US Missionaries and the Arab Renaissance
June 1, 2009 – 4:18 pmJoey Shaw wrote an intriguing article on the influence of American missionaries on the Arab Renaissance, particularly in Syria, entitled “Butrus Al-Bustani and the American Missionaries: Towards a Harmony of Understanding of the Advent of the Nahdah.” “Nahdah” refers to the Arab intellectual renaissance of the 19th century.
The focus of Shaw’s paper is to seek
conceptual harmony between the liberal ideas of Bustânî [leading secular thinker in Syria] and the ideas and ideology of the western missionaries in Syria. My argument is that Bustânî must be understood vis-á-vis his extended relationship with the missionary apparatus. [p.76]
Read it here.
HT: @joey_shaw
Joey Shaw is Minister of International Mission at The Austin Stone Community Church, Austin (TX), USA. He is currently writing a book on the topic of post 9-11 American evangelical thought on Islam. He blogs at shawblog and welcomes all comments at joey@austinstone.org.
