TY - BOOK
T1 - The Wonders of Conversion
T2 - Objectivity and Disenchantment in the Neuendettelsau Mission Encounter in New Guinea, 1886-1930
AU - Midena, Daniel Richard
PY - 2015/3
Y1 - 2015/3
N2 - This dissertation examines the scientific and evangelical activities of Lutheran missionaries from
the Neuendettelsau
Mission Society from their arrival in Germ
an New Guinea in 1886 until
the
First World War.
It
brings to light
material from mission and state archives that have a bearing
on how we understand the history of anthropological fieldwork as well as the interre
lated
-
expansion of Chri
stianity and modern science in
non
-
Western contexts.
There are
two main questions
that frame this
study
: How did the Neuendettelsau
missionaries’ scientific worldview shape their approach to evangelism? And in what way did the
Neuen
dettelsau missionaries’ evangelical concerns and theological positions inform their
particular ethnographic practices?
The dissertation contends, firstly, that the Neuendettelsau
missionaries’ neo
-
Kantian belief in the division of the world between natural
and transcendental
realms (mediated by wonders) led them to embark on a project
, in their own words,
of
‘disenchanting’ the Papuan worldview (
Naturanschauung
) as a means to gain Christian converts.
Secondly, the dissertation highlights the extent to which
the Neuendettelsau missionaries’
unique approach to the concept and practice of
ethnographic ‘objectivity’
—
as an exercise in
intimacy rather than detachment
—
was the result of
their attempts to
adapt
Christianity
to
an
unfamiliar
cultural situation.
AB - This dissertation examines the scientific and evangelical activities of Lutheran missionaries from
the Neuendettelsau
Mission Society from their arrival in Germ
an New Guinea in 1886 until
the
First World War.
It
brings to light
material from mission and state archives that have a bearing
on how we understand the history of anthropological fieldwork as well as the interre
lated
-
expansion of Chri
stianity and modern science in
non
-
Western contexts.
There are
two main questions
that frame this
study
: How did the Neuendettelsau
missionaries’ scientific worldview shape their approach to evangelism? And in what way did the
Neuen
dettelsau missionaries’ evangelical concerns and theological positions inform their
particular ethnographic practices?
The dissertation contends, firstly, that the Neuendettelsau
missionaries’ neo
-
Kantian belief in the division of the world between natural
and transcendental
realms (mediated by wonders) led them to embark on a project
, in their own words,
of
‘disenchanting’ the Papuan worldview (
Naturanschauung
) as a means to gain Christian converts.
Secondly, the dissertation highlights the extent to which
the Neuendettelsau missionaries’
unique approach to the concept and practice of
ethnographic ‘objectivity’
—
as an exercise in
intimacy rather than detachment
—
was the result of
their attempts to
adapt
Christianity
to
an
unfamiliar
cultural situation.
KW - Faculty of Humanities
KW - Neuendettelsau Mission Encounter
KW - New Guinea, 1886-1930
M3 - Ph.D. thesis
BT - The Wonders of Conversion
PB - Det Humanistiske Fakultet, Københavns Universitet
ER -