugal, I believe that all four of these matters can be shown as important to church leadership as well as the laity. The biblical idea that sin curses “the land” of a nation but repentance brings healing (II Chron. 7:14) should touch the hearts of many Portuguese Catholics. The desire of Portuguese Catholics to be reconciled with the rest of the Christian churches is perhaps less distinct, and therefore will require an argument for its necessity and benefits. The healing of the Portuguese nation in relation to its Jewish population and the Jewish people worldwide is an uncomfortable subject that will require care and prayer. I consider the restoration of the Catholic church’s identity as a community of reconciliation to be the most potentially fruitful aspect of my PS advocacy. As is the case with other churches in the West, the Catholic church has been largely characterized as a throwback to colonial exploitation, oppression, bigotry, and injustice. I believe that the motif of church as intergroup reconciler should be a welcome re-imagination of its identity and vocation in our pluralistic, globalized world. 

In my research, the most helpful resources on PBL were from the field of education. My brief search for references on PBL in Christian ecumenism, interfaith dialogue, and reconciliation studies, yielded no specific cases. Nevertheless, I find several points of application of PBL in my work. 

            In my work, PS advocacy generally involves meetings of mid-level to senior leaders representing diverse Christian traditions. Looking over the minutes of a recent European PS conference, I extracted the following key problems: 

  1. Overcoming the difficulty of recruiting new participants because of complete lack of interest, or insufficient interest considering other priorities.
  2. Overcoming the doctrinal differences and resultant controversies that slow the work down. 
  3. Deep distrust between Messianic Jews and the Catholic Church.
  4. The Arab-Israeli conflict in the Middle East.
  5. Division in Orthodox church caused by Ukraine war.
  6. The resurgence of Antisemitism. 
  7. Passing the vision on to a new generation to continue the work. 
  8. Resolving the rift between Christian churches and Judaism when the former seeks reconciliation with Messianic Jews whom the latter overwhelmingly reject.
  9. The movement still largely Western, need for more participation from churches of the Global South. 
  10. The need to create training for PS advocacy.

European PS advocacy has flourished, mostly in the United Kingdom, Germany, Austria, and several nations of Eastern Europe. Portugal is part of the country cluster intercultural researchers have named “Latin Europe”, which includes Italy, Spain, and perhaps surprisingly, Israel (Jackson, 2020). This is the part of Europe where PS advocacy has made least progress. Austria is an outlier as a nation with a majority Catholic Christian tradition where PS advocacy has flourished. This illustrates the challenge of PS advocacy in the Catholic world, of which Portugal is part. Therefore, in Portugal the most relevant problems listed above are those acutely related to the Catholic church. 

In my experience, the first problem is most urgent in Portugal: Overcoming the difficulty of recruiting new participants because of complete lack of interest, or insufficient interest considering other priorities. There have been initiatives in the Catholic church recognizing the need for repentance over antisemitism, pogroms, and the Inquisition (Marujo, 2000). Much native research has been done in Portugal related to post-colonialism and Catholic antisemitism (Tavim, 2023), as well as foreign research on the connection between Iberian Imperialism and supersessionism (Jennings, 2010). 

Hypothetical Application of PBL

PBL could be effectively applied in a context of ecumenical meetings in majority Catholic Portugal. Most ecumenical gatherings in Portugal are led by a Catholic leaders with participants from Mainline Protestant, Evangelical, and Orthodox churches are also present. As a foreign evangelical participant, I would need to be careful about suggesting the use of PBL in relation to pasts sins and theological errors in Portuguese Christianity such as supersessionism. Therefore, my first step would be to explain PBL’s usefulness to teaching heterogeneous groups to work together (Nguyen, 2018), which lies at the heart of EC’s vision as an ecumenical project. 

PBL offers an outsider like me an opportunity to assume a more neutral role. I could meet privately with some ecumenical leaders to present my proposition for using PBL to broach the subject of supersessionism. If I receive a favorable response, I can ask if one of the leaders could be the dialogue facilitator, with me as a behind-the-scenes support. According to Nguyen’s (2018), the key to an effective application of PBL to this context is to demonstrate its relevance to real life situations faced by the churches in Portugal. 

I can coach the facilitator regarding the danger of PBL participants segregating into homogeneous groups, i.e., Catholics and Protestants (Singaram et al., 2011). I can suggest that the facilitator form the groups so that the right mix of diversity is present (Singaram et al., 2011). Portugal’s Western learning culture fits the ideal for PBL described by Remedios et al. (2012), privileging not only discursive teaching but listening. The facilitator in our hypothetical context will need to explain that PBL contrasts with learning approaches that reward participants for demonstrating their knowledge (Khoo, 2003; Dixon et al., 1997). In PBL, participation is evaluated positively by their ability to think critically, give others a chance to speak, and to voice criticism (Hawthorne et al., 2004). 

We have seen that productive dialogue requires participants to gradually appropriate the language of the cultural “other”, seeking to interpret it within that distinct worldview (Morson & Emerson, 1990; Schuster, 1985). In the case of PS advocacy at an ecumenical meeting, this presents the challenge that there are likely no Jewish participants. I can suggest that a first step in countering supersessionism would be to reach out to Messianic Jews in Portugal. There is a nascent Messianic Jewish community in Lisbon whose leaders could be invited to help existing ecumenical groups to begin the process of learning the worldview of these most important interlocutors as far as PS is concerned. 

The recommendation that PBL participants be open to learning from each other in an egalitarian sense (Remedios et al., 2012) does not seem to be a problem in Portuguese culture. And in the ecumenical meetings I have participated in Portugal, the leaders don’t demonstrate a tendency to privilege some participants over others. The danger cited by Walker (1996) related to over-commitment to group solidarity and harmony over the task outcome could perhaps be present in our hypothetical intervention. Contrary to the Chinese example (Walker, 1996), the Portuguese are less careful to prioritize group harmony in general, but predictably would in an ecumenical context. Also, in contrast to the Chinese case study, Portuguese would probably not be overly polite, ordered, and unemotive (Walker, 1996). 

For our hypothetical application of PBL, it is encouraging that Portuguese participants reacted positively to solving problems versus adopting previously used methods (Fragata et al., 2020). At the same time, my general impression from the literature related to PBL in Portugal is that it meets with a conservative undercurrent regarding the role of teacher as “pedagogical protagonist” (Trindade, 2014). The Portuguese educational culture still values the classic view of a liberal arts education as more than a means to achieving a vocation. The idea that the teacher is someone that actively forms the ethical and epistemological bearings of their students is still a strong theme in Portuguese higher education (Trindade, 2014). 

Lastly, it is significant that research indicates Portuguese participants in PBL tended to ask mainly “high-level” encyclopedic and meaning-oriented questions while largely omitting “low-level” relational, value, and solution-oriented questions (Loureiro, 2008). Loureiro’s (2008) recommendation is pertinent that PBL facilitators should seek to conduct participants towards problems in a way that stimulates not only a search for information but emotional involvement. As it relates to our hypothetical PS intervention with EC leadership, again perhaps the secret lies in connecting participants with the narrative of Jewish experience as it relates to Christianity. After all, this is the context of the negative consequences of supersessionism this PBL exercise intends to address. And as PS advocates have concluded worldwide, the role Messianic Judaism is key (Hocken & Schönborn, 2016; Hocken, 2009).

Conclusion

Although PBL was not developed with ecumenism and intergroup reconciliation advocacy in mind, several aspects of it make it a promising tool. I am an Evangelical missionary dealing with issues of historical injustice and hermeneutical error in church history. My PS advocacy extends beyond my local context in Portugal, but it is here where I live that my work faces most daunting barriers. As a member of a minority Christian tradition in a bastion of Catholicism, I am at a disadvantage to raise awareness of the sins and doctrinal errors of the church my Evangelical/Protestant forebears so contentiously rejected. 

            The lack of awareness of the error and consequences of supersessionism in Portuguese Christianity is an obstacle I must engage with patience. However, I contend that PS advocacy offers to restore the identity of the Portuguese church as a community of intergroup reconciliation. This is a welcome re-imagination of a Catholicism that is largely viewed as an archaic vestige of a legacy of imperial oppression and cultural repression. 

            In PBL, I find a resource full of potential for dealing with problems related to PS as a dialogue coach. The first step is convincing the gatekeepers of Christian faith in Portugal – mostly Catholic – of the real-life implications of PS. If by the power of the Spirit I see this happen, then the door is open to use PBL to help those who must take a priestly role in relation to the sins of the church in Portugal. It is not my place to confess the sins of the Portuguese church and repent for its supersessionist doctrine and practice. Portugal is one of the oldest nations in Europe, and as a missionary I must have a patient and persevering resolve. Some could see PBL as a short-cut to colonizing a foreign culture through the subterfuge of dialogue and students as the source of learning. One could manipulate the students at the ground level using PBL to undermine the academic power structures. 

            PBL is a method that can be used according to Christian principles of humility and sincerity or repeating the same imperialist tropes that malign the testimony of our faith. But I believe in PBL’s central paradigm that learning occurs as students collectively seek solutions to real-life cases. And the accelerating factor of heterogeneous groups practicing PBL makes it a useful tool missionary service. Besides the barrier of my Evangelical origin is the relative invisibility of the Jews in Portuguese consciousness. Since their expulsion in the 15th century during the pogroms of the Inquisition, a significant Jewish presence has never returned to the Iberian Peninsula. Despite this, a large portion of the Iberian population is likely of Jewish descent due to forced conversions. What motivates my PS advocacy in this ancient land is the hope that it is part of God’s key to unlocking healing and restoration. There are deep wells of devotion to Christ in the pleasant land of Portugal. I believe the Portuguese church possesses ancient treasures which the kingdom of darkness has kept repressed. Satan’s authority is only based on the curse of sin and the distortion of truth. My prayer is that this curse and deception are being removed through renewal in the Catholic church and unprecedented ecumenical reconciliation. Most surprising of all would be the participation of the Jewish people in such a miracle.

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Hocken, P., & Schönborn, C. (2016). Azusa, Rome, and Zion: Pentecostal Faith, Catholic Reform, and Jewish Roots.Wipf and Stock Publishers. 

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by daviddawson462742281

How Symbols and Elites make Cultural Reform Acceptable 

Abstract

In this article I provide an analysis and critique of Nicolai Petro’s A Tale of Two Regions: Novgorod and Pskov as Models of Symbolic Development. I integrate insights from other developmental studies and attempt some implications for my own ministry and context. I also attempt to articulate some biblical insights gained through the study. 

Symbolic Shortcuts as a Means for Public Acceptance of Reform and the Role of Local Elites in its Propagation

The Role of Elites, Cultural Symbols, and Cultural Myths in Novgorod and Pskov

Nicolai Petro states that the intent of his study of the Russian cities of Pskov and Novgorod is to demonstrate that “the cultural symbols and myths adopted by regional elites can be a powerful force in shaping local development strategies” (Petro 2006, p. 370). This study contrasts the growth of Novgorod versus the stagnation of Pskov. In Novgorod, the influence of pragmatic individual political leaders has lead to development. While in Pskov, the influence of bureaucratic and unstable political parties led to stagnation (Petro 2006, p. 370). In Novgorod, a strategy for development prioritized growing the shared resources rather than simply extracting the maximum in the short term – a focus on future benefits (Petro 2006, p. 371). By contrast, in the other three pilot regions the focus tended to be limited to distribution of their existing resources (Petro 2006, p. 371). 

Petro offers a compelling description of myths that proved relevant to the positive developments in Novgorod. The positively useful myth in Novgorod was its cultural heritage as a center of commerce. In comparison, the study shows that the cultural self-conception of Pskov as a bulwark against outside influence proved to have a negative influence regarding development. In his book To Change the World (2010) J. Davidson Hunter describe such phenomenon as myths that are pre-reflective frameworks of meaning, understandings of the world “so taken for granted that is seems utterly obvious” (2010, p. 32). 

We must ask ourselves what sociological lens was used by the researchers cited in Petro’s study. Some of the research used focused on “the impact of Western funds on democratic development” (Petro 2006, p. 372). Petro also explores Western attitudes towards cultural development drawn from conferences organized by the World Bank in Washington D.C. and Harvard University’s Academy for International and Area Studies (Petro 2006, p. 378,379). I detect a level of Western bias in Petro’s study, even as he endeavored to encourage the value of local culture. In the end, the idea that helpful goods from the West could benefit the Russian context was a general pretext. Personally, I have no problem with the notion that one culture can benefit another if it accepts the mutuality of this proposition. 

Petro’s study demonstrates how elites in Novgorod were able to find a voice in their cultural context and influence key points of leverage productively for the community. I’m impressed by the Novgorod example as it represents the power of a society finding its voice in a way conducive to positive change. Elites in Novgorod shaped a narrative by giving space for people to narrate their own story. In other words, the elites understood the strategic value of giving their community symbols by which innovation would most likely be appropriated. 

Looking at the phenomenon that led to the differences in these two Russian cities, we can use Hunter’s two lenses of cultural change. Applying the common view, the cultures of these cities are understood as rooted in individuals’ hearts and minds in the form of values (Hunter 2010, p. 6). According to this lens, the cultures of Novgorod and Pskov are the sum of the majority population’s values and behavior (Hunter 2010, p. 6). By this account, the positive change in Novgorod resulted from courageous individuals whose values and worldview were productive. When enough people had adopted these values, culture is changed (Hunter 2010, p. 15). 

Inversely, if we employ Hunter’s alternative view, the positive changes in the culture of Novgorod were not generated by the truthfulness of ideas, but by their rootedness in powerful institutions, networks, and symbols (2010, p. 44). The opinion leaders in Novgorod were the society elites such as individual political leaders. But Petro’s study also showed the influence of existing institutions such as the local university as well as new institutions such as the NGOs (Petro 2006, p. 376). 

The quote from Novgorod’s Governor Prusak that there is “no need to invent artificial ideas, no need to mechanically transfer the American dream onto Russian soil” (Prusak 2006, p. 376) exemplifies the sensitivity to dynamics of local receptivity to outside ideas. Prusak affirms that Novgorod’s history reveals a city combining “democracy, free market relations, and other accomplishments of civilization, with national traditions (2006, p. 376). This type of discourse exemplifies Hunter’s thesis that culture changes through patrons sponsoring intellectuals who propagate alternatives (2010, p. 77). Demonstrating Hunter’s hypothesis, elites in Novgorod symbolized, narrated, and popularized new cultural visions (Hunter 2010, p. 78). In Novgorod’s case these elites were political leaders, university professors, religious leaders, and NGO workers. Prusak can contextualize democracy as something belonging to the Novgorod myth as opposed to a uniquely Western concept. Prusak was speaking to a wounded and demoralized people in post-Soviet Russia. As US-Americans, we often think of democracy as unique product and possession of our culture. Democracy was arriving as a dominant paradigm in Russia, and finding the right narrative to embrace it was key (Petro 2006, p. 369). From this study, it is evident that local Russian leaders had much influence. This contradicts the common Western perception that Putin is all powerful, an example of how our own cultural narratives distort notions of change and development. 

Conversely, in Pskov the direction of culture was also determined by elites, but in a different direction and with differing results. The elites of both Novgorod and Pskov made choices based on distinct self-images of their regions – regional myths that shaped social expectations (Petro 2006, p. 374). In Pskov the influence of political parties was greater than that of charismatic individual political leaders. Priority was given to existing institutions over more recent ones, and the establishment of new institutions was not prioritized (Petro 2006, p. 373). The openness to new institutions in Novgorod was demonstrated in partnerships with NGOs encouraged by local elites who were able to find common ground with the social agenda of their community (Petro 2006, p. 372). Openness to foreign investment was a distinct source of jobs with employment of factory workers by international companies reaching 25% (Petro 2006, p. 373). 69% percent of the NGO leaders in Novgorod said they “trusted in government officials”, in contrast to only 27% in Pskov (Petro 2006, p. 377).

Comparison of Cultural Adjustment and Cultural Congruence Approaches to Development

The comparison between advocates of cultural adjustment versus cultural congruence seems to favor the latter considering the Novgorod phenomenon (Petro 2006, p. 378). The idea that traditional culture is the primary impediment to development contradicts the evidence that positive narratives were developed based on Novgorod’s past (Petro 2006, p. 378). In contrast, the cultural congruence model that sees the task of development analysts as connecting transformation to traditional cultural values receives much evidence from Petro’s case study (Petro 2006, p. 378). The Harvard conference Petro refers to concluded that “traditional cultural patterns are the source of poverty, and the central task of development should be to remove them” (2006, p. 379). I find this perspective to be a clear example of Western bias. 

It is significant that Petro cites Western development practitioners rather than scholars as arguing that “only developmental practices congruent with strongly held local norms, beliefs, and practices could succeed” (2006, p. 380). According to these practitioners, just as one needs to ask a farmer to know the type of soil, culture must be considered before planting (Petro 2006, p. 380). This approach encourages analysts to “identify components of their culture that can be built upon to have greater synergy in the workplace as a result of working with, rather than against, widely held cultural norms” (Petro 2006, p. 380). Petro’s argument is compelling that when this happens the members of a culture become the executors of change (Petro 2006, p. 380). 

In his book Diffusion of Innovations, E.M. Rogers describes early adopters as integrated into the social system, having highest level of influence in most systems, and breaking down majority reticence towards innovation (2003, p. 219). This concurs with Petro’s affirmation that “what determines the success of reform efforts is not the actual historical antecedents, but their interpretation by the current elite “(2006, p. 375). 

Perhaps the starkest and impacting statement in Petro’s study for me was the following: 

“The fatal flaw of cultural adjustment is that the aspects of culture it seeks to transform are very often the same ones that people cling to in times of change: the comfort and stability of traditional values. As a strategy for economic and social development, therefore, cultural adjustment is doomed to a hostile reception, making implementation a never-ending struggle. So long as development efforts continue to emphasize the need to adjust people’s attitudes to suit develop- mental models, rather than the other way around, this struggle will continue” (2006, p. 380)

This is a stark contrast to the US-American mentality just working harder, trying harder and you’ll win…you’ll get there. Petro argues that cultural adjustment lashes out at traditional social agreement and sabotages the material politicians depend on to gain authenticity (2006, p. 381). However, the cultural congruence approach is also imperfect because it offers no clear metrics to gage change (Petro 2006, p. 381). Petro suggests the solution of engaging traditional culture as a means for transformation. This approach fosters support from locals while simultaneously seeking out means for outside researchers to evaluate the administration of this approach (Petro 2006, p. 381). 

Applying the Cultural Congruence Approach to my Context

How can the cultural congruence approach could be applied to my ecumenical and reconciliation work in Europe – in particular Latin Europe where I live. In secular, nominally Catholic nations such as Italy, Spain, and my home Portugal, how can someone from a minority Christian tradition such as me engage traditional culture as a means for transformation? The danger of colonizing and paternalistic presuppositions is inherent in questions from an outsider attempting to bring transformation to a local context. Acknowledging the fact of my own researcher bias, I ask what cultural components in my context could be engaged? And what potential do these cultural components have for synthesis and partnership with productive innovations from abroad? The ambiguity of whether these innovations are in fact foreign or merely perceived as such should be considered as well. 

A prior question is what are the innovations I as an outsider would prioritize for the Latin European context? Related to my work, I would choose the vision of the one new man (Eph. 2:14-18) as expressed by the Towards Jerusalem II movement. TJCII claims that the divided Gentile churches find common identity in relation to the novel Messianic Jewish movement that emerged in the 1960s (Hocken & Schönborn 2016, 133). A second tenet of TJCII is that the reconciliation of Jewish and Gentile Jesus-believers is the key to healing of all subsequent divisions in the church (Hocken & Schönborn 2016, 134). The reasoning proceeds that this key has been ignored during the past two-thousand years of church history and is the explanation for the failure of ecumenical attempts at comprehensive restoration of Christian unity. This is a lofty claim which I do not affirm personally, preferring to claim that this is a missing piece in Christian ecumenism, not necessarily the missing piece. A third claim of the TJCII movement is that the original one new humanity vision entailed a Gentile majority that would have honored a Jewish minority scattered from their land. This type of Jewish-Gentile ekklesia would have mitigated against the triumphalism that characterized subsequent de facto Christian history (Hocken & Schönborn 2016, 140). This triumphalism has been expressed in a self-serving church who sees its mission as subjecting the other to itself (Hocken 2009, p. 106). 

Returning to the question of what cultural components could be engaged that could work together with the innovations I promote, I offer some suggestions. First is the existence of public repentance initiatives such as the National Memorial Day for Victims of the Portuguese Inquisition, March 31st. The departments of religious science in Portuguese universities are a place where these matters are researched in depth but perhaps not in connection with ecumenical possibilities. I have been developing relationships with academics in the area and pretend to continue these efforts. Also, the Catholic pilgrimages of Nossa Senhora de Fátima and Santiago de Campostella represent, in my opinion, the most vibrant source of religious life in the Iberian Peninsula. These pilgrimages have historically attracted individuals based on supplication and gratefulness, but also repentance and penitence. The latter phenomenon could be linked to a desire for healing of the historic wounds against the Jewish people during the Inquisition, as well as the healing of the land according to theologies of priestly cleansing and identificational repentance (Hocken 2004, 1). I have been partnering with ecumenical ministries to the pilgrims in Southern Spain and am inspired by Petro’s research to develop inroads to the pilgrimage phenomenon in Portugal. 

Conclusion

Petro claims that the Novgorod model indicates that significant cultural symbols may have a vital place in encouraging the undertaking of social change by the general public (2006, p. 382). The study of these two Russian cities gives evidence that when confronted by external sources of innovation, people look for familiar symbols that provide an alternative route which best fits their cultural self-image (Petro 2006, p. 382). Symbolic shortcuts that best fit the cultural identity are received while those considered too exotic are resisted (Petro 2006, p. 382). The study of these Russian cities resulted in the following analysis: 

“Public acceptance of the interpretations of key symbols proposed by the elite conferred an aura of legitimacy on the reformist policy agenda that accompanied them. This aura created a reservoir of social support that political leaders could tap into to implement their agenda more rapidly and effectively” (Petro 2006, p. 383)

Considering the compelling evidence given in Petro’s case study, I am motivated to focus not only on the organic development of relationships with the Catholic Portuguese neighbors on my street. As daunting as the task can feel for an Evangelical missionary in a majority Catholic context, I am convinced of the strategic urgence of identifying key elites in my context and engaging with them. The development of relationship in this context will undoubtedly require time and dedication which conflicts with the expectations of Western missionary sending churches and agencies. However, the long-term fruit related to the innovations I came to encourage in Latin Europe require an understanding of how change occurs. Part of my job will inevitably be not only to apply the principles of the cultural congruence approach myself, but to educate my Western backers. Only this way will the type of work I am doing make sense to my predominantly North American partners. More importantly, I’m convinced that only this way will my work produce positive development. 

References

Hocken, P., & Schönborn, C. (2016). Azusa, Rome, and Zion: Pentecostal Faith, Catholic Reform, and Jewish Roots. Wipf and Stock Publishers; Biola Library ebooks. https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=sso&db=cat08936a&AN=bio.ocn957436514&site=eds-live&scope=site&custid=s6133893 Links to an external site.

Hocken, Peter (2004). Repenting for the Sins of the Past to Heal the Wounds of History. The European Catholic Charismatic Renewal Info-Letter (Euccril), January 20th, Issue 25

Hocken, P. (2009). The challenges of the Pentecostal, Charismatic and Messianic Jewish movements: The tensions of the spirit. Ashgate; Biola Library ebooks. https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=sso&db=cat08936a&AN=bio.ocn432995805&site=eds-live&scope=site&custid=s6133893

Hunter, J. Davidson (2010). To Change the World: the Irony, Tragedy, and Possibility of Christianity in the Late Modern World. Oxford Unity Press. 

Rogers, E. M. (n.d.). (2003) Diffusion of Innovations, 5th Edition. Retrieved from https://platform.virdocs.com/read/1882033/7/#/4/64/2,/1:0,/1:0

Petro, N. N. (2006). A tale of two regions:Novgorod and Pskov as models of symbolic development. In L. E. Harrison & P. L. Berger (Eds.), Developing Cultures: Case Studies. Routledge; Developing Cultures Case Studies.pdf. https://epdf.pub/developing-cultures-case-studies.html