Mission (lat. missio) stands for sending members of a religious group or organization to spread their faith. This article provides the reader with a short overview about the current state of art in cultural psychological research.
Continue ReadingNew Article Published: Research on Religious Missions in Cultural Psychology
Although the Christian religion has at all times been and is still connected with a predefined missionary assignment, the experiences of cultural difference, alienation, and otherness made by Protestant missionaries in intercultural practice, the interwoven transformations of their personal identity as well as relevant learning processes which enlarge their potential have barely been systematically analysed so far.This article aims at eliminating and compensating these deficits. By doing so, it will contribute to one of the most fascinating research projects in contemporary globalised societies, i.e. to the empirical studies of intercultural communication, cooperation, and competence of missionaries. Mission as a religious practice is a part of a long historical tradition in different “world religions”. Besides, it has a great salience in the world at the present time. It is surprising that the research in intercultural communication, cooperation and competence until now has not been paid much attention to the rich experiences and expertise of missionaries.
Publications: Straub, Jürgen/ Arnold, Maik (2007). Mission. In Straub, Jürgen/ Arne Weidemann/ Doris Weidemann (Hg.), Handbuch Interkulturelle Kommunikation und Kompetenz (S. 646 – 657). Stuttgart/ Weimar: Metzler Verlag.
Dr. Maik Arnold is Professor for Non-Profit-Management and Vice-President for Research, Innovation and Transfer at University of Applied Science Dresden.