S66 BI67 (2) -^^___ _^^_00__ ^fari s t j an_jiiiss 1 on & ~ .j lew v/orld 870.^70 263 3167 (2) Keep Your Card in This Pocket Books will be issued only on presentation of proper library cards. Unless labeled otherwise, books may be retained for four weeks. Borrowers finding books marked, de- faced or mutilated are expected to report same at library desk; otherwise the last borrower will be held responsible for all imperfections discovered. The card holder is responsible for all books drawn on this card. Penalty for over-due books 2c a day plus cost of notices. Lost cards and change of residence must be re- ported promptly. Public Library Kansas City, Mo. Keep Your Card in This Pocket CITY, MO PUBLIC LIBRARY 4 1991 APR 2? 1891 "t CHRISTIAN MISSIONS AND A NEW WORLD CULTURE CHRISTIAN MISSIONS AND A NEW WORLD CULTURE By ARCHIBALD G. BAKER Associate Professor of Missions in The University of Chicago 4% W^s// WILLETT, CLARK & COMPANY CHICAGO NEWYORK 1934 Copyright 1934 by WILLETT, CLARK &> COMPANY Manufactured in The U.S.A. by The Plimpton Press Norwood, Mass.-LaPorte, Ind. TO ALL THOSE OF WHATEVER CLIME, COLOR OR CREED, WHO LABOR FOR A BETTER WORLD TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION ix PART ONE CULTURES EAST AND WEST I. CULTURE REGIONS BEFORE COLUMBUS . 3 II. RELIGIONS AS PHASES OF CULTURES . 13 III. CULTURE AND THE CULTURE PROCESS . 30 IV. WESTERN ATTITUDES AND APPROACHES . 45 PART TWO THE PROCESS OF CULTURE TRANSFUSION V. WESTERN CULTURE PENETRATES THE EAST 65 VI. THE JUNCTION POINTS OF CULTURE CONTACT 84 VII. THE STIMULUS-RESPONSE CIRCUIT . . 100 VIII. METHODS OF INFLUENCING BEHAVIOR . 112 IX. METHODS OF DISCRIMINATION . . . 141 vil TABLE OF CONTENTS PART THREE REMAKING PERSONALITY, SOCIETY AND CULTURE X. THE STRUCTURE or CULTURE AND OF PERSONALITY 163 XI. DISINTEGRATION 181 XII. REINTEGRATION THROUGH NEW GROUP- INGS 217 XIII. REINTEGRATION ABOUT SOME CENTER OF REFERENCE 235 XIV. JESUS CHRIST AS A CENTER OF REFER- ENCE 259 PART FOUR TOWARD A PHILOSOPHY OF MISSIONS XV. THE UNDERLYING GENERAL PRINCIPLES 283 XVI. THE CORRESPONDING INTERPRETATION OF MISSIONS 293 INDEX 319 VUl INTRODUCTION During the last century the missionary enterprise of the Christian church was considered to be a glorious campaign,, through which the people of God were to bring the world into subjection to the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. The meaning of the Great Com- mission was clear. To question it was to be disloyal. But within the last few years what was once a crusade has been transformed into a complicated and far-reach- ing problem, bristling with questions which touch not only administration and methods of work, but the valid- ity of the enterprise itself, and ultimately the funda- mental assumptions of the Christian religion. What should be the primary aim of missions? What actually transpires in the heart of an Indian or an African when he comes under the influence of the gos- pel? What is the most valuable religious contribution which we can make to the non-Christian world? Is it sufficient to say that the gospel is Jesus Christ, and if so just what does that mean? What is the relation be- tween the divine and the human within Christianity it- self? Has the Christian anything unique, absolute and final in his religion, or are we rather transmitting to the rest of the world the idealized and spiritualized aspects of our western culture? What is the relation of Chris- tianity to other religions; of Christ to Buddha? What should be the attitude of the Christian to their errors and to the elements of truth which they contain? Shall ix CHRISTIAN MISSIONS AND A NEW WORLD CULTURE he rejoice in all signs of spiritual awakening and co- operate with them in so far as possible for the good of mankind, or shall he look upon such things with dis- favor and seek to overthrow them? Does the Christian already possess ultimate standards and norms, or must Christian and non-Christian look elsewhere for stand- ards of truth, goodness and efficiency? In the midst of all this confusion of counsel in Christian circles and in the light of changing world conditions, is there any justification for perpetuating any longer an enterprise which was undertaken originally with the express pur- pose of setting the rest of the world right in the name of God? If the nature of mission work is changing, where shall be found a sufficient motive to lead men to give their money and themselves to such an enterprise? What of the future? Will Christianity overthrow all other religions? Will it be fused with them in an ec- lectic world-religion? Or will the great faiths continue to survive, each influenced by the other and by the ad- vances of science and of civilization? Is there any hope of developing a world-civilization, or must we abandon this earth to its folly and be content to build the spir- itual kingdom in the heavens? Most supporters of missions have been quite willing to apply the methods of historical and scientific re- search to the claims of other religions, and also to the methods of the missionary enterprise; but at the same time it has been insisted that there existed in Christian- ity a divine revelation or at least an inner essence of such a nature that it lay beyond the reach of critical ex- amination. Mission work has been maintained upon certain assumptions. They were to be accepted through x INTRODUCTION faith. It is these very assumptions that are challenged, and the grounds upon which they are held to be true. Both Christian and non-Christian are becoming sensi- tive to the fact that before we go much farther it would be well for us to examine afresh the assumptions upon which we have operated. And in all honesty and fair- ness, in this examination precisely the same methods must be applied by the Christian to his own religion in its entirety as he has already applied to the faiths of others. It may be objected that the religious life can never be a fit object for critical study, because religion must be experienced rather than analyzed in order to be known. There is an element of truth in this. There is an inti- mate knowledge of conversion or prayer, as also of friendship or toothache, which comes only from actual experience. On the other hand, man has been " expe- riencing " toothache as long as the race has been equipped with molars; but these millenniums of per- sonal experience gave the world little knowledge as to its nature, causes or cures. It revealed only how tooth- ache felt. The conquest of this malady has come through another kind of experience, namely, the scien- tific studies which the dentist has at his command. A fellow-sufferer may give comfort; it is the dentist who gives relief. In like manner the human family has both enjoyed and suffered from religious experiences from time immemorial. The prophet, the poet, and the mystic know how it feels to be religious. But the kind of knowledge which helps us to understand how re- ligions function in the life of man and of society, what happens inwardly when a man attains the beatific xi CHRISTIAN MISSIONS AND A NEW WORLD CULTURE vision, the extent to which these experiences are worthy of confidence and wherein they are not such knowl- edge is coming through the application of scientific methods to religious experience and history. In so far as any religion is experienced or known, that experience becomes data for science. Under this newer approach, the missionary enter- prise is rapidly becoming an applied science, as has already been the case with agriculture or medicine. For thousands of years men have cultivated the soil with more or less success. As yet, however, it was simply an art and not a practical science. But eventually there developed certain theoretical or pure sciences, such as biology, botany, genetics, etc. ; and the age-long art of agriculture began to become an applied science and to make the encouraging progress of recent years only after the more basic theoretical sciences had attained such a degree of perfection that their findings could be employed for understanding the processes and improv- ing the methods of agriculture. It is not otherwise with religion and missions. Ever since the days of the apostles, efforts have been made to convert the world. These early missionaries knew little more of the inner nature of what they were doing than the primitive farmer knew of the nature of growth. It was still an art. But in the course of time, certain theoretical sciences have grown up, such as psychology, anthropology, sociology, history of religions, psychol- ogy of religion, and the intensive study of Christian history and experience, all of which have centered at- tention upon Christianity as one religion among many. These sciences have reached certain tentative conclu- xil INTRODUCTION sions concerning the nature and function of religion within the total culture of mankind, which can now be applied to mission work. In so far as this Is done, missions likewise will become an applied science. According to the findings of the theoretical sciences, religion is a phase of cultural development, and mis- sions one aspect of a more general process of culture interpenetration. Accepting these findings, we pur- pose to study what actually takes place when one reli- gion and culture plays upon another, believing that in the study of the process, as it has unfolded through the ages and as it is operating today, will be found the secrets of more effective effort, a more reliable philoso- phy of missions, and an answer to many of the ques- tions which are being raised concerning the nature and legitimacy of the missionary enterprise. xni PART I CULTURES EAST AND WEST CHAPTER I CULTURE REGIONS BEFORE COLUMBUS Perhaps the most Influential factor In the affairs of men today is the fact that up to the year 1492 there was no such thing as a planetary world,* nor was there any adequate knowledge of a world in process. In this earlier period we see the habitable area of our globe divided into culture regions or regional worlds, isolated more or less completely from each other and each con- stituting to all intents and purposes the only known world to the inhabitants thereof. By the end of the fif- teenth century these had become seven in number: first, the Far East consisting of China, Korea and Japan; second, the triangular region lying south of the Hima- laya Mountains; third, Mohammedan lands stretching from the valley of the Ganges westward through Arabia and North Africa as far as Gibraltar; fourth, Christen- dom, confined by this time quite closely to Europe; fifth, Africa south of the Sahara desert; sixth, the un- discovered hemisphere of the Americas; and seventh, a scattered mass of islands lying to the south and east of Asia. Our interest in the year 1492 arises from the fact that this marks the conclusion of one long epoch in the his- tory of the development of civilizations, during which * That is, a world of interrelated interests and activities coexten- sive with the planet on which we live. CHRISTIAN MISSIONS AND A NEW WORLD CULTURE geographical regions constituted the units within which cultures evolved. In the succeeding epoch, one of these culture regions, namely Europe, suddenly takes on a most amazing vitality and begins to spread the various features of its life over the other six. This expansive movement covers four hundred years, or from 1492 to 1904, if we take the outbreak of the Russo-Japanese war as the event which marks the turning of the tide. Although today we are only in the opening decades of the new century there are evidences that we have al- ready entered upon a third stage. The former regional worlds are giving way to what we shall call a planetary world of interrelated activities, in which the aggression of Europe is being met by a new self-assertion in Asia or Africa which insists upon giving expression to its own life and making its own contribution to the future of mankind. The Christian religion spread throughout the Near East and Europe as a part of one of these regional developments, belonging to the first period, which welded Jew, Greek, Roman and Teuton into a Christendom. The modern missions of the church have, until recently, been an integral part of the second epoch, characterized by European expansion. What is actually happening to Christianity as it enters this present period, characterized by reciprocal transfusion rather than by one-way expansion, is the particular problem to which we devote ourselves in the present discussion. If we turn our attention to the historical development of the region known as the Far East we will discover how culture regions grow. Here nature has spread out a large terrestrial saucer which bears the name of CULTURE REGIONS BEFORE COLUMBUS China, bounded on the south and east by a vast expanse of water; on the north and west by mountains and semi-arid plateaus. This extensive area of alternating rivers, mountains and fertile plains furnished every facility both for human progress and for the welding together eventually of tribal communities into a homo- geneous type of life. This region appears to have been occupied originally by peoples of scattered origins and diverse customs. Some three thousand years before the Christian era, a nucleus of cultural development appeared in the upper valley of the Yellow River, in the neighborhood of the present city of Sian-fu. What is most evident to the casual observer in subsequent history is the political unification of the empire. But at the same time other developments were taking place, less conspicuous but equally momentous. Little by little the herdsman and the hunter turned farmer, and improved methods of cultivation spread over the land. As time went on, the language of the conquerors was taken over by the many tribes until today the majority of China's millions speak a common tongue. A peculiar ideographic system of writing was perfected which served as the vehicle by which the creative thought of China's long succession of sages and religious leaders was preserved and became the common property of the peasant in the field and the mandarins sitting about their cups of tea. The conception of Tien, or the orderliness of nature, and of Li, or the proper conduct of mankind, permeated the whole region, as the funda- mental principles governing human life. A fairly uni- form social system, with its emphasis upon loyalty to family and clan and its conception of corporate respon- 5 CHRISTIAN MISSIONS AND A NEW WORLD CULTURE sibility, became the basis upon which was built the superstructure of Chinese civilization. An indigenous naturalism interpreted the social life of man as the ex- foliation of a cosmic order or Tao. In due time this naturalism became differentiated into Taoism and Con- fucianism. Buddhism, imported from India, added a superstructure of dualism. But no one religion suc- ceeded in conquering the others, nor were they fused together into one all-embracing faith. They rather be- came so reconciled to each other that the Chinese saw no inconsistency in following now one and now another as occasion might demand. Local differences of custom and belief of course still survived. The capital of imperial power shifted from one city to another; dynasties rose and fell. Now one province or city might become the center of philosophi- cal teaching, literary activity, religious zeal, or artistic productiveness, and then again another. Periods of exceptional productivity were followed by others of relative stagnation. But withal, cultural influences emanating now from one center and now from another were welding together the disjointed units of aboriginal life into one great civilization. It consisted of a com- mon way of living and a common way of thinking which bound the Chinese people together so intimately in one bundle of life that all the schisms which have marked their political history since 1911 have not been able to cause a serious rift in that more fundamental unity which holds the eighteen provinces together. Furthermore, this movement of assimilation spread beyond the boundaries of China proper, and brought the outlying marginal districts within the same culture 6 CULTURE REGIONS BEFORE COLUMBUS region. About the year 500 A.D. Chinese civilization began to enter Japan by way of Korea, and to take deep root among a people of somewhat different racial stock. What transpired in the case of Japan was repeated in other countries such as Korea, Tibet, Manchuria and Mongolia. Thus it was that the central region of cul- tural productivity was surrounded by a number of mar- ginal areas into which the Chinese civilization spread with greater or less momentum, although not with suf- ficient influence to assimilate completely the life of these alien peoples. For centuries China was a mis- sionary country, reaching out not only into surrounding districts but occasionally even to more distant lands. There were two main avenues of communication with the world to the West. The water route which provided contacts with India and Arabia, and the overland route lying north of Tibet. Along these two avenues China has contributed the following products of her inventive genius which have moulded our western civilization considerably: the wheelbarrow, umbrellas, fans, silk, tea, paper, gunpowder, possibly the compass, and the art of printing by movable blocks. The story of paper is an excellent illustration of the way in which the in- vention of one people may be carried far and wide, until the life of all mankind is influenced thereby. The art of paper making was discovered by the Chinese as early as 105 A.D. According to one account, a few Chinese were taken prisoners by the Arabs during a sea-fight six hundred years later. It so happened that among these prisoners were a number who understood the secrets of making paper. They became the instruc- tors of the Arabs. It took five hundred years for this CHRISTIAN MISSIONS AND A NEW WORLD CULTURE new art to cross Arabia and North Africa; but even- tually it penetrated Europe through Spain in the twelfth century. To no small degree the perfection of the art of printing, the popularization of learning, and the rapid advancement of European civilization has been dependent upon the production of a cheap fabric, the discovery of which we owe to the ingenuity of the Chinese. Along these same roads there penetrated into the relatively secluded life of China sundry importa- tions from the West: grapes, hemp, Manichean as- tronomy, Mohammedanism, Nestorianism, and even- tually the Catholic form of Christianity. But by far the most important influence was Buddhism, whose sturdy missionaries braved the dangers of the northern route and reached the capital in the opening decades of the Christian era. A similar story of the welding to- gether of diverse areas into a more or less homogeneous region and of occasional borrowings back and forth across the boundaries could be told of India and of Mohammedan lands. At first sight it might seem that we were belaboring a theory by insinuating that Europe at the end of the fifteenth century could legitimately be called a cultural unit. The Mediterranean world with its relatively homogeneous civilization arising from the fusion of Greek thought with Roman administration had been split up into two rival empires, and each was now about to subdivide afresh into warring states. The Christian church had been rent asunder by the Great Schism. The Teutonic tribes had wrought their havoc. Yet in spite of political disruption, the cultural unity of Europe was still partially preserved, by a common faith, 8 CULTURE REGIONS BEFORE COLUMBUS by the common usages of Roman law, by a common language of learning, and for a while by the feudal system, all of which served to put each individual in his place and dictated to him his manner of life. But more important still, Europe was about to enter a new period of creativity. Now one section of the continent and now another served as the center of a new ferment, each making its own contribution to the gradually ac- cumulating whole: the revival of Greek learning, voy- ages of discovery, the reformation of religion, the pro- duction of art, literatures and philosophies, struggles for democracy, the development of industrialism and commerce, and the perfection of the scientific method. As the next four centuries rolled by these awakening movements permeated more and more the whole popu- lation and even brought the marginal areas under the sway of an interrelated type of life, known as western civilization, which soon burst continental bounds to penetrate to the far corners of the globe. Such then was the state of the world in 1492. There was not as yet, and there never had been, a planetary world. Rather this planet of ours was divided into regional worlds. Three of these, America, Equatorial Africa and Australasia still remained in a retarded state of development, almost completely isolated from the rest of mankind. Among the other four there had been a certain amount of intermittent intercourse. It is sufficient for our purpose to bear in mind that in each of the aforementioned regions there operated a similar process of culture development, which will be further elaborated in Chapter III. The earlier units consisted of areas of tribal culture. Among these there arose CHRISTIAN MISSIONS AND A NEW WORLD CULTURE now one nucleus and now another where creative forces were at work, each making its own contribution. Through intercommunication a fusion of cultures took place among these, so that each profited not only by its own inventions but also by the genius of its neigh- bors. In time this process of assimilation welded these areas together into extensive culture regions. By simi- lar methods, marginal districts were brought partially under the sway of the more vital civilization. In the meantime, there occasionally took place an exchange of culture elements with more distant lands. Neverthe- less, for most people the culture region constituted the widest range both of relationship and of interest. The main disability under which the twentieth cen- tury is suffering arises from the fact that millions of human beings, who are the products of separate and distinct culture regions, have been thrust too suddenly into a planetary world entailing complex relationships on a worldwide scale. Most of the mental equipment wherewith they are trying to make these new adjust- ments assumptions, principles, attitudes and institu- tions are the out-of-date heritages of this earlier order of things. For example, the present forms of political organization which grew up to meet former local conditions and which today are struggling to solve international problems by means of colonial administra- tions, balances of power, and pretentious claims of national sovereignty, are no more adapted to the de- mands of a planetary world than the venerable char- ters and the seaboard psychology of the thirteen colonies were fitted to incorporate into one common- wealth that vaster territory which lay to the west of 10 CULTURE REGIONS BEFORE COLUMBUS the Alleghany Mountains. The colonial mind which during the nineteenth century became continental must now become planetary, before the tools will be commen- surate with the larger task. This inadequacy arises from the fact that the current attitudes and institutions grew out of human experience hitherto confined within a circumscribed horizon. The accepted principles of government were generalizations derived from data equally limited in scope. Now, however, these opin- ions and principles, be they American, European, or Japanese, are found to be wanting, and are being brought to the bar of an accumulating experience, as extended as the habitable globe, as varied as the vicissi- tudes of the human race, and as long as history itself. The building of a better order awaits this rectification of our mental equipment. It is this searching and inescapable re-evaluation of all things in the light of the total racial experience and of a long developmental process which gives a new per- spective from which to contemplate the missionary enterprise. The Christian has been in the habit of viewing it too exclusively as the expansive movement of his own religion, of believing that it alone could bring new life, and of seeking it3 vindication in certain great " acts of God " with which it is supposed to stand or fall. But if we go back behind these " acts " and take a cultural approach, mission work is seen to be but one specific exemplification of a complicated process which has been in operation since the beginning of time a process by which the valuable discoveries of one people are disseminated to other peoples, near and far. This interpretation gives a new insight into the nature of the ii CHRISTIAN MISSIONS AND A NEW WOULD CULTURE forces at work, and a new vindication to the movement. It becomes an integral part of the two complementary processes, discovery and dissemination, by which the race has attained its present degree of advancement. So long as these are the two means by which humanity works its way onward and upward, the only vindication which missions will require will be found in the value of the contributions made thereby to human welfare. 12 CHAPTER H RELIGIONS AS PHASES OF CULTURES Religions have flourished in all culture regions. The question therefore arises, what is the relation between these religious faiths and practices and the more general cultural life which served as the background of each? Much confusion has reigned in the minds of men with reference to the relation of a religion to its own culture, and of one religion to another. Most of the basic ques- tions that are occupying missionary statesmen today arise from this same uncertainty and can never be cleared up except in so far as one is able to discover the kinship and the distinctions which exist in each case between a religion and its cultural surroundings, past and present. It is this, rather than ethical or doctrinal comparisons, which determines the relation of religion to religion and the validity of absolutistic claims. I. RELIGION AND CULTURE Here the theoretical sciences make their first con- tribution. Earlier investigators endeavored to trace all religions to a unitary origin, such as a belief in dreams, and to show that their subsequent development fol- lowed a uniform schedule. This theory has since been abandoned. It is now held that a religion is so con- nected with its own cultural history, and thereby with CHRISTIAN MISSIONS AND A NEW WORLD CULTURE the common process of culture development, that it acquires an individuality and a uniqueness of its own, while at the same time it becomes a cousin of all other religions. This connection between any religion and its cultural associations is more intimate than has hitherto been supposed. i. In the first place, religion and all other phases of the culture of a people come up from similar sources, and pass through interrelated stages of development. The modern student of Mohammedanism, who tries to explain its origin and development, investigates the cultural life of the tribes of Arabia before the days of Mohammed to discover the antecedent factors which were moving in the hearts of the people. He studies the tribal religions, the manner in which they had already been moulded by the distinctive features of desert life, and the degree in which they satisfied or failed to satisfy the yearnings of the nomadic bands. He in- vestigates the life of the founder, his peculiar mental equipment, his predilection for seeing visions and hear- ing voices, his power of leadership, and the special con- tributions which he himself made. Attention is cen- tered upon the influence of wife, uncle, and other important personages or events in his life history. Christianity and the religion of Israel are scanned to determine what influences these may have exerted. The devout follower of Islam attributes his religion to Allah and the supernatural revelation of the Koran. The modern student makes little reference to Allah, because he believes that he can find a truer explanation of the origin and subsequent course of the faith in these particular contributing factors. The religion and the 14 RELIGIONS AS PHASES OF CULTURES founder are both products of cultural antecedents, and they in turn become dynamic factors to mould future developments. The culture does not produce the reli- gion, as a seed grows into a tree. Rather, religion is but one of the products of a much larger and more com- plex process, in which certain fundamental human urges and interests are seeking an outlet, now through daily occupations and family life, now through politics, art or religion, each of which reacts in a reciprocal way upon the others as they develop together, like so many sisters in a family. So intimate is this relationship that the stages of religious development correspond to the stages of cultural enlightenment in the development of society, as is abundantly verified in the history of Mohammedanism, Christianity and every other religion. 2. Not only so, but at any particular period a cor- relation is found to exist between the cultural stratifica- tion of a people and the type of religion which they profess. If we take a culture region, such as North America or Hindu India, a certain number of cultural stratifications appear corresponding to the general en- lightenment and racial origin of each. The lines of cleavage may be no more clear-cut than the lines divid- ing yellow from green in the spectrum, but in so far as such distinctions prevail they run parallel with corre- sponding differentiations within the prevailing religion. Unitarianism appeals to one stratum of American so- ciety; the Salvation Army to another. The Vedanta interpretation of Hinduism flourishes in certain cultural strata of Indian society; the cruder animistic forms in others. According to the illiterate masses, Buddha CHRISTIAN MISSIONS AND A NEW WORLD CULTURE hears and answers prayer for rain or healing, just as the gods of other religions are supposed to do. The more learned Buddhists, however, reject this idea as mistaken. Prayer does not move the personal god, Buddha, to action. It only produces certain desirable effects in the heart of him who prays. So intimate is the connection between culture and religion that only as cultural differences are held to a minimum within the body of society can the homogeneity of any religion be preserved. 3. It is the general culture of society and the daily experiences of people which have given rise to the vari- ous types of human need, and to the behavior patterns and thought patterns of religion through which these needs have been met. This can best be set forth by raising two practical questions: What is it that people strive to do when they are religious? What is it that determines the way in which they try to do it? The answer to these questions will give a functional de- scription of religion, sufficient to distinguish it from economics, politics, or the more general term, culture; and at the same time it will reveal the manner in which religious patterns are borrowed from these kindred de- partments of life. Man repeatedly finds himself in distressing situa- tions, where he feels that his own resources and those of his fellows are unequal to the emergency, and is constrained to reach out for assistance to powers and agencies which he believes to be above and beyond him. But the specific interpretation of such religious need is not uniform. Whether it be an abundant harvest, deliverance from the power of demons, escape from a 16 RELIGIONS AS PHASES OF CULTURES hell of fire or a hell of ice, forgiveness of sins or eman- cipation from suffering, the survival of individuality or the loss of individuality in eternity all of this is determined by the stage of cultural development and by the urgent necessities arising out of the characteris- tic life of society. So likewise, the methods employed to meet these needs vary accordingly. The mother of Jesus 7 day brought her poor demented daughter to Jesus that a demon might be cast out. The Christian mother two centuries later took her child to the Chris- tian exorcist. Today the mother feels no need to free her child from a demon because she no longer believes in demon possession. But the precise story of how it came about that this mother consults with a medical specialist instead of a Christian exorcist can be told only by tracing the enlightenment which has come over our western world as science has pushed back the clouds of ignorance. Demented children we have with us still; but the interpretation of the nature of the need and of how to meet it changes in response to cultural develop- ment. The second thing which a man seeks through his religion is an emotional experience. But whether the emotion sought be one of peace, or one of joy and ecstasy, depends upon whether the previous life of the individual in society has been excessively agitated, or too drab and monotonous. These emotional satisfac- tions may be achieved through the use of spirituous liquors as in Vedic times, the whirling dance of the Dervishes, the breathing exercises of the Yogis or the singing of hymns by the evangelical Christian; such experiences may be attributed to a demon or to a spirit, CHRISTIAN MISSIONS AND A NEW WORLD CULTURE to Krishna or Christ, to Kwanyin or to the Virgin Mary but each and all of these particulars are de- termined by the contingencies of the individual con- cerned and of the religion in question, as these have been influenced by cultural antecedents. Ever since man began to meditate upon his lot he has been raising questions concerning the " whence " of the past, the " whither " of the future, the " why " of divine purpose, and the " how " of causal sequence. Religion has been one of man's efforts to reply to these universal questions. But the student of religion discovers that the dogmas concerning " whence," " whither/' " how " and " why " have a natural history in which each grows out of analogical patterns and philosophical concepts derived from related cultural regions and periods. The influence of the theory of evolution upon the venerable dogmas of the church today is spreading before our eyes a demonstration of the sensitiveness of doctrine to the current scientific pattern of growth. Religion furnishes man with a rule of conduct, or an approved way of living. This saves him from the labor and delay involved, if at each turn of the road he were compelled to pause, debate and decide. It has defined the things which he must do if he would remain in good standing with his fellows, and especially with his God. Each religion has claimed for its peculiar code a heavenly origin, a divine sanction and final authority. But the searchlight of modern science reveals that the Ten Commandments of the Jews, the Laws of Manu among the Hindus, the five relationships of China, and the Way of the Warrior in Japan have each had its own historic growth out of previous customs. They are the 18 RELIGIONS AS PHASES OF CULTURES ideally approved ways of living among groups of people according to their stages of development. Each and all alike are still passing through ^interpretations in re- sponse to the spirit of the age and the testings of experience. 4. The connection between culture and religion is further exemplified in what takes place when any reli- gion spreads beyond its own borders and invades the area of an alien civilization. The story of what has transpired in the expansion of Buddhism is illuminat- ing, especially if compared with that of Christianity. As we have seen, before Buddhism left Asia on its long pilgrimage to the northeast, it levied heavily upon all that India had to give of stored-up treasures. The Founder himself was not merely a founder but also a transmitter, and much of the wisdom of the Vedas and possibly of the Upanishads and many a concept from the Samkhya and Yoga he welded into his rich and com- posite teaching. His successors in spite of their earnest orthodoxy added much. The developing Vedanta phi- losophy and the Bhakti schools made their contribu- tions. Hindu mythology wove its festoons around the growing religion. ... It was this magnificent proces- sion, from the Indian world that came to China in the first part of the Christian era, taking (to borrow a current phrase) several centuries a to pass a given point." . . . Then the Chinese brought from out their store new contributions, things new and old, and added them to the common hoard. A few of these things must here be specified. One of them was the feeling for the com- munal life, always strong in China, which, though it may not have changed a line in the writings of any Buddhist 19 CHRISTIAN MISSIONS AND A NEW WORLD CULTURE philosopher, surely did soften down and mellow the rather sharp and hard individualism which was one of the aspects of the original teachings of the Founder. Confucianism added its concept of filial piety and family loyalty and its large store of practical morality, while Taoism brought its mystical insight and poetical feeling. Chinese learning and poetry and art merged themselves into the rich store. . . . Thus enriched. Buddhism swept up into Korea, and gathered what this poetical and artistic people had to offer. So at last it was ready for its pilgrimage across the straits into the island empire of Japan. . . . The interesting thing to note here is the fact that these many and multiform additions, with the exception of certain superstitions and externalisms, have been so transmuted by adoption, have been so thoroughly assimi- lated, that foreign as they first appear one is constrained on further examination to say, Yes, these are thoroughly Buddhist after all. Within the original form of the religion there seem to have been quite literally innumer- able potentialities that required only the touch of new conditions and new human needs to bring to light. The Buddhist religion had no little hard kernel of sharply definable selfhood to prevent it from merging and min- gling, absorbing and assimilating, adapting itself with wonderful elasticity to all sorts of new situations and identifying itself fearlessly with many a spiritual force that seemed on the surface foreign and antithetic. The Anatta doctrine (that there is no real self) could hardly find a better exemplification than in Buddhism itself.* This reveals that while a religion Is closely inter- woven with its own culture, the relationship is not so * The Pilgrimage of Buddhism (pp. 456-458), by J. B. Pratt. The Macrnillan Company. 20 RELIGIONS AS PHASES OF CULTURES intimate that it cannot be transplanted to another civi- lization. There both the transplanted religion and the indigenous culture mutually influence each other so that neither is the same again. The nature of this cross- fertilization is the main subject of this study. If the reader desires a more detailed statement of the relationship between a religion and its cultural environ- ment he is referred to the many works on the history of religions and psychology of religion, which treat of these matters in detail. There is no need further to elaborate this theme. So long as the historical approach is made to other religions, the Christian looks upon it as an academic matter and is quite ready to accept the findings. But it is a very different question when these same methods of investigation are turned upon the de- velopmental history of the Christian religion, which is our spiritual mother. This touches each one of us in the vital spot of our own confidences, ideals and loyalties. II. CHRISTIANITY AND CULTURE If it is true that the culture process which produced western civilization is essentially the same as that which gave rise to the civilizations of other regions as is set forth in the following chapter then the question, What is the relation of Christianity to the ethnic religions? can best be answered by asking, What is the relation of Christianity to its own cultural environment? Is it similar to or different from that of Buddhism or Islam to their social backgrounds? The fundamental question is not one of doctrinal similarity, nor of ethical 21 CHRISTIAN MISSIONS AND A NEW WORLD CULTURE contrast, but the extent to which Christianity is caught up in a similar culture process, through which it sus- tains what may be its real relationship with other faiths. This question as to the relationship of the Christian religion to its antecedent culture and subsequently to the life of any period or region is no new one to Chris- tian thinkers. In fact, it emerged in Galilee as soon as Jesus began to attract attention. The New Testament writings abound in efforts to relate Jesus to the long historical development recorded in the Old Testament. God was thought to have been working therein, and only as this new religious figure could be interpreted as " fulfilling " those ancient prophecies did he get a cos- mic meaning for the early Christians. When the gospel was preached to the Gentile world, a still more serious problem arose. What was the relation of the Jewish economy and of Jesus Christ to the cultural life of the Mediterranean world, about whose origin and worth there was a conflict of opinion? The hand of God was to be seen in the history of Israel; but how about Greece and Rome? Two schools of thought arose, one of which was separatistic. Pagan religions were but evil caricatures of God's true revelation; Greek philoso- phy only served to puff up the heart with vain conceits ; the times were short and the Lord was at hand when the redeemed were to be rescued out of this present evil age. But a more conciliatory position was taking shape within the Christian community. John found in the Greek concept of the Logos his favorite symbol of the cosmic significance of Jesus. Most of the apologists believed that they could reconcile the revelation of the gospel with the better elements of Greek thought. 22 RELIGIONS AS PHASES OF CULTURES This conciliatory effort reached its culmination in the Alexandrian school of theology, which maintained that Christianity was a fulfilment of the best that had long lain dormant in Mediterranean life; for the same God was working through both Jew and Gentile. Accord- ingly, ecumenical councils defined Christian doctrines in terms of secular philosophy. Eventually Thomas Aquinas succeeded in reconciling the natural revelation of law and order with the divine revelation of grace, under one all-inclusive philosophy of life. The Protestant Reformation was more than a mere protest against the errors and abuses of the Catholic church. In its deepest implications it was a revolt against a philosophy of history, and an effort to escape from the meshes of a two-fold historical process; con- sisting first, of culture transmission which bound past and present together in an unbroken continuity, and second, of culture transfusion which joined together the secular and the sacred, thus " polluting " what was con- sidered to be the original stream of divine life and revelation. Consequently, just as the leaders of the Renaissance leaped back over the intervening centuries to classical Greece and Rome as the fountain head of the world's best art, philosophy and literature, so like- wise the fathers of the Reformation rejected the inter- vening centuries with their innovations as spurious, and sought to return to Christ and the apostles as the un- contaminated source of divine truth. The attempt, of course, was only partially successful; but at least the Reformers were sincere in their assumptions, namely, that what is of human origin is of the earth; God alone is the fountain of truth and goodness; and only by 23 CHRISTIAN MISSIONS AND A NEW WORLD CULTURE getting back and beyond the contamination of the inter- vening centuries can the soul get into touch with God. Both Catholic and Protestant agreed that God had made himself known in a special way fifteen centuries earlier. The question at issue was, how to relate the present, in which men were living, with the days of Christ and the apostles, when God was supposed to have revealed himself. What should be done with the inter- vening centuries, and with the historical process which had been operating whether men approved of it or not? In its thinking, the Catholic church bound the pres- ent to the past and preserved an unbroken historical continuity by means of its doctrines concerning the growth of the church, the papacy, the value of tradition, and the " natural revelation "of God in the process of nature. This philosophy of historic continuity has been one of the main elements of strength in the Catholic position. But the Church of Rome made the blunder of placing the stamp of infallibility upon that which was the product of a historical process, and therefore must of necessity be relative and imperfect. Most of the Protestant churches, on the other hand, repudiated those intervening centuries and the concept of historical continuity because they disapproved of some of the innovations. The Reformers, therefore, built their religious thinking upon another model, namely, that of discontinuity, with an original and final revelation recorded in the Bible; an immediate, per- sonal experience of religion through repentance and faith, reproducing in the lives of men by divine inter- vention both the religious experience and the doctrines of biblical times; and between these two a long hiatus 24 RELIGIONS AS PHASES OF CULTURES of from twelve to fifteen centuries, unbridged except by the preservation of the written Word of God and by the ever-present Spirit. Not being historically minded, they rejected the long cultural process which linked them with the past. They sought only that relation with apostolic times which could be maintained by way of heaven, and held that the church was to be a faithful reproduction of New Testament models. This was the blunder of the fathers of the Reformation from which their sons have suffered ever since. As well might they have tried to repudiate the long line of biological an- cestors which linked them in unbroken succession with unknown progenitors , running back to the times of Peter and Paul, and claimed for themselves individually spontaneous generation, as to have sought thus to dis- own the long line of cultural ancestry in religion, simply because the Church of Rome had gone astray. The one would have involved a stupendous biological miracle. The other involves an equally stupendous psychological and sociological miracle. The question which Protestantism has since failed to solve is that of the real relationship between Christi- anity and the process of cultural development, and therefore of the connection between the twentieth cen- tury and the first and of the first with preceding cen- turies. The leaders of the Church of England early sensed the weakness of the above position, and sought to bridge this gap by maintaining the historic episcopate as an uninterrupted line, running back to the days of the apostles. The conservative of today holds to the infallibility of the written Word of God, unerringly transmitted through the centuries and interpreted 25 CHRISTIAN MISSIONS AND A NEW WORLD CULTURE aright to him by the ever-present Spirit. The Barthian affirms a true Word of God revealed within the written Word, but not identical with it, and vouchsafed to him by the same Spirit. The liberal school recognizes an " essence " of divine revelation contained in the person of Jesus Christ and in the events of the gospel story, which is mediated to us today by the direct action of the Divine Spirit, but which at the same time is handed on and amplified by the historical process, and of neces- sity clothes itself in the cultural garments of each suc- ceeding age. All of these are efforts to explain by means of institutionalism, sacramentalism, mysticism and biblicism, an unbroken continuity which is psycho- logical, social, cultural and historical, and for which the corresponding sciences are beginning to give a clarify- ing answer. These sciences are explaining, not only the history, but also the origin, of Christianity in terms of a creative process, which has been operative through the ages and still is working in the affairs of men. In the midst of this confusion of thought concerning the relation of Christianity to its own accompanying cultural development, there is little wonder that seri- ous differences prevail today with reference to the relation of Christianity to other religions and civiliza- tions. Four typical positions may be distinguished: Troeltsch and others like him hold that historical Christianity and the other great religions arc each the flowering of its own distinctive culture, and conse- quently it is as futile to try to transplant Christianity into Hindu or Confucian soil as it would be to grow a rosebud on a geranium plant. Christianity and pos- sibly the other great religions may eventually wipe 26 RELIGIONS AS PHASES OF CULTURES out the primitive faiths, but the great world-religions themselves are the expression of the religious con- sciousness of certain definite types of culture, and it is the duty of all of them to increase in depth and purity by means of their own inherent impulses. There can be no conversion or transformation of one into the other, but only a measure of agreement and mutual un- derstanding. This view overemphasizes the intimacy of the connection between a religion and its own cul- ture. It unduly magnifies the separation and distinct- ness of the great culture regions in earlier periods. It overlooks the fact that not only have religions ex- panded over alien civilizations in the past, but for the last hundred years a general transfusion of culture has been going on which is providing a common basis for even more pronounced religious transformations. This theory underestimates the interrelationship of cultures. On the other hand, it is held by many that the Chris- tian religion, in distinction from culture and from other religions, is so essentially of divine origin that it be- longs to another order. It, like the Christian himself, is in the world but not of the world. It is universal and absolute, as contrasted with all other religions which of necessity are local and relative. Therefore Christianity must overthrow other faiths, while keeping itself un- contaminated by syncretisms from the world. Little or no account is taken of the fact that every historical form of Christianity has itself in the past taken on local colorings from the surrounding culture, and that as Christianity is spreading now into other civilizations the same intermingling of religion and general culture is taking place. It is recognized, however, that a certain 27 CHRISTIAN MISSIONS AND A NEW WORLD CULTURE amount of accommodation of the Christian message to the culture of foreign peoples is necessary in order to facilitate the propaganda of the unalloyed gospel. The liberal school of today acknowledges that Chris- tianity in all its historical forms has taken up cultural accretions from the various civilizations where it has spread. But there exists within it an inner essence which is purely divine, eternal and universal. This is known by various names, but most f reqently it is referred to as " Christ " or as the " Christocentric gospel." Chris- tianity in its actual manifestations is an imperfect min- gling of the human and the divine. Christ himself is the Perfect One. God has revealed himself in a pre- paratory way in other religions as well, but at best these occasional disclosures of himself are but flicker- ing stars in comparison with the full Sun of Righteous- ness which shines in the face of Jesus Christ. The mis- sionary then should carry abroad not the culture of Christendom, nor any form of western Christianity, but the eternal Christ as the soul of the Christian re- ligion, which must be allowed to clothe itself in an appropriate body by assimilating to itself kindred ele- ments out of the indigenous cultures. For this school the study of culture transfusion is of interest because it is recognized as the process by means of which this divine essence divests itself of its occidental vestments and clothes itself afresh in garments woven from the cultures of other lands. The fourth view has meaning and worth only for those who hold that the present world-order incloses within itself the possibilities of good as well as of evil and that human life is borne along in a creative process. 28 RELIGIONS AS PHASES OF CULTURES Christianity then is essentially the same as other re- ligions so far as its origins and its developmental re- lationship to cultural environment are concerned. Like them, it has been a struggle and a quest for the higher values of life. For the Christian, God and Jesus Christ stand as the symbols of the idealized values of Christendom. Other god concepts serve a similar purpose for other religions, although the values are not identical. All mankind are brothers traveling along the road of life, but not all have made equal progress. Much of this diversity and the lag of some has been due to isolation with its attendant social, moral and spiritual inbreeding. Now that the races have been thrown together, the inevitable process of mingling may be either beneficial or harmful. The Christian seeks to bring the best that there is in his religion, his science and his general culture to the points where East and West mingle, in the conviction that out of this cross-fertilization properly supervised will emerge a higher and better life for all mankind. Through mutual stimulation the religious values of life may be revised, enriched and universalized. 29 CHAPTER III CULTURE AND THE CULTURE PROCESS In popular phraseology the word " culture " means refinement and enlightenment. It is in this sense that we speak of a " cultured gentleman." But in the scientific world the word has a much broader conno- tation, in which the basic idea is not polish but that which is habitual or customary. The culture of a people comprises the sum of all their activities, customs and beliefs. These fall rather natu- rally into three main categories the physical, the social, and the religious. The first of these . . . includes such factors as food, dress, dwellings, implements, arts and industries. They are elements of culture which are tangible, readily open to observation, and capable of objective preservation, in contrast with the non-material and vastly more perishable social and religious factors. To these latter belong, on the one hand, all such features as the forms of marriage, social groupings and customs, and political movements; and on the other, the whole mass of religious beliefs and mythology 3 together with their outward expression in ritual and cult. . . . Culture is thus a better term to use than civilization when we are discussing mankind as a whole or comparing one people with another, for it carries with il no connotation of high or low, of advancement or degeneration, and may be used 30 CULTURE AND THE CULTURE PROCESS without prejudice alike to primitive tribes or to our- selves.* Culture then consists of the more or less verified results of human experience. It is handed on from generation to generation by the learning process. It is built up by trial and error, or else is borrowed from others, and provides man with the best equipment avail- able for making the most of life. Cultures do not exist in and of themselves. They are bound up in a three- fold combination, consisting of the individual, the group, and the corresponding culture. Any social or religious phenomenon involves each of them. Our in- terest will be in all three, with special emphasis upon the latter. I. THE STRUCTURE OF CULTURE The process of the growth and the transfusion of cultures is partially governed by their structure. The culture of any region is a complex fabric, composed of a variety of designs, not unlike a piece of oriental tapes- try. As it presents itself to the eye, the particular figures are intertwined so intricately that any effort at analysis may seem arbitrary. But for purposes of study it is important to identify these figures. It is by the shaping and reshaping of these units that cultures grow. It is these culture-traits and culture-complexes, and not the total civilization or religion, which consti- tute the units exported and imported across cultural boundaries.! Just as the touching of a spider's web * The Building of Cultures (pp. 3-4), by R. B. Dixon. Charles Scribner's Sons. f A fuller description of each will be found in Chapter X. 31 CHRISTIAN MISSIONS AND A NEW WORLD CULTURE agitates the entire fabric, so the introduction of a new mechanical device, such as radio, or the reinterpreta- tion of any religious dogma will in time disturb the whole fabric of life. II. THE STRUCTURE OF SOCIETY Human society presents similar stages of progressive complexity and interlacing. Neither the Japanese nor the Americans live together in the form of an undiffer- entiated mass, such as a ball of putty; nor as an aggregation of souls, like a pile of sand with one grain independent of the other. This raises the question of the structure of society and its relation to the social process. i. The individual and his ever-widening group affiliations. If the reader will draw a circle to indicate the family of which he is a member (cf. figure i); if he will locate by appropriate symbols within the circle the several members of his family; if now he will center attention upon the father and indicate by a separate ellipse each of the various social groupings, church, business, club, etc., which reach into the family circle, embrace the father, and link him up with vary- ing numbers and classes of outsiders; if he will do the same for the mother and each of the children, he will be impressed with the intricate manner in which each individual is caught up into a network of group re- lationships. Until recent years the missionary enterprise has been proverbially individualistic in its interpretation of salvation; whereas in reality there is no such thing 32 CULTURE AND THE CULTURE PROCESS as an Individual, In and of himself, either at home or on the foreign field. The radiating lines of the diagram denote conflicting loyalties, areas of tension and or- gani2ed agencies of group control. They are the bonds which bind a man, the lines which pull him now in one direction and now in another, making him what he is; and with these the missionary will have to deal in any FIGURE I effort to remake human nature for the better. Society itself is articulated into a whole through a similar in- terlocking of social groups. 2. The perpendicular stratification of society. So- ciety is not homogeneous. It is stratified in respect to economic possessions, social standing, race, religious affiliations and cultural attainments. Castes, hier- archies and aristocracies have long been familiar; but 33 CHRISTIAN MISSIONS AND A NEW WORLD CULTURE even a supposedly democratic order does not escape from what appears to be an inevitable sifting into high- brows, mezzanine-brows and low-brows; capitalist, white-collared and laborer ; the four hundred, the four thousand and the four million. The social structure is graded into classes or types ; like a ladder, each round of which corresponds to a particular status in the total scaling. Status or standing furnishes one of the main values, to the Hottentot as well as to the New Yorker , and consequently one of the most powerful motiva- tions to human conduct. It must be safeguarded on the part of some by cunningly devised quarantines; it is eagerly sought by scheming, wit or force on the part of others. Conscious and unconscious influences per- colate from the upper strata to the lower, and by the same token rise from the lower to the upper. Only in exceptional cases are these classes organized; never- theless, each class is held together by a consciousness of type and a similarity of purpose, and therefore be- comes still another kind of unit in the social process. It is these lines of tension, horizontal between group and group and perpendicular between class and class, which help to maintain the social process and prevent society from settling down into a placidity of stag- nation. These individuals, groups and stratifications serve as the units of interaction in the process. III. THE CULTURE AREA AND REGION Cultures have their geography, as well as their his- tory, psychology and group organization. We must leave to the anthropologist and the historian the de- 34 CULTURE AND THE CULTURE PROCESS limitation of region from region at any particular stage of history, and of area from area within any one cul- ture region. Our interest is rather in the functions which they play in the total process. There are two distinguishing features of the area or the region. They indicate respectively the narrower and the wider bound- aries of intercourse between people under normal con- ditions and consequently the geographical sources of the stimuli to which they react. People living within these boundaries are characterized by similarity of con- duct patterns, with the result that they are likely to respond in a similar manner to similar stimuli; not be- cause of designed or coordinated action as in the case of the group, but because of similarity of response patterns. As a rule, the smaller the area or sub-area the more homogeneous is the culture and the greater is the probability of similar conduct. Thus culture, the group, and also the geography of culture take on a similar structure, consisting of smaller units joined together into larger wholes of increasing complexity. In the culture process each of these units and wholes plays its own particular function. Culture- traits and culture-complexes are the " goods " or values which people seek for the enhancement of their lives, and which provide approved methods for the realization of the same. It is such things, and not civilization as a whole, which are exported and imported across cul- ture boundaries. Individuals, groups and classes con- stitute the units of people which interact with one another in the quest for the values referred to above. The culture area, the culture region, and now the planet itself, provide the ever-widening geographical fields 35 CHRISTIAN MISSIONS AND A NEW WORLD CULTURE within which people struggle for these values, and be- yond which these values are exchanged. Within these geographical fields and between these social units the culture process operates unceasingly, as man seeks the possession and perfection of these cultural " goods." IV. THE CULTURE PROCESS If people happen to be living on an isolated island, with little or no communication with the outside world, then the process consists of handing on the traditions of the fathers and of transforming these in response to the demands of the times and of the area. This is what Japan tried to do during the two hundred years of her voluntary seclusion. But people insist on having dealings with their neighbors ; and when this is possible there follows an exchange of culture products. Re- duced to its simplest terms, it is this two-fold operation, namely, an historical transmission and development within the area or region, and then a geographical trans- fusion beyond the boundaries, which combines to pro- duce the total culture process a process which may be creative or destructive, according as each generation reacts to the legacy of its ancestors, to its immediate environment, and to its more distant neighbors. i. An analysis of the culture process as it goes on within an area or region. In order to simplify matters, we will first draw an imaginary line about a culture area, and try to discover how civilizations grow by in- ternal development when protected from without. Un- dergirding the whole operation there lies the topo- graphical setting of the district out of which emerge 36 CULTURE AND THE CULTURE PROCESS such determinants of human welfare as climate, soil ? natural resources, and the conditions impeding or favor- ing communication. This is nature's setting of the stage upon which is enacted the great human drama, through the interplay of the following factors and minor processes: (a) Biological Heredity. This unbroken stream of germ plasm, perpetuating itself through the mechanism of heredity, is the base line of the entire superstructure. It is this which provides a perennial supply of the raw material from which human beings, society and culture are produced. This original nature, as found in the new-born baby, is one of the main determiners of all subsequent development. Consequently, the nature of this inborn equipment is a matter of supreme im- portance to any one interested in human betterment. (b) The Culture Heritage. Culture is the outcome of human activity in the effort to satisfy needs and desires. The earlier fruits of such experiments were preserved first in the memories and habits of the indi- vidual and in the oral traditions and customs of the tribe. But there is a limit to the number of details which memory can retain, and to the material which social institutions can transmit; and for long ages this set a limit to the progress of the race. It was the per- fection of artificial ways of storing up the results of experience in tablets, books and libraries which made possible the next great advance, and which, when coupled with discovery and diffusion, gave rise to all the great civilizations recorded in history. The de- velopment of the historical and scientific methods makes possible a still further advance. 37 CHRISTIAN MISSIONS AND A NEW WORLD CULTURE With the passing of the centuries civilizations rose and fell. But, withal, most of the real accomplishments of such racial experience have been passed on to later generations. Greece is no longer the center of creative art and speculative thought, but Europe has preserved most of her creative effort. The prophets of Israel no longer travel the hills of Palestine, but their ethical and spiritual insights are still calling men to a sublimer idealism. While it is true then that there may have been but little improvement in the biological stock of the race, nevertheless the culture accumulations are continually growing and expanding in such a way as to offer encouragement for the future. It is this legacy which determines the language spoken, the prevailing types of organization, the current ideas of right and wrong, the ritual and doctrine which are considered orthodox in religion. It provides the models according to which the young life is moulded with more or less conformity and foreordains in varying degrees what the future developments of the individual and of society shall be. (c) The Incorporation-Education Process. This may be termed a process of incorporation or of educa- tion according as one is interested in the group and the methods by which it perpetuates itself through incor- porating the individual into its ongoing life ; or else in the growing individual and the means through which he is brought to the highest perfection. Whether in Buenos Aires or Kioto, man is born into a society which is already broken up into a number of smaller bodies, which await his arrival with their ac- cepted norms, and their techniques for raising the child 38 CULTURE AND THE CULTURE PROCESS to their own level. Each of these groups, In order to preserve itself and further its interests, reaches out and seeks to incorporate into its membership a certain number of each succeeding generation, either by birth or by methods of conversion and of recruiting. Each child or novitiate, as the case may be, is subjected to a regimen of training ere he is recognized as a full- fledged member of the body and worthy of the con- fidence of his companions. The army officer may not employ precisely the same methods as the Christian evangelist; the ritual by which the African boy is initiated into the tribe may differ from the confirmation ceremony by which the young communicant is received into the church; the New England mother may teach her child to kneel and repeat, " Now I lay me down to sleep/ 7 while the Japanese mother leads her two-year- old to the wayside shrine, places a lighted taper be- tween his chubby fingers, and then lifts him up so that he can set It before the image of her god but all these are performing the same necessary function, common alike to the tribe in Borneo and to the family or the church in America. They are replenishing the mem- bership of the group, and at the same time, striving to bring each generation to an approved and acceptable maturity. (d) Exploration and Discovery. There is more in culture development than merely conserving the ac- complishments of the past, or educating the rising generations into the enjoyment of the same. An ad- ditional function is performed by the prophet who visualizes a new ideal and challenges men to its fulfil- ment, by the inventor who combines steam and steel in 39 CHRISTIAN MISSIONS AND A NEW WORLD CULTURE a new way, and by the musician who hears ringing in his ears a new melody before it ever floats out on the evening air. Not all peoples have been equally pro- ductive of that which is new; periods of productivity have been followed by centuries of sterility and even decline; only a small minority of the population ever feels the lure of the unknown or tastes the joy of accom- plishing the impossible; but unless a civilization is hopelessly on the decline, there is manifested within it a greater or less degree of discovery and invention. The inner secret of the origins of that which is new is shrouded in mystery. Discoveries take their rise out of a sense of human need; they are dependent upon the opportunities and equipment presented by the environ- ment; their roots run back into the accumulated fund of acquired knowledge; but that which is really new is the visualizing in the mind of some gifted person of a new relationship, either actual or potential, which had never been noted before. It may be the relation be- tween steam and power, between some activity and its effect, between an esteemed attitude such as love and the concept of God; in each case, however, the dis- covery is made either of a new relationship, or occasion- ally of a new object. To raise the question as to what is the ultimate explanation of this onward thrust is simply to ask what makes the baby insist on falling out of the cradle, what makes boys climb trees, and men penetrate into the desolate regions of the antarctic. There is found within mankind an urge or drive which responds to the pinch of need, to the lure of the ideal, and to the challenge of that which is difficult. Hence a limited number of exceptional souls insist upon push- 40 CULTURE AND THE CULTURE PROCESS Ing their way out into the beyond and the unknown. It is this irresistible inquisitiveness which gives birth to every new advance in the life of the race. (e) Evaluation, Testing and Selection. What we human beings, both of the East and of the West, are conscious of day by day is the pursuit of some fairly standard interests. We labor to gain a living and to bring up our families. We promote one cause and combat another. We cultivate some fellowships and are indifferent to others ; and so on indefinitely. While we are thus busily engaged, the new comes into com- petition with the old and a subtle process of testing goes on in connection with each of these activities. The radio competes with the phonograph for human favor, democracy with communism, the doctrine of substitu- tionary atonement with some other theological pro- posal. So it happens that men and women are con- stantly called upon, not only to face the everyday issues of life, but also to decide between conflicting voices as to which may be the best ways for facing these issues. Only part of this is the result of deliberate evaluations. Beneath it all operates an unconscious and impersonal sifting process. This is the " mill of the gods " which grinds slowly but exceeding fine, and either eliminates or sanctions, according as the alternatives, new and old, prove up in meeting the requirements made of them. It is this which constitutes the final court of appeal and the ultimate test of right and wrong. (f ) Primary Diffusion or Communication within the Area. All the above operations vary in their effective- ness in conformity with the facilities for communica- tion between individual and individual, group and CHRISTIAN MISSIONS AND A NEW WORLD CULTURE group on the horizontal level, and also between the upper and lower stratifications of society. In the simpler life of earlier days, communication was com- posed largely of face-to-face contacts and of migrations from place to place. But with the advent of modern inventions human contacts are being emancipated from the limitations of geographical and social distance. An Indian living in Bombay may have more intimate rela- tions with a friend in Calcutta than with the man living next door. Even the stratifications of caste are find- ing it hard to resist the subtle contacts of railroad travel and of modern industrialism. In so far as geographical and social distance is ab- breviated, the area of human relationships is extended. Consequently, the variety of stimuli to which men are exposed is enormously multiplied; creative activity is awakened where formerly it lay dormant, and the valu- able discoveries of any one person or of a minority tend to become the possession of the whole community, thus making larger cultural units possible. (g) The Resulting Transformations. Out of this complex activity personalities are formed; societies grow and decline, civilizations rise and fall. Each suc- ceeding generation adds its contributions to the ac- complishments of the past, like a colony of coral ani- mals building upon the accumulations made by their ancestors; or else through ignorance and folly threatens to bring down the labors of the centuries into a heap of ruins. It is this process of culture development, or peradventure of disintegration and reintegration, going on continually within any area, which the missionary must influence if he would make any contribution to 42 CULTURE AND THE CULTURE PROCESS human welfare. He can transform personality only in so far as he can manipulate the processes by which personalities and societies are formed. 2. The process of secondary diffusion from across the culture boundaries. A further set of factors enters the moment that two hitherto isolated areas or regions come into contact with each other, as has been increas- ingly the case during the last century or two. Elements of alien culture are imported intentionally, or else per- sist in smuggling themselves across the lines, where they seriously complicate the process which has been going on within the area for centuries. The influences of Christian missions operate in this manner. As might be expected, individuals, societies, and whole civilizations are being transformed by this dif- fusion on a worldwide scale. Such results take place because these importations set a new ferment working within the total culture process already operating within the area. European expansion has disturbed the bio- logical process of reproduction and heredity. In some places the native population has been extinguished ; in others there has been a considerable degree of mis- cegenation; and in others, although there has been little intermarriage misapprehension has been aroused; so that today the biological implications of race contacts constitute one of the major issues in world relation- ships. The westerner also comes as the symbol of that which is new and the implanter of strange ways and customs. By his very presence he encourages the in- digenous prophet and inventor, and greatly intensifies whatever possibilities of discovery may have been abroad in the land. Furthermore, current systems of 43 CHRISTIAN MISSIONS AND A NEW WORLD CULTURE education are thrown out of gear by the importation of schools and western theories of education. Conven- tionalized ways of living must now compete with in- novations to a degree hitherto unknown, with the pros- pect that they will be brought into disrespect and society be threatened with disintegration. America as well as Africa or Japan are now exposed to these pro- found disturbances in the basic processes of life. Little wonder then that the foundations appear to be shaken and that human society finds itself at sea. It is to the more detailed analysis of the operations and effects of this secondary diffusion that we now give ourselves, especially as they are exemplified by mission work in non-Christian lands. 44 CHAPTER IV WESTERN ATTITUDES AND APPROACHES I. CHARACTERISTIC WESTERN APPROACHES Whatever may have been the impression of the mis- sionary supporter at home, to the peoples abroad mis- sionary propaganda presented itself as an integral part of an irresistible invasion consisting of unknown indi- viduals of various kinds, each one bringing his own peculiar fund of objects and ideas from across the sea. As the Indian took his stand on the dock at Bombay, he saw coming down the same gangplank and from the same boat the commercial agent, the diplomat, the tourist, the sailor and the missionary. Out of the hold of the same boat were swung down at his feet a motley pile of boxes and barrels, containing drygoods, wet- goods, tobacco, sewing machines, tracts, school books and Bibles. Whether the missionary wishes it or not, nothing can alter the fact that he goes to a distant land not simply as a man of God, but as a companion of others of like color and of like language but generally of different interest and purpose. One of these western approaches which has been most conspicuous is commercial and economic. It was the lure of India, the desire for silks, spices and pre- cious stones, which enticed the first adventurers over 45 CHRISTIAN MISSIONS AND A NEW WORLD CULTURE uncharted seas, and this has been one of the chief at- tractions ever since. Here the supreme motive has been profits ; and the dominant attitudes of the trader to foreign peoples were in keeping with this. They have been looked upon as potential buyers of western goods, or as cheap labor for new industries, and their countries as vast deposits of natural resources await- ing foreign development. Only in a secondary degree has international commerce been interested in the wel- fare of the people themselves. All this has made an indelible impression, and has given its own peculiar implication to the meaning of the word " foreigner " to millions of orientals. Another approach has been political. Doors had to be opened for international commerce, and trade routes had to be protected. Fertile and promising lands had to be conquered and colonized. Vast masses of in- digenous population were reduced to political subjec- tion, and other countries less tractable were put under spheres of influence for the benefit of the westerner. All of these objectives called for suitable machinery of organization and the necessary activities of conquest and administration. Here too the colonial adminis- trator, the diplomat and the consul have had their own characteristic attitudes to other lands. These lands were to be made contributary to the prosperity of the West, in the hope that in the long run their own pros- perity possibly would follow. A more recent approach has been that of the tourist. Having " seen America first," and having " done ?; Eu- rope, the only remaining spots which promise the thrill of novelty are the busy marts of the East or the tor- WESTERN ATTITUDES AND APPROACHES tuous paths of a tropical jungle. The westerner wan- ders abroad seeking trinkets for his mantel-piece, or storing up interesting anecdotes for an after-dinner speech when he gets back home. His attitude is largely that of curiosity. He looks upon the inhabitants of the countries visited as objects of interest; and the more curious and strange, the more interesting they become. There may not be much orderliness to these rambling activities, but they certainly are making their own im- pression upon the minds of other lands, and are giving an added meaning to the word " foreigner.' 7 There is also the interest and approach of the scien- tific investigator. The East is fast becoming an invit- ing field for research and an inexhaustible mine of in- formation. Students translate its classics, trace the history of its religions, compare and evaluate its social customs, subject its intelligence to psychological tests, and classify its peoples as a botanist classifies the plants. Here the supreme concern is that of the sci- entist. He is interested of course in people; but he is especially interested in so far as they provide " cases," phenomena and data which shall add to the sum of human knowledge. In the midst of these and other approaches stands the missionary enterprise. This interrelatedness of the missionary enterprise with other component parts of the total approach, with the attendant implications, presents a profound ethical problem. Just as there has been an effort on the part of Christians to repudiate the culture elements within Christianity and to seek some inner divine essence which alone is to be proclaimed as the true gospel, so likewise some missionaries have felt 47 CHRISTIAN MISSIONS AND A NEW WORLD CULTURE constrained to renounce these unwelcome associations, in the hope that they themselves might be received as the uncontaminated bearers of this divine message. Commendable as it may be for a missionary in China to condemn the gunboat policies of his government, or for another in India to identify himself with the na- tionalism of India rather than with his own fellow- countrymen, nevertheless there enter into the situation certain psychological and sociological connections with his own kith and kin which such personal repudiations cannot entirely sever. They constitute his social an- cestry, and to a large extent have made him what he is. A man may be ashamed of his pedigree, or he may be proud of it; but nothing can alter the fact that the mis- sionary is a man with a social and cultural genealogy, and this persists as a silent but inescapable element in the total impression which he makes upon other people. In like manner, the missionary is caught up in contem- poraneous associations with the merchant ? the tourist and the political representative; and these associations form an integral part of the total impression. In so far as these have been reprehensible the missionary will do well to condemn; but denunciation alone is not suffi- cient to free him from his share of corporate responsi- bility. He is expected to do his utmost to rectify mat- ters. As well might a man seek to separate himself from his shadow, as for a missionary to hope to eman- cipate himself entirely either from the shadow of odium or the halo of glory which always accompany these cor- porate relationships. The missionary has hoped to be received as a man of God, and as the bearer of a mes- sage of redemption. But the non-Christian is just as 48 WESTERN ATTITUDES AND APPROACHES likely to see in Mm rather one more member of that race which for four hundred years has been preempt- ing the globe, or a citizen of some nation which has closed the doors to his own fellow-countrymen, ex- ploited their weaknesses, and at times ministered to their distresses. The color of a missionary's face and the reputation of the nation or race to which he be- longs become a part of the total stimulus which he pre- sents to the minds of his hearers, as well as the words of grace he speaks or the ministry of mercy which he may render. More especially is this so among people where the sense of individuality has been low and where the unit of social responsibility has been the group rather than the person. This must be borne in mind when we come to deal with the question of stimu- lus and response. II. DISTINCTIVE MISSIONARY APPROACHES It is now time to lift the missionary enterprise out of its associations within the total impact, and to ask what it is that distinguishes it from all the rest, so that it exerts its own peculiar influences and centers atten- tion upon itself. j. The characteristic missionary organization. The western genius for efficiency and organization has put its stamp upon our religious activities. Each of the de- nominations has succeeded in building up a closely ar- ticulated missionary machine in order to insure the most economical expenditure of resources. This is our way of propaganda. It is not the Mohammedan's nor the Buddhist's way. The result is that the missionary 49 CHRISTIAN MISSIONS AND A NEW WORLD CULTURE presents himself In the foreign field, not simply as an individual, a member of a race or nation, but also as a component part of an imposing religious organization, which gives him added power and prestige, or per- chance the opposite. There may have been times when oriental peoples were ignorant of this, but at the pres- ent no such ignorance exists. They see behind him and his labors a vast array of men, institutions and re- sources. It is not strange therefore that the conception gets abroad that the secret of power lies in organization and in an inexhaustible supply of men and money. This serves likewise to intensify the impression that mission work is but another form of western " im- perialism," and to arouse suspicion and defense mechanisms. 2. The characteristic missionary purpose. The missionary has gone forth, not to deal in commodities which are economic and tangible, but in those which are considered to be spiritual. He may have been the symbol of western culture and an advance agent of commerce or colonial expansion, but if so, it has been inadvertently. He has been conscious of a divine com- mission, and has looked upon himself as the bearer of the Good News whereby men in all lands might enter into the rich heritage of the children of God. j. Standard activities. The distinctive character of mission work is best revealed in the standard activities which have evolved during the last century and a half of experimentation. This revelation of inner purpose will be the more accurate if we are careful to distin- guish between primary and secondary activities. The primary effort has been to bring about the conversion 50 WESTERN ATTITUDES AND APPROACHES and Christian nurture of non-Christian populations. As already noticed, one of the principal activities of any society and one of the constituent operations within the total process of culture development, has been to train up young and old in the approved ways of the group. The missionary enterprise has been a carefully thought out project designed to lay hold upon these operations, already going on within any society., and to manipulate them in such a way that the non- Christian will be weaned away from objectionable tra- ditions, educated in new ideas and customs, and en- listed for the promotion of the Kingdom of God. Clustered about these major efforts have been a number of secondary activities, such as medical work ? industrial work, educational work, and general minis- trations of humanitarian kindliness. The general char- acter of the impression made depends upon which ac- tivities are held to be primary and which secondary. Of recent years the inherent values of these secondary activities have been recognized as never before, and they are being prosecuted because of the direct con- tributions which they make to human happiness; al- though even yet in the minds of many they are kept subsidiary to the two main purposes of conversion and Christian nurture. 4. Distinctive deeds, gestures and attitudes. Atti- tudes may be described as inner states of mind which tend to become habitual, and which predispose a man to act in corresponding ways when the occasion arises. Attitudes give rise to gestures and postures. These in turn serve as revelations of what the attitudes may be and hence as prophecies of what the future conduct 5* CHRISTIAN MISSIONS AND A NEW WORLD CULTURE will be. Furthermore, gestures are the one universal language which every tribe and nation understands. For these reasons then gestures are of supreme im- portance. The expression on the face, the tone of voice, the tilt of the nose, in brief, the way in which anything is done is recognized as being of as much sig- nificance as the deed itself, and therefore serves as an integral part of the stimulus, in influencing other peo- ple's conduct. The manner in which a door is closed may be more meaningful than the mere act of closing the door. What has bulked large in the minds of mis- sionary supporters has been the good deed; but the oriental has seen therein gestures which have revealed four characteristic attitudes on the part of the Chris- tian church, some of which are becoming increasingly irritating to sensitive souls. (a) Benevolence. The cause of missions has been conceived of as benevolence. It is so listed in church budgets. It is to such an undertaking that the mission- ary has given himself. Nor could any other attitude have been taken to the outside world, under existing circumstances. In its very essence Christianity has claimed to be a religion of grace. Bethlehem and Cal- vary were the two great dramas which set forth God's benevolence to lost humanity. The sick have been healed. The hungry have been fed. The ignorant have been taught, but more especially men have had the gospel preached to them all as the spontaneous outflowing of a spirit of benevolence, arising out of gratitude to God and solicitude for mankind. It would be preposterous to claim for the missionary a monopoly of this virtue. Many a business man or diplomat has 52 WESTERN ATTITUDES ANB APPROACHES been stirred by similar sentiments. There have been occasions when the mission has been grasping, and the missionary has been haughty. But when all has been said and done, it has been through missionary activities that the kindlier sentiments of the West as well as of the church have been exemplified most persistently to the rest of the world. This attitude of benevolence merits our closer at- tention. To our surprise it does not always awaken the response which is expected or desired; and the reason seems to be that certain unfortunate implications lie behind benevolence which tend to make it inappropri- ate and offensive to many people in the East, espe- cially under present conditions. Benevolence may be defined as the disposition to ex- tend to those considered to be outside one's own group some of the same solicitude which is bestowed upon those within. In benevolence there inheres not only a kind deed, but also an implication of separateness or " outsideness," and of inferiority. We give our benevolences to the beggar at the back door, to the orphan, to the old people's home, and to foreign mis- sions. We never think of giving benevolence to our own mother, child, wife or church. We give, but the attitude accompanying the deed is different, and there- fore the giving is a gesture of another kind. Nothing will disturb the harmony of domestic relationships more quickly than for a husband to insinuate that what he is giving his wife is benevolence. The wife would feel instinctively that the gesture accompanying the deed implies an attitude of separation which belies the marriage relationship. S3 CHRISTIAN MISSIONS AND A NEW WORLD CULTURE Now the missionary enterprise has been thought of as benevolence because it was inaugurated under the basic conception of our separation from and superiority to the non-Christian world. One hundred years ago geographic distance was a reality. The East was in reality the " Far East." There was also the separa- tion arising out of what is known as social and cultural distance. The darker skinned peoples were not sup- posed to move on the same culture level with the white man. This sense of separateness was still further in- tensified by a feeling of religious distance. They were afar off from God; we had been brought nigh. Benevo- lence is the one kindly attitude which befits such a situation. It is the Christian's effort to bridge the gap with a helping hand; and the quality of the benevo- lence itself has varied according to the manner in which this gap has been bridged. It is true the missionary attitude has not been exclu- sively one of separation and aloofness. The church has reached out to foreign lands with the express pur- pose of bringing nigh those who were afar off, and sharing with them the blessings which it has enjoyed. The convert has been received Into full membership in the same church, and upon the same conditions which the missionary himself has observed. He has shared with the convert the precious name of Christian, he has called him brother, and has sought to make that brotherhood a reality as well as a name, and in so do- ing he has conferred upon the caste and the outcaste, upon white and black, full participation in the one fel- lowship which is supremely precious to him. Never- theless the changed conditions of recent years require 54 WESTERN ATTITUDES AND APPROACHES that the objectionable features inherent in benevolence 1 be eliminated. (b) Paternalism. With the very best of intentions the missionary has labored for the establishment of a universal kingdom in which there should be neither Jew nor Greek. But because of what the missionary was, and of what the convert was, a stratification emerged which took the form of paternalism. On the one hand, the missionary was a representative of the dominant race, and the protagonist of the one true re- ligion. He was schooled in church administration, and held the cash for the support of the work. On the other hand, the convert as a rule came from the lower classes, cursed with the " Sudra habit of mind," unac- quainted with ecclesiastical procedure, and untaught in the ways of God. What could be more natural than that paternalism should characterize the relationships within the church. So long as the striking contrast did exist between missionary and convert, this attitude and all the gestures which gave expression to it were not seriously resented. But in proportion as second gen- eration Christians become educated and the spirit of nationalism is aroused, any activity on the mission- ary's part becomes obnoxious in so far as it carries with it the gestures of benevolence or of paternalism. (c) Conflict and Rivalry. Conflict may be defined as struggle of any kind, especially if man is conscious of it. The opponent may be thought of either as a per- son, or as an abstract principle or cause which the person champions. Conflict is one of the normal means whereby man tries to bring about a change which he considers to be for the better when life gets to be in- 55 CHRISTIAN MISSIONS AND A NEW WORLD CULTURE tolerable, or to avoid a change for the worse when such threatens. In this sense it has been a conspicuous factor in the total movement of European expansion. It is not strange then that within the accompanying missionary operations the gesture of conflict has been conspicuous. Conflict figures of speech have formed a part of religious vocabulary. We have spoken of " overthrowing the powers of darkness/' and of " ex- tending the Kingdom of God." The missionaries were " Soldiers of the Cross," and were to bring all men into subjection to the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. One of the main issues has been the education of the young. The missionaries had not been long in the for- eign field before it became apparent that one of the surest ways in which to establish the type of life which they advocated was to train the young. This brought them into conflict with others. The village school teacher found his pupils enticed away to the mission school. Parents found a struggle going on in their own homes and hearts. Should they yield to the induce- ments offered by modern education and place their children under these foreign teachers, or should they deny their children this preparation for the modern world and save them from the danger of becoming con- verts to a foreign faith and advocates of a foreign civilization. This dispute over who is to educate the child has been intensified by the contest between gov- ernments and mission authorities with reference to which is to exercise supreme control over the school as an institution. Because education has become such a formative factor in the life of nations, Japan, China, 56 WESTERN ATTITUDES AND APPROACHES Mexico, Turkey and other countries, are now demand- ing that all schools, and especially those under foreign auspices, come under the close supervision of national authorities. As a rule, mission and government have been able to reach a provisional agreement, which has permitted the school to be continued under some form of dual control or supervision. But in some cases the clash of interests has been so acute that rather than submit the schools have been closed and the mission- aries have either withdrawn or have engaged in other activities. Proselytism consists of those activities by means of which a person is persuaded to transfer his allegiance from one leader or group, with their special beliefs and practices, to another. This is precisely what the church has considered itself commanded to do in the great commission. It is held in high esteem, or is abominated, according as the individual proselytized is considered to be a convert or a pervert. Conse- quently it has brought the missionary into a clash with fathers and mothers, with village elders, with native clergy and medicine-men; and where the transfer of religious affiliation has been interpreted as treason, it has aroused the opposition of the authorities of the state. Not only has there been struggle over those activi- ties by means of which people are enlisted into new group loyalties, and moulded into rival patterns of life, but there has been waged also a keen and bitter con- flict over the truth or falsity of these very patterns themselves. The Christian has opposed polygamy, cannibalism, idolatry, the suttee, foot-binding and all 57 CHRISTIAN MISSIONS AND A NEW WORLD CULTURE other beliefs and practices which he held to be con- demned of God and inimical to human welfare. On the other hand, each and every one of these has been defended by devotees for a time at least as venerable traditions which should be preserved. Thus the bat- tle has raged, against principalities and powers, and against individuals and nations which have posed as the champions of such things. It is quite possible that this characterization of mis- sion work as conflict may seem to many Christians ex- aggerated and overdrawn. Our attention has been cen- tered upon the schools and churches established and upon the good work done. But the total impression made upon most of the oriental minds is quite differ- ent from what we supposed. They have been inter- preted as gestures of conflict, and consequently as stimuli to resistance and self-preservation rather than to conversion or to education; and so it will continue until the gesture of conflict is removed. It is not enough to say that we love the sinner but we hate his sins ; that we befriend the oriental but oppose his vil- lainies. The oriental does not make such nice distinc- tions between himself and his virtues or vices. To oppose his mores is to oppose him. (d) Cooperation and Mutual Helpfulness. On the other hand, an increasing number of the characteristic activities of the missionary have served as gestures of cooperation, revealing to a certain degree at least an attitude of respect and a recognition of mutuality. To overlook this matter, as some orientals are inclined to do, would be to misread the facts of history. Not all foreign trade has served as gestures of conflict or of 58 WESTERN ATTITUDES AND APPROACHES economic imperialism. A considerable portion of it has been a matter of mutual exchange, to the benefit of both parties. Nor has it been otherwise with mis- sion work. The school has been more than a gesture of benevolence or of paternalism and conflict. In many cases both the native teacher, the missionary and even the pupils have been bound together in an in- timacy of cooperation and fellowship which obliterated very considerably the consciousness of administrative superiority and of racial differences. Frequently the missionary and the native, Christian and non-Chris- tian, have been able to work together as co-laborers in a common cause, meeting some urgent need of the local community or some disaster of nationwide proportions. As the days go by these instances are multiplied. So it has happened that during the last century, the diversified activities which have marked the Christian approach have served as gestures of four main atti- tudes. These gestures have awakened corresponding responses and attitudes abroad. To the idealist of to- day these gestures may not have been all that he might have desired; but if we frankly face the facts and take the Christian and the westerner for what he actually was, and also the non-Christian and the oriental for what he has been, it is difficult to see how matters could have been radically different; for in the long run attitudes come to harmonize with facts. But a new world is taking shape. While it is true that people are being exposed to an ever widening range of influences from abroad, which have pene- trated even to the remotest villages of Africa or Mon- golia, it is also true that not all the population of any 59 CHRISTIAN MISSIONS AND A NEW WORLD CULTURE country have been equally responsive to these awaken- ing influences. Consequently oriental populations are becoming re-stratified into a new distinction of classes and masses economic, political, social, intellectual and religious. In spite of the best efforts at mass edu- cation and general uplift, new-fledged minorities and aristocracies are gaining an enormous advantage over the masses of their fellow-countrymen, who are still held down under the inertia of traditionalism, igno- rance and sectionalism. Now this new stratification in China, India or Tur- key has thrown the western attitudes referred to above all out of gear, for they no longer correspond to the conditions which prevail. If we wish to avoid a topsy- turvy world of delusion, attitudes must correspond to the facts of this new situation. But there is an element of habit in attitudes which makes them lag behind changing conditions. Some of the missionaries and their supporters have been able to keep their attitudes abreast of the changing world abroad. The attitudes of many, however, while they may correspond to the conditions of the backward masses, are not appropri- ate to the modernized minority, which is becoming in- fluential and articulate. Consequently, there has been a disparity between the missionary attitudes and the total situation which only serves to aggravate matters at the present time. In like manner, the aspirations and demands of this modernized minority are likely to be equally divorced from the actual situation. The educated oriental wishes the West to treat his whole country as if it were all as up-to-date as he is; which it is not. He demands 60 WESTERN ATTITUDES AND APPROACHES that the attitudes of the West correspond to conditions as they prevail in a select few, unmindful that unless we are to live in a world of delusion, attitudes must be made to correspond to conditions as they exist in the plebeian majority as well as in the patrician minority, on both sides of the water. Therefore, just as there has been a lag in the attitudes of the West, so there has been an element of prematurity and impatience in the demands of the idealists of the East, and this tension between the attitudes of the West and the demands of the East is intensifying the strain between the two hemispheres. What is called for is a return to realism by both parties. The attitudes of all the western idealists must be brought up to date, so that they take into account this growing and influential minority, as well as the retarded millions. The demands of the eastern idealists must be brought back to date, until they take account not only of their own progress but also of that vast mass of inertia which makes many of their proposals premature and unreal. 61 PART II THE PROCESS OF CULTURE TRANSFUSION CHAPTER V WESTERN CULTURE PENETRATES THE EAST As the missionary presents himself in a foreign coun- try, he comes in a double capacity. He is the promoter of his own religious objectives as he sees them. He is also the undesigned importer of the more general cul- ture of the West, of which his religion is but a part. In no case is culture introduced or borrowed as an in- tegral whole, but rather in smaller segments, which combine to form a new whole. These culture elements vary so greatly In number and kind that they are here submitted under the following classification: j. Culture accessories. Not all material objects are elements of culture. A stick lying by the side of the road may have little or no connection with culture. But if it is worked up into the form of a chair upon which men sit instead of squatting on the ground, then it becomes a culture accessory, because about it are clus- tered a number of habits, sentiments and ideas which would not exist apart from the material thing itself. These material objects of civilization are the most conspicuous elements of exchange. The more readily adopted are such things as beads and trinkets which call for relatively little change in the habits of people. There are, however, innumerable other things whose adoption is accompanied by a more profound change 65 CHRISTIAN MISSIONS AND A NEW WORLD CULTURE in customs ; and it is with these that the missionary is concerned, because they are indirect moulders of char- acter. The moment a tribe of naked savages is per- suaded to don the clothes of the white man, a change occurs in many of its tribal customs, which may not always be for the better. Every individual in the tribe becomes in a sense a new being, with new sentiments and a new consciousness of self; for even clothes are an agency either of moral regeneration or degeneration. Liquor, clocks, firearms, crucifixes, Bibles, church-bells and especially inventions for the production of artifi- cial power, become forces either for social reform or depravity, according to the character of the article and the use made of it. Some students, in fact, have been so impressed with the way in which tools and the main- tenance-mores of a community mould the superstruc- ture of social and religious life that they affirm that economics is the main factor in human welfare; and that in the long run the dealer in international com- merce who introduces a new tool or machine is a more powerful agency in acculturation than is the trafficker in spiritual things. The missionary does not need to subscribe to such extreme views ; but at least he would do well to recognize the character-moulding influence of culture accessories. They become the material core of immaterial complexes. He who builds a railroad as a new way of travel from Madras to Delhi is perhaps working almost as significant a transformation in the people of India as he who preaches a new way of sal- vation from earth to heaven. Both are equally neces- sary for the revitalizing of a retarded country. 66 WESTERN CULTURE PENETRATES THE EAST 2. Importation of western mores and customs. (a) Customs Which Have no Moral or Religious Implications. The white man eats with a knife and fork, instead of chopsticks; he shakes the hand of his neighbor instead of his own hand; he wears his own style of dress; he plays football, baseball, tennis and other games; and wherever he goes other peoples are imitating him in these respects. Most of these customs have little or no ethical import, but they must not be treated as mere trivialities, unworthy of the attention of the religious worker, who is always in danger of un- derestimating the social and moral significance of non- moral and non-religious factors. Some of these, such as sports, for example, may serve as moulders of life and character the moment they begin to become preva- lent. But more important still, in proportion as East and West conform to similar customs, even in the shaking of hands, the sense of kinship spreads among the nations and the possibilities of congenial inter- course are enhanced, (b) Socio-Religious Celebrations and Ceremonies. It is impossible to draw a sharp line of distinction here between secular and religious. A rite or a holiday which has religious implications in one country may be considered to be secular in another. Uniform holi- days and celebrations in which all join serve as a part of the technique for social coordination. In all civili- zations there are to be found national and religious feast days in which the multitudes participate. But with the growth of international intercourse, several of the typical " days " of Christendom are being intro- duced into foreign countries. Labor Day, New Year's 67 CHRISTIAN MISSIONS AND A NEW WORLD CULTURE Day, Christmas and Sunday are becoming familiar holidays far beyond the boundaries of Christendom where they originated. The first day of the week is being adopted by in- creasing numbers, and is being put to a variety of uses, sacred and secular. In Japan Sunday is a legal holi- day. If the reader were to climb to Koyasan, a moun- tain retreat of the Buddhists where there are located a preparatory school and a theological seminary of that faith, he would find the followers of Buddha resting from their academic labors on Sunday a day com- memorative of the resurrection of the Christian Savior and bearing the name of an ancient pagan god of the West. Wherever the missionary has gone he has carried with him his own distinctive religious ceremonies. He has insisted upon giving his people a Christian burial. He has introduced the Christian marriage rite; and more important still, the service of public worship in the churches, a western custom which in its details has been foreign to the type of worship practiced by other faiths. Ere long all of these begin to pass through subtle transformations as they come into contact with analogous elements in other civilizations. The Chris- tian sacraments seem to have been less susceptible to these culture accommodations. Nevertheless, anyone who has been present at the celebration of these Chris- tian rites will have been struck .with the variety of de- tail which already has crept in, and with the diversity in the interpretation of their significance which is ap- pearing. If the sacraments do not resist accommoda- tion no part of the Christian religion will be immune. 68 WESTERN CULTURE PENETRATES THE EAST (c) Customs which Become a Part of the Moral Code. In any civilization there are a certain number of customs which are considered to be not only proper or improper, but also right or wrong according to some religious sanction. Christianity has been preeminent among the religions in this emphasis upon the religious aspect of the ethical. The ten commandments were written by the finger of God; the two great command- ments were enunciated by the Son of God; and wher- ever the missionary has gone he has been diligent in propagating the ethical principles of which he ap- proves. He insists that a man have but one wife, that he learn to tell the truth, and to love his neighbor as himself. These are held to be definite patterns of con- duct which become the children of God, In contrast to the ways of evil. As such customs become prevalent in the foreign field the lives of individuals and of com- munities are strikingly altered, and by the same token these precepts and principles gain new " interpreta- tions " according to the requirements and conditions which prevail. j. Importations in the field of art. Culture traits and complexes in such fields as music, painting and architecture lend themselves readily to international exchange. This is due largely to the fact that art has rarely been placed under official guardianship. It has therefore been left free to travel back and forth ac- cording to the artistic tastes of the people themselves. Under the guidance of German musicians and the teaching of the best classical music in some of the schools of the country, Japan has been making rapid strides both in the cultivation of a new musical taste 69 CHRISTIAN MISSIONS AND A NEW WORLD CULTURE and the acquisition of musical technique. In the spring of 1927 on the occasion of the centenary of the death of Beethoven a series of concerts lasting seven days was given in Tokyo before crowded and enthusi- astic audiences. Each concert consisting entirely of western classical music was rendered by Japanese mu- sicians under Japanese conductors. Long decades before the formal teaching of western music in oriental schools, little groups of Christian converts scattered throughout a hundred nations have been singing the praises of their Savior through the use of western hymns. In pioneer days the missionary was called upon to provide a hymnody for his converts. He translated hymns familiar to him, imported a baby- organ, taught his congregation both the translated hymn and the imported tune, and soon the people were singing with greater or less understanding and with such artistic rendering as they were capable of. In the next stage, translations of Christian hymns were set to indigenous music. Then in course of time both music and words appear as the spontaneous expression of the religious sentiment of the people themselves. It is, of course, these indigenous productions which breathe most faithfully the devotion of the congregation. But all over the world, in the thatched chapels of Africa and under the palm trees of Ceylon, are to be heard today the familiar strains of " Jesus, Lover of My Soul," " Onward, Christian Soldiers," and a hundred other hymns, which are quietly moulding the hearts of European, African and Indian to the same sentiments and binding them together in a sense of comradeship. 70 WESTERN CULTURE PENETRATES THE EAST 4. Culture-complexes governing primary relation- ships. When the westerner goes abroad he takes with him his ideas and customs concerning the more per- sonal relationships of life. Consciously or uncon- sciously he becomes the exponent of the civilization of the West with respect to the relation of father to son, plurality of wives, and the treatment which should be accorded to widows. These will be recognized by us as ethical questions and judged accordingly, but, more important still, they are matters touching the funda- mental framework of society, which when they are dis- turbed work a profound change in human personalities and social structure. When the missionaries went to the Nagas of Assam they found that the matriarchal family formed the basic structure of tribal life. The mother was the head, the children bore her name, and property was held by her. This stood out in sharp contrast with the type of family to which the mission- ary was accustomed. When the male is the head, he becomes one type of personality; when he is sub- ject to his wife, he develops another character. If matters had been allowed to take their own course, in due time a change would have been wrought with a minimum of social disturbance. This laissez jalre policy has been followed by some religious workers. Others however insisted upon a reorganization of the family after the western model, with the result that whole communities have been thrown into confusion. Even where no deliberate effort is made to alter social relations, daily example does its quiet and unpreten- tious work. Let it be known that the missionary's wife is treated as a social equal and sits at the same 71 CHRISTIAN MISSIONS AND A NEW WORLD CULTURE table with her husband and ere long wives in India or China will be raising embarrassing questions. This framework of society is one of the last features of culture to yield to the inroads of foreign influences, and when it gives way the results are far reaching. A man can be persuaded of the inadequacy of his bow and arrow long before he can be made to see that his family system needs revision; and with good reason. Some years ago W. H. R. Rivers made an investiga- tion of the effects of western contacts upon the South Sea Islanders. He found some of them wearing Eu- ropean clothes, using European utensils, speaking Eu- ropean languages, and professing the Christian religion. But in all the islands there was some feature of the inner structure of society which so far had resisted change, as for example the predominant influence wielded by the father's sister in the home. In like manner, polygamy persists in Africa and yields only grudgingly to the insistence of the missionary. The reason is that we are dealing here with something more than a question of morality or immorality according to Christian ethics. It is a matter of social structure, the disruption of which throws society into chaos. 5. Culture-complexes governing secondary relation- ships. The rapid increase of secondary institutions has marked our civilization of the West. A distinction must be made between relationships which are per- sonal, or face-to-face, and secondary institutions within which people are organized under more formal and official regulations. Wherever the white man has gone he has planted such institutions. They are the tools which he is accustomed to handle and with which he 72 WESTERN CULTURE PENETRATES THE EAST works Ms purposes. A mere tabulation of these Is impressive: in the political world, colonial administra- tion; in the field of economics, large and imposing or- ganizations of trade, labor, production and transporta- tion. The many efforts at social and moral uplift have likewise been institutionalized. Mission schools, hos- pitals, industrial farms, the church and the mission, all involve an organized and formal type of life hitherto unknown in foreign lands. The organization of mission work itself duplicated in most cases the structure of colonial administration, as exemplified by the British in India. Colonial Organization of the British Empire. (India) 1. The British People (Crown) 2. House of Parliament 3. Cabinet 4. Secretary for India 5. Viceroy or Governor 6. Executive Council 7. Legislative Council 8. District Officer 9. Assistants to the Dis- trict Officer 10. The Indian People Organization of the Mission- ary Enterprise. 1 . Members of the denomi- nation 2. Annual conference of the same 3. The Mission Board 4. Missionary Secretaries 5. Bishop or Superintend- ent 6. Exec. Com. of Mission 7. Annual Conf. of Mis- sion 8. Missionary over Ms Sta- tion 9. Native helpers 10. The Native Churches In both cases the ultimate authority has rested with the people who constituted either the nation or the 73 CHRISTIAN MISSIONS AND A NEW WORLD CULTURE denomination in the West. This authority was exer- cised through deliberative bodies, with executive cabi- nets or boards, and these in turn operated through secretaries with portfolios. In India, the representative of the British people has been the Viceroy. Corre- sponding to this official is the bishop, the superintendent or the secretary, differing in name and in prerogatives according to the polity of the denomination in question. The Mission in the field functions through an annual conference and an executive committee, parallel to the machinery of the colonial administration. It was through the missionary placed at the head of a " station " and through his helpers that all this over- head organization came into personal touch with life and its daily problems. At the bottom of the scale rested the Indian people and the native churches, who were expected to be docile, at least until they had won the ability for self-support and self-government. Po- litical patterns at home had already shaped the concep- tions of the missionary concerning God and the King- dom of Heaven; abroad both he and the statesman faced similar circumstances; it was but natural then for him to think of himself as standing between God and the heathen much as the colonial official thought of his relationship to the Crown and to the native people. Out of this emerged an ecclesiastical form of institu- tionalism built on the colonial model. The importation of such foreign organizations, reli- gious or otherwise, with their formal regulations, con- stitutions, debit and credit balances, rigid discipline and formal relationships, into civilizations characterized by a more or less informal fulfilment of life's obliga- 74 WESTERN CULTURE PENETRATES THE EAST tions, has been effecting a profound change wherever its presence has been felt. People whose only time- piece was the sun or the stars develop a new habit of punctuality when they have to punch a time-clock. Religious life suffers a change when it ceases to be a tradition of the family whose priest is the father, and becomes associated with a church organization and its formal clergy. Therefore, this impersonal thing called institutionalism, with its formal and complicated struc- ture, must be counted upon as a formative agency in the lives of people, as well as the personal influence of the missionary or the direct inspiration of his message. 6. Scientific technology and efficiency. When the western nations first began to have dealings with the old world of the East, they were but slightly more advanced in these respects than the oriental civiliza- tions. However, since that time the history of Europe and America has been marked by an amazing develop- ment, which many orientals consider to be the principal cause of our progress and the most valuable contribution which they can receive from us. The first aspect of our scientific progress which the nations coveted were the material accessories which minister so effectively to the wants of man. The next stage was reached when people whose lives had been governed by mores hal- lowed with age became interested in gaining a technical skill which grew out of exact observation and experi- mentation. Young men in increasing numbers have devoted themselves to the study of agriculture, medi- cine, dentistry, engineering and the social sciences. The combination of machinery, artificial power and scientific technique in the West has produced the mass- 75 CHRISTIAN MISSIONS AND A NEW WOULD CULTURE ing of wealth known as capitalism, and also the massing of production known as industrialism. The introduc- tion of such combinations into the East is working similar results in the economic order of other civiliza- tions. In the immaterial world, the methods of modern pedagogy and the art of forming public opinion by the use of the press are eagerly sought and are exerting a constant pressure upon the inertia of the ages. These and a host of other techniques have been accepted by others as among the most valuable contributions of the West, which they too must learn if they would march in the great procession of human progress. 7. Verified knowledge. There has been built up in Christendom a growing fund of knowledge which con- sists of concepts, verified by scientific and historical methods. This new knowledge has been finding its way into the Orient, already covered by a tropical growth of mythological stories and pretensions. A new world is opening up to minds hitherto circumscribed and provincial. 'The individual becomes a citizen of the globe as he learns of other human beings beyond his little valley and across the great water. The pages of history are unfolded and he retraces the long road over which his people and others have traveled. The secrets of nature are unlocked and he now sees the operation of natural forces and the reign of law, where formerly he beheld the caprice of a demon or the hand of fate. This new knowledge discloses to him that the environ- ment in which he lives is quite different from what he conceived it to be. He finds new adjustments neces- sary; and as he makes these, he himself becomes a new creature. 76 WESTERN CULTURE PENETRATES THE EAST This readjustment has not been easy in many cases. It has been a rude awakening to the complacent Chi- nese to discover that their " Middle Kingdom 7? was not the center of the universe after all, and that in more ways than one they were out upon the periphery for the time being at least. It has not been reassuring to learn that the world does not rest upon the back of a tortoise, or that His Majesty the Emperor is a descend- ant of some ancient tribal chieftain and not a great- grandson of the gods. But the human mind is nimble. In course of time this new knowledge is rationalized; it is discovered to have been latent in the old scriptures; it is harmonized with the venerable authorities, and the life of man goes on, enamored of the new enlightenment and enriched by broader horizons. 8. Scientific and historical methods for discovering and verifying truth. Most nations will adopt scientific tools, techniques and verified knowledge long before they are willing to accept science or history as means for arriving at truth. India, for example, has shown considerable readiness to welcome inventions which minister to her comfort. Even Gandhi prefers a sewing machine to the laborious hand needle. The awakening mind of India is willing to experiment with improved methods in agriculture or medicine. Many are ready to trust the scientific method for gaining knowledge about the physical world, and the historical method for rewriting the pages of history. But concerning the in- ner nature of the world and of man, concerning the meaning of existence, the validity of values and the ultimate nature of truth, few as yet are prepared to abandon their old confidences. To do so would be to 77 CHRISTIAN MISSIONS AND A NEW WORLD CULTURE discredit revelations and mystic intuitions upon which their philosophy of life has been erected, and around which has been woven a network of religious sentiment. Nevertheless, this inner citadel of life's choicest pos- sessions is yielding; and the young intellectuals of Japan, China, Turkey and finally India are surprising the rest of the world by their ruthless application of empirical methods. Q. The exportation of culture elements from the ideational world of the West. Life has been thought of as adjustment to the various aspects of environment. This total environment falls into three stratifications. There is first the sub-human world. In the second place we must adjust ourselves to a world of other hu- man beings, living in groups and behaving according to their respective cultures. But man persists in pro- jecting above and about himself a third realm in which he constantly pictures himself and others as living. This may be designated as the ideological world. Re- ligion, science and philosophy have claimed to speak with authority touching the nature of this invisible and " spiritual " realm. The missionary has been par excel- lence an apostle of these unseen values, as he has in- terpreted them. So large a part has this realm played in religious work that it merits being lifted into a sepa- rate category and given further study; although by many it will be considered to be little more than the most intangible phase of human culture. (a) The Importance of this Ideological World. Psychologically it consists of general ideas and mental pictures of things invisible and intangible, such as the inner nature of God, the universe, and man, unreached 78 WESTERN CULTURE PENETRATES THE EAST directly by the senses, but to which man attributes some kind of ultimate reality other than that which is purely subjective. These ideas he projects above and about him, and then proceeds to adjust himself both to these concepts taken as real and also to the particular objects and events of life as interpreted through them. With some it has been the belief that they were sur- rounded and influenced by spirits, demons or polytheis- tic gods. Others have entertained theistic beliefs. The doctrine of the Tao in China, of Karma in India, the belief in the Heavenly Father of Christianity, the evo- lutionary hypothesis all have served as man's idea of the ultimate nature of Reality with which he must have constant dealings so long as he lives. Even where one discerns no law or purpose in a universe of chance, this negative belief becomes a mental picture of the nature of Reality, which governs the way a man will ac- commodate himself to the world of phenomena about him. Each and every one adjusts himself to the world- as-interpreted in a concept or mental picture, and not just to a succession of people, animals and things. There is one indispensable quality which must in- here in such ideas if they are to serve as an invisible environment, and that is the confidence that the con- cept is something more than merely a subjective idea and corresponds more accurately than anything else we can think of to the nature of Reality. No man will trouble himself to come to terms with a fantasy; but he will go to death even on behalf of what he con- siders to be the Truth. The degree of faith governs the sense of reality. He may attribute this truthful- ness to divine revelation, to immediate awareness, to 79 CHRISTIAN MISSIONS AND A NEW WORLD CULTURE mystical illumination, to scientific investigations and conclusions, or to some combination of all these; but once he takes these concepts to be true they become more than mere subjective ideas or theoretical specula- tions. They are that by which he lives, for he feels that this inner nature of things, be it law, purpose, or caprice, determines his fate as well as, and probably more than, any surface characteristics. These concepts taken as real govern attitudes and conduct in conformity with the quality of the dominant ideas. Religion is not just "life"; it is a particular kind of life by virtue of certain concepts held to be true. If this unseen world is pictured under anthropo- morphic figures and symbols, then man conceives of himself as being partly at least at the mercy of beings thought of as personal; and accordingly he seeks recon- ciliation through sacrifice, ritual, obedience and love. Or if one thinks of himself as involved in processes understood to be impersonal and non-moral, another adjustment is necessary. Likewise one's conduct to- ward his fellowmen is modified by the manner in which he pictures himself and them as being related to the inner essence of existence. Nietzsche's defense of the arrogance of the superman, the racialist's claim of white supremacy, the Brahmin's consciousness of high birth, and the idealist's efforts to establish a brother- hood of man all these are but typical behavior pat- terns within which conduct, attitudes and sentiments between man and man are dependent not simply upon the relationship of one individual to another but also upon the idea of some deeper kinship or lack of kin- ship which is thought to undergird the contacts of the 80 WESTERN CULTURE PENETRATES THE EAST market place. In a similar manner, non-human ob- jects and events get a large part of their meaning for us. Why does the American kill a louse, while the Hindu allows it to crawl away unmolested? For the Ameri- can, it is an insufferably troublesome insect belong- ing to another order in nature; to the orthodox Hindu or Jain its life is sacred, for it as well as man is the manifestation of the Pantheistic All. Things are not just things; they too get their meaning for us accord- ing to the role which each is thought to play in a uni- verse-as-interpreted. Corresponding to the above, each person entertains a special and peculiar picture of him- self and of his own real nature. He may think of him- self as the plaything of chance, the result of a process, the object of fatherly providence, or the captain of his soul; the particular symbols employed may be those of a lamb carried in the bosom of the Good Shepherd, a drop of water ultimately to lose itself in the vast ocean of the Infinite, or a child of God; be all that as it may, man carries within him some kind of concept con- cerning his own nature as it is related to Ultimate Re- ality, which profoundly affects his sense of self-respect, his attitudes to others, and his responses to the many influences which play upon him. (b) Missions as the Proclamation of Concepts Con- cerning this World-of-Inner-Reality. This rather lengthy digression will serve to define the ideational world and to indicate the important role which it plays. Over and above what may be termed the visible bands of the culture spectrum there extends the invisible area of the over-world, which may be likened to the spread of the ultra-violet rays. Whether we in- 81 CHRISTIAN MISSIONS AND A NEW WORLD CULTURE terpret this spiritual world as a distinctly new order, sui generis, or as a " higher frequency " of the present order is immaterial for our purpose. It is with this higher band of the total spectrum that the religious man is especially concerned. This is his particular field. He is essentially a dealer in the "spiritual," and as such with one of the most formative factors in human lives. The missionary believes that he is the bearer of Good News concerning this realm. The particular con- tent of this gospel message has varied according to local situations, denominational affiliations, and the in- fluences of modern thought, with the result that there is uncertainty today with reference to that one thing about which the earlier missionaries felt most assured. What is the gospel message? It was to this question that the International Missionary Council, in 1928, gave the major portion of its thought, and issued a statement which agreed substantially with that made by the World Conference on Faith and Order which met at Lausanne in 1927.* This pronouncement, coming as it does from two great religious gatherings, may be taken as the most representative statement of recent decades with reference to the content of the Christian message. It is a moderately liberal document, couched in such guarded terms as not to offend those of either extreme. The first impulse of the reader would be to evaluate it according as it agrees or disagrees with his own views. We are concerned rather with the center of reference * Report of the International Missionary Council, 1928, Vol. I, pp. 401-414. WESTERN CULTURE PENETRATES THE EAST which it sets forth, and the function which such con- cepts play in the lives of men. (c) The Center of Reference Jesus Christ. While it is true that in the gospel there are many scenes and many personages, there is one figure who plays the principal role, about whom all the scenes revolve. In the Christo-centric gospel, which is receiving special emphasis at the present time, this figure is Jesus Christ. He is the symbol of life's choicest values. The Jeru- salem Council is very positive about this. " Our mes- sage is Jesus Christ. He is the revelation of what God is and of what man through him may become." " Christ is our motive and Christ is our end. We must give nothing less, and we can give nothing more." Chris- tian people are not agreed as to just how Christ is to be related to man and to God. Some have no hesita- tion in subordinating the concept of God to that of Christ, and others subordinate Christ to God. In the opening chapters of the Laymen's Report the concept, God, is set forth as the center of reference. The man- ner in which the Christian pictures this center does not always agree with the concept which the scientist or the historian may give us. But Christianity has been true to the religious instinct when it affirms the supreme importance of the conceptual world, that man's greatest need is for a center of reference, and that it is her chief business to give such to the world. CHAPTER VI THE JUNCTION POINTS OF CULTURE CONTACT We are now In a position to appreciate the signifi- cance of the fact that heretofore the population of the globe has been divided into fairly well delimited culture regions. Stretching far back behind each of these may be visualized a long caravan of ancestors which has transmitted from father to son down through the ages the accumulated experiences of the past. Now when one of these major lines of culture transmission breaks across its geographical boundaries and comes into con- tact with the historical currents descending within an- other region, then a junction is established where cul- ture transfusion takes place. In the eleventh and twelfth centuries the Mohammedan world invaded In- dia, and that region has been seething ever since. For the last few centuries Christendom has broken over its traditional boundaries and penetrated into Africa, Mohammedan lands, India and the vast expanse of Chinese and Japanese civilization. In each of these regions, western influences enter a different local set- ting, each one the outgrowth of its own antecedents; and accordingly in each a different juncture is formed. What we are witnessing then is the mingling on a large scale of the Christian caravan which has come down 84 THE JUNCTION POINTS OF CULTURE CONTACT through the ages with other caravans of different origins. I. ORIENTAL CONTRIBUTIONS The stream of culture which constitutes the main contribution of a non-Christian region to the trans- fusion process lends itself to the same classification as that employed in the description of the importations from the West: (a) first and most basic of all, the pre- vailing desires, wishes and aspirations of the region, which serve as social patterns according to which the original impulses and appetites of each new-born child are defined, and which in turn seek satisfaction by means of the culture elements listed in the categories which follow; (b) culture accessories; (c) mores and customs of all kinds, including ritual and ethics; (d) forms of art; (e) culture complexes governing primary relationships; (f) complexes regulating secondary re- lationships; (g) techniques of practical efficiency (a particular kind of mores) ; (h) a fund of " wisdom " rather than scientific knowledge; (i) current methods for the discovery and verification of truth; (j) prevail- ing ideas comprising their ideological world. In each region and area the particular forms assumed by these elements are different, but the functions which they perform are essentially the same. They are the ap- proved means for disciplining the impulses of original nature and for achieving human satisfactions. In each region their fundamental constitution is the same; they are habits of thought, feeling and action, in spe- cific groupings of people and possess the power that 85 CHRISTIAN MISSIONS AND A NEW WORLD CULTURE inheres In that which is customary and routine. Each one comes freighted with all the sentiment which arises out of age and intimate associations, and as such they are contributed to the transfusion process. During the last three hundred years oriental peoples have had dealings with the West, and the attitudes already assumed by them as a result of these broader negotiations have also become an important contribu- tion to the efforts at international readjustment. The characteristic gestures of the western approach have been benevolence, imperialism or paternalism, conflict and rivalry, and finally a willingness to cooperate and share in a mutual exchange. As gesture has responded to gesture across the water, the following characteristic attitudes toward the white man have been established in the hearts of oriental peoples. i. Initial attitudes of friendliness, curiosity or fear. Oriental peoples react to strangers on the same psy- chological basis as we do, namely, by virtue of atti- tudes which have become crystallized through previous experience with strangers. In some cases the pioneer missionaries were surprised at the friendliness with which they were received. Sometimes, where previous experience had left no bias, the attitude was a more neutral one, such as curiosity mingled with reticence; a response due to natural impulse rather than to ante- cedent experiences. In other cases the native mind had already been filled with fear and suspicion; not because the people were bad, but because they were wise in that they were living up to the light of past experience. Such initial and temporary mind-sets fa- cilitate or impede the opening of intercourse. 86 THE JUNCTION POINTS OF CULTURE CONTACT 2. Attitudes of aloofness and isolation. In very few cases did these tentative relationships long remain undisturbed. China, Japan ? Tibet and most Moslem lands soon became convinced that the presence of the white man was not conducive to their own best inter- ests, and so deliberately closed their doors. Other nations were unable to do so through indecision or weakness. In each case the desire was to protect them- selves from what was considered to be dangerous and contaminating; for the foreigner was one against whom one must be on his guard. During this period little or no mission work could be undertaken. j. Violent reactions against foreign encroachments. In many instances only a few years went by before a clash of interests led to bloodshed. There were faults on both sides, but as a rule it was the westerner who was the aggressor. Racial arrogance, political in- trigue and the clash of religious and commercial in- terests were the more frequent sources of trouble. But whatever the issue, the importance of these wars lay in the fact that they were chiefly responsible for solidi- fying a relatively permanent set of attitudes, which were to mould the responses to the white man during the next period. When people are at war they act col- lectively, and when they are defeated they are defeated collectively; with the result that from then on the atti- tude of any one person to the gospel is fixed in large measure by the attitude which his nation acquired in defeat or victory. 4. Attitudes of involuntary acquiescence. In course of time these earlier reactions gave way to fairly set- tled adjustments characterized by an attitude of invol- 87 CHRISTIAN MISSIONS AND A NEW WORLD CULTURE untary acquiescence. The aggressiveness of Christen- dom had prevailed. Insignificant tribes and imposing nations alike learned the folly of trying to keep the European at arm's length. The white man moved in. But he straightway found himself face to face with a general mind-set which was none too favorably dis- posed to him. The particular manifestations of this varied from country to country and from time to time. On special occasions of crisis, more moderate feelings changed to violence; periods of reserved hospitality were followed by anti-foreign reactions. Such excep- tions however do not destroy the general fact that, es- pecially during the last half of the nineteenth century, most of the non-Christian peoples settled down to a modus vivendi, characterized chiefly by an attitude of passive resistance in the face of a European invasion before which they had been compelled to open their doors. They found it necessary to submit to terms that were not of their own making. At the same time they put forth every effort to preserve their political and economic integrity, their traditional customs and their religious life, while taking advantage of any im- provements offered from abroad. Until this period of toleration had been reached, the missionary could do little more than play the part of an unwelcome intruder. He might succeed in gaining a foothold in a few treaty ports ; he might translate the Bible, or practice medicine. If his zeal overran his discretion he might win the martyr's crown. But at best little impression has been made on any country until such time as the bars were lowered and his pres- ence was at least tolerated. The vicissitudes of mis- 88 THE JUNCTION POINTS OF CULTURE CONTACT slon work during the last century can never be under- stood unless we remember that it could never really begin in any country until this stage was reached, and that even then for the most part it has been prosecuted in the face of a mass attitude which no one would rec- ognize as highly favorable to religious propaganda or friendly intercourse. 5. Recent efforts at readjustment characterized by the demand for equality. In course of time things again became intolerable; and following the lead of Japan, each nation in turn has served notice upon the Powers that the hour has come for another change. This movement is known as Nationalism. It is an effort to achieve freedom from foreign dictation, to gain con- trol over the economic resources of the country, to revive their own civilizations and preserve that which is still dear to them, to scrutinize the offerings from abroad and to accept or reject according to their own best judgment and not according to the insistence of the foreigner, to gain a just voice in determining the con- ditions of all intercourse with the rest of the world, and to win equal status for themselves in the sisterhood of nations. It is because such priceless values have been denied to millions of awakening souls that the relationships of West and East are passing through the present stage of tension in which all the forms of conflict boycotts, strikes, slander, hostile legislation, and in some cases open warfare have been greatly accentuated. Such a crisis is not to be met by the customary missionary tactics which were employed during the previous epoch, namely, high pressure methods of prosecuting the work, 89 CHRISTIAN MISSIONS AND A NEW WORLD CULTURE and winning converts. Such procedure now only serves to aggravate the trouble. All of this is but a part of an order of things that has become intolerable and conse- quently intensifies resentment. The policy which this day calls for is rather one which avowedly seeks first an honest readjustment of relationships between nation and nation, religion and religion, mission and native church, so that at least a majority of the people con- cerned may feel comfortable and secure as they face the white man. 6. The attitude of reciprocity and mutuality. Since some of the activities of the West have served as ges- tures of good will, there have been established in some of the oriental peoples corresponding attitudes of friend- liness and confidence, which while not as common as might be desired nevertheless do offer promise of con- genial relationships in the future. Some aspects of western penetration have been recognized as rendering valuable service to civilizations which were either static or decadent and unfit to hold their own in the competi- tion of the modern world. Growing numbers of op- pressed and backward peoples are looking with eager hopefulness to the creation of a real League of Nations wherein mutual consultation may take the place of past imperialisms. These are the characteristic attitudes which the Orient brings to the junction point of culture contacts. They have been the by-products of typical western deeds and gestures. They serve as potential response patterns. They predispose people to respond in cer- tain ways to us in deed and gesture, and these in turn mould our attitudes to them; and so the cycle goes. 90 THE JUNCTION POINTS OF CULTURE CONTACT The fact that such a variety of mind-sets and gestures prevail on both sides of the water is a matter of great moment in the welfare of mankind. The future holds almost anything in store; and neither party will feel secure until a more stable and friendly set of attitudes is built up between them. II. LINES OF WESTERN PENETRATION Such in brief is the nature of the regions where East and West come into contact, and of the culture goods which each inherits from its own past, and contributes to the transfusion process. Into these great masses of population western Influences penetrate along three distinct lines. i. The first consists of a series of radiating arteries along which occidental organizations deliberately work their way into the interior of the region. Once a coun- try was opened up ? there were established cosmopolitan centers, generally on the coast and sometimes farther inland. Here the white man planted himself with his representative activities. These cities serve first of all as distributing centers from which radiate influences and trade to the more remote districts. Large houses of importation send their agents far and wide. Publi- cation concerns and book stores flood the land with literature of all kinds. These cities are becoming the broadcasting depots for radio, and the distribution points for the movie industry, which already has reached out into the smaller towns with a weekly service. The student, the laborer, the trader, each carries back to his community accounts of the startling 91 CHRISTIAN MISSIONS AND A NEW WORLD CULTURE things he has seen or heard, and spreads abroad the new contagion which he may have contracted during his sojourn there. Nor have Christian missions been slow in seizing these strategic points and in developing them so that they serve not only as fields for intensive propaganda, but also as headquarters of administration and distribution centers for the hinterland. If we confine our attention now to Christian activities, the next stage of penetration Is marked by mission stations planted generally in the larger towns of the interior and equipped with a mission compound, a church, a school of advanced grades, and possibly a hospital. Each of these stations in turn is apt to be surrounded by a line of outstations composed of smaller churches, primary schools, village clinics and preach- ing appointments. Finally from each of these there radiate " tendrils " in the form of colporteurs, native pastors, Bible women, students returning from schools and patients discharged from hospitals, which penetrate still farther into homes and more remote hamlets, un- til almost every last one stands exposed to some in- fluence from abroad. 2. This infiltration is not left entirely to the in- genuity of western promoters and their indigenous agents. Orientals have of their own volition reached back across the water and have drawn from western civilization whatever they have wished to appropriate. In this case the incentive has come from the easterner. He claims the right to officiate as his own board of censors, and to decide what aspects of western life he will incorporate into the awakening civilizations of the East. Governmental commissions, business representa- 92 THE JUNCTION POINTS OF CULTURE CONTACT tives and thousands of students familiarize themselves with the particular form of European or American life in which they may be interested, and then return home, and thus become distribution channels along which western influences are drawn into what might other- wise remain an inert mass of population. There has recently appeared in the daily press an excellent example of how ingenious native industry is leavening the Orient with the latest American fads : An enterprising Chinese publisher in Shanghai unhin- dered by copyright laws has amassed a fortune in a rela- tively brief period by producing American theme-songs on a wholesale order. This is how he does it. As soon as the new " talkie " films with the accompanying music arrive in Shanghai he obtains a copy of the music sheets. A clever translator puts the English words into Chinese characters, and these are printed directly on the original copy of the song. Then the entire sheet, Chinese transla- tion as well as the original music and English text, is lithographed and copies turned out by the thousand. Chinese department stores report sales running to the tens of thousands, at prices ranging from fifty cents per sheet and upwards. . . . During the last week in July a Shang- hai publishing house received a cabled order from a Chinese dealer in Singapore for fifty copies each of fifteen different songs, for which a demand had been created due to the exhibition of American " movies." Some of the titles were: " The Vagabond King Waltz," " Sunny Side Up," " If I Were King/' " Love Me Tonight," " Kiss Me Again/' " I Am In The Market For You/' and so on. This is an illuminating bit of news. The American " movie " and the Chinese publisher combined are 93 CHRISTIAN MISSIONS AND A NEW WORLD CULTURE awakening new tastes and sowing the Orient far and wide with sentiments and music which originated in America. The same may be said of other types of western industry. 3. Besides these more formal lines of penetration there operates continuously an undesigned diffusion, not unlike the scattering of pollen through the air. In a score of indirect ways this dissemination comes as by-products of activities which have other purposes as their motivation. The very fact that they are the in- direct effects of other activities lowers the defense mechanisms of people who might otherwise be on their guard, and exposes them to influences so subtle that they almost seem to be breathed in the air, which day and night work their unpretentious but irresistible transformations in life and thought. While the first two methods lend themselves to intelligent regulation, this latter form eludes control and goes on its way, working harm or benefit as the case may be. III. LOCAL " MARKET PLACES " OF EXCHANGE Mention has been made of cosmopolitan communities as distribution centers of western influence. But they have equal significance as local " market places " where the exchange of culture products is effected through social contacts. Here the culture wares of the West are displayed alongside those of the East, people mingle with people, and ere they know it find themselves caught in a maelstrom of cross-currents which they little un- derstand and are less able to control. Here they 94 THE JUNCTION POINTS OF CULTURE CONTACT face together the daily struggles and problems of life, each with his own methods, principles and ideas; and as they do so there is created a definite field of experi- mental living, glowing with the white heat of aroused interests and intensified activities. In the cosmopolitan centers, jinriksha and auto- mobile dodge each other along the same narrow street and little by little the ricksha is being pushed off the thoroughfare; foreign stores alternate with native shops; huge industrial plants built according to the latest models occupy perhaps a whole block, while just around the corner native artisans are struggling to survive; and while the Christian evangelist proclaims his message of repentance, faith and love, the ears of the passing multitudes are ringing with the clamor of promoters of this and agitators of that, while their eyes are dazzled with the flashing lights of oriental " Broadways." These large cities, such as Shanghai, Hong Kong, Singapore, Bombay and Cairo, are to the general process of culture transfusion what an experi- mental farm is to agriculture. Here are being tried out all kinds of experiments in the adjustment of relation- ships and the cross-breeding of civilizations. Unfortu- nately, these experiments could scarcely be carried on under less favorable circumstances, for the wholesome control of the constituent factors is reduced to a mini- mum. The best is found with the worst. There is scarcely any aspect of our western civilization but has its representatives in these cities, where they are far removed from the customary restraints of the home- land; and, whether they are concerned about it or not, 95 CHRISTIAN MISSIONS AND A NEW WORLD CULTURE under such unpromising circumstances they and their oriental companions are busily engaged in working out a new type of cosmopolitan life. In contrast to the polyglot interplay which takes place in these cosmopolitan centers, the distinctive fea- ture of the intermingling which characterizes the more secluded communities of the interior is that the inter- course has been more effectively censored. Difficulties of communication, suspicion of things foreign, and the vigilance of local authorities have saved these popula- tions from the overwhelming inrush of foreign contacts. Once the missionary and the church have succeeded in establishing themselves, the Christian conscience also has sought to determine just what infiltrations should reach these communities and which should be diverted. Here in these relatively secluded localities, the apostle of Christianity has preached, taught, healed, and made his own distinctive contacts with the people, hoping thereby to win them to Ms gospel before they were contaminated by less desirable influences from abroad. But for weal or woe this old-time censorship is becom- ing exceedingly ineffectual, and now even the secluded bazaar of the interior is being transformed into a market place of intercultural exchange. IV. THE INNER PSYCHOLOGICAL LABORATORY These " market places " are of importance because the social contacts therein sustained give rise to the psychological reactions of stimulus and response, through which the actual transfusion of cultures and alterations of personality are effected. In the last 96 THE JUNCTION POINTS OF CULTURE CONTACT analysis, it is here In the hidden processes of psycho- logical reaction that the accumulated current of the experience of any race comes to grips with the impor- tations of another culture current which has reached out across the water. Culture goods of rival currents may be displayed in the market place of social con- tacts, and the manner of their display is a vital matter, but whether they are accepted or rejected and what may be the resultant changes wrought in human per- sonalities depend ultimately upon what transpires in the minds of a definite number of individuals during that crucial interval, be it brief or long, which inter- venes between stimulus and response. V. THE REORIENTATION INVOLVED If there is any special contribution which the pres- ent volume would make it is the suggestion that we center attention upon the " market places " where con- tacts take place, and more especially upon the labora- tory of personal experience, because it is in such orien- tal settings that the processes are unfolding which are making and remaking the future. These are the cra- dles of new births, great awakenings, great advances in civilization and great disasters. Following the former period of one-way European expansion, culture interplay has now become a two- way operation. Of recent years the Orient has been exporting its wares to the West. In this case America, for example, becomes the matrix which is cross- fertilized from the East. As yet however the main line of exportation has been in the opposite direction. 97 CHRISTIAN MISSIONS AND A NEW WORLD CULTURE So far as can be discovered the nature of this operation is the same, except that in this case India and China now become the matrices, and they are being fertilized from the West. A different combination is made, al- though the fundamental operations are similar. It is in this eastern phase that we are interested. This will involve a reorientation of our thought from past ac- complishments to present processes; a transportation of ourselves by the imagination from the periphery in America over into the very heart of the eastern matrix, as indicated above. We of the West have been accus- tomed to view this operation from afar, that is, from our own standpoint in America. We have been im- pressed with the importance of our own activities, our own contributions, and our responsibility to set the world right. It seemed to be something which we must do and could do. The oriental likewise has been grow- ing doubly conscious of his own rich heritage, his con- tributions to the world, and what he considers to be his inalienable rights. He views the matter from his own nationalistic angle. In so far as both East and West continue to contemplate a process which is essentially reciprocal, each from its own traditional standpoint, both will gain distorted and exaggerated views of their own importance and neither will really understand what is actually transpiring. The place to watch the mingling of two rivers is at the junction point, and not from the banks of either stream higher up. We have analyzed both currents and traced them down through their courses. Orienting ourselves now at these junc- tion points, we propose to study first the processes which go on in the laboratory of the individual mind, 98 THE JUNCTION POINTS OF CULTURE CONTACT and later the cultural and religious changes which fol- low as these psychological transformations are trans- lated into daily living. This possibly will reveal the inner nature of the transfusion process especially as related to mission work, and bring to light the factors which must be kept under supervision if we would es- tablish better international relationships and build a Kingdom of God among men. 99 CHAPTER VH THE STIMULUS-RESPONSE CIRCUIT We have now traced the two culture currents down to the spot where they really come to grips with each other, namely, in the ongoing experience of human be- ings, living in communities and facing the actual issues of life. At first glance the life of an individual seems to consist of a flow of experience, unbroken in con- sciousness except by the slumbers of night. On closer examination, however, it falls into simpler units of ex- perience, bounded on the one hand by each concrete situation which the individual faces with its multiple stimuli, and on the other by the response made, fol- lowed by the outcomes which feed back and change the original stimulating situation and the responder him- self. We now proceed to analyze the formula which represents this unit of experience, taking as an exam- ple a peasant living in a village in India, as foreign influences begin to play upon his community. This will reveal the amazing manner in which things alien and indigenous, past and present, objective environ- ments and subjective states, are broken up into smaller segments, reshape themselves in new combinations, and eventuate in responses, which in turn change per- sonality and social conditions. The abbreviated for- mula (S-R) is a mere abstraction, unless we take into account the human organism which is stimulated and 100 THE STIMULUS-RESPONSE CIRCUIT responds, and also the trail of outcomes which is sure to follow. It is the unabbreviated formula which throws light upon the nature of the process: I PHYSICAL. CAUSATION .-^ o_J/2 "PSYCHOLOGICAL FIGURE n I. OBJECTIVE AND SUBJECTIVE STIMULI (S) The total situation by which our villager is sur- rounded is full of overt objects which impinge upon his sense organs. But such stimuli do not consist of iso- lated objects, perceived by the senses. Each is per- ceived in its own characteristic setting within the total stimulating situation, as parts within a larger whole. Through past experience, memories of this have be- come associated with these objects, so that when he does react it is to these external things as interpreted through past experience, as well as perceived in their present setting. Until the approach of the foreigner, most if not all of these stimulating situations have been local, familiar and indigenous. Culture importations enter the psy- chological formula as alien stimuli, competing with the indigenous stimuli for recognition, and therefore are 101 CHRISTIAN MISSIONS AND A NEW WORLD CULTURE likely to cause conflict and hesitation. It is well for the missionary to remember that the only way where- by he and his message, his ritual, his ethics and his God can ever get into the life experience of other peo- ple is first of all by being presented as stimuli. They really become a part of the life of people and of so- cieties only when they have acquired habitual re- sponses and thus give rise to the outcomes which follow. The missionary is interested in stimuli only as they play upon the human being and move Mm to action. This human being functions under four distinct roles; namely, as a stimulatable organism with certain al- ready defined susceptibilities; as an organism capable of responding; as an ideational organism and as an evaluating organism. The whole personality functions in each of these roles. II. THE STIMULATABLE ORGANISM Personality is itself dynamic, rather than passive. The original springs of action and the susceptibility to stimuli are lodged within the psycho-physical organism which is itself stimulated. As a babe, our villager brought Into this world his own peculiar biological equipment of impulses and cravings, which have long since been moulded through interaction with his en- vironment until they conform more or less to the stand- ard " wishes " of society for definite satisfactions. It is the wish for particular things, tangible and intangi- ble, which impels man to action. The inner " wish " is the subjective aspect by virtue of which any object 102 THE STIMULUS-RESPONSE CIRCUIT gets a value, that is, gains its stimulating potency. These longings may rise into consciousness, or they may not; they may seem to take the form of the push of necessity, or the alluring pull of an unrealized end or ideal; but in any case these springs of action are lodged in the human organism, which has been so moulded through interaction with environment that all the individual has met has now become a part of him. Corresponding to these wishes are to be found cer- tain attitudinal sets toward the various stimuli, objec- tive and subjective. An attitude is a predisposition to act in a certain way toward an object when occasion arises. It is a form of habit acquired through past ex- perience. Some of these attitudes are predispositions to definite motor responses with little or no conscious accompaniment. In others, the sentiments predomi- nate, such as fear, love, hate, friendliness, of which we are more or less conscious. There are others which are dependent upon some dominant system of thought, and we are said to have convictions, beliefs and doubts with reference to the object in question. The reason why so much attention has been given to attitudes in the previous chapters is because of the important part which they play in the stimulus-response formula. At- titudes, meanings, impulses and wishes predetermine whether an object shall become a stimulus and make an appeal or not; they gauge the intensity of such ap- peals; they govern the range of stimuli both foreign and indigenous to which the subject is susceptible or toward which he is immune; they serve as the prophets of the probable pattern of conduct which will consti- tute the response. 103 CHRISTIAN MISSIONS AND A NEW WORLD CULTURE III. THE RESPONDING ORGANISM The definition of life as adjustment to environment is as satisfactory as any, provided environment is taken to mean something more than external and static surroundings. The wishes provide the yearnings for satisfaction, the stimuli give the promise of it, the responses are the means taken for the realization of these satisfactions. Our friend the villager, no longer an infant, does not start each unit of experience de novo, but comes to it already equipped with a whole repertoire of possible responses, of which we may dis- tinguish at least four kinds : The first and second are not of much concern to the missionary because they are largely beyond the reach of his influence, except in so far as he comes into con- tact with very young life. These are the biological reflexes with which man is born, and the rather random responses of trial and error through which the young child gains part of his acquaintance with the world, unaided as yet by previous experience. These are the raw materials out of which habits are formed, and in so far as the missionary can influence this formation process aright he will obviate the necessity of any radi- cal reformation of character. The main kind of re- sponses which regulate the life of this man are his own personal habits, and also the approved customs of the society in which he moves. As a dutiful member of his community he has taken over most of the cus- tomary methods for satisfying human need. These culture complexes have provided the moulds to which 104 THE STIMULUS-RESPONSE CIRCUIT his own response patterns are made to conform.* He follows the established times and seasons for sowing and reaping; if he finds himself In distress he follows the orthodox ways of salvation prescribed by his reli- gion. However, he is not entirely a child of social custom. With reference to minor details he manifests his own characteristic idiosyncrasies; and when occa- sion demands he uses what intelligence he possesses in the choice of some line of action. Accordingly, there is a fourth category of possible responses, namely, those which are more or less purposive and selective. These are the various types of response which lend themselves to modification and in the modification of which character itself is changed. So long as his fam- ily enjoys the usual degree of health and prosperity, so long as his friends provide him with social satisfac- tions, and his religion offers protection from the power of evil and an assured entrance into whatever life the future holds, just so long will our villager be inclined to follow the conventional routine. In all such cases, the unit of experience is brought to a speedy comple- tion in a customary response, and the routine of life proceeds with a minimum of psychic activity and so- cial disturbance. But sooner or later a frustration * Response patterns are not Identical with culture patterns or culture complexes. They are definite stimulus-response-outcome se- quences, that is, habits of thought, feeling and action, linked up within the human organism itself. Culture patterns serve as the socially prescribed models for shaping individual response patterns. The more complex culture patterns are themselves made up of a number of correlated response patterns, existing already in the individual mem- bers of the society sustaining the culture. 105 CHRISTIAN MISSIONS AND A NEW WORLD CULTURE surprises him and the problematical aspects of the situation have to be faced. When this takes place the response is held in suspense, and this gives occasion for interjecting between stimulus and response a new kind of behavior, which goes on in the individual before it eventuates in overt conduct. IV. THE IDEATIONAL ORGANISM Our village friend is capable of Ideational behavior as well as of overt conduct. Many things may occur to block the usual response. A foreign government may intervene and forbid him to marry his little daugh- ter before a prescribed age; a sudden calamity may reveal the futility of his efforts and raise questionings in his mind; missionaries may demonstrate the supe- riority of another technique for curing disease, and of another way of salvation for bringing peace of mind. In such cases the scene of action is shifted from the open-air walks of life, where objective stimuli are fol- lowed by overt responses, to the Inner stage of the mind, where ideas and their symbols are substituted for concrete objects as the dramatis personae in a pre- liminary rehearsal, in which man acts out within him- self now one experimental response with its probable outcomes, and now another. In other words, he tries to think his way through before committing himself irrevocably to any course of action. The personality as an evaluating organism will be considered in Chapter IX. 106 THE STIMULUS-RESPONSE CIRCUIT V. SUBJECTIVE AND OVERT RESPONSES (R) Responses, like stimuli, are of two kinds, subjective and overt. Under the urging of the missionary our friend decides for example that he will send his boy to the mission school, instead of keeping him in the fields. This decision is a subjective response and relieves the mental tension. There is however an element of sus- pense or incompleteness about such responses until they eventuate in the corresponding overt act. Conse- quently sooner or later most subjective responses find their completion in overt conduct, such as announcing the decision to the neighbors and actually sending the boy to school. VI. THE OUTCOMES (O) In one sense the unit of experience closes with the responses. In another sense it is like a comet in that it trails its long tail of consequences after it. Some of these effects are experienced immediately or in the near future. Others are long deferred. It is this de- lay that makes the evaluation of any specific act in the light of its probable consequences so difficult, and in- clines us to rely upon the lessons of past experience and upon the authority of others for clearer insight into just what these deferred results are likely to be. The complexity of life is further enhanced by the fact that each response is followed by a flaring fan of actual outcomes. These fall under three categories, accord- ing to the manner and place of the registration of their effects. 107 CHRISTIAN MISSIONS AND A NEW WORLD CULTURE 1. Some of these outcomes are external to the subject and registered in the objective world which surrounds him, as purely physical causation. Let us suppose that as a result of persuasion our villager has demolished the little pagan shrine which has protected the fields of his family for generations. A part of that response was muscular action, which destroyed a physi- cal object. But this is not the end, even of a physical event. The field with a shrine has now become a field without a shrine. This in turn is followed by its own train of consequences. Some of these likewise are physical; vegetables may now grow where worship was formerly observed, and the food supply of his family increased. But at the same time this altered landscape becomes a new stimulus. It may incite the villager to plow and his neighbors to attack him. This illustrates the manner in which a response not only remakes the physical world, but also reshapes the origi- nal external stimulating situation to which both we and others will respond in new ways as a consequence. Thus we continually are remaking the world in which we live. 2. A second group of the outcomes is also exter- nal to the responder, but these are registered directly as psychological stimuli upon the minds of other peo- ple. When the man destroys the shrine, the act itself operates as a stimulus upon his pagan neighbors, the native church, the missionary; and the report of it will affect the conduct of far-off Christians in America. Under the influence of this one deed, these various classes of people will in turn respond in different ways and as a result will never be the same personalities 108 THE STIMULUS-RESPONSE CIRCUIT again. Each response of ours may serve as a stimulus to a response in our friends and neighbors, which works a change in them so that they become altered personalities, and consequently new stimuli to us and to others. 3. But some of the outcomes revert and are regis- tered in the responding subject himself , like so many scars which leave their mark which we carry to our death. First of all a change takes place in the habitual responses of the villager. The brain paths as well as the foot paths which led him as a devout wor- shiper to the shrine will now tend to be neglected and obliterated. A new brain path and also foot path may now be started toward the sanctuary of the Christian God. In other words, as a result of the de- struction of the shrine, he becomes a different " re- spondable " organism, equipped with a changing reper- toire of responses. A similar modification is wrought in his susceptibility to stimuli. Wishes and feelings of need are changed. He assumes a different attitude to the missionary and also to his old neighbors, with the result that he will be more inclined to certain types of stimuli and less to others. This is partially so because of the third kind of outcomes, which are registered in the form of increased knowledge with reference both to himself and to the outside world, thus still further affecting him as an ideational and an evaluating or- ganism. This knowledge of the way things act and affect us and others and the relating of this to previous experience gives meaning. The moment that things get new meanings, they thereby become new stimuli, and thus the cycle revolves again. It is this registra- 109 CHRISTIAN MISSIONS AND A NEW WORLD CULTURE tion of outcomes of conduct back upon the organism itself which makes all personal development or degen- eration possible and assured. VII. THE CYCLE The fact that the sequence of stimulus, response and outcomes does not move along in a straight line, but reverts continually upon itself in the form of a cir- cuit registering its effects in corresponding places, is of supreme importance in comprehending the nature of the process underlying mission work. It is this cyc- lical aspect of the process which makes it inherently reciprocal rather than one-sided. The missionary presents himself and his message to the villager as stimulus for the purpose of evoking a certain reaction; but he does this partly because he himself has already been stimulated to do so by the perceived condition of the villager. The missionary responds through some appropriate activity. This response works a three- fold alteration: possibly as physical causation upon the original setting, as psychological stimulus upon the villager, and as a transformation wrought in himself. Through that response he himself becomes a different man. But, as stimulus, he has also moved the villager to some response, and this in turn may work a similar threefold change: of physical causation, psychological stimulus upon the missionary and others, and transfor- mations within himself, affecting his susceptibility to stimuli, his repertoire of responses, and the subjective stimuli stored up within his own organism. What we have here then is a reciprocal process like a shuttle, no THE STIMULUS-RESPONSE CIRCUIT shooting back and forth, weaving something of the missionary into the make-up of the villager, and on its return journey weaving something of the changed vil- lager into the missionary and changing him, in which interweaving the total situation of society is also transformed. It is this cyclical process which makes mission work creative (and possibly destructive) rather than simply the transmission of an unchanging deposit from the West to the East. It is no longer correct to think of the gospel as being " given " to the heathen, nor of Christianity as really overthrowing any religion. No matter what may be the surface appearances, a more subtle transfusion takes place between them. Further- more, the same cyclical aspect inheres in the transmis- sion process through which the gospel heritage has been handed on down to the Christian of today from apos- tolic times. With each succeeding stage of teaching and learning, of preaching and hearing, not only is the learner influenced thereby; the gospel message is also reinterpreted and remade thereby. There is no inner core, either as an essence of the gospel, or as an entity within man, which is immune from this mutual trans- formation. Ignorance with reference to this cyclical nature of the historic process of transmission has led to ill-founded claims of absolute truth. Similar igno- rance with reference to the geographic process of transfusion has led to unfortunate efforts to impose our will and our models unchanged upon others. in CHAPTER VHI METHODS OF INFLUENCING BEHAVIOR I. PROMOTERS AND AGENCIES 1. By promoters we mean any person or group of persons who take an Interest in influencing the life of others. Their action is deliberate and Intentional. The Indigenous current of history furnishes its own quota of these In the form of relatives, neighbors, native clergy, and people In authority. The western world has sent forth a stream of missionaries, traders and others, bent upon carrying out their own characteristic purposes. 2. By agencies we refer to those supra-personal and impersonal factors which operate apparently with no definite purpose. The conditioning seems to be inde- pendent of any deliberate action on the part of a pro- moter, but it takes place nevertheless. While' 3 the mis- sionary is preaching his gospel and seeking to bring about the conversion of the " heathen," it may so hap- pen that he Is seen to wear leather shoes, to use a hand- kerchief, or to have a gold tooth in his mouth. Such Incidental stimuli grip the attention, and ere long some of the audience may be converted to wearing shoes or using handkerchiefs, while they pay no heed to the words of wisdom. Instead of functioning as a pro- moter of his cause the missionary has actually served 112 METHODS OF INFLUENCING BEHAVIOR as an unintentional agent in the more general transfu- sion of cultures. This is also the method of working of such supra-personal factors as public opinion, popu- lar movements, and the stampedes of mobs, which carry the individual with them. Here also belong the impersonal influences exercised by sub-human stimuli and the unorganized diffusion of the " western atmos- phere " referred to in Chapter VI. By such supra- personal and impersonal agencies, attitudes are formed and new habits are established, which come as supple- mentary effects to, or else by-products of, the real op- eration in which the personal promoter is primarily interested. II. HUMAN PERSONALITY Who and what is this villager whom the missionary has been striving to change for the better? If he is to be influenced this must be in accordance with the inner nature of his own being. The older theology thought of human beings as " souls," that is, as ulti- mate entities. The newer theology thinks rather of "personalities." But personality turns out to be a very complex combination of ingredients; and we can understand how personality is changed only in so far as we understand how it comes to be and of what it consists. Personality is partly an endowment and partly an achievement. Character is fundamentally a bundle of habits, near-habits, and lack of habits or if you will, the habit of having no fixed habit in certain respects. Virtues are habits of which we approve. Vices are 113 CHRISTIAN MISSIONS AND A NEW WORLD CULTURE habits which we condemn. The moment Loyalty ceases to be a mere abstract concept, spelled with a capital letter, and becomes the virtue of an Indian villager toward the patron of his family, it takes on the form of habit, under a threefold aspect: first, there are certain habitual kinds of action which can be counted upon; corresponding to this, emotions have become habitually polarized about the patron giving rise to the sentiment of loyalty; and third, there are certain relatively fixed meanings which the patron has for the villager, growing out of past experience, by vir- tue of which the patron functions as the stimulus to this habitual response. Not only is personality a bun- dle of habits; its particular character depends upon just how the bundle holds together. This coordination consists of more than a mere aggregation of so many minor units, just as the human body is composed of something more than the summation of legs, arms, heart and liver. These habits are coordinated first of all into habit systems corresponding as a rule to the culture complexes of the social groupings to which the individual belongs; and in the second place, they are further articulated into larger combinations about one or more centers of reference, which give purpose and direction to life. If personality is to be altered that is to be accomplished by changing habits, and by shift- ing the coordination of these. Christianity has always been insistent in its affirma- tion of the modifiability of human nature, and of the duty of man to become better than he actually is. Science confirms this age-long faith, and throws some light upon the nature of these transformations. Hu- 114 METHODS OF INFLUENCING BEHAVIOR man personalities are modified: through the develop- ment of whatever endowments may have been received; these may grow, but no new increment can be received; this is accomplished through the building up of new habits and the alteration of those already fixed, a proc- ess popularly known as education or nurture; by changing the characteristic coordinations of habit sys- tems ; when the change is wrought around some center of reference already accepted, it is known as education, nurture, or even religious sanctification; when there is a shift to another center, it is recognized as conver- sion; as these transformations are registered in the organism a new personality is acquired by a ceaseless creative process. Personalities are continually in the making and never finally become a finished product. If then the missionary would change personality he must transform habits and their coordinations about different centers of reference; if he would change hab- its he must induce certain new responses; if he would evoke these responses he must manipulate stimuli. Let him become expert in the wise use of stimuli, and nature will do the rest. III. METHODS OF INFLUENCING BEHAVIOR For insight into the psychological operations in- volved let us turn to the well-known experiment with Peter, the little three-year-old boy who had acquired a fear reaction to rabbits, fur coats and similar objects. We determined to use another method of procedure that of direct conditioning. We did not have control over Peter's meals, but we secured permission to give him US CHRISTIAN MISSIONS AND A NEW WORLD CULTURE his afternoon lunch consisting of crackers and a glass of milk. We seated him at a small table in a high chair. . . . Just as he began to eat his lunch, the rabbit was displayed in a wire cage. . . . We displayed it on the first day just far enough away not to disturb his eating. . . . The next day the rabbit was brought closer until disturbance was first barely noticed. . . . The third and succeeding days the same routine was maintained. Fi- nally the rabbit could be placed upon the table; then in Peter's lap. . . . Finally he would eat with one hand and play with the rabbit with the other. After having broken down his fear reactions with the rabbit, we were next interested in seeing what his reac- tions would be to other furry objects. Fear responses to cotton, the fur coat and feathers had entirely gone. He looked at them and handled them, and then turned to other things.* FIGURE III This simple experiment reveals the mechanism of conditioning (Figure III) which explains most of what takes place both in the deliberate effort to influence people on the foreign field and in the unconscious trans- fusion of cultures which accompanies this effort. * Behaviorism (pp. 128-9), by J. B. Watson. W. W. Norton and Company, New York. 116 METHODS OF INFLUENCING BEHAVIOR Number (2)0! the figure represents a behavior pat- tern S" (the rabbit as stimulus), R" (crying or with- drawal as response), O" (a feeling of fear as outcome), of which we do not approve. This will be called the secondary pattern, since it contains the substitute stimulus. In this case the method adopted was that of " direct conditioning," which Involves the following steps. First we hunt for a primary behavior pattern number ( i ) of the diagram already established in the life of young Peter, which brings a response result- ing in a pleasing outcome; namely, S' (crackers and milk), R' (handling and eating) 0' (a feeling of sat- isfaction). It is essential that the outcomes be pleas- ant. Then while the child is actually engaged in the pleasure-giving occupation of eating, the secondary stimulus is brought upon the scene, " suggested " as we say. But the rabbit is first of all displayed at a safe distance, lest the old fear responses be perpetuated. Little by little the secondary and primary stimuli (S" and S') are brought into closer association with each other. Imperceptibly to the child, the rabbit and the food are associated together as joint stimuli to a pleas- ant experience. The substitute stimulus is grafted on to the primary stimulus-response pattern. If this is kept up long enough, the food may be withdrawn and the child will now respond to the rabbit alone by han- dling it and playing with it. We have overcome evil with good. A new stimulus-response pattern has been linked up in the organism of the child. A new synthe- sis has been made, which is the psychological basis of the culture synthesis and the personal reintegration considered in Chapters XII to XIV. The substitute 117 CHRISTIAN MISSIONS AND A NEW WORLD CULTURE stimulus (S") gains a new response (R') Instead of its former response (R") ; and by the same token the pri- mary response (R') gains a new stimulus (S"). i. Influencing behavior by means of suggestion. One of the varieties of conditioning whereby people are influenced is more popularly known as suggestion. When this occurs, a relatively uncritical and immedi- ate response is made to a secondary stimulus through its being grafted on to a primary stimulus-response sequence which has already become habitual in the life of the responder. It is a short-cut method of influ- encing indirectly the great majority, who are likely to follow impulse, habit or emotion, and have little time to think or little understanding of what is actually hap- pening to them. The secondary stimulus becomes a " cue " or a substitute stimulus for the whole constel- lation of stimuli which make up the total situation. Consequently we say that the cue reminds us of some- thing else, or suggests something to us. This is also the way in which objects get their names, and words their meanings. Many Americans have come to think of a certain historical personage as the savior of the Union. This is their customary response to him. But from the beginning there has been associated with that indi- vidual the symbol, " Lincoln " so that whenever the name " Lincoln " is mentioned in certain political gath- erings, it serves as the " cue " for a hearty response. No arguments are needed. Once the name is men- tioned, the ovation is sure to follow. Now let an orator in addressing such a gathering suggest that the candi- date whom he is nominating is the " Lincoln " of his 118 METHODS OF INFLUENCING BEHAVIOR party today, and the candidate will be met with the same uproarious applause. They respond to the new candidate as they have already learned to respond to the " cue. 7 ' So far as the audience is concerned, it is unpremeditated. But not so with the orator. Preach- ers, teachers and salesmen are experts in this technique of conditioning. The art consists in the discovery of a " cue/' a slogan, an allusion, an insinuation, which has already acquired a response and meaning for the people similar to that which the orator wishes to evoke; then let him tactfully associate the substitute stimulus in which he is interested with the " cue," and the re- sponse is sure to follow, unless hindered by some pow- erful inhibition. The missionary, as he tries to promote his cause, is soon made aware of the fact that he is only one of a number of competitors, native and foreign, each seek- ing to reach the ears and eyes of the public. The rela- tive strength of each appeal is determined largely by the extent to which each fulfils the conditions affecting the conditioning of responses. (a) As already intimated, the basic prerequisite is that there be lodged in the organism of the responding subject some primary (S'-R'-O') sequence; for it is to some such pattern that the secondary stimulus must be joined, if at all. If this pattern has brought pleasing outcomes in the past, it may be used to develop favor- able responses. If it has been the occasion of distress, it may be used to produce prejudices, enmities and in- hibitions. If a pagan tribe already is in the habit of responding to its deities by means of prayer, there is some possibility of the missionary substituting Ms God 119 CHRISTIAN MISSIONS AND A NEW WORLD CULTURE as the secondary stimulus for the pagan god stimulus in the primary response pattern, and thus teaching the people to pray as Christians. If, however, no such habit existed, he would have to go farther back in the life experience of the tribe for some suitable response pattern which would be found likely in the petitions which they as children had learned to make of their parents. (b) Susceptibility to outside influence depends upon the amount of integration or disintegration which al- ready prevails in the individual and in society. An integrated personality is one that has succeeded in building up certain well defined habits, emotional fixa- tions, thought systems, or group relationships, as the case may be. When the primary stimulus in any of these patterns is bound up too tightly with its usual response, it is next to impossible to " smuggle in " a substitute stimulus and thus condition that pattern. When the Mohammedan's customary response of faith and obedience to the Prophet has become thoroughly ingrained in his system, it is difficult to condition his religious responses to the Christian Savior. Every person is more or less in the grip of a certain number of these mind-sets, recognized as prejudices if we dis- approve, loyalties if we approve, convictions if related to thought systems, habits if concerned with conduct, and attitudes in so far as they serve as predispositions to action. But let the bonds between stimulus, response and expected outcomes loosen up, and the individual's re- sponses may be conditioned, provided the dissolution is not so pronounced as to have destroyed or discred- 120 METHODS OF INFLUENCING BEHAVIOR ited the pattern entirely. If the Individual still be- lieves in prayer that is, if the bond (R'-O') still holds , but is not so sure about prayer to his pagan god that is, the bond (S'-R') has been somewhat dis- turbed , then he is a fit subject for influencing so that he will learn to pray to the Christian God. Long ex- perience has proved that the ones most responsive to Christian propaganda are the doubters who have not yet become cynical, the lukewarm who have not grown too cold, and the " wandering sheep " who as yet have not strayed too far. (c) The inexperienced and the unsophisticated are much more susceptible to suggestion than those who are wise to the world. Peter was sophisticated with reference to the rabbit. Had he never seen a rabbit or its like before, the conditioning of his response to it would have been much easier. A sophisticated person is one who has already linked up within him a pattern (S"-R"-O") in connection with the substitute stimu- lus, as well as primary patterns. This means that he has already acquired either an inhibitory response or a friendly response to the secondary stimulus, accord- ing to his acquaintance with its outcomes in past ex- perience. But when the person has not had any pre- vious experience with S", he is equipped neither with inhibitory nor favorable attitudes, and so far as that stimulus is concerned he is like a babe in the woods. Children and young people, while " wise " to the life of the home or the school, may be relatively unsophis- ticated concerning the great outside world. Unedu- cated and backward races, whose religions have not been rationalized into imposing philosophies, respond 121 CHRISTIAN MISSIONS AND A NEW WORLD CULTURE more readily to the suggestions and appeals of the propagandist than do the more indoctrinated adherents of the great ethnic faiths. It is still true, as in the days of the apostles, that " not many wise after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called." (d) Contiguity in time and place of S" and S' is an- other condition. Let the rabbit and the crackers and milk, the word " Lincoln " and a particular man, be associated together repeatedly, and the conditioning will result. There is no rhyme or reason to this; so long as the two stimuli play upon the organism to- gether the reconditioning will follow. This simple mechanism explains much of what happens when one civilization impinges upon another. The coming of a missionary to a village may by the merest chance be associated in time and place with the outbreak of an epidemic, and for no other reason antagonistic atti- tudes will be assumed, and innocent men have been put to death. The wise propagandist will seek to engineer matters so that both he and his cause are associated in time and place with stimuli joined up with congenial re- sponses. But at best this can be done only to a limited degree. One of the most disconcerting things about human affairs is that so many of our contacts are casual, and in so far as this is true the conditioning of responses is the result of chance. (e) Similarity in appearance between S" and S' en- courages association and leads to conditioning. Dis- similarity impedes it. It will be remembered that Peter was afraid not only of the rabbit, but also of objects similar in appearance; but once his fear of the rabbit 122 METHODS OF INFLUENCING BEHAVIOR gave way, the same took place with cotton, wool and fur coats. When a man finds himself face to face with a substitute stimulus to which he does not know how to react, he may do several things. He may seek ad- vice of others. He may make an experimental re- sponse of his own. But if some striking similarity of appearance or sound is detected between it and some other well known stimulus, he may react to the former as he has learned to react to the latter. Let the mis- sionary's face be white, and as he presents himself among colored races he will be treated as they have already learned to treat people of like complexion until he succeeds in conditioning their response to him as a person rather than as a member of a type or class. We now pass from the relatively simple conditions of association to others which are more complex be- cause they are dependent upon a more highly organ- ized elaboration of previous experience, which take the form of generalizations. As the individual ad- vances in acquaintance with the world, he arrives at certain generalizations concerning the relations which may exist between S" and S', which are more signifi- cant and reliable than mere contingencies in time and place or similarity of appearance, because they relate to similarity of function or nature. (f ) When group relationships and genetic or causal connections are discovered between the secondary and primary stimulus, the conditioning is apt to take place. When it becomes known that the missionary is an American, then on the assumption of national soli- darity, the Japanese will take toward him the attitudes which they are accustomed to take to Americans in 123 CHRISTIAN MISSIONS AND A NEW WORLD CULTURE general until he succeeds In demonstrating that he personally is different. If our friend has been given to understand that Christianity has come up out of the same long cul- tural development as western industrialism, his re- sponse to Christianity will be influenced by any atti- tude already assumed toward that industrialism. He may not be able to explain the precise nature of this relationship, but he has acquired the general idea that children of the same parents resemble each other, and he takes the rest for granted, as we all do. (g) Conditioning is never completed, unless the sec- ondary stimulus and the primary response are bound together in a new union. There are certain qualifi- cations which determine whether this shall be done suddenly or gradually. Gandhi tells how as a boy he suddenly took a dislike to the Christian religion. I developed a sort of dislike for it (Christianity) . And for a reason. In those days Christian missionaries used to stand on a corner near the High School and hold forth, pouring abuse on Hindus and their gods. I could not stomach this. I must have stood there to hear them once only, but that was enough to dissuade me from repeating the experiment* Almost anybody could relate kindred experiences of the sudden manner in which a relatively permanent set has been given to character and personality. If the person is young, unequipped as yet with any habitual attitudes to the stimulus, as was the case of Gandhi with Christianity, and if the impression made is suffi- * Mahatma Gandhi's Ideas (p. 87), by C. F. Andrews. The Macmillan Company, New York. 124 METHODS OF INFLUENCING BEHAVIOR ciently striking, then one experience is enough to give a deep-seated bias. Gandhi continues: "Though the preaching took place forty years ago, the painful memory of it is still vivid before me. JJ Where however as in the case of Peter one has al- ready acquired a fixed response to the secondary stimulus (the rabbit) and where this is less impres- sive, then the conditioning can take place only gradu- ally, through the cumulative effect of repetition. " Line upon line and precept upon precept " becomes the rule both for learning and for teaching. (h) Reputation or authority acquired by the sub- stitute stimulus (the missionary and Ms message) greatly increases the likelihood of its being bound up with a primary response in a new behavior pattern. The response of course will be favorable or adverse according as the reputation be prestige or odium. Reputation and authority are themselves the conse- quences of previous conditionings. The qualities prized in the " prestiged " object are those which have come to be held in high esteem in the general scheme of values of the individual or of society. If Jesus Christ is recognized as the personification of those vir- tues which are already held in honor in a non-Christian country, then Jesus himself thereby acquires prestige. If there be a contrast or a contradiction between the character of Jesus and the accepted ideals, then only as the one is reconciled to the other can Jesus gain the prestige necessary to become a powerful stimulus for regeneration. To the power of prestige, or the reputation for per- sonal worth, may be added the power of authority, 125 CHRISTIAN MISSIONS ANB A NEW WORLD CULTURE that is the reputation of speaking in the name of an ulterior sanction. The Christian worker claims to be a "man of God." Prophets always affirm: "The word of the Lord came to me saying." Priests adorn them- selves with vestments symbolic of a divine office. So likewise where Jesus does not win the approval of the non-Christian conscience because of the recognized sublimity of his character, the missionary holds him forth as more than human in order that he may gain the authority of the divine where personal prestige is insufficient to evoke the desired response. But just as the gaining of prestige is dependent upon the nature of the values already prized, so also the degree of author- ity acquired by the missionary or by Jesus Christ de- pends upon whether people really believe in God and recognize the divine relationships claimed for the mis- sionary and his Savior. (i) The power of any stimulus depends upon its appeal to interest and desire on the one hand, and its promise of satisfaction on the other. Bread is no stimulus to a man who is not hungry. And when the desire does exist, bread becomes a stimulus only be- cause it promises satisfaction. Even to a hungry man a stone makes no appeal, and we all know the reason why. The particular aspects of Christianity which will appeal most forcefully to any person depend upon whether he is suffering from toothache or from a con- sciousness of sin, whether he desires an education for his boy or an increase in the yield of his fields, whether he is thinking of eternity or has been caught up in the passion for national sovereignty. If it happens that the sense of religious need is not present then he must 126 METHODS OF INFLUENCING BEHAVIOR be made conscious of It by the tactful conditioning of kindred needs and the gradual development of others that are new. 2. Influencing people by example and imitation. " Imitation is doing what the other person does, be- cause the perception of his behavior sets up in the Imitator the same or similar responses to those which serve as stimuli." It is a general descriptive term ap- plying to a variety of mechanisms which may " set up " the imitative responses, intentional or unintentional. However, much of what is called imitation Is, like sug- gestion, a form of conditioning. If the secondary stimulus serves as a model, the conditioning is recog- nized as imitation. If it serves as a cue, it is called suggestion. If the clapping of the hands of an audi- ence makes one think of the great speech he himself delivered three weeks previously, this is a case of sug- gestion. One feature in the situation similar to that of three weeks ago serves as a cue stimulus to awaken memories. If it should happen that the eloquence of the orator resulted in a common response of clapping, this would not be a case of imitation, but of the reac- tion of many people to a common stimulus by means of a similar response pattern already acquired by all. But a thousand people in a crowd do not react to an orator in an individualistic manner as they might if each were listening over the radio from the quiet of his own fireside. Each one responds not only to the orator but also to the clapping of the others, and in so far as this is the case each conditions the other to an imitative response, probably without Intending to do so. Much of the enthusiasm of religious gatherings arises from 127 CHRISTIAN MISSIONS AND A NEW WORLD CULTURE this mutual stimulation to similar behavior. In the more deliberate forms of imitation, one may intention- ally set up a model before others, or they also in turn may intentionally seek to imitate it. Now our villager has come to be what he is partially through imitative responses to father, mother, com- panions, and all the other models supplied by his tradi- tional surroundings. Furthermore, no small part of the missionary's influence over him will depend upon his success or failure both in presenting himself as a model, and also in promoting the imitation of any other model which he may wish to hold up it may be Jesus Christ as the perfect example of character and conduct, or a new method of educating the young. Not all behavior observed in the model results in imita- tive responses. The imitating depends upon certain conditions which the missionary would do well to bear in mind, if he wishes to mould people after the manner of a model. (a) Seeing that imitation is but another form of conditioning, many of the factors mentioned above as influencing suggestion are equally operative here; such as, disintegration, sophistication, contiguity in time and place, similarity of appearances, repetition, prestige and authority in the model (b) Imitation is possible only where a person has learned a type of behavior which resembles to some extent at least the conduct of the model. No one can imitate anything entirely new. There must be a re- semblance between the conduct of the model and some habit or mind-set already acquired by the imitator. (c) It frequently happens however that the be- 128 METHODS OF INFLUENCING BEHAVIOR havlor of the model is so complicated that no exact response duplicate already exists in the make-up of the imitator. If a like response is ever to be acquired, it is necessary first to break up the complex behavior of the model into unit operations, and then each of these in turn must be imitated and improved upon by long and patient practice. Any westerner who has essayed to follow the example of the Japanese in the use of chopsticks knows something of the difficulties involved. No doubt ere this he has acquired some proficiency in the manipulation of two sticks by the fingers and thumb, but it is woefully insufficient for the complicated undertaking of feeding one's self. Consequently he proceeds to break up the behavior of his model into a number of simpler units, such as the grip of the sticks between the thumb and fingers, the trick of separating the points at will and of bring- ing them together again In the form of a " V " to grip the food, instead of an " X 3? which form they persist in taking. These and other details serve as successive unit models until after much bungling he acquires pro- ficiency in the total imitative response. The oriental's method of learning to use a knife and fork, to join becomingly in public worship, or to gain proficiency in any other involved behavior is of the same order. In so far as he can be assisted in breaking up the model procedure into simpler units and then in imitating each of these in turn the total imitation will be facilitated. (d) This is readily apparent in the imitation of overt action, but it is even more essential in the effort to imitate ideational behavior. Before anyone can imitate, or share in the feelings, beliefs and ideas of 129 CHRISTIAN MISSIONS AND A NEW WORLD CULTURE others it is first necessary that the imitator recognize clearly just what that psychic behavior really is. The clearer and more distinct the model the easier the imita- tion. Unfortunately even with the best of care in the mastery of foreign languages and in the use of gestures, this self-revelation of the model is apt to be imperfect. The writer once complained to a South American that the Latin people were so profuse in their affirmations and gesticulations that a North American found it diffi- cult to discern their true state of mind. To his surprise the retort came back: "It is you North Americans who are the enigmas. You repress the frank mani- festations of your feelings and thoughts to such an ex- tent that we cannot discover what lies under the placid surface." No doubt a similar confusion exists in the minds of many who listen to the exhortation that they have in them the mind of Christ Jesus. Their failure to respond may be due as much to the blurred and hazy presentation of the mind of Christ, as to any supposed perversity of the human heart. In so far as the imita- tor is unable to recognize through the standard means of communication the real nature of the ideological be- havior of the model, it will be difficult if not impossible for him to condition his conduct through imitative re- sponses, or to share sympathetically in the joys and sorrows of another. (e) Much imitation is unintentional and even un- conscious, but when people deliberately follow the example of another it is because they recognize a con- nection between the behavior of the model and an ob- jective which they themselves conceive to be worth while. The behavior is taken to be the means to an 130 METHODS OF INFLUENCING BEHAVIOR end. Thus new methods are adopted. No small part of propaganda has been to demonstrate that the Chris- tian's way of salvation, his technique for healing dis- ease and his methods of educating the young are assured means for the attainment of end-results which are desirable, and the more desirable and assured these results are made to appear, the stronger will be the motivation. j. Influencing behavior by means of persuasion. Some people have no more ability or inclination for making their own decisions than they have for making their own clothes. They are constantly turning to others for guidance; and the world has never lacked for those who would gladly serve in this capacity. Per- suasion is a composite form of influencing, composed of suggestion, imitation and pseudo-deliberation in vary- ing proportions. The persuader has already done all the deliberating which he considers necessary. His mind is made up; and now it is his business to make the other party's mind up in the same way. Consequently, while there is the appearance of an appeal to reason, it is made in such a way that the desired conclusion is forthcoming. In this composite activity all the condi- tions referred to above hold good; but if it is to be done most effectively the persuader must also fulfil the following conditions: (a) He must be an artist in temperament and trained ability. He must visualize the scene clearly in his own mind and then be able to set it forth before the minds of the other parties so vividly that they will follow unfailingly his own mental processes. To this end he must be an expert artist in the painting of word 13* CHRISTIAN MISSIONS AND A NEW WORLD CULTURE pictures; and if he be also an accomplished musician in the communication of delicate shades of meaning in tones and inflections, and an actor capable of express- ing ideas and sentiments through the gestures and pos- tures of his body, so much the better. (b) When one has acquired proficiency in vividly painting these pictures, the second condition will be fulfilled, namely, emotions will be aroused. When the various scenes or mental pictures are portrayed with sufficient vividness, the other party will find himself participating vicariously, or through the imagination, and responding emotionally to them as he would were he taking part in the realistic event itself. As a result the mental and vital processes are keyed up to greater efficiency, the horizon of distracting considerations is narrowed, the stimuli thus emotionalized take on a double stimulating power, ideals become more alluring, dangers more menacing, and if this be sufficiently in- tense the man is moved to action. (c) It is also necessary that there should be at least a semblance of plausibility to the assurance that the outcomes promised by the persuader will be real- ized through following his advice. In true deliberation this is made to rest upon a careful appraisal of all the factors entering into the equation. The object of the persuader, however, is not to deliberate, but to move to action; that is, to make the other party feel as he feels, believe as he believes and act as he thinks he ought to act. Consequently, he will be tempted to employ short-cut and less laborious grounds for giving plausi- bility, such as the questionable similarities of analogy, the use of prestige and authority, diverting attention 132 METHODS OF INFLUENCING BEHAVIOR from contrary considerations and centering It upon those which are favorable. No man is worthy to pose as a persuader of others unless he constantly subjects himself to the severest self-discipline, first to detect whether his own convictions are well f ounded, and sec- ond to guard against any unworthy use of the tactics of persuasion. 4. Influencing conduct by means oj deliberation. A recent book gives an excellent example of the kind of issues which converts are called upon to face, and of the effort to determine what the future course of action should be by some more reliable device than that of listening to persuasion. A few months ago the pastor's brother died; and the responsibility of retaining the ancestral rights granted by the patron of the family rested on Mm. His relatives urged him to return to his home village to live, for the sake of holding the rights. They saw nothing difficult in his giving up his pastoral work and reverting to the old leisurely Bhangi status. But he saw many difficulties. He talked with us of what the change involved. It meant giving up his independence, and acknowledging allegiance to masters who regarded and treated him as an Untouch- able. He knew what had happened to others. He re- called a school mate of his who had returned to his ancestral village and who had been told by Ms patron that as a Christian he could expect no food, favors, or rights. As a Bhangi he was entitled to all of these. The Christian considered his family. Behind him were his Bhangi forefathers who had served the forefathers of Ms patron, and in whose steps every one expected him to follow. Before Mm were Ms own children, looking to him for the support which depended on whether he ingratiated CHRISTIAN MISSIONS AND A NEW WORLD CULTURE or antagonized his patron. . . . Moreover, not only the attitude of his patrons, but the attitude of all the mem- bers of his village and the carrying on of his traditional function (herding swine) would persist in pressing him down into the old mould. As he struggled to make his choice between the old status of Bhangi with its bondage and its comfortable assurance of daily bread, and the new life of pastor with its high purpose, its freedom and its risks, his wife made her plea. During four years in the Training School and two years as pastor's wife she had been released from the revolting work (cleaning privies) which never allowed her to forget that she was despised among women. She could make herself go back to it as a dutiful wife. But to drag her three beloved baby daughters into it was more than she could endure. So for the sake of their children, we think that they will con- tinue in their present work if relatives do not become too importunate. When relatives enter the field, we cease to conjecture.* Here is an issue of uncertainty which has already lasted several months. Such suspense is intolerable and ere long something must be done. In such a quan- dary, the pastor may follow a sudden impulse, he may yield to the pressure which is being brought to bear upon him by others, or he may try to weigh carefully the " pros " and " cons " of the situation, in which case he will probably decide for himself. But even if he does the latter, his lot in life will depend upon how wisely he takes the various steps involved in this deli- cate operation. (a) The Formula of Deliberation. In suggestion and imitation a definite stimulus is grafted on to an * Behind Mud Walls (pp. 66-68), by Wiser. Harper & Brothers. METHODS OF INFLUENCING BEHAVIOR already established behavior pattern, little thought being given by the responder either to competing stim- uli or to the probable outcomes, which if they are con- sidered at all are taken for granted. But when a man deliberates, he holds the response in suspense long enough to perform certain operations " in his mind, 77 substituting an ideational form of behavior for the FIGURE IV suspended overt conduct, with the purpose of choosing more wisely what that overt conduct shall be. This involves the following steps: (i) An analysis of the constellation of stimuli (S) for the purpose of Identifying all the constituent stimu- lators (patron, other villagers, relations, wife and fam- ily, missionary, fellow Christians, the Savior whom he professes to love and serve) and also all the induce- 135 CHRISTIAN MISSIONS AND A NEW WORLD CULTURE ments and menaces employed by each in making their respective appeals. (2) A survey of the possible alternate responses which are open as the choice before him. He may stay in the pastorate (R') ; he may return to herding hogs (R"); he may leave the neighborhood (R); or still other alternatives may present themselves. In order that he may know which of these to choose, he makes: (3) A mental projection of the probable outcomes of each of the possible responses; both the outcomes which would be immediate (IO) in time, place and personal implications, and those which would be more remote (RO) in time, place and social implications. (4) At the same time an attempt is made to esti- mate the degree of probability that each of these ex- pected outcomes will actually follow their respective responses. (5) To determine their desirability, an evaluation of these outcomes is made in the light of the scale of values and the criteria which are taken as the norms of conduct. Much depends upon whether he really " ac- counts the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt." (6) In order that he may understand better the meaning of each factor in the constellation of stimuli, detect the full gamut of possible responses, project the outcomes of each and weigh their respective merits, he carefully surveys the past experience of himself, his community, and if possible that of the race. He re- members the unhappy fate of his schoolmate. He re- views the disciplinary measures of the caste system, and the rewards and punishments, associated with his 136 METHODS OF INFLUENCING BEHAVIOR new religion; he calls to mind Ms life as a herder of hogs ; he thinks of his wife as a scavenger ; he foresees his daughters doing the same work, should he decide to return, or honorably located in society should he con- tinue as pastor. He consults with those whom he considers his friends. As a result of this analysis of the situation there emerges: (7) A specific definition of the total situation and consequently a clarifying of the issue. That is, cer- tain outcomes seem to be more desirable and more assured; some persuaders appear to be more worthy of attention than others, and their appeals or menaces more convincing; certain desires and aspirations within him are awakened to a keener intensity and become dominant, at least for the moment. Thus two forms of stimuli, the " push " from behind and the " pull " from before, making their united appeal to these aroused desires, constitute the preponderant stimuli to respond in the corresponding manner. A definite S R' sequence is set up, instead of the possible S R or S R" 3 in the hope that the expected results will fol- low. It is this ability to engage in ideational behavior and to evaluate probable outcomes which raises man above the brute and gives him the capacity to become religious. (b) Conditions Governing Deliberation. While it is true that man's life is not influenced by thoughtful choice as much as the intellectualist has maintained, still he is not entirely the creature of impulse, habit, suggestion or persuasion. He occasionally thinks; and in so far as this is attempted, the secrets involved in the building of new characters and civilizations are to be CHRISTIAN MISSIONS AND A NEW WORLD CULTURE found in those conditions which have to do with the rehearsal carried on in the mind, preliminary to choice and action: (1) A prerequisite. This consists of an accumula- tion of past experience by the deliberator and also an acquaintance with the " wisdom " of his community and of the race, which, if carefully scrutinized and evaluated, takes on the more exact form of knowledge. It is this experience which furnishes the background for the present scene on the mental stage, and, more important still, the character and the roles of the dramatis personae as they play their respective parts. It is here that ignorance of any kind exacts its cruel toll of all of us. Without this rich acquaintance with past experience it is impossible to project conduct, and to weigh the consequences with any degree of assur- ance, and one is at the mercy of fanciful flights of the imagination which inevitably bring disillusionment. Any assistance rendered here is of inestimable value. (2) A problem and sufficient time to consider it. In the case of the village pastor, it was the death of his brother which broke the routine of pastoral life and opened up afresh the question of his future. This causes a delay, and furnishes him with time sufficient to shift the scene of action from the street to the inner theatre of his own mind. Here objects and activities which were refused direct outlet now appear under the forms of names and symbols which are made to pass through a dramatic rehearsal to determine what the next course will be. (3) Relative freedom from the urgent insistence of persuaders and from emotional disturbance. " If 138 METHODS OF INFLUENCING BEHAVIOR relatives (and missionaries also, it might be added) do not become too importunate/ 3 is the discerning com- ment of the author. It is impossible for any one to engage successfully in the delicate task of weighing any problem, if he himself is under emotional agitation or if he is surrounded by interested ones who persist in slyly tipping the scales. (4) Ability to perform accurately the operations which constitute the various steps in deliberation. This implies that the individual must himself have been endowed with a liberal allowance of " construc- tive imagination " ; that he be equipped with a definite schedule of procedure; and that he shall have acquired some proficiency in taking each of these successive steps. Life is delivered from the crudeness of animal impulse and the errors of traditionalism through the wise use of intelligence. This imposes the most exact- ing test upon human ability; but nowhere is there more lamentable bungling. One of the best services that the missionary can render to any one is to help perfect him in the delicate art of deliberation. (c) The Missionary as Joint-Deliberator. If the Christian worker wishes to have a part in the mould- ing of lives through genuine deliberation, there is only one way whereby this can be done. He must join in the undertaking as a co-deliberator and not as a per- suader. This means that if the missionary's mind is already made up with reference to the problem con- fronting the pastor, for example, he must " unmake " his mind, until it again becomes a real problem for him. as well as for the pastor. Then together they take the steps involved; together they pool their respective ex- 139 CHRISTIAN MISSIONS AND A NEW WORLD CULTURE periences; together they weigh all the considerations to each projected line of conduct, if perchance they may together define the issue and come to the same con- clusion. This is the deeper meaning of that " sharing " which is so much upon the lips of mission workers today. It is not enough to share convictions. If there is to be any real sharing, the missionary must be willing to open up his convictions afresh, make the problem of the native pastor his problem, and conversely make his own problems the concern also of the pastor and then engage in joint efforts to arrive at common conclusions. 140 CHAPTER IX METHODS OF DISCRIMINATION Every society is exposed to innovations which ap- pear either as discoveries made by creative members within the society itself or as importations from with- out. Issues arise which must be solved. Shall drains be constructed In the village according to the magic of the necromancer, or according to the specifications of a scientific survey? So long as routine guides the course of life few demands are made upon man's abil- ity as an ideational, an evaluating and a testing organ- ism. But when these problems present themselves, life calls for something more complicated than the simple sequence of stimulus and customary response. These more involved operations consist of the evalua- tion of values in the light of other and more familiar values taken as norms; the testing of value norms by empirical methods; and the selection of future re- sponses in the light of the above evaluations and test- ings. All of this, of course, goes on in the experience of the individual; but as individual experiences are pooled, the group or the total society may also become the social agency in all three operations. 141 CHRISTIAN MISSIONS AND A NEW WORLD CULTURE I. THE EVALUATION OF VALUES Strictly speaking it is the outcomes of behavior that are evaluated. But these outcomes result from definite responses, and these in turn are occasioned by stimuli. So far then as this psychological sequence can be traced by the evaluator, not only outcomes but also responses and the stimuli which occasion them are constantly be- ing weighed in the balances. Criteria according to which evaluations are made are value norms already held to be reliable because of past experience. The value of any thing is the mean- ing or significance which it has acquired for a person and for those objects and causes in which he is inter- ested. As experience accumulates, some of these are elevated to the status of norms, according to which all newcomers are judged. These norms may be con- sidered under five categories : subjective states of satis- faction or dissatisfaction; approved means used now as norms; objective values; scales of value; sanctions. j. Subjective states of satisfaction or dissatisjac- tion, taken as norms. Everything which enters into the experience of man affects him inwardly in some manner, ranging all the way from the simplest biologi- cal sensations of comfort or pain up to the higher desires and aspirations which constitute Ms spiritual life. This is the truth of hedonism. Every objective value has its subjective aspect, without which it would have no value for man. All things are judged accord- ing as they bring satisfaction or dissatisfaction to these subjective yearnings, and in the light of these evalua- tions selections are made for the purpose of enhancing 142 METHODS OF DISCRIMINATION these satisfying experiences and avoiding those which are disastrous. The particular norm varies according to the yearning which clamors for satisfaction. The first of these are composed of the more organic cravings for food, health, shelter, sex and the like, whose satisfactions are indispensable for survival, which man shares with the animal, and which in cases of emer- gency may become the ultimate court of appeal even for the more advanced and refined. Many things get their value because they bring satisfaction to these biological needs. Other evaluations depend upon changes produced In the affective states of the individual or the group, and have as their norm, emotions, sentiments and feelings, as these may have been defined through past experi- ence. Anything which intensifies enjoyable emotions will be valued highly ; the contrary is equally true. So likewise with feelings. No small part of the inertia of habit and custom in the village peasant is due to the general feeling of security which inheres in the routine responses with which he is acquainted, and to the feel- ing of uncertainty in venturing along unknown paths. In no sphere of human experience does feeling play a larger part as a norm of judgment than in religion. So long as the feeling attendant upon any religious ex- perience is pleasant, that is taken as an indisputable confirmation of truth. Feelings and sentiments are pre-intellectual evaluators of conduct upon which human beings rely before they begin to think; and even for many sophisticated folk they are the ultimate criterion to which they turn from the futility of their thought processes. In human nature, feelings lie deeper 143 CHRISTIAN MISSIONS AND A NEW WORLD CULTURE than reason as the ultimate court of appeal until a higher court is organized. Once a person is no longer at the beck and call of biological cravings, emotions and feelings, and has at- tained that higher stage where his life is integrated into a system of intellectual concepts and of ethical prin- ciples, then the capacity of experiencing a higher and more reliable satisfaction evolves. This inner organi- zation of his life brings as its reward a sense of inward harmony, of such priceless value that it is eagerly sought for all over the world. While feeling undoubt- edly enters into this experience, it is feeling tempered with qualities which are intellectual giving a sense of logical consistency, or with qualities that are ethical giving a conscience void of offense. It is the satisfac- tion attending orthodoxy and conformity to precedent and custom. It is the peace and sense of reconciliation with the Ultimate, the quest of which drives the re- ligious soul to undertake long pilgrimages and endure all kinds of self-mortification. Once this stage is reached, any new experience is evaluated according as it enhances or violates this sense of inward harmony. This is the reason why with most people things are accepted as plausible if they agree with formulations already held to be true. The satisfaction is so satis- fying that it is taken as a criterion of truth. 2. Approved methods taken as norms. Methods are used both as techniques and as norms. The moment that these states within us are recognized as due to other causes which past experience has taught us to look upon as the reliable producers of these inner satis- factions, then such antecedents are themselves raised to 144 METHODS OF DISCRIMINATION the dignity of norms, and any new item in experience is judged according as it conforms or fails to conform with. them. Thus all tools, instruments and methods which have given a fair degree of satisfaction in the past become the norms by which rival proposals are evaluated. Why experiment with that which is novel when other methods vindicated by the centuries are available? Consequently, the native's plow, Ms family organization, his incantations against disease, his meth- ods of agriculture, his way of salvation and all his customs and mores serve as norms, according to which the merits and demerits of corresponding innovations are judged. The Christian of course evaluates non- Christian customs and doctrines in the same way. 3. Objective values and abstract ideals are likewise used as norms. As soon as man in his upward devel- opment reaches the point where he recognizes that his states of mind have as their counterpart stimulating values which produce them, then these objects, inter- ests and ends are themselves held as norms. That which furthers the cause with which one identifies him- self is good, that which defeats it is bad. To the native pastor whose parenthood identifies him with his chil- dren, the happiness and prosperity of his daughters are of as great or even greater importance than his own personal welfare. As our village pastor becomes alive to the implications of any corporate relationship with church or nation, the prosperity and honor of these will become criteria by which he judges of all competing considerations. Among all races, loyalty to tribe, nation, caste, class, family or church is counted a virtue; disloyalty brands one as a renegade or a traitor 145 CHRISTIAN MISSIONS AND A NEW WORLD CULTURE and brings the severest punishment that public opinion will tolerate. The same holds true of those more abstract ideals and generalizations which people project before them as the chief ends of man. The Japanese, Chinese, In- dians and Africans have formulated as one of their ultimate objectives the winning of racial equality with the white man, and consciously or unconsciously all forms of western approach will be appraised according as they further or defeat this ideal. In most religions these highest ideals have been personified in the person of some religious figure or figures. Just as the Chris- tian finds in Jesus the symbol of his highest idealisms and the center of his emotional fixation, so other devout souls find in the concept of some other religious figure the symbol of their highest values by which conduct, Christian and otherwise, is evaluated. 4. Scales of value. Past experience has taught that not all values are equally valuable; some are fleeting, others of permanent worth; some affect only a few, others involve the welfare of the whole group. Con- sequently, each society has evolved a fairly uniform scale or scales of value. It is this scale which is pre- eminently typical of any civilization and furnishes its most significant differentiation from other peoples. The caste system in India is more than a stratification of society. It is a graded schedule of values, social and religious, reflecting India's best judgment in the past. China rated the scholar and the gentleman as the high- est, and the farmer, the artisan and the soldier in de- scending order. In old Japan there was a feudalistic grading of society in which loyalty to feudal lord and 146 METHODS OF DISCRIMINATION the u way of the warrior J? were the virtues for which all else should be sacrificed. So long as these scales held true, they served as instruments by which to measure the worth of foreign importations. The trag- edy of the present day is that these socially accepted criteria have turned topsyturvy; people are all at sea, not only concerning the merit of any particular pro- posal, but also concerning the relative value of different values. This chaos has been one of the most distressing results of contacts with the Occident, made more tragic by the fact that the Occident itself at the present time has no commonly accepted scale to offer. The possi- bility of establishing a progressive world order awaits the day when out of the ruins of a number of regional scales there emerges at least a limited scale of values accepted by the world at large as relatively permanent, in the light of which particular things will have a com- mon meaning and worth. 5. Sanctions as norms. In the last resort, evalua- tions are made by reference to some sanction. These sanctions may be the more Immediate and easily identi- fiable ones furnished by the authority of sacred scrip- tures and tradition, of prophet or of priestly class, by the word of the king or the weight of public opinion; or on the other hand that more ultimate sanction which is supposed to be found in the inner nature of reality, of which the immediate sanctions are but the tangible expression. The ultimate sanction may be interpreted as the will of a personal God, as the partly revealed mystery of a pantheistic All, or as the orderliness of an evolutionary universe. But all peoples have been alike in this that sooner or later they refer each issue 147 CHRISTIAN MISSIONS AND A NEW WORLD CULTURE to the Judgment seat of whatever ultimate reality they happen to believe in. This ultimate sanction has a double function in the life of man. In the first place, the sanction guarantees the value of the values and the correctness of the scale of values. It also guarantees that the outcomes ? which are expected as a result of deliberation or which are delayed in the long-drawn- out trail of consequences, will actually be realized. These two assurances constitute the highest value that man is conscious of, and consequently the ultimate sanctions of any people are for them the final court of appeal so long as these sanctions themselves do not lose their authority. II. TESTING NORMS AND SANCTIONS When a desire is repeatedly frustrated, the factors entering into the equation may be summoned one and all to the bar of human experience for a severe testing. In actual life, evaluation and testing are generally in- terwoven into one operation; but they must not be con- fused. Our villager evaluates the particular items in experience according as they correspond or fail to cor- respond with certain standards already held to be norms of truth and goodness. In testing the process is reversed. These norms themselves are examined in the light of a wider and more exact use of the particu- lar items of experience, to discover whether they are worthy of the confidence heretofore placed in them. i. The testing of methods, and instruments. In this case, methods are no longer considered as norms, but as rival techniques and instruments for the realization 148 METHODS OF DISCRnilNATION of some end. When satisfactions are repeatedly frus- trated the first recourse Is not to question the satisfac- tions and the ends, but to examine afresh the methods available for their realization, if perchance the fault may lie in them. This is done by the pragmatic pro- cedure of trial and error, and the comparison of results, in order to discover the serviceability of the rival meth- ods for the ends desired. In all parts of the world, tools, instruments, organizations, medicines and a thousand other techniques and articles, new and old, indigenous and foreign, are being tried out to ascertain their relative effectiveness for the purposes for which they were designed. All that is required is that a sense of need exist, that the results of adopting some article or custom be experienced so immediately that they may be identified as coining from such antecedents, and the judgment takes place. 2. The testing of desired satisfactions and ends. The more or less constant testing of means has far- reaching implications leading to the further testing of satisfactions and objectives. Conquered peoples har- bor the desire for freedom until the end is no longer recognized as possible; then the desire is given up or else finds satisfaction under another compensatory form. New desires likewise are awakened in propor- tion as new and unheard-of objectives are found to be feasible through the discovery of adequate means. Thousands in both hemispheres today are fired as never before with the aspiration for universal peace because they have come to believe that the means avail- able are adequate to the task. So the world over, new senses of need and new ideals are being born; and 149 CHRISTIAN MISSIONS AND A NEW WORLD CULTURE some of the old likewise are dying ? not simply because of desirability., but because increased human experi- ence proves them to be possible or impossible. If the means available are judged to be of sufficient efficacy to assure their realization, then man will still continue to entertain them as worthy objectives. However, should the accustomed means fail in this respect, and should no more adequate devices be forthcoming, then sooner or later these desired satisfactions, precious though they may be, are doomed to succumb. The world is both a cradle and a graveyard of these chil- dren of our dreams. Needs, aspirations and Ideals (as defined by any religion or by any culture) are not in themselves ultlmates, either as values or norms. They too are dragged before the bar of empiricism, where they must await a never-ending judgment with refer- ence to their feasibility. 5. The testing of ultimate sanctions. Man's hopes and aspirations far outrun the prosaic proportions of actuality or the range of probability; and if he is to be saved from cynicism and despair he must either be willing to keep his Ideals within the range of feasibility, or find some sanction which offers an assurance of their realization irrespective of human limitations. The gods serve this purpose. But even these sacred sanc- tions retain their authority in the long run only in so far as the consequences expected through the assurance given by the sanction are realized In the school of actual experience. Here the test Is the test of fulfilment. The greatest of all values is the assurance that the expected will actually happen, and that the past as we understand it did happen. The very integrity of life 150 METHODS OF DISCRIMINATION depends upon this; and the Integrity of life cannot be sacrificed even to preserve the joys of religion without thereby destroying ultimately those very values them- selves. For if life be contingent upon making the proper adjustment to environment, physical, social or divine, then success or failure in life hinges first of all upon our learning to desire only those things which offer some promise of fulfilment, and second, upon the ability to direct conduct with such wisdom and fore- sight that the outcomes, as projected and expected in the act of deliberation, shall find their fulfilment in ac- tuality. In so far as this fulfilment fails, man is the victim either of ignorance or of fraud. Consequently the reliability of the sanction is a matter of such su- preme importance that, whether we will it or no, it is constantly being tested in the light of that which takes place. When the missionary in the South Seas proposed to dig a well and to draw fresh water out of the earth in the midst of a drought, the natives evaluated the idea as ridiculous. The voice of sacred tradition, taken as the norm, had said authoritatively that fresh water did not come up out of the earth; it came down from the clouds. The experiment was successful, the water was welcomed with delight; but not without tremen- dous cost. The unexpected had happened; and be- cause of a failure in that testing, age-long sanctions were shaken to the very foundation. Even the gods trembled on their thrones. Consciously or unconsciously both Christians and non-Christians are testing the reliability of their con- cepts of God in the same manner. If a religious man 151 CHRISTIAN MISSIONS AND A NEW WORLD CULTURE has been taught to expect dire calamities should he fail to sacrifice to his God, he will be filled with forebodings over the pending consequences, once he has failed in his duty. If disaster follows, the man suffers but his concept of God is verified. If however the expected does not materialize, he escapes retribution, but at an awful cost his idea of God is tested and found want- ing. The Koreans were assured that the God of Israel and of the Christians was the God of oppressed peoples. Many flocked into the church expecting among other blessings that the God who delivered Israel would come to the rescue of Korea. But in such anticipations they have been disappointed; Japan shows no intention of withdrawing from the peninsula, and a disillusionment has set in making inevitable a radical change in the- ology. Frequently the expected does not happen, and men are constantly being called upon to revise their ideas of God, to the end that the expected may corre- spond with the actual. The Christian church has summoned the Orient to accept its religious values and to believe in the sanc- tion of the Christian God. This is mainly a question of evaluation, and a considerable company have already done this. Increasing numbers today, however, are less interested in evaluating than they are in testing both values and sanctions by the methods of criticism which they have likewise learned from the West. In the long run no sanction or value will survive, precious as it may appear, which cannot stand the test of honest scrutiny. The reality of the " spiritual/ 7 and the claims of all religions are being challenged. Even the gods themselves are called upon to present their credentials 152 METHODS OF DISCRIMINATION to a growing body of young intellectuals, armed with the tools of scientific investigation, who claim both the right and the ability to pronounce upon validity and truthfulness. It is precisely at this point that Christianity, which set out to redeem the world and which has claimed to be the divinely appointed evalua- tor of all values, is now being compelled to submit to a testing with reference to the historicity of its claims and the fulfilment of its promises, III. AGENCIES AND METHODS OF SELECTION The processes of evaluation and testing are prelimi- nary to selection, but they are not synonymous with it. Such appraisals lead to four kinds of selection, which may be distinguished according to the agents or agencies making the selection, and the methods of procedure. j. Social selection made by organized group life. The distinctive thing about group action is that the group as such has its norms, and the selection is effected under the direction of recognized leadership and by means of organization. In some cases selection is ex- ercised over the stimuli to which the individual mem- bers are exposed and over the responses by which they shall react, and in other cases the discrimination is made between individuals and individuals, some being favored and others disciplined by the total body. (a) Selective Devices Which Operate at Interna- tional Boundaries. Seeing that our concern is with the importation of alien influences, we will begin with the outer rim of protection. The westerner is met at the 153 CHRISTIAN MISSIONS AND A NEW WORLD CULTURE boundary with national regulations which facilitate or impede his designs. Tariff walls which regulate the importation of economic goods are illustrative of other regulations designed to select or reject the more in- tangible importations. The more formal of these selec- tive regulations consist of international treaties and legislative enactments. Exclusion bills, regulations concerning religious liberty, the segregation of for- eigners in foreign settlements, restrictions concerning the holding of property in the interior, restrictions on the teaching of Christianity in mission schools these are some of the familiar means employed by gov- ernments to prescribe the conditions under which their citizens shall be exposed to alien influences, and the facilities with which foreign emissaries shall circulate within the domain. (b) Defense Mechanisms Employed at Group- Boundaries Within the Nation. When once foreign influences have survived governmental regulations, they are almost sure to disturb the vested interests of the indigenous groupings which comprise the nation. It is necessary for the survival of any body that it be able to count upon the loyalty of its members and that it protect itself from contamination or dissolution. Con- sequently the group takes action and formally or in- formally decides upon the policy which it shall assume to innovations and innovators. It erects about itself selective devices, designed either to facilitate or to hinder intercourse with foreign peoples and their wares, economic or spiritual. Religious bodies tighten up on their creedal statements and disciplinary powers; village communities open or close their doors ; parents 154 METHODS OF DISCRIMINATION exercise a stricter control over the members of the family, children are warned away from the missionary, or else are placed under the tutelage of a Christian school. Such social expedients serve as sieves screening out certain kinds of foreign stimuli and allowing that which is sanctioned to pass. (c) The Selective Action of Disciplinary Measures Within the Group. When these devices fail to be effec- tive and the members begin to succumb to foreign in- fluences, then other methods of control are employed which express in no uncertain manner the approval or disapproval of the total body. One of these is persecu- tion, which in times of crisis may take such violent forms as excommunication, banishment, imprisonment and even death. Even the less violent forms of social pressure are capable of exercising a power which only the stoutest hearts can withstand. One man in India resolved to purge his home of idolatry by throwing out the family idols. But he had not counted upon the disciplinary power of the family organization. The women of the house went on strike; they refused to cook his meals or to have anything to do with Mm until the sacred images were restored to their accustomed places. After a few days both the idols and the man returned. Organized bodies have a way of elevating faithful members to places of prominence where their influence is increased, and to places of opportunity where every facility is provided for further development; and, on the other hand, those who have lost the confidence of the body are relegated to obscure corners, forever to stand as horrible examples of the fate of those who CHRISTIAN MISSIONS AND A NEW WORLD CULTUEE transgress against the common will. All religious bodies are constantly disciplining their erring mem- bers and rewarding with their confidence and esteem those who are faithful and loyal. Finally, when the disciplinary powers of the group are not sufficient to whip the recalcitrant parties into line, appeal is made to supernatural sanctions, for in most societies the thoughts of a celestial judgment seat with its rewards and punishments is made to serve as the last corrective. 2. Sociological selection exercised by supra-personal agencies, such as community inertia, movements and stampedes. Human society is like the sea. Upon its bosom there play incessantly the rise and fall of local disturbances and of organized activities, but beneath it all there lies the great mass of community life, some- times relatively static and sometimes in motion. As a rule public attitudes and customs are relatively static and constitute the well-known conservatism, of large bodies. Under such conditions any deviation from what has been established by common consent is visited with quick reprisals. But in some instances this inertia gives way to currents in the affairs of men. These may be nothing more than trends which are scarcely perceptible except to the most alert minds. When intensified they become clearly defined move- ments. If it should happen that they gather more momentum they resemble the stampedes of frightened but dumb animals. A person finds himself caught up in movements which no one individual or organization can control and whose intricacies he fails to compre- hend, but which nevertheless exercise an irresistible pressure upon all concerned. Some are borne on to 156 METHODS OF DISCRIMINATION greater advancement; some are eliminated by the way; others are trampled to death with a mthlessness that seems Inhuman all according to the violence of the movement and to the success or failure of the adjust- ments made thereto. It Is these tendencies and move- ments which the historian traces with such care, and wherein he finds the partial explanation of the events In history. As they continue to gather power the future lot of individual men and women, the fate of traditions hoary with age, and of Christianity confident of its finality will depend not only upon organized and de- liberate activity, but also upon the selective function of these great supra-personal agencies. j. Psychological selection exercised by the individ- ual. Whatever freedom a man may be capable of Is exercised in the act of deliberation. In this case the selection is made through the deliberate direction of the attention now upon this object and now upon that with the view of defining the situation in such a man- ner as to clarify the issue. As a result, certain stimuli and certain interests stand out as preponderant, but even this is largely predetermined by the affinities and antipathies developed through past experience; a par- ticular type of conduct is thought to promise these ends; and the response is made accordingly. In view of this great variety In the agents, agencies and methods of selection, the missionary need not be surprised if the responses of the village peasant and of the college graduate to his appeals are not those which he himself would desire. One of the main reasons for the limited success of the older evangelistic methods is a misunderstanding of the nature of human nature. 157 CHRISTIAN MISSIONS AND A NEW WORLD CULTURE Man Is not always capable of that degree of Initiative and immediate personal response which the Individual- istic gospel requires of him. 4. Natural selection through the operation of imper- sonal nature forces. But man through his responses does something more than merely select or reject stim- uli; he thereby works subtle changes In his own being and In society which predetermine survival power in the great impersonal and unescapable process of nature. It Is this which makes wise psychological and sociologi- cal selection so important. While it is true that the sub-human world Impinges upon man as stimuli to psychological reactions, It is also true that nature catches man up In a causal nexus and operates upon him through the forces of physical impact, chemical and biological reactions, and even of more subtle social and moral selections, in the face of which he survives or is eliminated according to the " fitness " of his responses. Smallpox breaks out in a pagan village. To the Christian portion of the com- munity this serves as a stimulus to vaccinate every member; to the pagan majority it is a stimulus to offer the customary sacrifices to the goddess of smallpox. But smallpox is more than a stimulus to a response. It Is a consuming fire, which selects human beings accord- ing to the relative resistance to disease of their respec- tive response patterns; and unless the unfit are willing to change their responses, sooner or later they and their posterity will be exterminated, irrespective of pious sentiments and good intentions. The westerner goes abroad with his improved methods of agriculture. These may be accepted or rejected by people of other 158 METHODS OF DISCRIMINATION countries In conformity with whatever prejudices, or intelligent deliberation may have entered into the psy- chological equation. But there operates also a causal sequence of seed-time and harvest, which selects with unfailing impartiality. If there be any great difference, those who persist in practising one method will be re- duced to poverty and may even die of starvation, while others will survive and become prosperous. The ad- vantages which are falling to the lot of the white man in foreign countries are not all due to his selfish and unjust exploitation of his fellows. Behind all of this, cruel as it may appear, nature herself is eliminating the shiftless, the ignorant, the partially efficient; while she persists in bestowing her richest bounties upon those who court her favor. Another form of natural selection prevails in the great realms of social living and of international con- tacts. Inherent in the very nature of social relation- ships are certain fundamental requirements which must be met, and selections are being made constantly be- tween individuals and societies. Loyalty to group in- terests, honesty and integrity in social trust, the ability to profit by experience and to meet resourcefully every new problem, are just as necessary for the prosperity and survival of group life as food and shelter may be for the health of the body. Those groups and persons who meet these requirements survive; those who fail to do so are eliminated, and history tells the long and dismal story. In the contact of peoples with peoples, therefore, evaluations, testings and the resultant selections are bringing about far-reaching transformations in indi- CHRISTIAN MISSIONS AND A NEW WORLD CULTURE viduals, groupings and cultures, which we are designat- ing by the terms Disintegration and Reintegration; claiming the privilege of giving to these terms the meanings which the processes themselves indicate. But before we can enter profitably upon the study of these two processes we must learn something of the struc- tural integration of personality and culture which is thus affected. 1 60 PAST HI REMAKING PERSONALITY, SOCIETY AND CULTURE CHAPTER X THE STRUCTURE OF CULTURE AND OF PERSONALITY In the next chapter we shall be dealing with disinte- gration. But this implies the previous existence of an integration of some kind. The concept of structure is as indispensable for the understanding of cultures as it is for the study of biological organisms. Structure is a coordination of diverse parts functioning for certain ends. In view of the fact that the structures of the group and of personality have already been considered at some length, this chapter will deal chiefly with the structure of culture, with only a passing reference to the manner in which groupings and personalities axe related to this. Cultures and personalities are com- posed of similar units (traits, complexes or patterns, major disciplines and centers of reference) but com- bined in different ways. The accompanying diagram, is intended to serve as a typical cross-section of the culture of any area or region but especially of our American civilization at the present time. It portrays roughly the manner in which culture is integrated on a plane of two dimensions: first, the spread from right to left, indicating the relative variety of culture units on each level; and second, the stratification of different levels pyramided from bottom CHRISTIAN MISSIONS AND A NEW WCXRLD CULTUSE g 164 THE STRUCTURE OF CULTURE AND OF PERSONALITY to top, suggesting the Increasing complexity of the units on each higher level and the decreasing number of the same. There Is a third dimension which cannot be represented in this sketch, namely, the historical depth lying behind this surface, which must be visualized and held constantly before the mind's eye. All Integrations of culture, personality and society, therefore, must be thought of under three dimensions: the height, indicat- ing the increasing complexification and decreasing num- ber of units; the spread, suggesting diversity; the depth, In which are lodged the historical antecedents. I. HISTORICAL DEPTH No matter at what period we take a cross-section of the culture of a people, there lies behind It a long proc- ess of historical development out of which have evolved not only the definite structures assumed by each of the many elements composing the culture, but also the total design of the tapestry, which has been formed by weav- ing together the various units into a more or less inte- grated whole. Every institution, every rite and cere- mony, every doctrine, has its own genealogy, reaching far back into the cone of history, which makes It to be what it is, and which gives it Its own characteristic place in the total texture. The weaving of interrelationships is an operation which time and time alone can effect. II. ASCENDING LEVELS OF INTEGRATION According to the diagram, culture is stratified into five levels of increasing integration; but this number 165 CHRISTIAN MISSIONS AND A NEW WORLD CULTURE must not be taken as uniform or final for all civiliza- tions at all stages of development* Although the exact number of levels and the extent of the spread are not constant, the important points to notice are, first the flaring out of the differentiation as the raw material of the lowest level becomes diversified as it reaches the next level above, and the increasing degree of integra- tion in ever more intricate units of culture as we ascend from level to level. Language, for example, consists of conventional symbols by means of which man gives ex- pression to the content of his culture, and its structural form somewhat resembles that of the culture of which it is the expression. Alphabetical languages are made up of a limited number of letters, combined to form a great many words, which serve as the symbols of objects and concepts, simple or complex; these words are integrated into sentences for the expression of more complex ideas; and these sentences in turn are combined into still more elaborate treatises for the elucidation of sub- jects and themes, too complicated to be expressed in any one sentence. Culture takes a similar structural form. /. The raw material of which culture and personality are composed. Both culture and personality are ac- complishments, built up out of the raw material of man's original endowments. Man's original nature consists of tendencies, impulses, and capacities to respond in different ways to the types of stimuli in his material and social environment. These tendencies and capacities range from the mechanisms of * These levels of culture integration must not be confused with the stages of historical development. 166 THE STRUCTURE OF CULTURE AND OF PERSONALITY reflex, organized before birffa 3 up through unconscious and irrational impulses to the capacities of responding intelligently to novel, complex, and conflicting situations through reflective thinking, of evaluating experience through criticism of desires, and of organizing desires into dominant purposes that give direction and drive to his conduct and effort.* 2. The level formed by culture traits. The clay, wood, stone and pig-iron of which buildings are con- structed must first of all be shaped into units of con- ventional form, such as bricks, boards, stone blocks and steel girders, before they can be fitted together into larger structures. The same is true of the undifferen- tiated raw material of the original nature of man. More or less blind impulses and appetites become wishes and desires for specific things, and revulsions against others; random movements give way to a number of definite habits and customs, through which these desires are satisfied ways of making a fire, planting corn, mak- ing a prayer. Little by little, as a result of engaging in these simpler activities, scraps of wisdom and knowl- edge are shared as common property; man learns that fire is hot, and that it can be used to cook food. As the dominant characteristic of culture is social custom and uniformity, so a culture trait may be described as the simplest unit of such customary uniformities of desire, behavior and wisdom. However, not even in the most primitive civilizations do these culture traits re- main long in an isolated form. Just as in due time the first faltering words of the young child are woven to- * W. C. Bower, quoted in Reports of the International Missionary Council, Jerusalem, 1928, Vol. II, p. 14. 167 CHRISTIAN MISSIONS AND A NEW WORLD CULTURE gather Into sentences, so traits of various kinds are soon coordinated into more complex units of culture. It Is on this next level that we discover the most signifi- cant facts about the structural form of culture, and the key to what takes place in the contacts of civilization with civilization. 3. Culture complexes of minor and of major com- plexity. It is on this level that integration really be- gins. Human needs and aspirations become so com- plicated that they cannot be satisfied by one lone individual, with the aid of some simple habit or trait, any more than all thought can be expressed in isolated words. Therefore, in all cultures there have evolved more or less elaborate integrations of minor units into larger complexes, which serve as the standard devices for the realization of ends which society considers to be worth while. Some of these are behavior complexes; others are outcome complexes. (a) The wild-rice complex of the Ojibway Indians will serve as an illustration of a behavior complex. Each member of the tribe did not snatch his rice directly from the plants as do the birds. He received it rather as the end of a cycle of activities in which he as an indi- vidual played a part. Thus though the plant is wild some care was given to plots where it grew, later some plants were tied in bunches to discourage the birds, then the rice was gathered, cured, hulled, winnowed, stored, cooked, and eaten. Immediately bound up with the whole were property rights, labor organizations, etiquette, and a num- ber of special religious observances, prohibitions and taboos. We face here a complex of many processes, aU 168 THE STRUCTURE OF CULTURE AND OF PERSONALITY of which bear a functional relation to the end to be achieved* There are a great variety of these behavior complexes found in all cultures, just as there is a variety in the forms which a sentence may take in any language. But just as the sentence is composed of simpler units known as subject, verb, predicate, and possibly adjectives, adverbs and qualifying clauses all jointed together for the expression of an idea, so likewise complexes have their characteristic structure. A complex begins with a customary trait which provides a technique for the realization of some end. The custom may be the build- ing of a fire by the use of a flint or by striking a match; let this technique become attached to some objective, such as offering sacrifice to a god, and the nucleus of a culture complex is formed. Rarely if ever, however, does a complex consist simply of a technique joined to an end. Culture accessories, such as flint, matches, al- tars and the like are required as instruments for the carrying out of the activities. In the more elaborate be- havior complexes a number of people are involved, each participating in his own particular way; in such cases the form of organisation which associates people to- gether is also a part of the total complex. In propor- tion as the end in view is highly esteemed and according as the performance has been associated with experiences tinged with emotion, there is now added the halo of a sentiment, religious, domestic or patriotic as the case may be. When the complex is made an object of * Man and Culture, by Clark Wissler (Chapter II). Thomas Y. Crowell Company, New York. 169 CHRISTIAN MISSIONS AND A NEW WORLD CULTURE thought it Is intellectualized, that is, more clearly de- fined and related to whatever philosophy of life may prevail. Finally, if doubt or opposition should arise, the complex acquires the sanction of sacred tradition, holy scriptures, the gods or experience. Technique, objective, accessories, form of association, emotional tone, intellectualization and sanction these are the units of various kinds which are integrated together into the structure of a behavior complex. The public worship of a Christian church presents a similar structural form. It is composed of a number of activities such as singing, praying, kneeling, reading the scriptures, receiving the collection, responses, ser- mon and benediction. These are directed toward the achieving of certain ends, both in the worshiper and in the deity. Public worship, however simple, calls for accessories in the form of Bibles, prayer-books, hym- nals, crosses and vestments. The participants function in different roles, some of which are held to be of divine appointment and not to be assumed thoughtlessly by every man. In so far as the worship has aroused emotions in the past, the complex gathers about itself an emotional tone; the hour of prayer becomes the " sweet hour of prayer. 73 It has long since been defined in doctrinal statements and related to the total theo- logical scheme; and behind all of its sacred associations stands the sanction of the God who is worshiped therein. The worship of one church or religion may differ from that of another in the particular kinds of activities in- volved, in the specific objectives sought, the accessories employed, in clerical and public participation, in senti- ments aroused, in rationalizations and sanctions, but 170 THE STRUCTURE OF CULTURE AND OF PERSONALITY all alike are behavior complexes formed by the coordi- nation of such typical units. It is within the structure of the culture complexes, that there takes place the disintegrations and ^integrations which always follow the transfusion of cultures. (b) Religious doctrines provide an illustration of another type of integration, namely, outcome com- plexes. Man is constantly trying to organize the re- sults of Ms past experience in such a way that It will furnish more reliable direction for his conduct. Con- sequently every civilization abounds In proverbs, fables, ethical precepts, theories, philosophies, religious doc- trines and scientific principles, of widely diverse worth and reliability, but all alike In this that they are efforts at the correlation of the confused and conflicting results of experience Into minor or major systems of Ideas which shall give meaning and guidance to life. The doctrine of Jesus as Savior will serve as an example of the structure of an outcome complex. Be- hind the doctrine there is first of all the objective of meeting a felt need. The experiences which have given rise to this sense of need have also resulted in the accumulation of certain outcomes of experience. But taking them as they come in their confused and frag- mentary state, they furnish little guidance for any kind of conduct which is anything more than blind habit. The outcome complex then is simply man's effort to organize this heterogeneous mass of experience so that it will be of the greatest service. Now, the particular feature of religion is that It deals so largely with the intangibles of experience; and the only way in which these can be conceived of in an orderly relationship is 171 CHRISTIAN MISSIONS AND A NEW WOR3LD CULTURE under the analogy of some suggestive pattern with which people are already familiar.* No small part of the efficacy of Jesus as Savior is due to the variety of patterns employed in setting forth his saviorhood, with the result that no matter what may be the dilemma of the human soul some pattern is at hand which seems to fit the case. These have been drawn from a wide range; from the domestic circle (he is the Son of God, the Bread of Life, the Brother of mankind) ; from pastoral life (the Good Shepherd, the Lamb of God); from political life (Supreme Judge, King of Kings and Lord of Lords) ; from the religion of the Jews (the Messiah, the Great High Priest, the Sacrifice for sin) ; and from philosophical concepts (the Logos, the Second Person of the Trinity). What distinguishes an outcome complex from a behavior complex is the fact that while the latter func- tions through its technique, the former fulfils its func- tion through the suggestions emanating from the bor- rowed pattern. When one who is familiar with pastoral life thinks of Jesus as the Good Shepherd, the analogy of the mental picture itself brings a new orderliness and meaning to the relationship. The whole world now becomes a fold or a pasture field. Jesus is the Good Shepherd. The individual is the sheep, lost or found as the case may be. Man's confused sense of need is clarified, it is the need of a sheep that is lost. The mysterious overruling providence now takes the definite * These patterns which give shape and meaning to an outcome complex must be distinguished from behavior patterns in which the essential feature is psychological sequence. The former are rather picture patterns, used as skeletons to give shape and correlation to a confusing mass of ideas. 172 THE STRUCTURE OF CULTURE AND OF PERSONALITY form of a kindly shepherd, seeking the lost and carrying the Iambs in Ms bosom. Most important of all, the attitudes and conduct required to bring salvation are likewise suggested by the analogy, they are those re- quired of a wandering sheep. Different mental pictures stress now one aspect of saviorhood and now another; but in each case it is the analogy of the pattern em- ployed which suggests and thereby defines the saving efficacy of Jesus, the deplorable need of the lost soul, and the attitudes and conduct which will insure recon- ciliation. In contrast to the behavior complex, the outcome complex has its own characteristic structure, namely, a sense of need to be met, a more or less jumbled mass of outcome content brought into an orderly arrangement under the borrowed pattern of a suggestive analogy, a more precise intellectualization which transforms the analogy into a formal doctrine and relates it to other doctrines, an emotional tone, and finally a sanction. (c) From the above description it will become clear that a culture complex does not take the form of a self -enclosed entity, such as might be indicated by the circle in the diagram, but rather that of an octopus with its radiating parts, as suggested by the lines drawn out in various directions from the units on level III. It reaches these tentacles down to the lower levels and takes in some of the simpler traits; it borrows its pat- terns and other parts from its neighbors; it reaches up into higher levels and also back into the past and there finds a major portion of its emotional tone, its sanction and its ultimate objectives. And conversely, the same culture trait from level II may become a constituent 173 CHRISTIAN MISSIONS AND A NEW WORLD CULTURE part of several culture complexes. One may light a fire to cook food, to warm one's self, to signal to a distant hill, to smelt iron or to offer sacrifice. In each case the lighting of a fire, possibly by the very same method, enters into a different complex, thus establishing be- tween them a common bond of union which otherwise would not exist. Because of the ramified form of each complex, the total structure of a culture is not like that of a checkerboard, but rather that of an intricate orien- tal tapestry, in which the details of one design are woven into the configuration of the next, while the tapestry itself is in a constant process of remaking. This ramified nature of culture complexes and their consequent interlacing have the most important bear- ings upon what transpires in the transfusion of cultures and the changing of personalities. In their study of missions most people center attention upon individuals, organizations, methods and tabulated results, whereas it is the structural form and the interlacing of com- plexes which produces personalities and cultures, and the changes in these forms and interfacings which trans- form the individual and society. Let one customary trait be altered, such as that of making a fire or striking a light, and in due time the techniques of a score of complexes will undergo a corresponding transformation, and practically the whole culture will feel the effects. Seeking to eradicate an objectionable culture complex such as idolatry from any society is like trying to cut out an intricate design from an elaborate tapestry; its numerous ramifications cannot be severed without in- flicting serious wounds upon all related complexes. Only as these interlacing tendrils die through the dis- 174 THE STRUCTURE OF CULTURE AND OF PERSONALITY Integration of the complex itself can the operation be made with any promise of success. So also, any doc- trine, ceremony or organization transplanted to foreign soil will remain an exotic thing ? a bungling piece of patchwork, until it weaves its ramifications deep into its surrounding neighbors and these also strike their tendrils deep into its own vitals. In fact it is this new synthesis between complexes alien and indigenous which gives to any importation whatever vitality and survival power it may acquire in the soil to which it is transplanted. 4. The major disciplines or departments of life, with their corresponding institutions. The key to integra- tion on this level, as on all others, is structure function- ing for definite ends. This level is attained when the desires of people can no longer be satisfied by means of the structural organization of any one behavior com- plex. As a rule these objectives are no longer simple desires, but highly elaborated projects, which serve as corporate interests and objectives. So difficult are they of realization that it has been found necessary to em- ploy a number of behavior complexes as techniques, and to build up vast organizations of people with intricate divisions of labor. This is the highest culture level upon which man has succeeded in organizing institutions for united action in the pursuit of social ends. Any inte- gration achieved beyond this is effected entirely in the ideological realm. More primitive societies have managed to preserve a higher degree of unity of organization on this level, than that indicated in the diagram. In many of these, one or two institutions such as the family, or the tribe, 175 CHRISTIAN MISSIONS AND A NEW WORLD CULTURE served as the all-inclusive organization through which society sought to gain its diversified interests, economic, religious, educational or political. In Medieval Europe there was a time when play and diversion were the functions of the family or the community as such; art was the handmaiden of religion; science and education such as they were fell under the patronage of the church; economics and politics were welded together in a feudal system; and organized religion claimed to be the all-inclusive institution. But in the west, history has witnessed a progressive departmentalizing of these various life interests, until the structure of our American culture at the present time has fallen apart into possibly seven major disci- plines, each with its corresponding objectives and insti- tutions. Science and education, economics, politics, religion, domestic and social life, sport and diversion, and art have one by one emancipated themselves from the former religio-political unification, and have each projected distinct objectives and perfected separate institutions for the realization of the same. This departmentalizing of culture and of society has been worked out through long experimentation for the purpose of gaining increased efficiency. But this greater efficiency has been bought at the cost of unity, and by postponing indefinitely the winning of that satisfaction which comes from a final and all-inclusive integration of conduct and thought. In the older order, to serve the king was to serve God, and to be a member of the family was to find one's appointed place in the economic fabric. In our modern departmentalized life, each discipline may attain a greater unity and efficiency 176 THE STRUCTURE OF CULTURE AND OF PERSONALITY witHn Itself, but each is tempted to follow its own pur- poses and to encroach upon the preserves of its neigh- bors. This departmentalizing of culture and institu- tionalizing of society not only brings the constant menace of conflict between the several groupings, but also makes it difficult for the Individual to attain any real integration and unity of purpose in Ms own life. Each department represents a conflicting interest and a rival loyalty which can be harmonized within any one personality only with the greatest difficulty. The in- stitutionalizing of Christianity, for example, and its separation from the state may have resulted in increased unity and efficiency within the denominational bodies themselves, but it has raised points of tension between denominations and with other departments of life which never existed before. What is the relation of the church to the family, of religion to science, or of religion and education? Are politics ultimately the function of the church, as claimed by the Catholic church; is reli- gion the function of the state, as maintained by Japan and modern Turkey and the Hitler regime in Ger- many; or are church and state to remain separate, as in America? The most perplexing problems of the day have to do with questions of relationships and conflict- ing loyalties owing to the fact that the structure of our culture has become departmentalized as never before. We of the West have multiplied our ethical problems and sacrificed our structural unity for the sake of greater specialization and efficiency. The more con- servative peoples of the East managed to preserve their traditional integrations, but at the cost of efficiency and progress. But now they too are caught tip in the 177 CHRISTIAN MISSIONS AND A NEW WORLD CULTURE Irresistible movement; traditional institutions are dis- solving; cultures and societies are becoming depart- mentalized after the model of the West. 5. The center of reference, or frame of reference. Being thus frustrated in every effort to attain a satisfy- ing integration of life on the institutional level, man next soars into the ideological world, and seeks to achieve within some comprehensive mental picture a unity and perfection which he could not acquire in any institution. The need of a center or frame of reference as an integral part of the structure of culture and of personality is confirmed by the universal quest for the same in all ages. The Christian, for example, humili- ated under the sense of his own shortcomings and the defects of his church, holds before himself the ideal of a perfect manhood, and the thought of a great church invisible and indivisible a perfect society, all har- moniously integrated under the inspiring concept of a Kingdom of God over which Jesus Christ rules supreme. Non-Christian religions also have projected before their followers, under one form or another, centers of refer- ence which play a similar role in their lives. Those who are not religiously inclined are neverthe- less similarly engaged. In Russia, economics and politics have been wedded together for the purpose of making such departmental objectives to become an all-inclusive center of reference, with the exclusion of religion. Closely knit minorities in Japan, Italy, Ger- many and other countries have elevated military strength and national supremacy to the highest position. For increasing numbers, science speaks the last word and in her generalizations life finds its frame of refer- 178 THE STRUCTURE OF CULTURE AND OF PERSONALITY ence. Whenever the objectives of these several depart- ments usurp the supreme place, they function as a religion, even if they appear to be unworthy and bear some other title. All about us then we witness the undying quest for some center or frame of reference which shall serve as the apex in the structure of culture and personality. It is a mental picture composed of the particular outcomes of past experience, tested and evaluated, given an un- derstandable form under the analogy of some pattern, and projected above and beyond as the goal of life, in which the diversities of human experience find their ultimate unity. It is the magnum opus of man's crea- tive ingenuity. This apex of the structure sustains a dual relationship with the various units of the levels below. First of all it is a product or projection of the underlying society and culture. It owes its supreme position to the fact that it is itself a composite mental picture whose con- stituent units have taken shape in the laboratory of everyday experiences. The purposes and objectives which it expresses, the diversified mass of content which it serves to unify, the pattern which furnishes the skeleton form of the integration, the emotional tones, the intellectualizations and sanctions by which it is sustained, are all achievements of the lower levels refined, idealized, unified and projected into this ideo- logical realm. Its meaning and content are contributed from the experiences of the people, past and present, practising the culture. Therefore the center of refer- ence varies according as these experiences vary. In the second place, this mental picture really junctions as 179 CHRISTIAN MISSIONS AND A NEW WORLD CULTUHE a center only to the extent that there are woven about it in daily living the culture complexes and major disci- plines which make up the total behavior of the corre- sponding group or society. For some at least it may be relatively easy to juggle ideas and ideals so that they form apparently a unifying concept of God or of Nature. But to discipline biological impulses, to mould personal habit and social custom, to redirect individual ambition and to harmonize rival loyalties, so that the actual lives of people become conformed to the perfec- tion and unity visualized in the ideal, is something which even the most highly integrated personalities have only partially attained, and which institutions and societies as a whole have failed to achieve. 1 80 CHAPTER XI DISINTEGRATION We have traced the streams of culture coming down from the past and within culture regions in the main isolated from each other until the time when the ex- portations of western civilization come as new stimuli to the Orient, awakening responses which otherwise would never have taken place. But as we have already seen, these responses register their outcomes in the organisms of the persons concerned, in the surrounding society and in the prevailing culture. Such transforma- tions involve, first of all, a process of disintegration ranging all the way from the more moderate dissolution of old structures which is the prerequisite of all devel- opment and growth, to those more violent disruptions which eventuate in social chaos and even extinction; and, in the second place, a process of reintegration in which new structures take shape. The balance between these two determines whether the future shall be one of development or of degeneration. It is the first of these that now claims our attention. I. SUSCEPTIBILITY TO DISINTEGRATION j. As shown by different types of civilization. The history of intercourse between the hemispheres indi- cates that not all peoples have been equally able to hold 181 CHRISTIAN MISSIONS AND A NEW WORLD CULTURE their own before the expansion of Europe. Some tribes have been practically wiped out ? and there is scarcely a vestige of them or of their civilizations left. In other cases the population has managed to survive extinction, but has not been able to preserve its political independ- ence nor its former economy for gaining a livelihood, which might have safeguarded it to some extent at least from the further ravages of social disintegration. Millions of Indians in Mexico and Negroes in South Africa today witness their former manner of life going down into oblivion, and are managing to keep body and soul together only by consenting to play a menial part either in a peonage system or in an industrial order implanted by the white man. The degree of disinte- gration is considerably less in the next stage, of which India will serve as an example. Although politically these people have been reduced to the status of a col- ony , nevertheless, as compared with South Africa, they have been able to preserve to a considerable extent their economic fabric. Owing not only to this, but also to the superior numbers of population, to the imposing accomplishments of the past, and to the unyielding system of caste, disintegration in India has not been so sweeping, at least until recently. A few other countries, such as Japan, Persia, Turkey and possibly China, have been able to maintain their national sovereignty, and hence have been fairly successful in keeping con- trol over their economic life and also over the terms of foreign intercourse. The transformations may have been quite profound, as in Japan, or less so, as in Persia, but at any rate where the authorities of the country have remained masters in their own house they 182 DISINTEGRATION have been able to afford some protection from the excesses of dissolution. The peoples least affected by foreign influences have been those living in districts relatively inaccessible to the white man. The remote tribes of tropical Brazil would no doubt be helpless be- fore the inrush of foreign influences, but their suscepti- bility has been protected by nature's quarantine. The surface of the non-Christian world then presents a mottled appearance, in some parts there has been more upheaval than in others. 2. Periods of intensified disintegration. One of the early effects of foreign contacts is a temporary reaction toward a rigid conservatism which entrenches itself behind well-known defense mechanisms, in order to escape from the dissolution which threatens. Even- tually however the rank and file begin to feel the quiet workings of foreign infiltrations and a period of disinte- gration follows, which later gives place to another con- servative reaction. Just as in the development of the individual periods of stress and strain alternate with those of more orderly development or decline, so the history of societies and religions reveals a similar perio- dicity, fluctuating between relatively static conditions and threatened chaos. The enormously increased inter- communication of the last hundred years has plunged the whole world into its present unsettled condition, and all nations find themselves caught as victims in a great terrestrial earthquake, which is bringing down about their heads the imposing structures of the past, and shaking the very foundations which were once thought to be immovable. 183 CHRISTIAN MISSIONS AND A NEW WORLD CULTURE j. Localities of intensified disintegration. There axe certain clearly defined localities where the processes of dissolution assume their most aggravated form, such as seaport towns, cosmopolitan centers, and more espe- cially still the "bohemian districts" of such cities, where interracial contacts are the most intimate and numerous. Here congregate those who for any reason have become detached from orderly society. Conse- quently they are relatively emancipated from its nor- mal disciplines, and under such conditions lawlessness, the fragmentation of society, and new and even rash ex- periments in living flourish with little or no restraint. Just what particular form of disintegration may take place in any of these, or how pronounced it may be, will depend upon the special combination of factors which are mingling in these cradles of both the best and the worst that human ingenuity can produce. II. FACTORS FAVORING DISINTERGATION Disintegration is a breaking down, more or less drastic, of the structures of society, of culture and of personality. This occurs when the culture complexes of society are broken up into fragments. Every re- sponse is an experiment in adjustment for the purpose of achieving some satisfaction. In so far as the out- comes prove that such an adjustment has been made, the procedure of the experiment is confirmed and tends to solidify into habit. Once an outcome is evaluated as unsatisfactory, however, a change is due to follow. The process of disintegration is deliberately aggra- vated by all kinds of promoters, including missionaries. 184 DISINTEGRATION The methods of suggestion, imitation, persuasion and deliberation are employed in order to produce re- sponses which shall create situations in which the out- comes will be favorable to the causes which they wish to promote and unf avorable to those which they oppose. Then nature does the rest. The conditions governing these efforts at influencing behavior have already been referred to in Chapter VIII. But there are also certain other supra-personal and impersonal factors which tend to hasten the process. 1. Great public calamities and private disasters serve to demonstrate the inadequacy of customary methods and their traditional sanctions. The repeated humilia- tion of China at the hands of foreign powers has done more than anything else to shake her teeming millions out of the complacency of a self-contained life. When Ram Mohan Roy as a young man stood by and watched the writhing agonies of his young widowed sister as she was consumed in the fires on the funeral pyre of her dead husband, this one shock shattered a venerable culture complex, so far as he was concerned. There followed a family quarrel and the young man left home, to become a sworn enemy of traditional custom and an advocate of reform. In both cases the consequences were so disastrous that traditional procedures were discredited. 2. Governments, both colonial and national, have frequently hastened the upjrooting of old ideas and practices which have fallen into disrepute at least in the eyes of the authorities. Bull-fighting, infanticide, black art, the burning of widows and polygamy will serve as well-known examples. Sometimes these at- 185 CHRISTIAN MISSIONS AND A NEW WOULD CULTURE tempted reforms have been premature, and open revolt has led to their withdrawal for the time being. Some- times the prohibited customs, such as black art or in- fanticide, have been driven under ground, to be prac- tised secretly long after they have disappeared from the surface. But generally after the first ineffectual protests, the old evils are discarded earlier than would otherwise have been the case. The established authori- ties of all vested interests, religion included, are con- tinually exercising this official pressure against customs and ideas still popular with the masses, but judged to be unworthy by those in power. 3. Facilities for communication and the resulting in- timacy of contacts greatly speeds up the process of disintegration. This increased communication operates in three different ways to stimulate change. First, it throws an isolated population open to a flood of new stimuli, and consequently occasions for comparison are bound to arise. With the arrival of a missionary family in a village of India, sooner or later the purdah women will learn that their sisters from the West walk the streets with as much freedom as the men, and in the home they sit at the same table with their husbands. At first this may appear unbecoming and absurd, but in due time some woman is sure to raise the question, " Why cannot I do likewise? " and the moment that thought is born disintegration has already commenced* Again when greater facilities are provided for moving about, individuals are able to escape from family disci- plines, and families can emancipate themselves from community disabilities, simply by migrating to other parts where nobody knows them. These new environ* 186 DISINTEGRATION ments likewise present unfamiliar conditions which re- quire new types of adjustment, with the consequent dis- integration of much of the former manner of living. Once a party moves from one locality to another, these forces operate automatically, irrespective of what one may intend or desire. 4. Just as the amount of ferment occasioned in the dough depends upon the proportion of leaven to meal, so likewise the speed with which the old mass inertia of any country goes to pieces depends upon the proportion of the foreign influences to the total population. This is purely a matter of quantity, Foreign influences must themselves attain a certain momentum before any impression is made. This of course is the well-known principle underlying the appeal for more missionaries, more schools and sufficient money to give the work ample support; but it is only one condition out of many. 5. Another factor is the relative advancement of the civilization of an indigenous people in comparison with that of the white nations. Other things being equal, the more primitive a race the less able has it shown itself to withstand the dissolution attendant upon intercourse with the western world. Tribes which have known no better ways of gaining a livelihood than the crude methods of hunting and fishing have suffered more than those which had attained some proficiency in agricul- ture. Nations which have advanced to the state where they have built up a strong central government have fared better than those which were backward and disor- ganized. The same may be said of social structure and of religion. Those religions which have passed beyond the stage of primitive magic, shocking practices and 187 CHRISTIAN MISSIONS AND A NEW WORLD CULTURE mythological folklore, and have become more ethical, more rational and better organized under institutional forms have shown ability to survive, whereas other faiths seem doomed to disappear. Of religions and civilizations it may truthfully be said, " For whosoever hath, to him shall be given; and whosoever hatib not, from him shall be taken away even that which lie seem- eth to have." Those that have not fare worse in the mingling of civilizations; the faults and failures of the ancestors are thus visited upon their children. In a word, then, the coming together of two streams of culture creates strange and unexpected life situations, for which many of the old customs and ideas are utterly inadequate. No longer do they serve their purpose of bringing satisfaction to man, and of equipping him so that he can survive in the competition of daily life. Consequently they fall into disuse, and unless better resources are forthcoming society itself is faced with decay and in extreme cases with extinction. III. STAGES IN DISINTEGRATION There is first of all a disorganization of social group- ings, which if it goes far enough may even destroy the structure of society; second, a disruption of culture complexes, which under extreme conditions may shatter the very structure of culture; third, a breaking down of behavior sequences in the individual, leading to a dis- integration of personality more or less serious, with the result that the civilizations and religions concerned will never be the same again. 188 DISINTEGRATION i. The loosening of time-honored group solidarities which so far have been mainly face-to-face or primary in character^ and consequently an undermining of social discipline. Under normal conditions the individual is a member of a number of groupings witMn the total society. In proportion as these connections are weak- ened there results a pulverization of society, in which each individual is likely to go his own way; and chaos threatens until such time as the old social bonds are strengthened or new and more effective ones are established. (a) A dissolution appears in the economic organi- zations by means of which the nation has been assured of a living. In China, for example, there flourished the trade guilds institutions in which the master ar- tisan and his laborers were affiliated together Into one organization supervising all the regulations of the in- dustry. But these guilds are now crumbling. The former unity of proprietor and laborer is being split up into the familiar division of capital and labor. Labor in turn is either being left unorganized, or else is being enrolled under two modern and rival institutions: the old-time labor unions, transplanted from the West, or the more radical soviet unions emanating from Russia. (b) Other groupings, social and domestic in charac- ter, are affected in a similar way. Of these the village community and family life may be taken as examples. From time immemorial the Chinese village has had its code of customs, made sacred by the passing of time, and enforced by a body of elders who were held in greater respect as their beards grew longer and their hair waxed whiter. So also the communal family was 189 CHRISTIAN MISSIONS AND A NEW WORLD CULTURE an imposing institution, presided over by its recognized patriarch, knit together in a social and economic union unknown to our modern West, and held responsible for the support and conduct of its members. Some of their mores would be considered objectionable by us, and at best a certain amount of lawlessness was sure to creep in, but so long as the organizations remained undis- turbed such disobedience was kept in check even more effectively than in most of our highly modernized com- munities. But now the seclusion of the village and the sanctity of the home are being invaded by sinister in- fluences from without. The old men with their long finger nails and their hoary beards are ridiculed by the younger ones who have been to the sea coast. Sons and daughters still love their parents, it is true, but nevertheless they are demanding greater freedom to bob their hair, change their religion, choose their pro- fessions, and to set up their own separate families on the western model, instead of perpetuating the patri- archal organization. As a result, thousands of mothers the world over are crying themselves to sleep at night because their children refuse to walk in the ways of their fathers. (c) Religious affiliations are becoming weakened, and for similar reasons. While it is true that nowhere outside of Christendom has there existed such an elaborately organized institution as the church, and while religion has seldom been recognized as a separate department of life, nevertheless the non-Christian world has recognized certain religious leaders and was accustomed to associate together for the performance of religious duties. It is these associations and this 190 DISINTEGRATION leadership which have been feeling the disintegrating effects of modern conditions. There is likely to be a falling off in attendance upon the temple services. The city of Canton, for example, which for a longer time than any other has been exposed to western influences, is a city of abandoned temples. They are being torn down to make room for parks, widened streets, and other public improvements; and those that still remain standing play an insignificant part in the lives of the population. Most other oriental cities have been simi- larly affected, although possibly not to the same extent. The more alert of the clergy are becoming alarmed over the fact that their old-time power over the masses is being undermined, and acknowledge frankly that something must be done if their religions are to escape death. While the writer was in Japan, one of die younger members of the Buddhist priesthood, a gradu- ate of a university in Tokyo, came to his room and spent the whole evening in conversation, seeking to discover if possible the secret of the power of Chris- tianity, the cause of Buddhism's declining grip upon the people, and what might be done to revive religious faith. The missionary is likely to feel that the light of dis- illusionment is dawning all too slowly; but a longer and a broader view reveals that everywhere there are indi- cations of a decline. Medicine men are losing their charm. Priests of the old type are not held in the same esteem. Even the caliphate has been abolished. To grasp the full significance of these developments it is necessary to remember that this religious disintegra- tion is but a part of a much more inclusive movement, 191 CHRISTIAN MISSIONS AND A NEW WORLD CULTURE produced by an irresistible combination of circum- stances which, is undermining the social, political, eco- nomic and religious structures under which millions have been living for a thousand years or more. Con- sequently, not only are particular persons and organiza- tions passing through serious transitions, but more serious still the characteristic types of structure are falling into disrepute. The plan or form of organiza- tion is proving to be inadequate in the testing of mod- ern days, and new experiments are being made tending in the main toward increased departmentalization of life. Therefore salvation for such a society involves the building of new and more efficient types of struc- tural organization, for only thus can the manhood and the womanhood of the world be thoroughly regenerated. 2. The disintegration of culture complexes, and eventually of the total structure of culture. Just as the detectable symptoms of disease arise from an insidious tearing down of the cellular structures of blood, nerve and tissue, so likewise the disintegrations of culture, which are visible to the eye and which we try to remedy by more or less superficial measures, are but symptoms of deep-seated disintegrations which take place in the very vitals of the organism, namely in the culture com- plexes, those basic integrations which themselves form the units of the more imposing structures of the total culture. The ultimate secret of culture disintegration lies in what takes place within the form of the culture complex. When one or two of the units composing it fall into disrepute, the entire complex is due for a change. It may be that the technique has proved to be ineffectual, or that the objective is no longer sought, or 192 DISINTEGRATION that the style of the pattern according to which a doc- trine has been organized becomes archaic and mean- ingless, or the sanction turns out to be a myth. But in any case this failure now of one constituent part and now of another destroys the functioning of the complex and leads to a serious change and perhaps to a total dissolution. But this is not the end. If this continues, it eventually will produce far-reaching disturbances in the various disciplines of life and in the centers of ref- erence, so that the whole structure of culture goes down before the invasion from, the West. A few illus- trations will make these points clearer. (a) Perhaps most frequently the technique of the complex fails. In some of the South Sea Islands there prevailed the head-hunting complex, in which the kill- ing of a man and the taking of his head were the means whereby a young fellow gained his own self-respect, won his way into the affection of the more desirable damsels, and proved his eligibility to a place in the councils of the tribe three commendable ends in themselves. Now when head-hunting was prohibited, something more took place than merely the stamping out of a horrible crime. The prohibition of the tech- nique shattered the unity of a complex whereby a num- ber of valuable objectives were assured in the life of the tribe. " We are no longer men," they said. These young fellows were left in a deplorable situation with no socially accepted ways for gaining self-respect and for winning the choicest maidens of the land. The end, the need, remained. When the technique was abolished by foreign decree, much of the thrill and excitement passed out of life; and even the gods were discredited 193 CHRISTIAN MISSIONS AND A NEW WORLD CULTURE when it was discovered that the white man and his laws could countermand the divine decrees. Thus it frequently happens that what we would consider to be a moral reform is accomplished only at the cost of the destruction of a culture complex, leaving natural and universal needs unprovided for, and in such cases the lives of men will remain mutilated until new complexes are perfected which will minister to these needs. (b) Sometimes the reverse takes place. The for- mer objective is no longer desired, and consequently the whole complex loses its usefulness and is neglected. For long centuries, many of the inhabitants of India considered the chief end of man to be the final loss of all personal identity in the bosom of the Absolute. About this end there had been built up through the ages an elaborate negation-of-personality complex. In keeping with this, certain techniques or ways of salva- tion were evolved such as meditation, acts of devotion, and good works, whereby man hoped to free himself from the deluding snares of personal existence. The rationalization was found in a doctrine having as its pattern such familiar figures as that of a drop of rain swallowed up in the ocean, or a drop of nectar sub- merged in the mass of honey. But after contacts with the white man for the last two hundred years, the things of this world are taking on an accentuated value which they lacked before. Political autonomy, eco- nomic self-sufficiency, modern comforts and racial equality are making men no longer satisfied with the prospect of a final union with the Absolute. Self- realization rather than self-effacement is now becoming the chief end of man for many. And in so far as the 194 DISINTEGRATION temporal replaces the eternal, and the material takes precedence over the spiritual, to that extent is the old complex being discarded, and the old techniques of sal- vation are either being reinterpreted or else supplanted by such activities as strikes, boycotts, resistance and increased efficiency, which seem to give more promise of bettering man's condition here below. An elaborate complex is actually going to pieces before our eyes be- cause for many a new chief end of man is taking pre- cedence over the old. (c) Outcome complexes, such as beliefs and doc- trines, may fall into decline through the failure of any of the constituent parts. But most of such disintegra- tion arises from two causes, either a change in the need which was met by the technique suggested by the pat- tern, or else by the discovery of such a discrepancy between the dominant pattern of the complex and the richer accumulation of experience that this experience can no longer be symbolized under such a pattern. There rests upon the shelves of a museum of re- ligious objects in the University of Chicago a roughly shaped little wooden wagon, mounted on four lop-sided wooden wheels. Three bent twigs and a piece of coarse cloth thrown over them give it the shape of a covered wagon, within which stands the figure of a doll also sawed out of a piece of wood. The following is the description of it which comes in a private letter from India: When an epidemic breaks out in a village or some im- portant person becomes very sick, a priest is called. He gives instructions that a chariot should be carried out of the village. Then the people call a carpenter who 195 CHRISTIAN MISSIONS AND A NEW WORLD CULTURE makes the chariot and the wooden idol. The idol is to represent the particular mother-goddess who is thought to have control over the disease in question, whether it be smallpox or cholera. The priest then consecrates the idol; and the people present to her the things they think she might like, in order to appease her. She is a goddess; so they offer clothes, jewelry, combs, rolling pins, as well as the regular things used for sacrifice. When all is in readi- ness a group of men carry the chariot and idol, along with the various objects of sacrifice, such as cocoanuts, rice, money and goats, outside the village. Sometimes these chariots are passed from one village to another. A group of men from the second village, on hearing the approach of the procession, run out quickly to meet it, and they in turn bear the chariot still farther along, until it finds its resting place by the side of some lonely road. That little wagon is more than a children's toy. The belief in the presence of the goddess within it makes it a royal chariot of divinity. So likewise all the details described in this account are not merely senseless antics. They constitute a correlated unit, a behavior complex, built about a belief in such a way that the particular technique of the behavior complex carries out the implications of the dominant pattern of the belief lying behind it. The chariot, the articles offered (combs, rolling pins!) the ritual attending the cere- mony, get their meaning from that which is symbolized in the idol which rides in the chariot, namely, the belief in the smallpox goddess. The pattern here is that of personality, and the technique by which these people seek to rid themselves of the dread disease consists of treating it as they would a person like unto themselves. This is an illustration of the manner in which a be- 196 DISINTEGRATION havior complex in religion derives its technique from the pattern employed in the doctrine lying behind it. There are three ways in which this doctrine or out- come complex may become disintegrated. First, if this community of people were transplanted to some district where they no longer suffered from smallpox and where this particular need no longer existed, then the goddess complex would die a natural death; or more probably the goddess of smallpox would pass through a metamorphosis and emerge as some other kind of deity, serving another purpose. The god-concepts of all re- ligions have passed through similar transformations, according to the changing conditions under which peo- ple live and the new interpretations given to religious need. But the complex may also be discarded if a serious discrepancy arises between the implications of the pattern (personality in this case) and the results of further experience. A more careful scrutiny of ex- perience has revealed to the western world that small- pox springs from organisms which do not seem to be- have like personalities, but rather in their own way as microbes. Let the people of the village become aware of this and comprehend what it means, let them witness the superior efficacy of microbe technique and ere long the thought of smallpox under the pattern of a goddess becomes meaningless. The new experiences make the old pattern meaningless. Many of the beliefs and doc- trines of all religions are passing through such changes at the present time because of the diversified experi- ences of international contacts. Other doctrines pass into decline when the pattern which had been borrowed from some other depart- 197 CHRISTIAN MISSIONS AND A NEW WORLD CULTURE ment in life goes out of style and is no longer used in that department. Where monarchs ruled supreme, God has been thought of as the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. But let the monarchical pattern in politics be displaced by the democratic form of government, and inevitably this change will tend to discredit the monarchical pattern in the concept of God. These then are three of the principal ways in which doctrines and beliefs are likely to assume new forms: through a reinterpretation of religious need, through the appear- ance of a discrepancy between the pattern and the facts of a fuller experience, and finally by passing out of style in the department of life from which it was bor- rowed by religion. (d) When for any reason a culture complex has been rejected, the disturbing effects reach up into the major discipline of which it was a part, and also to the center of reference which served as sanction. Numer- ous examples lie all about us, but the case of untouch- ability in the caste system of India will do as well as any. Within the social discipline known as the caste system there had been worked out through the ages a number of complexes, among which was that of un- touchability made up of characteristic customs, pur- poses, taboos, sentiments and sanctions, touching a certain class of people. Of course, for the orthodox Hindus to this day the total system including the re- strictions of untouchability is still held to be in con- formity with the will of the gods. But of recent years disquieting influences have been at work. Growing numbers are keenly sensitive to its attendant cruelties and injustices. It is repudiated by them both as a 198 DISINTEGRATION moral monstrosity and as a menace to national unity. Gandhi takes the bull by the horns and receives an out- caste child into his own household. The depressed classes are now being admitted at least to some of the temples where formerly they were excluded. But what are the secondary results of the repudia- tion of this old and venerable complex? Some of the radicals even go so far as to reject the entire system of caste as an anachronism and the sanction of the gods as immoral. Others within whom the disintegra- tion has not been so sweeping are laboring to save the caste system and the reputation of the gods, while at the same time they throw overboard this Jonah which is embarrassing them. This is done by the familiar ex- pedient of rationalization, the device employed by all races for the purpose of saving a total structure from disintegration when one of the constituent parts has been rejected. Accordingly Gandhi and his like now affirm that untouchability is not really taught in the scriptures, properly understood. It is not now and never has been an integral part of the caste system or of the true essence of Hinduism, but rather a colossal abuse which crept in at some unguarded, moment to defile an otherwise commendable social order. A con- stituent part is rejected, and then an effort is made to preserve the integrity of Hinduism and the honor of the gods. But inevitably the repudiated complex works its vengeance upon the whole from which it has been ejected. The rationalizations made to safeguard the integrity of Hinduism and the reputation of the gods involve such reinterpretations that never again will they have the same meaning or content. At the same 199 CHRISTIAN MISSIONS AND A NEW WORLD CULTURE time, the working out of new kinds of adjustment be- tween caste and outcaste, now made necessary, will still further transform the entire system. (e) A more serious condition arises when the proc- ess of disintegration reaches the supreme centers of reference; that is ? when the ultimate religious sanc- tions and the sublimest objects of emotional fixation are interpreted in a new way or rejected. So long as the gods sat secure upon their thrones, the total struc- ture of personality and of culture seemed to be an- chored in eternity. But what was supposed to be the God seated upon the throne of the universe was in reality an idea of God, raised to the apex of the cul- ture pyramid, which was identified with the throne of the universe, where it served as the center of reference. Being a concept, it is subject to the vicissitudes of all other concepts. Changes which occur in the units of which it is formed techniques, patterns, objectives, etc. resulting from growing experience, invariably are reflected in a changing center of reference. In the effort to protect them against this contingency, the gods have been guarded most solicitously in the inner shrines of temples, and in the holy of holies of the reverent heart. They have been veiled off in the impenetrable mystery of past ages or of distant space, lest inquiring eyes and irreverent hands be laid upon them. But sooner or later the veil is rent asunder; a new light steals in, shining from the lamp of fuller experi- ence, and it is discovered that the venerable sanctions are not what they were thought to be. This discovery- may be limited at first to a few of the more sophisti- cated, but the rumor of it spreads abroad, and as a 200 DISINTEGEATION result of tMs discrediting of the center of reference everything else which has been bound up with it in the structure of religion and culture is violently disturbed. Ethical precepts and many of the great foundation pillars of society are felt to be without support in the order of the universe, the supreme object of affection no longer stirs the emotions or else evaporates into thin air, life loses its ulterior purposes, the universe its meaning, and some new center of reference must be formulated if intellectual, social, and moral chaos is to be avoided. j. Disintegration of the orderly structure of person- ality. In the physiological organism, catabolism and metabolism are two coordinated processes essential for the normal functioning of the organism, and catabolism becomes dangerous only when the balance between them is disturbed. So likewise in the ongoing life of personality a certain amount of disintegration is as essential to normal development as reintegration. But when the balance between the two is disturbed, the creative process changes into one of destruction, which In extreme cases may become so disastrous as to re- quire the attention of the psychiatrist. These changes go on in the general culture of a country by virtue of corresponding modifications transpiring in the lives of the individuals composing society. As already intimated the structural integration of personality is similar to that of culture and of society. Whatever may be the original stuff and the minor units of which personality is composed, the analysis of per- sonality reveals that these soon become interwoven together into personality configurations, corresponding 201 CHRISTIAN MISSIONS AND A NEW WORLD CULTURE to the culture complexes of the diagram on page 164. The first stage of the integration of personality in- volves the organization of random activities into defi- nitely established behavior sequences, the centering of emotional life about certain objects, and the inter- pretation of the meaning of experience in the form of ideas and concepts. But the individual is born into a society practising its own distinctive culture. Accord- ingly the behavior sequences of any personality are intricately coordinated into the customs and estab- lished ideas of society. The habits of the individual as he partakes of the sacramental meal of his religion are correlated with the current ritual of the sacrament. The emotional fixations and antipathies of the indi- vidual are related to those of his group; he loves or fears the same objects; the group and its objectives become objects of his own affections. His interpreta- tions of the meaning of experience have largely been taken over from society, which symbolizes his god for him under the figure of a mother-goddess, a heavenly father, or a boundless ocean, as the case may be. Thus under normal conditions the individual attains another stage of integration by virtue of the fact that his own personality configurations are intricately interwoven with the culture complexes of his environing society, as this has become institutionalized in group life. But man everywhere carries within him the possi- bility of emancipating himself partially at least from the bonds of society and the shackles of custom. Above and beyond the world of people and things to which his life is related he constructs an ideational world of ideas and higher aspirations culminating in that supreme 202 DISINTEGRATION construct of his Imagination, the center of reference of Ms life. His participation in the sacramental meal Is more than a fellowship with his brethren, it is a com- munion with his God. He loves his church, but it is his God who is now the object of his highest devotion. When this stage is reached, all his customs and beliefs get their final sanction not from the group but from this center to which all things are referred. In so far then as man becomes a mystic and not simply a cog in a social organism, he seeks to achieve this third and higher integration wherein all of his personality con- figurations are not only correlated with the culture complexes of his group, but find a more complete polari- zation in a supreme center of reference. In some sense or other, every true heart exclaims: "We must obey God rather than men." Now just as a tree may begin to decay either at the tips of its branches or at the very heart of the trunk, so likewise the disintegration of this radiating struc- ture of personality may begin either with the severing of the ramifications which link it with the surrounding environment, or with the breaking up of the configura- tions which form the nucleus of personality, owing to other causes. When the former changes take place, the individual resorts to certain typical expedients in the effort to save his inner being from violent dissolution. It may be that he discovers that his religious associates are passing through a transformation in thought, affection, and practice, with which he cannot fellowship. They no longer believe as he and they once believed; they have ceased to act as he thinks they ought to act. Imme- 203 CHRISTIAN MISSIONS AND A NEW WORLD CULTURE diately a disturbance Is felt in his own personality. The fact that they no longer believe as he still does deprives him of the support which he formerly drew from their unshaken conviction. In this case he is likely to cling all the more tenaciously to that which seems to stand secure; namely, his old-time belief in God. By this means, religious souls, disturbed by the deflection of their former comrades, save themselves from disastrous disintegrations of personality by clinging tenaciously to the old-time god-concept, and then by quarantining it from the insidious influences which have already un- dermined their former religious affiliations. They feel themselves separated from their brethren; but they still have their God, and in that center of reference they find an anchorage for their personalities. Sometimes it is the center of reference which be- comes discredited or blurred in outline. This is the most disconcerting experience that can come to any one who has succeeded in achieving a unifying apex in the organization of his life. Under such circumstances many seek to preserve their personalities from com- plete bewilderment by committing themselves unre- servedly to some institution by which they may be sur- rounded. They give up all effort to make their own way in the rough waters of the modern world and en- trust themselves to the ark of a religious organization, thus finding in what is supposed to be a divine institu- tion with its characteristic sanctions a haven of refuge; and so long as the institution stands they feel secure. In the first case, the center of reference saves the per- sonality from complete dissolution when group life dissolves, as many Indians today are finding an an- 204 DISINTEGRATION chorage for their souls In philosophical concepts; in the second case the group life preserves the individual from complete disintegration when his own ideational world fails him. No doubt this is one of the reasons why so many Indians are clinging tenaciously to the caste sys- tem, as the one structure which up to the present seems to stand secure. But when a man's center of reference begins to dis- solve, that is indicative of profound changes which have already taken place in the very core of Ms own personality. Each response in such experimentation registers its legitimate outcomes; these in turn are both evaluated with reference to their desirability and tested with reference to fulfilment of expectations. If the out- comes are judged to be satisfactory, the personality configurations involved are confirmed. If there is dis- appointment, we first of all seek an alibi either for our- selves, our religion or our God. But if we are not able to find a satisfactory rationalization for the failure, then profound changes are sure to follow in these very configurations. For example, contacts with the outside world may lead a man to doubt the efficacy of prayer to the gods of his fathers. Because of foreign influences, the old- time objects of affection may lose their power of attrac- tion. No longer does the heart glow with devotion at the thought of the emperor, the savior-god or of some definite cause, which formerly enlisted the emotions. The emotional life is no longer organized about these centers, and the sentiments will be fitful and scattered until they find more permanent fixation about other objects. Or again, the diversified experiences coming 205 CHRISTIAN MISSIONS AND A NEW WORLD CULTURE from wider contacts provide a fund of knowledge which no longer can be conceived under the traditional pat- terns which heretofore have clarified the concept. God can no longer be thought of as a youth sporting with the daughters of a herdsman, as a potter shaping the world out of clay, or as a mother giving birth to the universe by the processes of generation. When things get to the stage where there is such a disruption in behavior sequences, in emotional fixations, and in pattern con- cepts, where the former group associations are severed, and where the traditional centers of reference have become blurred and uncertain, then the disintegration of personality has reached a point which may well cause alarm. The oriental world abounds today with people who are passing through such a period of disintegration. It is characterized by confusion of soul and restlessness, varying in degree of intensity according as a large or small proportion of that which has been habitual in life has become unsettled. Restlessness has been de- fined as activity in response to some urgent sense of need, which, however, remains unsatisfied in spite of the activity. This well describes the psychological con- dition of millions today who are chasing every will-of- the-wisp in search of satisfaction. The disintegrated man is beset with a feeling of apprehension with refer- ence to the future. He does not know what may happen next, for the customary sequences of settled life upon which he could count have been severed. Will the gods rain their wrath upon him if he forgets to pray? How can he gain salvation, if the religion of his fathers is false and his own faith a delusion? A feeling of lone- 206 DISINTEGRATION liness settles down upon him, at least until new associa- tions are formed; and this is just as true of the young man who leaves his village and sleeps upon a pile of rags in the corner of a rude shack in Shanghai as it is of the recent arrival from the country who occupies a hall bedroom in Chicago. The disintegrated individual rarely knows what he wants. Traditional values have been discarded, and as yet there is uncertainty as to just what is most de- sirable in life. And even when a man does begin to feel that he can discern his real needs, he finds that it is exceedingly difficult if not impossible to secure such things in the existing disorganized state of society. Most of life's choicest treasures are actualized only through cooperation with others, and these newer needs and higher aspirations can seldom find satisfaction until new and appropriate associations are effected. Repent- ance is the final act in the disintegration of personality. It is the deliberate repudiation of those things which have thus proved to be a disappointment and a snare, of which sin is only one. This state of affairs eventually becomes intolerable, and leads one to cast about more or less blindly in search of a way out. He may revert to unrestrained animal impulses and lawlessness, or to the naive habits and superstitions of childhood. He may close his eyes and seek an asylum for his soul in reactionary ortho- doxy. He may join up with any passing movement, as a wayward boy runs off with a circus. Or, possibly along with others, he may begin by the process of trial and error, deliberation and reflection, to build up in his life new personality configurations, taking the place i 207 CHRISTIAN MISSIONS AND A NEW WORLD CULTURE of those which have gone into the discard. But this is the story of reintegration. IV. DISINTEGRATION AND MISSIONS For those who wish to bring about transformations in personality or in society, periods of plasticity in the affairs of men are of prime importance, because it is at such times that men lend themselves most readily to the influences brought to bear upon them. As societies grow older they tend to become orthodox and regular. This inertia of habit and custom is the greatest obstacle to improvement, and unless it is shaken it is a sure defense against the propagandist and his gospel. To be properly understood, this must be looked upon as a sociological and psychological condition, rather than an ethical perversion. The ethics of the question depends upon the angle from which the inertia is contemplated. The individual is set in his ways. To his companions, he is steadfast and loyal. To the missionary, he is " hard-hearted," " dead in trespasses and sins." What is a virtue to one is a sin to the other. Be that as it may, only in so far as these static conditions are dis- solved is there any possibility of leading people to what the Christian believes to be a better life. i. We have here in group solidarity and cultural rigidity one of the main explanations for the discourag- ing lack of response to the Christian message in some countries, even after decades of faithful labor. Protes- tant missionaries have preached the gospel of free salvation and democratic equality before God in the re- publics along the west and north coasts of South 208 DISINTEGRATION America for seventy-five years with very meager re- sults. But, unbelievable as it may seem to those who have read superficially the history of these revolution- ary lands, one of the most fundamental reasons is the fact that the process of culture disintegration has not gone deep enough, until recently. These countries constituted the heart of the colonial regime of Spain in South America. Here for three hundreds years the old colonial life thoroughly rooted itself, and even penetrated into the subsoil of the indigenous popula- tions. One of the main reasons for the long survival of that administration with its many abuses was the excep- tional manner in which all the major disciplines of life, political, religious, economic, agricultural and social, were built upon one common structural plan, namely, that of despotism. The psychological effect of this was that each discipline moulded its members to similar cul- ture complexes and demanded of them identical atti- tudes of mind, namely, authoritarian autocracy on the one hand, obedience and submission on the other. Then came the revolt in the opening years of the last century. The patriots of that day thought that with the driving out of the power of Spain they would put an end to tyranny and usher in a great new era of liberty, vouchsafed by the principles of fraternity and equality. The subsequent history of alternating tyran- nies and revolts is a well known story. Only now after the lapse of a hundred years are some of these states beginning to learn the a,b,c ? s of representative govern- ment. The reason why there has been, but little real political reconstruction is also the principal reason why the last century has witnessed but little religious awak- 209 CHRISTIAN MISSIONS AND A NEW WORLD CULTURE ening or reform. The revolt of 1809 did succeed in expelling the Spaniards, but it was not accompanied by any reconstruction of thought and conduct in the po- litical discipline, much less by a disintegration in the other disciplines of life, sufficiently widespread to per- mit of more sweeping reforms. Republican constitu- tions were written and rewritten, but despotic " can- dittos " took the place of autocratic viceroys. The au- thority of the Catholic church still remained unshaken. The royal monopolies in trade were abolished, only to be replaced by capitalistic monopolies, still largely In the hands of foreigners. The agrarian regime was undisturbed, and the patron still ruled his peons on the large estates as his fathers had done before him. The social aristocracy of colonial days continued to survive, with the one exception that after the banish- ment of the royalists a new and indigenous aristocracy climbed to the top. With the exception of the vice- royalty, the whole structure of colonial life was carried over into the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, with all the old characteristic culture complexes, and the complementary attitudes of tyranny and submission. Until these mutually supporting complexes begin to disintegrate, no fit soil will be found for a democratic reconstruction in politics, or for a real reform in re- ligion. A similar rigidity of social structure and culture complexes is one of the main reasons for the almost universal lack of response to the gospel on the part of Mohammedans. The same may be said of all those castes, cliques and groupings of people in other lands which to the present have remained impervious to dis- 210 DISINTEGRATION ruption and undisturbed in their disciplines. If atten- tion be centered upon any one country, such, as Japan or China, it will become apparent that there is an in- timate connection between periods of disintegration or of reintegration in the general life of the people on the one hand, and the receptivity or lack of receptivity to the gospel on the other. A certain amount of disorgani- zation in that which is old must occur before anything new can take root and grow, and this disintegration must be something more than merely religious or moral. 2. When such decay does take place either in the individual or in society, Christianity meets its oppor- tunity and encouraging results are likely to follow. The countries in South America where Protestant propa- ganda has shown the most gratifying results are Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Southern Chile, where the old colonial regime had not entrenched itself deeply, and where the disintegration which was started in the po- litical revolts has been carried over into other depart- ments of life. This has been greatly accentuated by succeeding waves of European immigration, bringing thousands of people resolved to make a new start in life. When the old intellectual and warrior class of Japan, the Samurai, were caught in the upheaval which brought feudalism to the ground, they were compelled by the course of events to reconstruct their entire man- ner of living. Some turned in one direction and some in another, but a certain number of them became Christians, finding in the new religion the orientation of their lives. But once this period of intensified dis- integration had passed and the Samurai had succeeded in finding places for themselves In the reorganized 211 CHRISTIAN MISSIONS AND A NEW WORLD CULTURE Japanese economy, the conversions from that class fell off. Disintegration must not be taken as an assurance of success in Christian propaganda, nor as a guarantee of conversion to the Christian faith. History teaches quite the contrary. Disintegration is no respecter of persons nor of causes. It may be destructive of evil and productive eventually of good, or it may be destruc- tive of goodness and productive of evil. In itself it is a non-moral process, which produces contrasted ethical results. The disintegrated Hindu may become a po- litical agitator, the member of a robber band, a teacher in a Christian school or a leader in moral reform. Cosmopolitan centers do not always respond more eagerly to the Christian appeal than do the more re- mote village communities. Disintegration simply means the unsettling of hitherto routine conditions, and pro- vides the missionary with the opportunity for making his plea. But what actually emerges from all of this will depend upon a number of other factors. One of these is the fact that the missionary himself is but one competitor in the midst of a bedlam of voices, each bidding for recruits, and offering the one and only way of attaining satisfaction. Communist, nationalist, trade unionist, representatives of secular interests and ad- vocates of religions, new and old all are present in greater or less profusion. Heaven help the non- Christian world! Little wonder then that the mission- ary is able to win but a few, and that as the period of disorganization continues, some people are likely to settle down into a state of chronic sophistication, which turns a deaf ear and a hard heart to all appeals. 212 DISINTEGRATION 3. From the above it will become clear that the fruitage of mission work is predetermined by great social and cultural movements, which may be accen- tuated or retarded somewhat by missionary activity, but which cannot be entirely governed thereby. They are the products rather of a combination of factors, of which Christian propaganda is only one. This serves as another indication of the intimate relation which exists between religion and culture, between mission work and the general phenomena accompanying Euro- pean expansion. The attitudes aroused by one affect the other. The processes going on in the one determine to a large extent those which are possible in the other. This truth has been recognized by Christian workers down through the ages, only it was expressed in popular figures of speech which gave little indication of the con- ditions involved. " The fulness of the times had not yet come." " The fields are not yet ripe for the har- vest." " We must wait for God to prepare the hearts." These were but pre-scientific ways of saying that a cer- tain amount of general disintegration must precede re- ligious awakening and reform. An understanding of this fact will explain partly the unfruitfulness of some fields, and will spare the conscientious missionary from needless heartache and self-condemnation. 4. The prevailing state of society or of the individual, be it that of integration or of disintegration, should shape both the policies and the methods of those who wish to bring about reform. Where the ground has been baked hard, the plow must be thrust in before there can be any sowing of the seed and much less any reaping of the harvest. There are times when less 213 CHRISTIAN MISSIONS AND A NEW WORLD CULTURE violent and more patient measures are called for. The leaven must be allowed to work quietly until a ferment begins in the solid mass. But once the process of dis- integration has set in, it should no longer be accentu- ated. It is necessary now to work creatively, to save the wheat from the chaff, to suggest models for new cul- ture complexes which shall take the place of those which have gone to pieces, to furnish new institutions with which the detached man may ally himself, and to hold up a new center of reference about which he may polarize his life. To this end, it will be well for every missionary to make this phenomenon of disintegration a subject of ceaseless study on his field. He should be quick to discover the special persons, localities and 1 periods which lend themselves most readily to the Christian approach. Wherever there can be detected a feeling of loneliness, uncertainty, apprehension with reference to the future, restlessness of soul, doubt, dissatisfac- tion or disillusionment, and wherever there are signs of a breaking up of old groupings, and a fragmentation of culture complexes, there and there especially should the missionary center his attention. The psychological and sociological state which is the prerequisite of con- version is not simply a conviction of sin, but this more general disintegration of the sequences and of the cer- tainties of life, of which the sense of sin is but one of the many symptoms. 5. The attitude toward disintegration on the part of the promoter of reforms has been different from that of the anthropologist or the student of social move- ments. The propagandist is impressed with the vice, 214 DISINTEGRATION the ignorance and the poverty from which people are suffering. He feels that if these evils could be removed speedily, he would bestow the greatest of benefits upon mankind. Consequently he prays, " O Lord, how long, how long? " and seeks to hasten their destruction by all the means within his power. This impatience with the slower pace set by social processes is likely to be his besetting sin. The greater Ms zea! 3 the more he sins. He fails to notice that any movement of disin- tegration, excessively speeded up by high pressure tac- tics of government or of reformer, produces a state of social anarchy, cultural chaos, and personal disintegra- tion, which in the long run postpones the day of perma- nent reform away beyond the time required by the slower methods of more moderate transformation. In- evitably, reform of any kind must be bought at the cost of certain disturbances in that which Is customary, but when this becomes accentuated beyond a certain point, then the evils which accompany it outweigh the anticipated benefits. This is the reason why the mis- sionary, in spite of his best intentions, has been the promoter of a certain amount of social and moral chaos, as well as a builder of the Kingdom of God. Some of the lawlessness and the premature aping of European ways appearing among primitive peoples evils which now must be remedied have been brought upon them partially by the aggressive campaigns of missionaries and other westerners, who sought to make the primitive man conform as speedily as possible to our mores or fit into our economic systems. There may have been a time when iconoclastic methods were called for. But today forces of dissolution by the score 215 CHRISTIAN MISSIONS AND A NEW WORLD CULTURE are abroad throughout the earth, and give cause for apprehension if not for alarm. The wise missionary will temper his iconoclastic zeal with patience and prudence, and will devote the major portion of his energies to the promotion of those aspects of the in- digenous culture which give promise of human good, allowing the native people more time in which to adopt the necessary reforms and to adapt themselves to the great new world which of a sudden has broken in upon them. 216 CHAPTER XU REINTEGRATION THROUGH NEW GROUPINGS No individual or society can remain long in a state of disintegration and still survive. Such a condition soon becomes intolerable, because it makes impossible the actualization of life's most necessary and coveted values. Consequently, sooner or later there emerge efforts designed to bring order out of chaos. Promoters claim to know the way, and call upon others to fol- low. The individual himself may take the initiative. Through his own experimental responses to strange and conflicting life situations, he may eventually gain a new coordination of personality configurations to take the place of those which had dissolved before his eyes. He casts about and finds others of like mind, and in these new associations and under the spell of leading personalities the detached individual again finds con- genial companionship, the wanderer finds a home. In these new relationships his own personality configura- tions become coordinated with the culture complexes of group life, impulse and desire are again brought under the sway of social and religious controls, and if the integration is carried on toward completion life regains a relative harmony under some unifying center of reference. While these transformations are taking place within 217 CHRISTIAN MISSIONS AND A NEW WORLD CULTURE the individual, corresponding changes are transpiring in social groupings which also have felt the disturbing influences of foreign contacts. Some of these groups succumb, as is happening with the more primitive re- ligious bodies and with some of the occupational groups. But, as we shall see, others have been able to adjust themselves in such a way that they show signs of sur- viving. Still others are being adopted from abroad, or are being formed de novo about new interests. Such organizations take up into their fold the detached per- sons who have been left stranded through the breaking up of their former associations. If then we take a bird's-eye view of the Orient, the first thing that meets the eye is a tangled mass of rival groupings of various kinds, each seeking its own interests and each seeming to add to the confusion. But what on the surface ap- pears to be the rivalry of conflicting interests is but an inescapable phase in the process by which millions of folk with differing desires, capacities and back- grounds are striving in provisional cooperation with others to work out new orientations for their lives. The psychological process involved in the experience of the individual as he seeks to bring order out of chaos will be dealt with in the next chapter. Here we limit ourselves to these experimental group affiliations and to the part which they play in the process of reintegra- tion. We shall classify them according to the attitudes assumed to the religious approach of the western world. These attitudes are significant since they indicate the rival centers of interest, Christian and non-Christian, around which reintegrations are being effected. 218 REINTEGRATION THROUGH NEW GROUPINGS I. NON-RELIGIOUS EXPERIMENTS In view of the proverbial religiosity of the oriental world, nothing is more surprising at the present time than the manner in which increasing numbers of con- fessedly disillusioned people are seeking, apart from religious connections, a reorientation which shall bring orderliness and satisfaction to human existence. There are possibly four non-religious centers of in- terest in connection with which lives are finding a new orientation. Large numbers have been drawn to the political movement known as nationalism. They recog- nize that something vital and precious is lacking in their own personal lives so long as their nation is menaced by internal strife or oppressed under foreign domination, and consequently find a worthy purpose in life by throwing themselves unreservedly into the struggle for national sovereignty. The nation be- comes the highest object of loyalty; nationalism their religion. Others achieve at least a partial reintegration in connection with some economic organization, or in the promotion of economic interests. Even if a de- tached man finds nothing better for himself than a niche in some great industrial institution, at least that is better than to be without a job and to be compelled to beg. The rapid growth of labor unionism, peasant leagues, communism and organized movements against " economic imperialism " indicates the increasing num- bers who are leaning to the view that the basic values of life are economic and that only by effecting a more equitable distribution of this world's goods can the more intangible values be secured. Of more recent 219 CHEJSTIAN MISSIONS AND A NEW WORLD CULTURE years, and growing out of the demonstrated insufficiency of mere political and economic reconstruction, increas- ing numbers are giving themselves to humanitarian movements. For example, they are finding in educa- tional work not simply a livelihood but a vocation. For them, education is the savior of mankind. They labor together in schools and colleges; they band them- selves together in provincial and national organizations, and in these activities life finds a meaning and a worthy objective. Finally, a minority of intellectuals are seeking a new unity by taking as a frame of refer- ence some non-religious metaphysical principle, around which they would correlate the various interests of life. Their numbers are small; they are not agreed among themselves; but they propose some ultimate principle which may be considered to underlie the more practical efforts of the politician, the economist and the educator. Not all of these endeavors succeed in attaining the same degree of integration. In fact, many are frag- mentary, incomplete and transitory. The center of reference may shift from one interest to another; two or more rival centers may exist simultaneously and result in strife rather than inner harmony; the subject may succeed in coordinating only a part of his ac- tivities to one dominant purpose, or he may attain a much more comprehensive unification under a com- prehensive philosophy of life. The significant thing is that in foreign lands countless people are busily en- gaged, now with this experiment and now with that, in an effort to bring orderliness into lives and societies which have been thrown into confusion by the ferment 220 REINTEGSATION THROUGH NEW GROUPINGS recently Injected from abroad. The ethical quality of these efforts at reorientation ranges all the way from that which is narrowly selfish and destructive of pubic welfare to that which is highly altruistic. But in all cases the parties concerned are seeking that elusive something called satisfaction, which takes wings and flies away when life is excessively disorganized. While these ventures at reconstruction vary con- siderably, most of them are inclined to be content with temporal objectives and to place a growing confidence upon the more naturalistic methods of attaining human welfare. Other-worldly values and powers have failed them. This was the candid confession of a graduate from one of the mission schools in China, when he was asked by the writer why he had forsaken his calling as a teacher in a Christian school and his profession as a Christian, in order to give himself unreservedly to the Kuo Min Tang Party with its program of political and economic reform. He was residing in modest quarters, content with a mere living wage, burning the candle at both ends by incessant toil in a position of public trust. But he believed that he had found a " cause/ 7 more promising than the Christian movement, through which he might render the best service to Ms native land. The numbers of graduates from mission schools who turn their backs upon church relationships and even upon religion and find whatever reintegration they do attain in non-religious objectives and associations is surprisingly large, and calls for the most serious consideration on the part of those who believe that religion has a central function to play in the co- ordination of life. 221 CHRISTIAN MISSIONS AND A NEW WORLD CULTURE It is this widespread tendency to seek a unification of life about objectives which belong to this temporal order, by methods that are naturalistic, and in associa- tions which are non-religious, that is called " secular- ism." At times it becomes anti-religious and violently antagonistic against what it terms to be " the narcotic of the people." At other times, religion is treated as a transitional stage through which the ignorant masses must pass ; and which may be manipulated for political or other purposes by the wise and the understanding. But as for themselves the spiritual has lost its reality, and they feel no need of its assistance in any effort to further the good of mankind or to find a satisfactory integration for their own lives. II. REACTIONARY GROUPS AND MOVEMENTS The initial reactionary responses mentioned in earlier chapters in time crystallize into definite readjustments which take on more permanent and deliberate form. The confusion of counsel accompanying the introduc- tion of alien elements confirms the earlier misgivings; vested interests religious or otherwise are menaced; the satisfactions promised through reform, prove to be illusory and seem to offer no compensation for the loss of old values and securities. Consequently, a con- siderable number react by making a more intense com- mitment of themselves to the traditional institutions and centers of reference, which seem to have stood the test of the ages. Old values gain for them a double value; old habits become more deeply entrenched, and in extreme cases emotions are aroused to such a pitch 222 REINTEGRATION THROUGH NEW GROUPINGS that people are willing even to resort to violence in the defense of that which Is so dear to them. Under some circumstances this may take the form of a spasmodic gesture of violence on the part of some individual, as when an Inflamed patriot assassinates the Premier of Japan for his liberal tendencies. In other cases special reactionary groups are formed, such as the Boxers in China, the Senussis In North Africa, and other less violent movements for the purpose of resisting further encroachments upon the sanctity of the past. The old braves of an African tribe threaten to burn the school building and drive the missionary out if he persists in teaching his pernicious doctrines of peace and love of enemies to the rising generation, thus robbing the tribe of its warrior spirit and expos- ing it to the attacks of its enemies. Religious reac- tionism Is but a part of this common and recurring effort at the remtegration of one's life by means of resistance to all innovation. It Is a universal phenome- non. Men who find their values In the status quo or In the treasures of the past struggle valiantly for the preservation of these, haunted by the fear that other- wise life would lose Its meaning and be reduced to chaos. Nevertheless, by no means is this repudiation of foreign influences complete and permanent. While the symbols, the names, and the external forms may remain unaltered and give the superficial appearance of unchangeabillty and while traditional loyalties seem to survive undisturbed, nevertheless little by little foreign Influences work a subtle change in the interpre- tations of the old centers of reference and even in the structure of ancient institutions, and finally death itself 223 CHRISTIAN MISSIONS AND A NEW WORLD CULTURE removes the most uncompromising defenders of the old orthodoxies. III. REINTEGRATION THROUGH CHRISTIANITY Religious conversion is only one of the many ways whereby men seek to achieve a new unification of their lives; and to be understood it must be located in its own proper place in the total scale of such possible read- justments. /. The proselyte. The most characteristic reinte- gration experience in connection with mission work, and that for which the missionary has labored, has been the conversion of the proselyte; that is, of the man who finds a new unity by turning his back upon many of his old associates, abjuring his former religion, joining the church as his new religious affiliation, and focusing his life about a new center of reference mediated to him in the imported religion. The conversion experi- ence is not exclusively Christian. It is a phenomenon common to other religions and peoples under similar circumstances. Furthermore, in order to be properly understood, this impressive experience must be viewed as a conspicuous and determinative incident occurring in a much longer and more involved process; and as all Christian workers well know, the value of the profession of conversion depends upon what takes place in the preceding and succeeding stages of that process. This consists first of a more or less complete disintegration of the former uniformities and values of life; second, the formulation in the mind of the subject of the mental picture of a new center of reference sufficiently im- 224 REINTEGRATION THROUGH NEW GROUPINGS posing to claim allegiance; third, the renunciation of the old life and the commitment of the self as a separate and responsible individual to the new center (repen- tance and conversion) ; and finally, the reorganization of emotion, conduct and thought about this new center (sanctification and growth in grace). In keeping with this three things have been demanded of the prospec- tive candidate as the minimum requirements: first, that he renounce certain practices and beliefs recognized as being characteristically pagan; second, that he pub- licly profess his allegiance to Jesus Christ; and third, that he burn the bridges behind him by accepting bap- tism and joining the church, thus professing to the whole world his entrance into a new life. The conversion experience may appear to be pre- ceded by little conscious preparation, or it may be the consummation of a long struggle. The motivations of which the candidate is conscious vary widely accord- ing to past and present circumstances. The commit- ment may be made to some dominant personality such as the missionary, to the church as an ongoing concern in connection with which the convert expects to improve his lot, or to some idea of Jesus. The missionary, of course, insists that the surrender be made to Jesus Christ and to him alone ; but even in this case it is neces- sary to remember that in reality the commitment is made to whatever concept of Jesus may have taken shape in the mind of the candidate and never to that concept as it exists in the mind of the missionary. But whatever be the inner center of reference to which the surrender is made, the convert does affiliate himself with the new social group found within the church, 225 CHRISTIAN MISSIONS AND A NEW WORLD CULTURE and even this marks a profound redirection of his life. 2 . Mass movements. The distinguishing thing about mass movements is not that large numbers apply for admission into Christian fellowship, but rather that the unit of action and of commitment is not the individual but an organized group which acts as a whole. Such movements are preceded by a period of partial dis- integration, during which the customary methods of securing health, prosperity and peace of mind are dis- credited in the face of the demonstrated superiority of the Christians in this respect. At the same time the dissolution has not been sufficiently violent to disrupt the group solidarity. Consequently, after due delib- eration, either on the part of the leaders or of the en- tire body, the group as a whole offers to place itself under the direction of Christian teachers. According to the standardized way of salvation, the individual as an individual is expected to make the self-committal. But when the unit of action is the group rather than the individual, and when the converts renounce certain of their former ways but not their former group asso- ciation, a serious question arises as to whether this should be considered a genuine conversion or not. An- other problem is presented by the necessity of adjust- ing the two institutions which now face each other, namely, the indigenous organization with its tradi- tional leaders which heretofore has stood for the native culture, and the Christian church which claims to be the legitimately organized expression of Christianity. Which body is to survive as the recognized Christian institution, and how are they to be related? 226 REINTEGRATION THROUGH NEW GROUPINGS Missionary practice has been experimenting with two solutions of this dual problem, as indicated by the time chosen for baptism and by the way the traditional leadership is related to the Christian authorities. One plan has been to fuse the native organization and the church together with as little disturbance as possible by baptizing practically the whole group into the church, by assigning to the accepted native leadership subordinate places of authority within the church, and then by careful indoctrination to lead the whole body gradually on to a more perfect participation in the Christian way of living. According to the other plan, jbaptism is postponed until the catechumens can be in- structed more fully and until what began as group ac- tion may be transformed into voluntary self-commit- ment on the part of each individual. Then the church is organized as an inner circle within the total com- munity which formerly expressed its willingness to be- come Christian. The leadership within such a church is restricted more carefully to those who have won the right to lead by virtue of their special training and progress in the Christian life. In the case of the prose- lyte, reintegration is secured only at the cost of sever- ing his connections with his former group associations, and finding his new religious companions within the church. In the case of mass conversions the individual does not make such a violent break with his past com- panions, seeing that the group as such commits itself to a new manner of living. It is through the redirec- tion of group life that the individual gets his own new birth. 227 CHRISTIAN MISSIONS AND A NEW WORLD CULTURE 3. The church as the new social center and the con- tinuing institution of Christian reintegration. While it is true that a minority of the converts prefer to re- main as detached Christians rather than to incur the obligations involved in church membership, neverthe- less the great majority seek the fuller integration which comes through Christian fellowship. These little churches play an important part in the developing life of the converts and in the progress of the Christian movement as a whole. Here converts are brought un- der the regular means of grace as these are dispensed by accredited ministers. They find here a fellowship with others of like mind, and a mutual stimulation and discipline in the good life. In the accepted objectives of the church they are provided with a common cause to which they may devote their energies. Within this chosen circle there is a haven of refuge from the at- tacks and the ostracism experienced in the unfriendly world. The church with its approved ways of living and of believing provides the individual with definite models according to which his own personality config- urations (of conduct, emotion or thought) are inter- twined with the culture complexes of the great Chris- tian movement. Especially in the earlier decades of its existence in any community the little congregation is forced to assume a separatistic attitude and to pro- tect itself behind defense mechanisms, lest its flicker- ing life be snuffed out by opposition and ridicule. But if the religious experiences through which it passes are sufficiently moving it does not long remain on the de- fensive. It becomes a propagandistic or conflict group, valiantly facing the surrounding community, condemn- 228 REINTEGRATION THROUGH NEW GROUPINGS ing its evil ways, proclaiming its message of salvation and thus gradually building up about itself a grow- ing Christian community, functioning as the organ- ized institution for the promotion of the cause. The spirit of self-respect in these little minority groups is sustained by a consciousness of wider affiliations through which they belong to a worldwide brother- hood numbering into the millions, and to a great spir- itual family which has as its father the Lord of the universe. The function which the church has played as offering a local center for social and religious reintegration has been limited because the church as an institutionalized expression of religion is foreign to most countries where it has been introduced. No similar organization al- ready existed; therefore a whole new set of habits, at- titudes and relationships must be developed before the members can play their part effectively within it. Fur- thermore, during the long period of tutelage, the hand of the missionary controlled administration, discipline, policies and creeds. The patterns of life, laid down by the missionary and made inevitable by an antago- nistic environment were inclined to be separatistic and not sufficiently inclusive of all the legitimate interests of life. The church and the world, religion and science, nationalism and cosmopolitanism are still in conflict. But in spite of these handicaps the church has con- tinued to grow; and now that the policies of the mis- sions are placing indigenous leaders in positions of responsibility, and granting to the native church a larger voice in determining its own affairs, the process of indigenization will transform these exotic institu- 229 CHRISTIAN MISSIONS AND A NEW WORLD CULTURE tions into something wherein the native heart and mind will feel more at home. 4. The function of the church as the incubator of new idealisms. One of the most valuable functions which the church may play in any society is to serve as the incubator of new idealisms, which as yet are too advanced for the total community. Ideals and con- structive reforms do not float over a land, like a fra- grant breeze, welcomed by all. As a rule they must be born and nurtured, it may be for years or even for cen- turies, within the fellowship of little groups, until such time as the rest of the world is ready for them. For many years, the Quakers and kindred separa- tistic bodies in America stood almost alone in their protest against the evils of war and in their advocacy of universal peace, for which the rest of the church and the world was as yet unprepared. But in due time, and partly as a result of their example, a new idealism began to seize the minds of men outside of these mi- nority sects; and now what was once the eccentricity of a small body bids fair to become the accepted prin- ciple of a large section of the church. None of the apostles of this new movement have felt called upon to renounce their denominational connections and affiliate themselves with the Quakers. They rather remain within their own communions and seek to inspire their brethren with these ideals. The American public is gaining a new orientation with reference to war and peace, not by becoming Quakers, but by adopting a part of the Quaker faith. All dissenting bodies strive to further their cause by winning proselytes. But they render an even greater service to humanity by serving 230 REINTEG&ATION THROUGH NEW GROUPINGS as incubators of prematurely born Idealisms and social reforms, where these may be nurtured, kept alive in the face of opposition, experimented with under vary- ing conditions, and demonstrated to the world, until such time as the larger community may be willing and ready to adopt them. A similar phenomenon is transpiring today in for- eign lands. Through the cross-fertilization described above, churches have been planted. Some of these seem to be discouragingly small. But if the process has really been creative and frequently it is some- thing new has been born in the land a higher ideal- ism, a growing sense of personal integrity and of social justice, a new and better technique for the achievement of worthy goals. This of necessity does set the church off from the rest of the world. It becomes a center of transcendental living, standing for a type of life not yet attained by the surrounding community. The nu- merical growth may be rapid or slow. But the popu- larization of these new principles and customs does not depend solely upon institutional growth. If its light is not hid under a bushel, here and there other sincere souls begin to take note, and within their lives a new light dawns. Thus it is that as the years go by, in- creasing numbers of outsiders who prefer to remain within their ancestral faiths begin to borrow these new idealisms and to disseminate them among their fellows. In this way the old religion drops some of its antiquated cargo and becomes the vehicle for a larger number of higher values, without losing its self -identity or sever- ing its connections with the past. In so far as this takes place, the religious life of the multitudes is 231 CHRISTIAN MISSIONS AND A NEW WORLD CULTURE spared from disastrous upheavals. Gradually, and perhaps imperceptibly to them, the institution to which they belong passes through a transition, taking its con- stituent members with it, and as this transpires they or their children may gain a new orientation in life. In this more comprehensive transformation of society reform movements play an important part. IV. REINTEGRATION THROUGH REFORM MOVEMENTS A considerable number are entering into a new life by allying themselves with reform movements, such as the Brahma Samaj, the Arya Sanaa], the Ramakrishna Mission, the Ahmadiya Movement, certain eclectic bodies in China, and reform groups among Buddhists and Shintoists. These people have become alive to the need of social and religious reform; but the disintegra- tion which they have experienced has not been suffi- ciently drastic to discredit the religion of their ances- tors to such an extent that they feel justified in making a complete break and joining the Christian church. On the other hand, their new principles and programs make it difficult to continue in full fellowship with the estab- lished orthodoxies. They gravitate into more or less completely organized associations for the furtherance of their chosen reforms, fully convinced that by so doing they will be rendering their greatest service to their native land. Each of these little groups fulfils a very useful purpose in the process of culture trans- fusion and in the creation of a new future. They serve as mediating bodies, bridging a chasm which otherwise might seem impassable. They provide at 232 REINTEGRATION THROUGH NEW GROUPINGS least a temporary anchorage for a limited number of distraught persons. They serve as separate and dis- tinct experiments in the working out of whatever re- integration of cultures the future may unfold. V. REVITALIZING THE OLD RELIGION Not all of those who are influenced by the present- day ferment feel called upon to become converts to the Christian faith, or to ally themselves with reforming bodies. A larger number accept theoretically certain new concepts and principles as the ideals and centers of reference about which they individually reorganize their ideational world. To a moderate extent they likewise reshape their daily life and conduct, and by means of rationalizations manage to harmonize the new with the old. But the reintegrations which they thus effect involve no radical rearrangement of their relationships with the ongoing indigenous institutions. So far as these groups are concerned they prefer to re- main in full f ellowship, and to work from within, trust- ing to the influence of quiet example, informal conver- sations, and the slower processes of time to bring the institutions which they love nearer and nearer to the reconstructed ideal which they cherish in their own hearts. For the time being they are caught in many a compromising position which makes a fuller unification of life impossible. To many they may appear to be inconsistent and even hypocritical. Their own souls commute daily and in a distressing fashion between the ideal and the actual. But they labor and wait for the day when the religious body to which they be- 233 CHRISTIAN MISSIONS AND A NEW WORLD CULTURE long, with all its imperfections, may be brought at least a little closer to tlxe ideal to which they person- ally have committed themselves. In this patient labor and waiting for a better future, life for them gains a worth while meaning. Thus through one experiment and through another increasing numbers in the Orient are seeking a reorientation of their lives in group rela- tionships. 234 CHAPTER XHI REINTEGRATION ABOUT SOME CENTER OF REFERENCE The partisans of all faiths are concerned today about what may be happening to their religions as a result of the impact of one culture upon another. The Christian is asking: Are other religions dying out? Will Christianity conquer the world, and if so in what form? Or will there be a syncretism of religions? In the previous chapter we have described six different associations of people, each of which is working its way out of the present confusion by effecting its own peculiar reintegration of culture elements. The an- swer to the above questions must be sought in an analysis of such experiments, for it is the net result of these which will determine the future of all religions. I. DISINTEGRATION AND REINTEGRATION i. The fragmentation of cultures through culture contacts. We now come to the place where we can appreciate the significance of the fact that cultures consist of elements, of varying degrees of complexity, woven together into a total pattern not unlike a piece of tapestry. When civilization plays upon civilization, or when religion comes to grips with religion, the one does not displace the other as one coat might be ex- 235 CHRISTIAN MISSIONS AND A NEW WORLD CULTURE changed for another. Rather the structural cohesion of both civilizations is loosened up to a greater or less degree. Culture elements are pried loose from, their former context; and these elements of varying com- plexity become the units which later are rejected, ac- cepted and fused together into new combinations in the emerging reintegration. 2. The rejection and selection of culture elements, both alien and indigenous. It is at this juncture, when individuals and societies face the necessity of recon- structing their lives, that they are called upon to exer- cise, as never before, their powers of evaluation, test- ing, rejection and selection. One of the things of which men are first conscious is the effort to get rid of cer- tain features, both alien and indigenous, which have come to appear objectionable. The convert to Chris- tianity is called upon to renounce some of the features of his native culture. But at the same time he is apt to reject, or at least neglect as meaningless, some items of the newly adopted religion. The non-Christian like- wise is moved to repress certain aspects of his tradi- tional civilization; but at the same time he repudiates some of the innovations from abroad as offensive or unattractive. Every effort at religious reintegration, then, has this negative aspect, involving the rejection of certain elements of both cultures. At the same time, there is the positive aspect. Not all of the indigenous civilization is rejected; the major portion is retained. Furthermore, a certain number of the elements of western culture and religion are actu- ally accepted. To the superficial observer, this may seem like the introduction of something entirely new 236 ^INTEGRATION ABOUT SOME CENTER OF SEFESENCE into an alien soil, or at least the substitution of one thing for another. On the surface it may appear as though the automobile is substituted for the ox cart, a new form of government is substituted for that which has gone into the discard, and a new way of salvation or a new savior for the old. But the concepts of in- troduction and substitution are superficial and mis- leading. It is true that one culture accessory, such as a plow, can be substituted for another, and also that one symbol, such as the name of a god or savior can be exchanged for another. But this is possible only by virtue of a deeper psychological transaction through which the related customs, habits, ideas and emotions are transformed so that they will conform to these in- novations and this is not a process of substitution, but of conditioning old responses to new stimuli. 3. The reintegration which creates the resulting types of culture and of personality. The insufficiency of the concept of importation and substitution to account for what takes place when two religions come together is made quite dear by taking as an example the effort to substitute the worship of the Virgin Mary for that of the pagan goddess at Copacabana, on the shores of Lake Titicaca, in South America. When the Spanish missionaries arrived in the sixteenth century, they found this shrine to be the center of an elaborate cult, to which the Indians flocked periodically. They there- fore proceeded by all the means within their power to convert the Indians to the worship of the Virgin. What is the result after three hundred years? On the very same spot there now stands a Christian church instead of the pagan temple. On the altar is to be 237 CHRISTIAN MISSIONS AND A NEW WORLD CULTURE found an image of the Virgin, instead of the symbol of the heathen goddess. In these superficial respects, there has been a substitution. But what is the idea or picture of the Virgin which these Indians carry in their minds and of which the image in the church is the symbol, so far as they are concerned? Unfortunately no analytical study has ever been made of this, but all evidence to date seems to indicate that the picture which the Indians harbor in their minds is the product of a cross-fertilization, a combination of concepts, both pagan and Christian. This conclusion seems corrobo- rated by the fact that the worship of which the shrine is the center today presents a strange fusion of prac- tices, Catholic and pagan, not found anywhere else. Here are observed the usual feasts of the Christian calendar; but the feast of the year which draws the masses is a perpetuation of the old pagan anniversary. This is the occasion of the traditional pilgrimages, on which the celebrants comport themselves, and adorn their bodies much as did their pagan ances- tors. As actually carried on today, the worship is a peculiar combination of elements, both pagan and Christian. Now the process by means of which Jesus Christ is " substituted " for some other center of reference in the lives of non-Christian peoples is not very different from this. The symbol, the name of Jesus, may be substituted for that of some pagan god or savior. But what about the mental picture of Jesus, which is the vital thing, of which the name is only the symbol? How about the attitudes and conduct of those who bear that name? As will be shown in the next chapter, both con- 238 ^INTEGRATION ABOUT SOME CENTER OF REFERENCE cept and conduct are the results of a relntegration and not of a substitution. Let us suppose for the moment that the individual has either achieved or inherited a center of reference, which is sufficiently inspiring to stand out as the focal point of his life. This in itself is not enough to effect a satisfying unification. Even then, conduct, emotion and thought must be brought into correlation with this ere any real reintegration is consummated. There are four stages in this process of relating culture element to culture element, under an accepted center of refer- ence, and people achieve a greater or less degree of reintegration according to the stage attained. II. STAGES IN REINTEGRATION i. The juxtaposition of diverse elements under no one unifying principle. In some of the homes of Japan, the larger part of the house is furnished after the con- ventional Japanese style. Here the family spends most of its time and finds itself most at home. But one or two other rooms have been equipped with western furnishings; and in these strange surroundings the family accustoms itself little by little to the occidental manner of living. Corresponding to each of these styles of house furnishings, there are built up in the lives of the people themselves two diverse types of behavior different ways of eating, of sitting, of dress- ing, even of thinking and feeling existing side by side in the same individual or family. But as yet no synthesis of the two orders has been effected. The new exists as a rival or at least as a supplement to the old; 239 CHRISTIAN MISSIONS AND A NEW WORLD CULTURE with the result that the individual is compelled to al- ternate back and forth from one order to the other; a divided personality whose life is organized according to two domestic patterns, which so far have defied all attempts at unification. Something very similar to this may take place in the effort to relate the religious furnishings of the mind and heart. Certain aspects of the Christian religion make a strong appeal to many. But as yet the old centers of reference have not been seriously disturbed; and the new style of imported furnishings is so strange in design and calls for such contrary habits that it cannot be harmonized with the old. Consequently these innovations are added as a supplementary room to the spiritual house in which the person has been accustomed to live. Here he may erect his shrine to Jesus; but he does not renounce the pagan god-shelf where he and his family have been accustomed to pay their homage. Two centers of reference now are found where possibly one existed before, each calling for dif- ferent kinds of conduct, and producing the type known as the " double-minded man." The Christian convert may find himself in a similar dualistic position. It is one thing to profess one's allegiance to a new Lord, but it is quite a different mat- ter to bring all things into subjection to him. Even though one may repudiate his old pagan gods with the best of intentions, they refuse to die a sudden death, and linger on challenging fidelity and dividing affec- tions. So, likewise, converts find difficulty in bringing the major disciplines of their lives into subjection to any one center of reference. Their new religion and 240 REINTEGRATION ABOUT SOME CENTER OF REFERENCE their patriotism may exist side by side, and the convert must alternate from one loyalty to the other because as yet no reconciliation has been effected. The same may be said of ethical ideals and the demands of the eco- nomic discipline in which they earn their daily bread* How many Christians are having a trying time in cor- relating religion with science, and have found no better expedient than to place them in juxtaposition, in which one is held to deal with values while the other deals with objects and events! The experience of the race has proved that rarely if ever can a complete reintegration of life be realized. There remain incorrigible elements. Toward these, different people adopt differing policies. The panthe- istic Hindu tries to solve the conflict by denying the reality of the temporal and the tangible and by holding them in disdain. Those who are more realistically in- clined deal with them as best they can. Some are opposed in open warfare; others are driven under ground; with others a truce is declared and the indi- vidual alternates from one to the other; others at the cost of much self-discipline are brought more and more perfectly into subjection to some one center. But at best there always remains a residue which defies reconciliation. 2. Eclecticism as the first step in the correlation of elements from diverse origins under one common center. Eclecticism is one of the more artificial ways in which an effort is made to reconcile elements drawn from alien and perhaps antithetical sources into a closer harmony than that attained through placing them in juxtaposition. In tMs case the Japanese house- 241 CHRISTIAN MISSIONS AND A NEW WORLD CULTURE holder breaks down the wall of partition between the native home and the western rooms, and furnishes his house with an ensemble of articles, both foreign and indigenous. As yet, however, they exist only as objects brought together from diverse origins, and devoid of any harmony of color or of design which would give a unity to the furnishings as a whole. In spite of these shortcomings, however, the dualism involved in juxtaposition is evaded, and one gets at least some sense of living in one habitation and according to one domestic order, even though it be lacking in real harmony. Similar attempts are being made to achieve at least the appearance of unity in the religious furnishings of the mind. The eclectic has already acquired some con- cept which serves as the unifying center of his life. With this as his norm he picks and chooses those doc- trines and practices, now from one religion and now from another, which appeal to him. He gathers these together into an artificial combination in which as yet there may be no more real unity of structure, harmony of design or coordination of function than is likely to prevail in the ensemble of furniture described above. The only bond which holds these diverse elements to- gether is their common relationship to one center of reference. As a stage of reintegration, this marks a step in advance of juxtaposition, but it still falls far short of any real synthesis which gives promise of long survival. India with its central concept of the pantheistic Absolute is continually striving to bring about an all- embracing unity, which in many cases fails to attain 242 REINTEGRATION ABOUT SOME CENTER OF REFERENCE to anything more than an elaborate eclecticism. The following description of his religion as given by a learned Brahmin will serve as an example: In my religion there is an element of the old Vedic faith of my ancestors. On certain occasions I worship the Sun and the Fire, using the identical hymns which my ances- tors used thousands of years ago; only I look upon the Sun and the Fire as manifestations of the Supreme One, and in worshiping them I worship Him. Secondly, there is the Upanishadic strain. I sometimes rise to sublime heights of spirituality when I read about Nadaiketas and his famous quest for truth. Thirdly, there is the Buddhis- tic element; and it is owing to the influence of Gautama Buddha and of Jainism that we have all become vegeta- rians and teetotalers. Fourthly, there is the Puranic element, the popular religion of temples, priests, of feasts and fasts and pilgrimages, and above all of idol worship. I am not ashamed to confess that I am an idolater; be- cause it is only through an idol (a symbol) that we of finite capacity can think of the Infinite. Again, in the dim background of our religious consciousness there is an element of animism, a tendency to offer homage, out of irrational fear, to the village goddess of smallpox when someone near and dear to us is attacked. There is the rationalistic element of inquiry and scepticism, the result of our knowledge of science in the widest sense of the term. There is, above all, the influence of all other reli- gions, such as Islam and Christianity, because we come into daily contact with the followers of those religions and see how these faiths serve to uphold and guide their ad- herents in their voyage through life. Thus speaking of my own faith, I must confess it is not a simple thing to be put into a formula; but a complex and variegated one, having many constituent elements, which work upon me 243 CHRISTIAN MISSIONS AND A NEW WORLD CULTURE at different times with different degrees of force and conviction.* It will be noted that this man already entertains some concept of " The Supreme One " which serves as a center of reference. Under this concept he has cor- related a strange medley of culture elements taken from a variety of sources. And yet, according to his own confession, his religion fails to attain any real unity. " I must confess that it is not a simple thing to be put into a formula; but a complex and variegated one, having many constituent elements which work upon me at different times, with different degrees of force and conviction." In some such way as this, a considerable number of religionists in foreign countries are striving to correlate under their traditional centers of reference diverse elements selected from different sources, but the result resembles a patchwork quilt and not an interlaced piece of tapestry. So, likewise, converts to Christianity are trying to harmonize things new and old under the center of reference which they have accepted, namely, their con- cept of the Christian Savior or of the Christian God. No matter how sweeping the disillusionment througji which they have passed, not all of their former manner of life is rejected as spurious. A very considerable portion is still cherished as valuable, and an effort is made to combine this residue with those elements- of Christianity which they have been led to accept. Thus Christianity is in the process of becoming "indige- nized " in all countries. Nothing is causing more con- * Attitudes Toward Other Faiths (pp. 154, 155), by D. J. Fleming, Association Press. 244 REINTEGRATION ABOUT SOME CENTER OF REFERENCE cern both to occidental Christians and to their oriental brethren than this irresistible process which is weaving together elements from the East and the West into new combinations which never existed before. What is to become of Christianity? It is well to bear in mind that this is no new phe- nomenon. It is but one step in a universal process, continually regarded with apprehension but persistently operative down through the ages. No one who is ac- quainted with the history of Christianity needs to be told that the religion which came out of Palestine was itself a unique amalgam; and that since then experi- ments in the incorporation of things alien into the oncoming stream of the Christian religion have been a constantly recurring phenomenon. Some of these .things have been so throughly assimilated that by many today they are supposed to have belonged to apostolic Christianity. Other attempts have failed, and lie in ruins along the road. Exactly the same operation is taking place in all mission lands at the present time. As soon as the converts acquire a con- cept of Jesus Christ or of God sufficiently vivid to serve as a center of reference, they try to reconcile the various features of their former civilization of which they still approve with this concept; and conversely, the concept itself is reinterpreted if need be in order that it may serve as a sanction for those ideas and practices which they wish to retain. What shall we say with reference to the place of eclecticism in the spread of Christianity today? It all depends upon the viewpoint from which the question is approached. The orthodox dogmatist of the West 245 CHRISTIAN MISSIONS AND A NEW WORLD CULTURE judges of the legitimacy of these attempts according as they agree or disagree with his own interpretation of the fundamentals of the gospel. He recognizes of course that a certain amount of fusion does and must take place. Such innovations as meet with his ap- proval are rationalized: they are said to be " baptized into Christ," or they are taken as evidences that " God hath not left himself without witness/' in these dis- tant lands. The innovations which meet with his dis- approval are rejected as spurious. These are called " eclecticisms " or " syncretisms," and they are con- demned because they do not harmonize with the center of reference which happens to be functioning in his own life. Much of the discussion on this subject is wide of the mark. The real issue is not the fact of the exchange of culture elements, which all recognize to some extent as both inevitable and possibly beneficial. The dispute concerns two other matters which are not always brought to light. First, is there a potential spirituality in the Orient or does such vitality inhere in Christi- anity alone? and second, what is the criterion by which the true process of assimilation is to be distinguished from the spurious? Is that criterion to be found in some ultimate norm, already possessed by Christianity, or does it consist finally in a capacity for self-correction which inheres in the process itself, by which even such norms are either confirmed or altered? A study of the ongoing process inclines one to the latter view. One sees that if an Indian Christian, for example, is to achieve any unity of life, of necessity this reintegration of things new and old must be made 246 REINTEGRATION ABOUT SOME CENTER OF REFERENCE about the center of reference which he himself enter- tains, and not about any which may be held by the missionary or the mother church of the West. The first prerequisite for such an eclectic fusion is that the ingredients be reconciled with that center. As to whether that center is a worthy one, and whether this new combination shall remain artificial and ephemeral or shall become vital and truly creative, depends pri- marily not upon its conformity with any orthodoxy but upon the efficacy of Its functioning in the definite social situation where it is being tried out. Eclecticism is not necessarily bad; it is rather in- complete, and unless carried on to the final goal of a real synthesis it remains sterile. The chief defect of eclecticism rests in the fact that a culture complex (a doctrine, ritual or practice) cannot be manipulated at will as a self -inclosed entity, to be shuffled about from one religion to another as one might mix two decks of cards. Rather, in its own cultural setting it had the structure of an octopus, with radiating parts interlacing it with all the rest of the religion. Any cul- ture complex then it may be the communion service, the doctrine of the atonement or ancestor worship which is lifted out of its customary context to be com- bined with other ingredients in a new integration becomes a multilated thing, like a tree whose roots have been severed in order that it may be transplanted. A dozen such trees gathered from near and far and stuck in the ground do not thereby make a forest. Even when a doctrine or practice is reconciled theo- retically with a center of reference, as is attempted in eclecticism, this is not sufficient to insure its vitality in 247 CHRISTIAN MISSIONS AND A NEW WORLD CULTURE the future life of the individual or of a religion. It must take root in the new soil; that is, it must itself pass through a process of still further disintegration and reintegration, as outlined in the two stages de- scribed below. " Except a grain of wheat fall into the earth and die it abideth by itself alone." 3. Syncretism as the second step in the new correla- tion. Syncretism * is that phase of the total process wherein the culture complex taken from one civiliza- tion is broken up into its constituent traits, certain objectionable features are eliminated, some are re- tained, and then these are combined with other traits borrowed from another civilization to produce a new culture complex, possibly better suited to fulfil the de- sired function. The earnest propagandist may intro- duce his doctrines and sacraments into a foreign coun- try and insist that they be perpetuated inviolable; but as soon as the indigenous mentality is free to express itself not even a sacrament is sufficiently sacred to escape the inevitable syncretism which awaits it, as the history of doctrine and ritual abundantly proves. The exotic character of an imported culture complex and the efforts made to effect a syncretism are well illus- trated by the experiences of a devout convert from Hinduism,, as he tries to reconcile the sacrament of the communion as celebrated by Ms church with much of his ancestral culture which he still reveres: * The author employs the terms " eclecticism " and " syncretism " as referring to two successive stages in the total process of the reinte- gration of personality and of culture. He does not use them in the more popular way as synonyms to denote those particular combina- tions which are held to be inconsistent with western orthodoxy. 248 REINTEGRATION ABOUT SOME CENTER OF REFERENCE In every Hindu temple daily there is an evening serv- ice ... which is usually held between six and eight P.M. During this service the chief stone idol is dressed with jewels, gold plates, silks and flowers, and hundreds of devotees assemble there to have a glimpse of Siva dur- ing the service. . . . Toward the close of the service Prasadam (solid eatables offered to the Deity) and Theertham (the Holy Water) are freely distributed to the devotees. The worshipers receive a pinch or a small quantity of prasadam and eat it with due respect. Then follows the distribution of Holy Water. As they stand bowing their heads, about a teaspoonful of the Holy Water is poured in the hollow of the right palin of every- one present, who supports his right palm with his left one underneath it and a portion of his cloth between the two, thus preventing even a drop of this Holy Water from falling to the ground. Then the devotee, lifting his head up, pours and reverently takes in half the quantity of this blessed water, and sprinkles the remaining half on his head and returns home rejoicing. It is considered unholy to lick or sip the water from the hand. . . . Eight years after my father's death I embraced the Christian faith, and noticed the same sort of service is being conducted in our Churches. I am not unaware of the peculiar and sacred significance of the Communion service in our Churches, but it appears to me in a dif- ferent colour. . . . The Prasadam and the Holy Water, after the Brahmins had their turns, are distributed irre- spective of caste or creed. It is open to the public and is offered to any sinner. But the Communion Service in our churches, though it is preached to be the means of grace, is not open to the public and is not offered to any sinner. . , . Did our Lord mean it in this way? Moreover, the very idea of sipping a sacred vessel and passing it on from lips to lips is a thing Hindus can never 249 CHRISTIAN MISSIONS AND A NEW WORLD CULTURE imagine. It was a Jewish habit which has automatically been Christianized in the West and transferred to the East. In Hindu families the father or the head of the family is the Priest of the family. He performs all the functions of a priest on festival days. Let me quote one instance to prove how this idea develops itself naturally in Chris- tian families. There was a great and influential man in Madras who was a pious convert from Hinduism and a true bhakta. After I became a Christian he often used to invite me to dine with him, and I used to accept the invi- tation as I enjoyed the real fellowship of Christianity with him whenever I paid him a visit. I was present in his house one evening during the family worship. Never will I forget it. The service that was so instructive and im- pressive lasted for about an hour. Toward the end of the service there was the Holy Communion, and my friend, the father of the family, acted as priest. He blessed the bread and the wine, and after he had par- taken offered them to his wife, children, grandchildren and relations. In this article I am neither to support nor to criticize his actions. He was one of the best Christian bhaktas I have come across in my life, and was at the same time a loyal and an important member of the church to which he belonged. How can I conscientiously believe that God would not accept this service as it was not conducted by an ordained man and in a consecrated place? . . . I will never also forget the sad and the most unpleasant Christian experience I had in my life once. Some ten years ago I had the rare privilege of conducting a big mass meeting on a Sunday morning in a big city in S. India. Hundreds of people were present and the whole service was left in my hands. This was followed by the Holy Communion service. As I belonged to another 250 ^INTEGRATION ABOUT SOME CENTER OF REFERENCE Church I had to leave this Church and come away with a sad and heavy heart. In the sermon I spoke of service for our country, and union, fellowship and love for our countrymen ; but in the next minute I found that I could not put them into practice. I had to damp the spirit of God that was moving in me and was compelled to disobey " the voice of God." . . . There I realized that " Church " stands between a sinner and God. Well, the reader may say that we Christians cannot compare our religious practices to those of Hindus and accept their way of worshiping God as an ideal one. I do admit that. . . . But I do feel that it would be better if we have freedom to practise what we preach and to act according to our Lord's desire, without any restrictions or reserve or doctrines or denominational spirit-tight com- partments.* This man, although a convert to Christianity, is like- wise the son of a Hindu father whose religious life has made a profound impression upon him; some of which he has rejected, it is true, but some is still revered as noble and good. He notices the similarities and con- trasts between the two forms of worship, and it is in the light of these that he reacts to the communion service. The Hindu soul within him cries out in pro- test against some of the traits which appear to be essentially western. If he had his way he would re- make the communion ceremony; and as a justification of this he appeals over the authority of his church back to what he considers to be the true spirit of the Great Head of the church. That Head is held to disapprove * The Indirect Effects of Christian Missions in India (pp. 77-82), by R. S. Wilson. Quoted from the National Missionary Intelligencer for March, 1926. James Clarke & Company, London, 251 CHRISTIAN MISSIONS AND A NEW WORLD CULTURE of those things of which he himself disapproves. Jesus Christ has already become the symbol of some values current in Indian life. This feeling of incongruity between things foreign and indigenous exists all over the world and can be counteracted only by the strictest discipline and by keeping the church completely iso- lated from its cultural environment. As soon as this feeling is free to express itself, a disintegration and reintegration of the communion service will take place, similar to a recombination already being attempted in connection with the marriage ceremony in various countries. From time immemorial the Chinese have had their own forms of the marriage rite, with which any couple had to comply in order to be considered properly mar- ried. The missionary on the other hand translated the Christian ceremony from his pastor's handbook and expected his converts to be married under Christian auspices. This juxtaposition of two rival wedding complexes led to confusion. Some insisted upon being married by the Chinese rites; some substituted the Christian service for the traditional customs; some were married first by one ceremony and then by the other. This state of affairs could not continue forever. Consequently the missionaries and the national leaders of one denomination have sought to solve the difficulty by breaking up both ceremonies into their component parts, eliminating those features which were supposed to be either anti-Christian or anti-Chinese, and then to piece the remainder together into a combined cere- mony which might serve the Christian community without offending the sense of propriety of either 252 REINTEGRATION ABOUT SOME CENTER OF REFERENCE party. The result of this particular experiment is as follows: 1. New combination of culture traits which consti- tutes the betrothal: (a) Employment of the " go-between " to carry on negotiations between the two families (Chi- nese custom). (b) Exchange of betrothal cards (Chinese cus- tom). (c) Sending of betrothal presents (Chinese cus- tom). (d) Insisting upon the voluntary consent of the two parties concerned (Christian innovation). 2. New combination of traits which constitutes the wedding ceremony: (a) Giving of wedding presents (Chinese and Christian). (b) Signing the marriage contract between the two families (Chinese custom). (c) The procession in which the bride is borne through the streets in a red chair to the home of the bridegroom (Chinese custom). (d) Reception of the bride by the groom in Ms home where the celebrations are held (Chinese custom). Omit what might be interpreted as the worship of Heaven and Earth and of the ancestors by the wedding party (Chinese cus- tom rejected). (e) In the place of these objectionable features retain the bows of reverence and respect (Chi- nese custom). (f ) Employ the services of the Christian minister, 253 CHRISTIAN MISSIONS AND A NEW WORLD CULTURE either in the home or in the church (Christian innovation). Omit the giving of the ring and the holding of hands. (These western innova- tions violate as yet the Chinese sense of propriety.) (g) Provide some substitute for the audible " I Will/ 7 of the bride. (A compromise between the old Chinese custom which denied the bride the right to voice her sentiments lest she lose her modesty, and the Christian insistence upon an overt expression of willingness.) Omit the subsequent teasing of the bride and horse-play (Chinese custom). (h) Substitute a more moderate outlay for the elaborate expenses of the conventional Chinese wedding. Now notice what has been accomplished in this operation. No longer is the Christian ceremony trans- planted into foreign soil as an alien and truncated unit shorn of those tendrils which bind it up as an integral part of its cultural context. Rather the " syncretized " ceremony consists of a goodly number of Chinese traits which already had run their tendrils back into past history, out into the contemporaneous structure of society, and deep into the emotional life of the people. The go-between, the exchange of cards and presents, the red chair, the wedding procession, the reverential bowing, and other familiar features serve as so many radiating bonds to link up this new combination with things Chinese; while at the same time, other elements tie it up with the Christian heritage of the West. The two ceremonies have themselves been wed. But even 254 REINTEGRATION ABOUT SOME CENTER OF REFERENCE yet this operation savors too much of the deliberate reshuffling of constituent units to produce anything more than an artificial combination. Syncretism, like eclecticism, is but another stage on the road; and it too will prove to be short-lived and ephemeral unless the process passes on to the final goal where a more complete synthesis is effected. 4. Assimilation which completes the synthesis of culture and the reintegration of personality. This final stage is something which time and time alone can accomplish. It is a more perfect fusion which can never be effected by any deliberate act of the will, or by any mere process of eclecticism or of syncretism, as described above. We mean by " time " that long succession of stimuli, responses, registrations of out- comes, evaluations and testings of these outcomes, with the subsequent conditioning of thousands of responses, which follow when this new syncretic complex begins to serve as a pattern of conduct. Assimilation is per- fected as the outcomes of such conduct are registered in the responder, in society, and in culture, through the passing of time. In the main, it is automatic and un- conscious in its operation. If these outcomes are satis- factory and the new complex functions successfully the outcomes are registered in such a way as to carry syncretism on to the goal of a fuller synthesis. If the contrary is true, it never passes the experimental stage. It is these subtle results of behavior, then, which, determine whether this rather artificial combination shall be woven together into a closely knit unit, playing a vital part in the life of an individual or of a society. It takes time for these new experiments to be tested in 255 CHRISTIAN MISSIONS AND A NEW WORLD CULTURE the pragmatic laboratory of the manifold experiences of life, and to discover whether they will fulfil what is expected of them. It takes time and repetition to coordinate together traits borrowed from different civi- lizations into one smoothly running technique, so that the constituent operations lose their strangeness and become habitual. Only thus will the missionary lose the sense of strangeness and awkwardness should he attempt to pour the wine out of his own hand, or the Hindu as he drinks it from a cup. It takes time for the new complex to gather about itself that halo of sentiment which binds it to that which is already precious in life. Only the children and the grand- children of these pioneers can feel toward such a syn- thetic communion service the warmth of sentiment which this converted Hindu still feels toward the tem- ple worship made sacred by the memories of his father, or that the Christian in America feels toward a sacra- ment or a doctrine hallowed by age. It takes time for these innovations to find their place in some kind of a harmonious intellectual system; time for them to find vindication in the old sanctions of the past, or else for the old authorities to be so changed that they can be reconciled with that which is new. It takes time to rationalize any remaining inconsistencies and to re- move minor incongruities, to the end that the new com- plex may become more perfectly polarized with any concept which is taking shape as the new center of reference. It takes time for the new synthesis, formed first of all within a few individuals, to win its way into the life of the larger body of society, thus to become a part of the general culture. 256 REINTEGRATION ABOUT SOME CENTER OF REFERENCE Such a complete synthesis is attained only when the various units of the complex function so smoothly that people are not conscious of any serious friction in the present and are no longer aware of the syncretism which took place in the past. Most Christian people in the West are no longer conscious of earlier eclecti- cisms in the ceremony by which they were married, in the communion service in which they participate, nor in the doctrine of the atonement which inteUectualizes their hope of salvation. Time has done its work. In few instances, if any, has this full stage been reached in the process of reintegration in the Orient. There has not been sufficient time. But the subtle process is in full swing, and as a result of numberless, condi- tionings and reconditionings the various tentative ex- periments which start with eclecticisms and syncre- tisms will either be dropped by the way, or carried on to a more complete synthesis. It may be well at this juncture to call to mind the contribution which synthesis makes to human life. It is the particular manner in which the diverse parts are integrated into a new synthesis which produces that which is characteristic and unique in the new unity. Parts combined in certain proportions and according to one pattern produce one unique product; but these same parts combined in other proportions and accord- ing to another pattern will give a different result. The characteristics of water cannot be discovered either in hydrogen or in oxygen. Something new is born the moment that the two gases are combined into a chemi- cal compound of definite proportions. Other propor- tions give other compounds and other qualities. It is 257 CHRISTIAN MISSIONS AND A NEW WORLD CULTURE not otherwise with the reintegrations of cultures. It is the specific and particular combination of the various parts which gives birth to that which is new, unique and possibly endowed with survival power. It is this that the analyst misses when he would explain a reli- gion or a personality simply by cataloging and describ- ing each of the constituent parts. That something which has eluded him is discovered (in so far as it can be discovered) in the study of the proportions and of the configurations according to which the parts are correlated in the new synthesis. It is this which is creative of that which is new and characteristic. To condemn synthesis is to condemn that which is creative. This chapter has dealt with the various ways in which culture elements coming from diverse religions and civilizations are articulated together in the effort to effect a structural integration about some center of reference. The next chapter will be concerned with the process of conditioning, or influencing, by which one such new center is formed. 258 CHAPTER XIV JESUS CHRIST AS A CENTER OF REFERENCE As already intimated, the center of reference is itself a concept, taken to be true, and generally visualized under some symbol or figure, drawn from the more familiar walks of life. At the present time, oriental peoples are actually seeking a reintegration of life un- der a variety of unifying principles. In some cases the emerging values of modern society are being polar- ized about a revised concept of the old centers, such as reinterpretations of Buddha, Krishna, Siva, the Tao, Allah or even the symbol of national sovereignty. The characteristic features of these ancient symbols which are judged unworthy are eliminated and new meanings are attributed to them. Thus old symbols are being given a new birth. In other cases people are striving to re-orient their lives about symbols and concepts im- ported from the West, such as the modern doctrine of a world in process, some Christian concept of God, or of Jesus Christ as the new center of reference. Many are trying to interpret Christ so that he will serve as the symbol of the scientific concept of evolution as well as of such religious values as they may still prize. In view of the prominent place which Jesus occupies in mission work we shall study the development of this concept as a sample of how such central ideas are 259 CHRISTIAN MISSIONS AND A NEW WORLD CULTURE formed. Paul the great missionary spoke of himself as being in travail until Christ should be formed in his spiritual children. How is Christ " formed " in men, especially throughout the Orient where until recently he has been practically unknown? I. LEARNING OF CHRIST There are three ways by which Jesus Christ may be made known to a non-Christian. He may read the New Testament, or some other account, in which case he does not come directly into contact with the historic Jesus, but rather with written words expressing the ideas of the authors; that is, their interpretations of the historic figure who lived in Palestine 1900 years ago. The impression which will result from this read- ing will depend upon how these words and pictures are themselves understood. It will be an interpretation of an interpretation. He will gain further knowledge by observing the conduct of people who bear the name of Christian. In this case he will judge of the " spirit " of Jesus by noting the behavior of those who profess to be actuated by that spirit. The propagandist seeks to reenact " living pictures " of the attitudes and conduct which are considered to be typical of his Savior and Lord. He gives a ride in his car to an outcaste trudging along the road, and thus reproduces before the eyes of high caste and low caste alike the incident on the way from Jerusalem to Jericho. The nurse and the doctor bend over a bed of suffering, and portray in flesh and blood the touching scenes of healing as recorded in the gospel 260 JESUS CHRIST AS A CENTER OF REFERENCE story. Thus the Christian relives the " Christ life," as he and his church interpret it. But as was the case with words, such actions are themselves interpreted invariably in the light of patterns already existing in the minds of those who witness them, as later para- graphs will reveal. Probably the major portion of this knowledge will come through the preaching and teaching of propa- gandists, that is, by spoken words used as symbols of overt conduct and abstract ideas. The missionary's concept of Jesus is itself a composite picture, just as is his recollection of his mother whom he has left behind him in America. How can he convey to the people about him some idea of the marvelous woman who is his mother? If the son comport himself in a com- mendable way, people will conclude that his mother must have been an exceptional woman. But let him call to mind the memories of the many life scenes which already have combined to give him his own thought of his mother, let him portray to his new friends vivid accounts of the kindly roles which she played in his life and in that of the family and the community, and ere long they will get the picture of a saintly woman whom they have never seen but whom they may learn to esteem and love. It is in such a way as this that the propagandist gives some idea of what Jesus means to him. He depicts by means of such vivid word pictures as he may be able to give the various r61es which Jesus is thought to play. He describes the scenes of the gospel story, the blessing of the little children, or the scourging of the money changers in the temple. He gives testimony to the way 261 CHRISTIAN MISSIONS AND A NEW WORLD CULTURE in which Jesus has entered into his own life as Savior from sin, as the revealer of God, as partner in life's struggles and as the supreme object of his affections. He outlines the part which Jesus Christ is thought to have played in the history of the church; and if he be philosophically minded he may ascribe to his Lord a cosmic function in connection with creation, redemp- tion or evolution, as the case may be. In each case Jesus is presented as playing some significant part in a life scene or cosmic role, in such a manner as to make him a powerful influence to others. The only way that we know whereby Jesus may enter the Orient is in the form of stimuli either the stimuli furnished by the overt conduct of his followers, or by words, spoken or written, which serve as symbols of conduct and ideas. These influences do not come directly from the historic figure of Palestine, but from a long line of interpreters of that figure. They are stimuli emanating from dis- ciples who are themselves under the sway of a concept of Jesus. II. INDIGENOUS PATTERNS CONDITIONED The Christian Savior does not enter into any oriental country as does his missionary, by walking down the gangplank from a boat. He must rather be " formed " in the minds and hearts of the people and in the cus- toms of the country. This can be accomplished only in so far as he is related to indigenous patterns; that is, in so far as the pictures of him as portrayed by the propagandist are made to take the place of other stimuli in patterns familiar to the oriental, with the 262 JESUS CHRIST AS A CENTER OF REFERENCE result that a new S"~R'~O pattern is formed. This may be accomplished by using Jesus Christ as a cue which serves as a suggestion, as a model which in turn is imitated, by the use of persuasion or by deliberation; but in each case the stimulus is grafted on to a familiar response to form a new stimulus-response pattern. This is the crux of the whole matter. The signifi- cance of Jesus to the Orient will depend upon the particular oriental patterns to which he as stimulus is related. These must be chosen with great care, for it sometimes happens that what is considered to be commendable conduct to the American will be quite the reverse to one of another culture. The story of the Good Samaritan is likely to appear as a bit of folly to a Chinese whose idea of good conduct is to pass on the other side, lest one incur heavy liabilities in case the unfortunate man should die on one's hands. The para- ble of the Prodigal Son, which warms the heart of the westerner, may produce a different effect in the Indian who is so shocked over the killing of the fatted calf that he fails to appreciate the joyful reception given by the father. This, of course, is the well known process by means of which we all learn from our elders who belong to the same stream of culture as we do, and where pat- terns are similar. But one who seeks to make Christ known to an oriental faces special difficulties arising out of the fact that most of the analogies under which he has been accustomed to picture Christ to himself are preeminently Palestinian or western, whereas the patterns with which Christ must be associated are those belonging to a different civilization. Consequently 263 CHRISTIAN MISSIONS AND A NEW WORLD CULTURE there are certain special requirements which must be observed if Jesus is to get the meaning which the missionary desires for those belonging to a different culture. III. CONDITIONS GOVERNING CONDITIONING The usual conditions regulating conditioning as out- lined in Chapter VIII hold with equal force here; but some merit special attention. i. A new stimulus is much more easily bound up to an oriental pattern when there is some similarity be- tween it and the occidental pattern of which the sub- stitute stimulus originally formed a part. One of the figures under which the Christian has thought of his Savior has been that of mediator of divine grace, apart from the works of the law. This interpretation of Jesus can be related readily to the doctrine of Maha- yana Buddhism, which teaches that man is saved through faith in the grace of Amida. Let the new stimulus, Jesus, be substituted for the traditional stimulus, Amida, and the Buddhist will make to him the same response of saving faith. But the Buddhist whose way of salvation has been by the acquiring of merit is not such a ready subject for the doctrine of salvation by grace, as the history of Christianity among the Burmese demonstrates. Before there can be any large turning of Hinayana Buddhists to Christianity one of three things must take place: either the pattern of salvation by works must be discredited, and the other pattern of salvation by faith be built up patiently out of previously existing analogies; or Christianity 264 JESUS CHRIST AS A CENTER OF REFERENCE itself must be presented to them under the pattern of salvation by works ; or possibly some compromise pat- tern might be evolved composed of elements common to both religions. The Christian of the West has thought of Jesus under the figure of the Lamb of God. This means that he responds to Jesus with sentiments of love and atti- tudes of trust, all according to a fairly definite pattern long current in the consciousness of the church. This analogy has come down as a heritage from the shep- herds of Israel who had the age-long custom of sacrific- ing a lamb. But let Jesus be proclaimed under that figure to a people who are unfamiliar with the idea of a sacrificial lamb, and Jesus as Lamb of God will have little or no meaning for them. Not because they are bad or stupid but because their ancestors did not hap- pen to be sheep-raisers. There does not exist, in their repertoire of familiar patterns, any with a lamb as stimulus, in which Jesus can be substituted for the lamb. 2. The concept of Jesus most readily accepted is that which can be related to a pattern which already ministers to a need of which the people are keenly conscious. Patterns are devices for satisfying needs. Missionaries to primitive peoples have almost always complained about the difficulty of getting them to ac- cept Jesus as the Savior from the guilt of sin. This is not surprising. As yet they have no sense of such a need; consequently they have not perfected a behavior pattern for the meeting of such a need, sufficiently similar to that of the Christian way of salvation so that Jesus as Savior from sin can be related to it. But 265 CHRISTIAN MISSIONS AND A NEW WORLD CULTURE frequently such people do suffer from the fear of de- mons. All their lives they have been consulting exor- cists with their magical rites. This constitutes the native sense of being " lost," and the current way of gaining " salvation." Now let Jesus be proclaimed as the divine exerciser of demons as one who was able to free a man from a whole legion of evil spirits and drown them with the swine in the depths of the sea and these demon-haunted folk may recognize here a de- liverance which they need. If so, they will put Jesus in the place of the pagan exerciser in the response pattern already existing in their lives and will turn to him for deliverance. But let it be noted that the Jesus who is thus incorporated in this pattern is the Jesus who stood by the Sea of Galilee and cast out demons. The Jesus of the Social Gospel or of the Logos concept, Jesus as the ethical ideal or as the revelation of the Father may have as yet little or no meaning for the converted demon-worshiper. If such concepts ever come to have any real significance, it will be only as the result of long and patient conditioning to other native analogies which lend themselves to this purpose. 3. Some of the most meaningful patterns for religion arise out of the pressing issues of current living social, economic, political and now scientific. As a result of world contacts, some of the former patterns are falling into decay, some are surviving but passing through a change, and other new patterns are taking shape especially under the influence of science and naturalism. Christian ideals and practices, then, which conform to rejected or declining patterns will likewise be rejected. Those which seem to be in har- 266 JESUS CHRIST AS A CENTER OF REFERENCE mony with dominant patterns will be accepted, and will constitute what is held to be the essential signifi- cance of Jesus, so long as these patterns remain domi- nant and approved. There has recently appeared a small volume of eighty-five pages, published privately by a group of nine Chinese Christian leaders, which illustrates the truth of the above statements. Each one sets forth just what he thinks of Jesus, and in each case the meaning arises by relating a western concept concern- ing him to patterns which have become dominant and essential, at least to the writer. These men find them- selves the heirs of a long civilization, some of whose culture complexes they still accept and some they have already rejected. As ardent patriots they are engulfed in the present struggle for national sovereignty, all of which predetermines the kind of patterns which will have meaning for them. Even a cursory reading of their testimony shows that all are busy with the same psychological operation. The significance which Jesus has for each man depends upon this dissolution and re-formation of patterns, and the particular ones to which Jesus is related. The testimony of one man is as follows: The first bit of knowledge that I gained of Jesus was in regard to his spirit of struggle, . . . My teacher on one occasion explained to me the temptations Jesus met. . . . The point of what he said was that in this matter Jesus was in the same position as we are. It was not a case of not being able to be tempted ; and the reason why he did not succumb to temptation was that lie struggled. From his success in that struggle came his divinity. Ever since 267 CHRISTIAN MISSIONS AND A NEW WORLD CULTURE then these words have been a compass in my life, a gov- erning power over my soul. . . . From the bottom of my heart I believe in the divinity of Jesus, only my un- orthodox view of his divinity differs from other people's. They believe that Jesus is a heaven-born God, a god from the womb from which he came forth. I on the other hand regard Jesus as by birth a man, on the same level as our- selves and that his distjnctiveness lies in his supreme power of striving. This inspired and drove him along the road to divinity. As a matter of fact, the divine nature is common to every man, within the capacity of us all; but because we do not strive . . . our divine nature is whirled from us. We are unable to achieve it, and to the day of our death remain merely men. That is the horror and pity of it, that we take this " heavenly-given nature " of which our philosophers speak and spoil and destroy it, so that we are nothing more than cripples. If then Jesus from his birth was " very God of very God " and never once during his life was subject to great and unevadable temp- tations, then he loses all meaning to me. I have lost one who was tempted and struggled and battled and finally overcame; and I am afraid for myself and cannot summon up the energy to strive.* Our interest here is not in the orthodoxy or the heterodoxy of any particular views but in the manner in which they came to be held. This man finds himself and his nation engaged in a life and death struggle. He looks back and learns that " Jesus was in the same position as we are," but he came off more than con- queror. He serves as an inspiring model, similar in that he battled, different in that he conquered. It is * For this and the following excerpts, cf. The Jesus I Know, Chapter VIII. Shanghai, 1930. 268 JESUS CHRIST AS A CENTER OF REFERENCE this power to gain the victory, rather than any belief in a virgin birth, which gives to Jesus the value of divinity. Furthermore, if the victory of Jesus is to bring any encouragement it must be the triumph of one who like him is flesh and blood, for if Jesus " from his birth was God of very God . . . then he loses all meaning to me." Jesus is here incorporated within an old Chinese pattern concerning the original nature of man. Man comes into the world, not as a child of the evil one, but with a heaven-born nature; thus the struggling Chinese and the struggling Jesus are akin by birth. Both are likewise potentially divine, and the fact that Jesus moved along the road to divinity heartens this man to do likewise. The interpretation of Jesus which is meaningful to this struggling Chinese is that which makes it possible for him to maintain the attitudes of courage and triumph which his life situa- tion calls for. In the second place, these two patterns, the recent one of life as a battle, and the classical one of man as born of heaven also require a remodeling of the tradi- tional doctrines of the atonement: In former years I found it very hard to understand clearly what was meant by Jesus laying down his life as an atonement for sin. I could not see how he who lived two thousand years ago could atone for our sins today. When I came to study theories of the atonement in the history of theology, I found they fell into four groups. These are as follows: ransom theories, substitutionary theories, political theories and ethical theories. Which- ever way these tried to explain the phenomenon, there was great difficulty. Even the last was unsatisfactory, because 269 CHRISTIAN MISSIONS AND A NEW WORLD CULTURE according to this theory Jesus' death on the cross is only an example for us to follow. If that be so, and no more, then this page of history is one of ruthless cruelty and deplorable defeat and has no inspiration in it. We must go farther than that. We need to know that Jesus by the manner of his death gives us incalculable power. That power is the power to struggle victoriously. As he strug- gled, so may we. As he was entirely victorious, so may we be. It is a dynamic theory such as this that seems to me to bring out the real significance of the atonement. The Jesus of Christian doctrine can be incorporated into the philosophy of life of this man only In so far as he can relate the cross of Christ to the striving of himself and of his people. Western theories of the atonement have no meaning for him, because they bear little analogy to any patterns which he now accepts. He does not think of man as suffering from original sin, and accordingly the death of Christ bears no rela- tion to total depravity. The idea of ransom is repulsive to him; as he later confesses, too long have he and his ancestors believed that the gods could be bribed by offerings. The old political patterns have already been swept away in the revolution of 1911. It is struggling China that furnishes the urgent need which must be met by adequate patterns of thought and conduct, and the cross of Calvary gets a meaning only in so far as it can be related to these, in such a manner as to in- spire helpful attitudes and conduct. Another characteristic which gains supreme signifi- cance is the fact that Jesus was willing to sacrifice not only himself but also his family if necessary for his cause. 270 JESUS CHRIST AS A CENTER OF REFERENCE According to the Chinese idea of sacrifice, we may sacrifice ourselves but not our parents, wives, our children or our families. ... So when we look at Jesus what do we see? True, he entrusts the care of his mother to John, but it is not so much an entrusting of his mother as a refusal for her sake to compromise his own sacrifice. When Mary stood by the cross and heard the sound of the nails being driven in, it was just what Simon had told her. " Your own soul will be pierced by a spear." Do you think that Jesus had not thought of all this before- hand? ... In this connection I must deal with Jesus' words, " Let the dead bury their dead." This saying has always been a source of great difficulty in China, since it is regarded as destructive of filial piety. As a matter of fact, the following considerations go to show that this revulsion is hardly warranted. So long as the old family system of China remained unshaken and filial piety was regarded as the first of all duties, the picture of any son thus lacking in this basic virtue inevitably awakened thoughts of contempt, and for a long time such gospel stories have been stum- bling blocks to earnest souls. But times and needs change. Here is one man and their number is grow- ing who now finds in this willingness of Jesus to sacrifice his family as well as himself one of his most laudable characteristics. Why? He has come to real- ize that today China is suffering because the old classi- cal pattern places filial piety above patriotic loyalty. What China needs is another mode of living according to which, under sufficient warrant, it will be recognized as a virtue to sacrifice one's family for the good of all. The story of Jesus and his family still stands as it was 271 CHRISTIAN MISSIONS AND A NEW WORLD CULTURE written. But with the discrediting of an old Chinese pattern, that which was once repudiated with unspeak- able disgust is now accepted as a model of good conduct. The " greatest contribution " of Jesus to the concept of God is one which promises to meet another of China's needs, namely righteousness rather than compromise. Why do we not struggle? Why are we not thorough? It is really because our standard of goodness is too low. . . . From the highest official to the lowest coolie all regard honesty as a virtue which is not indispensable. They do not acknowledge that bribery is immoral. . . . Where does this ignoring of honesty come from? It is because their view of God is mistaken. ... Is there not a Chinese proverb, " Money moves the spirits? " Thus illness or misfortune are taken to be chastisement from on high, and the general custom is to make an offering, burn incense. . . . Although this is not a matter to which people give much thought, yet unconsciously this idea of bribery passes over into ordinary life. . . . [Therefore] I think Jesus' greatest contribution to the idea of God is not only in love, or in calling God " Father," but in what he says: " Be ye therefore perfect as your Father in Heaven is perfect." This verse sets a standard which constantly makes us realize our own shortcomings and pettiness, so that we are forced to strive onward with all our might. Other people in other conditions may think that the essence of Jesus' teaching is the love of God; but to this man it is the exacting perfection of God; and the reason is apparent. China is suffering from graft on the part of her officials. This defect has been en- couraged by a doctrine according to which it is thought 272 JESUS CHRIST AS A CENTER OF REFERENCE possible to purchase favors from the gods; so why not from men? What China needs today is a new religious pattern with a God which serves as stimulus to un- swerving uprightness of conduct. Therefore it is the righteousness of the God of Jesus that appeals to this young man. 4. When adequate patterns do not already exist in the native culture with which Jesus may be asso- ciated, the missionary may either wait for the partial development of such patterns as a result of changing conditions, or he may deliberately set out to create them. But in either case it is a long process calling for patience and wisdom. As a rule, the methods followed by missionaries have been psychologically sound. Where no idea of salvation by grace already exists, that is, where there is no appropriate religious pattern into which Jesus may be incorporated, it is necessary to develop such. This is done by making use of sug- gestive analogies, drawn from other walks of life with which people are acquainted. For example, in the Orient the familiar figure of the little monkey clinging to the body of its mother for safety in flight may be used to illustrate salvation by works; in contrast the little kitten carried in the mouth of its mother is given as an " illustration " of salvation by grace. By these and other analogies taken from everyday life the in- dividual is familiarized with the thought of himself as helpless, of God as gracious, and finally he is led to respond with an attitude of self-surrender. This is the method to be followed in preparing the hearts of the people for teachings which at first appear strange and unreasonable. 273 CHRISTIAN MISSIONS AND A NEW WORLD CULTURE IV. WHAT DETERMINES RESPONSES? The responses made to Jesus in the new recondi- tioned pattern are a matter of supreme importance, because it is through these responses and their outcomes that changes are wrought in personality, society, and eventually in religions and cultures. The reader will have noticed that we have been referring to two kinds of patterns: first, conduct patterns, such as the habit of trusting to divine grace or of employing exercisers; and second, thought patterns, such as the doctrine of the fatherhood of God, in which by the analogy of the earthly father is suggested the " character " of the stimulus (God) and the type of response which man as son should make to such a stimulus. Just what these responses will be depends upon whether the condition- ing takes the form of suggestion to a cue, imitation of a model or of deliberate choice. When the secondary stimulus, Jesus Christ, is related by way of suggestion to some oriental pattern, the re- sponse to Jesus will be determined principally by the customary response which the oriental has been in the habit of making to the primary stimulus of the pattern. The response of the converted animist to Jesus is virtually the same as that to his pagan exorcist until he is further indoctrinated and trained. The faith of the converted Buddhist in the saving grace of Jesus is similar at first to that which he has been in the habit of exercising toward his former savior of grace. In all cases of suggestion, then, the man- ner in which Jesus will enter into the life of foreign peoples depends primarily upon the nature of the 274 JESUS CHRIST AS A CENTER OF REFERENCE customary responses of the patterns with which he is associated. But a large part of the conditioning takes the form of imitation in which Jesus serves as model. In imita- tion the character or behavior of the substitute stimulus serves as a model to produce similar responses in the imitator. Similarity between the conduct of the model and the response patterns of the imitator makes imita- tion possible; dissimilarities make it either desirable or undesirable. The fact that Jesus was both son and brother in the family pattern of Palestine makes it possible for him to be related to the Chinese family pattern. But when one who sustains this basic rela- tionship of similarity comports himself in some distinc- tive way which seems to promise greater satisfaction in the situation which the responder faces (when he sacrifices his family for a higher duty), then his conduct serves as a model to be imitated. If on the other hand the distinctive conduct of Jesus is judged to be repre- hensible, then he becomes a counter model of inhuman conduct to be avoided. The similar pattern is the con- tribution which the oriental makes; he acquired that pattern probably before he ever heard of Jesus. The distinctive type of conduct judged worthy of imitation is the contribution which Jesus makes. The result is a synthesis, a joint product to which both parties con- tribute. If the missionary then will choose oriental patterns in which the customary responses are essen- tially those which he wishes to be given to Jesus Christ, and also others that may be moulded after the example of the distinctive characteristics of his Ideal, then both the thought and the conduct of the oriental may be 275 CHRISTIAN MISSIONS AND A NEW WORLD CULTURE reintegrated about Jesus Christ in a way approved by the missionary himself. It should also be noted that both the stimulus and the response are transformed so that they correspond more appropriately to each other. In the case of little Peter, the rabbit ceased to be an object of fear; and at the same time the original response of handling and eating was changed. Peter did not eat the rabbit. So likewise Jesus gets a new meaning, and in the same operation the old responses of the indigenous patterns are altered to harmonize with Jesus Christ as presented. A mutual accommodation takes place. There emerges a new creation. V. THE CHRIST-CENTERED LIFE We are ready now to gather up the material of this chapter, and by the use of a diagram to visualize the way in which Jesus is " formed " in a Hindu convert. i. Let us suppose that Jesus Christ exists already as the center of reference (a, in Figure VI) of the American, churches, and that they have set out to " give " Christ to India. There is no way whereby Christ may be transplanted directly from (a) to (f ), so that he may serve as the Savior and Lord of the Hindus. Rather it is stimuli or influences (I), con- sisting of spoken and written words and also " living pictures," that impinge upon Hindu men and women, whose lives are already organized under indigenous patterns, that is habits of thought, feeling and action, as indicated by (c) of the diagram. But at the same time, the Hindu is coming under the influence of other 276 JESUS CHRIST AS A CENTER OF REFERENCE influences (I) emanating from other modern move- ments, such as secularism, natural science, national- ism, (b). 2. In proportion as the influences coming from these various sources are related to the responses of the in- digenous patterns, a certain number of new patterns are evolved (d). This crucial operation is governed by conditions mentioned earlier in this chapter. These transformations may take place gradually or more sud- denly. But at any rate the first result is not the im- FIGURE VI mediate emergence of a new concept of Jesus Christ (f ), but the partial transformation of a certain number of particular habits, sentiments and ideas related to daily life. This is a wellknown phenomenon; all propagandists recognize that time must be allowed for the ground to be prepared and for the seed to be sown before any harvest can be expected. 3. Next comes the idealization and projection of the values found in these new patterns, into a center of reference, and the commitment of one's self to it. If these revisions of old habits and ideas have not been too sudden and violent the old centers of reference have not thereby been shattered, and the most natural thing for the Hindu or the Mohammedan to do is to 277 CHRISTIAN MISSIONS AND A NEW WORLD CULTURE revise his traditional center, the concept of Krishna or Allah (e), so that it may continue to serve him as the symbol of the new values which appear with the newly formed patterns. This man does not become a convert to Christianity, but he gains a new integration of per- sonality, by way of reformation rather than by revolu- tion. He and his god-concept change together. In other cases however the alterations in thought, affection and conduct have been so radical that the old symbols can no longer be transformed so as to serve as centers of reference for the new values. Christian influences, rather than indigenous, have predominated in these transformed patterns, which now give rise to new values. The idealization and projection of these new values now find their most appropriate symbol in Jesus Christ, the stimulus which quickened them. The name is taken over from the missionaries, but the meaning that is attributed to it comes from the values which inhere in the transformed patterns; and it is to Jesus as thus interpreted (f ) that the convert commits himself when he professes conversion. This projection of the idealized values under the form of an inclusive symbol, the rejection of the old (repentance) and the commitment of one's self to the new (conversion) constitute the second step in the reintegration of life. 4. Finally, the concept of Jesus Christ must be further clarified and all things must be brought into subjection to him. These two operations are mutually dependent. It is one thing to commit one's self to a new lord and master, and it is quite another thing to bring all the interests of life into harmonious relation- ship with that center and with one another. The prao 278 JESUS CHRIST AS A CENTER OF REFERENCE tlce of private devotion, prayer, meditation, the partici- pation in public worship and in the sacraments of the church are the methods which have been found most helpful in still further clarifying the concept of the center of reference, and in making it the supreme ob- ject of love and loyalty. The persistent relating of Jesus Christ to the thought patterns and the behavior patterns of the various walks of life (economic, political, domestic, social, etc.) is the method by which they too are brought into subjection to him, and the concept of him is moulded by them. This involves a long and trying process, in which the refractory habits, thoughts and sentiments generally pass through one or all of the stages outlined above, namely, juxtaposition, eclec- ticism, syncretism, and assimilation, before the full synthesis is reached which marks a complete reintegra- tion under one dominant and growing purpose. As increasing numbers of individuals experience this in- ward transformation, the spirit of Jesus begins to leaven society and eventually permeates the culture of a race. 279 PART IV TOWARD A PHILOSOPHY OF MISSIONS CHAPTER XV THE UNDERLYING GENERAL PRINCIPLES Although the main body of this treatise has been the analysis of the process of culture contacts, the purpose of our study will not be gained if we are left merely with a mass of analyzed distinctions on our hands. We must not let the trees keep us from seeing the wood. Perhaps we should walk out in the open spaces and take our bearings. It will not be amiss, therefore, if a final section is devoted to the suggestion of a pos- sible philosophy of missions which this analysis seems to warrant. The usual procedure has been to deduce the principles of missions from a priori principles and doctrines already held with conviction. But it is be- coming increasingly clear that in order to be sound, such principles must be in keeping with the basic opera- tions of the process which is going on. If the fore- going analysis is substantially correct, then certain ten- tative conclusions may be submitted leading toward a sound philosophy of missions. I. THE UNDERLYING PROCESS We have been studying a complicated process by means of which history is made, according as men act and react to their social and cosmic environment, in the 283 CHRISTIAN MISSIONS AND A NEW WORLD CULTURE constant effort to achieve such satisfactions as they may desire. The process is essentially the same in all ages and among all races. It consists of such uni- versal operations as: (a) procreation and the trans- mission of biological heredity; (b) the handing on of the culture heritages of the past from one generation to the next; (c) the education of individuals, old and young, and the incorporation of them as useful mem- bers in social groupings; (d) exploration of the un- known, the discovery of that which is new, the projec- tion of ideals, the repeated enhancing of these and the constant effort to remake the actual after the model of the ideal; (e) primary communication by which the discoveries of the few are made known to the many within the culture area; (f ) secondary communication, missionary and otherwise, through which the advances of one people are shared with others lying beyond the borders; (g) ceaseless competition between the new and the old, the alien and the indigenous, with the evaluations, testings, selections and rejections involved; (h) the resulting disintegrations of established struc- tural forms; (i) reintegration, by means of which per- sonalities, societies and civilizations are remade; and (j) the transmission of these new creations, either of improvement or of degeneration, to the next generation. Thus the cycle is completed. This process has now reached a new stage in that man is himself now able by the wide use of his powers to control and direct it, within certain well-defined limits. Whatever the Power that shapes our ends, that Power is working in cooperative partnership with men; and in so far as men come to see their place in this un- 284 THE UNDERLYING GENERAL PRINCIPLES folding drama, they rightly come into conscious experi- ence of such cooperation, which mystic sense is the essence of religion. II. DETERMINERS OF HUMAN WELFARE The destiny of man is at the mercy of certain iden- tifiable forces and factors which operate through the process outlined above. These determiners are the immediate aspects of ultimate Reality with which we come into contact. Through understanding them we form our ideas of what the Ultimate must be. Through interaction with them our destiny is wrought out. It is a matter of supreme importance then to be able to identify these factors, and to understand that some lend themselves less readily to human control while others are more pliable in our hands, (a) Some of the great forces of nature go on irrespective of man's wish or design. They impress us as being both friendly and at times hostile. To these we must eventually sub- mit, and this may be done in such a manner as either to gain a moral victory, or to suffer a disastrous defeat, (b) There are other nature powers which to a certain extent lend themselves to mastery, and human welfare is advanced in so far as science teaches us to harness them for our own good, (c) That which is already given the individual through biological heredity is b&- yond his control. But once given, these endowments are capable of being developed within the limitations imposed by the original endowment and the possibili- ties offered by that endowment. What eugenics may accomplish still remains to be seen, (d) So likewise 285 CHRISTIAN MISSIONS AND A NEW WORLD CULTURE culture heritage and historical movements come as de- terminers of the present. The past is written and in one sense can never be remade. Its accomplishments and its lack of accomplishments, its customs, beliefs and ideals, the sins and virtues of the fathers all these are visited upon the children to the third and fourth generation, and probably long after. Neverthe- less, man has it in his power to bring deliberate pres- sure to bear upon such legacies and movements, aug- menting the values which he esteems and eradicating some of those things which he deplores, (e) Closely related to these historical developments and movements are contemporaneous tendencies and even stampedes, in which great masses of people are caught up and borne along. These are largely supra-personal, in that they arise from innumerable subtle influences emanat- ing from mass psychology. To such movements one may submit as a victim, he may oppose himself as a martyr, cooperate as a participator or take the lead as director. The movement itself is redirected in the same manner as it began, namely, through the sugges- tions of the persons who constitute it. (f ) It is by in- fluencing the behavior of others through suggestion, imitation, persuasion, deliberation and education in its many forms that one is able to exercise a more imme- diate direction over human affairs, (g) The individual who succeeds in developing an exemplary personality through intelligent self-discipline and devotion to worthy ideals improves social conditions in so far as he perfects himself, and serves as a model or leader, (h) When people of like purpose band themselves to- gether in efficient organizations the influence of the 286 THE UNDERLYING GENERAL PRINCIPLES group is greater than the sum of that of the individuals composing it. Consequently group action is a power- ful factor, (i) Human destiny is also influenced by the mental pictures which man projects Into his idea- tional world, as the product of his creative imagination. Once these ideas are taken to be true, and these ideals are held to be realizable, they exert a profound influ- ence over conduct, (j) Finally, man's life is moulded by the particular scale of values which he accepts, as it is this which determines mainly those ends which he seeks with most devotion and by virtue of which he evaluates all else. This is the distinctive field of the religious worker. He is constantly seeking to use these concepts and the techniques related to them for what he considers to be the supreme good of mankind. III. GENERAL METHOD OF PROCEDURE This consists in identifying these determiners of hu- man welfare, in learning their mode of operation, ar- ranging them in a scale according as they lend them- selves to human control, and then in manipulating the more amenable for the realization of such ends as are thought to be desirable and within the reach of feasi- bility. It is important to discover which of these fac- tors interact with us impersonally and which person- ally, in order that we may know how to relate ourselves to them so as to achieve the greatest good. A compre- hension of the differing degrees in which these deter- miners are susceptible to human control saves one from wasted effort, from unrestrained idealisms, impatience with social processes and excessive confidence in what 287 CHRISTIAN MISSIONS AND A NEW WORLD CULTURE the efforts of man can accomplish. On the other hand, it will also deliver one from the sense of defeat and despair which may drive him either into cynical pes- simism, or into the misguided hopes of apocalypticism. Although our resources are limited, experience has proved that man has sufficient power, if it is employed with wisdom, to reward abundantly Ms self-sacrificing devotion to human amelioration. IV. GROUNDS OF RELIGIOUS CONFIDENCE The most fundamental thing about religion is faith. Not love nor life; but a particular kind of love and life springing from a confidence which is thought to be a well founded faith and not credulity. Such confidence is based first of all upon the honesty of one's own heart and the integrity of his mental proc- esses. If one is persuaded that to the best of his abil- ity he has put aside all forms of self -deception, wishful thinking and rationalization, and has made an honest effort to face the facts as best he understands them to date, then he has the first grounds for confidence. His sense of assurance also rests upon the reliability of the methods which he employs for arriving at truth and for the understanding of the universe in which he lives. He carefully scrutinizes the claims of empiricism, reve- lation and mystical intuitions, in order that he may learn just how much faith may be placed in each one. He holds as worthy ideals of life such values as have been confirmed by the experience of the past, but at the same time reserves the right to revise them in so 288 THE UNDERLYING GENERAL PRINCIPLES far as further experience may require. He trusts in man's ability to improve methods and practical tech- niques for realizing these values and looks to the sci- ences, especially those having to do with culture and religion, for the perfection of these. Ultimately, however, the basis of confidence is found in the cosmos, vindicated and absolved from the great injustice which has been done to it in the past. All too frequently man has taken the True, the Beautiful, the Good, the Spiritual, written them with capital letters, idealized them, volatilized them into the ethereal re- gions, posited them in Absolutes thus leaving this mundane existence bereft of virtue and power and then by means of revelations and incarnations has sought to replenish this impoverished world with the very values which first of all were extracted from it. Such interpretations of religion thrive only on a pil- laged mundane existence and a maligned human na- ture. It is true that there is suffering and calamity and hate in this world. It is equally true that love is just as native to this existence as hate, and that calamities are the exception and not the rule. The true, the beau- tiful, the good, and personality itself exist potentially and actually within the cosmic order, where we behold them progressively unfolding. Whatever philosophy or theology is employed to account for the cosmic order, abundant resources are available to warrant confidence in life and devotion to man's truest ideals. Contro- versies between schools of theology are not germane to the thesis of this book. But consistency requires that such differences between schools of thought in the West 289 CHRISTIAN MISSIONS AND A NEW WORLD CULTURE should be worked out by the same cooperative proced- ure as is proposed in the next chapter for Christian and non-Christian. V. FUNCTION OF RELIGION IN THE PROCESS Religion is one phase of culture development. Cul- ture consists of the more or less verified accumulations of human experience, which in turn serve as equipment for the carrying on of the daily tasks. In a similar manner the religious elements of culture doctrines, practices, institutions and ideals are the results of religious living, which serve as instruments for the fur- therance of that quality of life. The real question is: What is the function of religion, in the sense of reli- gious living, in the total life experience of any people? It is not enough to say that religion is life. The ques- tion is, What particular kind of life? Nor is it suffi- cient to say that religion is the conservation of values. All life is essentially a seeking of satisfactions and ends. In his religion man seeks special satisfactions in special ways. Religion is the effort to enhance the ordinary mean- ings and values of life by relating ourselves to the great fundamental realities, as these are interpreted in con- cepts or symbols which are held to be true in some cases by a well founded faith, in others by credulity. It is the effort to pass from attained values to hitherto unattained values which are held to be attainable be- cause of the nature of Reality whose potentialities we have failed so far to understand and to capitalize as we might. In his religion, man seeks to relate his life 290 THE UNDERLYING GENERAL PRINCIPLES and that of society to that which is considered to be fundamental instead of superficial, universal instead of merely particular, intangible as well as tangible, eternal as well as transitory, personal as well as imper- sonal, social as well as individual, and thereby to en- hance the total meaning of life. Religion is man's effort to transcend his actual attainments and to capi- talize the immanent potentialities of the creative proc- ess which has produced him and for whose outcome he now shares a true responsibility. It arises from his dissatisfaction with the actual. It is expressed in his projection of the ideal. It is grounded upon faith in the possibilities inherent in the universe, and the fur- ther faith that his effort to use these resources so as to remake the actual after the model of the ideal will not be unrewarded. The ideal is transcendant beyond. The resources are immanent. VI. CHRISTIANITY AND OTHER RELIGIONS The religions of the world are related to one another by virtue of the fact that they all emerge in the same process which has been working through the ages, and according to the same laws of this process. There is no more reason for the Christian tot claim special mi- raculous origin for his religion than for the Japanese to boast that they are the chosen children of heaven, and therefore divinely commissioned to rule over all the earth. To admit this does not for a moment re- quire us to hold that one religion is as good as another. That there are differences striking and crucial differ- ences between religions as well as between cultures 291 CHRISTIAN MISSIONS AND A NEW WORLD CULTURE is obvious. These are differences in accomplishment and inherent character. Yet none can claim abso- lute finality and infallibility. Each religion theis- tic, pantheistic, polytheistic, monistic or pluralistic may be described as experimenting in its own peculiar manner with the problems of life. Some experiments have been more fruitful than others. Moreover, the history of these religions reveals that all of them have passed through periods of creativity, and later have lapsed into periods of stagnation and decline. During the last four centuries Christianity has been the par- ticular religion which has experienced a great revitali- zation and expansion. It has happened that this has coincided with a long period of degeneration through which the ethnic religions have been passing. In view of this fact the Christian may well feel conscious of a mission which he can render to the rest of the world. But unless this mission is undertaken humbly and wisely, it is not inconceivable that the time may come when the position of religious leadership may pass to other peoples. 292 CHAPTER XVI THE CORRESPONDING INTERPRETA- TION OF MISSIONS Just as religion is a phase of that more general proc- ess by which history is written, so Christian missions is the religious aspect of one constituent part of that total process, namely, the interpenetration or cross- fertilization of cultures. I. THE AIM OF MISSIONS According to this interpretation, the missionary en- terprise is the effort of the Christian church to influ- ence this exchange of culture elements, good and bad, in such a manner as shall result in the greatest benefit to those peoples who have fallen behind in the march of progress, and also to the building of a better world to which the whole human family may contribute and within which each race may find its fullest develop- ment. The abiding and all-inclusive objective of mis- sions is then the development of personality to its highest possibilities, the building of a more perfect form of society, and the enhancing of the values of life as these find expression in a world culture. Once this primacy of human welfare is clearly visu- alized, several perplexing questions find a solution. Everything becomes functional to this all-inclusive end. 293 CHRISTIAN MISSIONS AND A NEW WORLD CULTURE One of these is the dispute as to whether mission work should be essentially proselytism or a leavening proc- ess. Experience has proved that in some cases conver- sion to another religion has brought a great new life to the convert, and has stirred the community to take serious thought of itself. In other cases a similar awakening has resulted from a leavening of the tradi- tional faith. Once it is agreed that the objective is the good of mankind, proselytism and leavening will no longer be set over against each other but will be rec- ognized as complementary methods for the achieve- ment of the same results. II. ATTITUDES AND REORIENTATIONS As a qualification for the successful prosecution of such work the Christian must assume such attitudes toward his own religion and interests, and also toward those of other peoples, as are warranted by the great basic facts of common origins and mutual dependence. Too long have men boasted, " We have Abraham to our father," or Confucius, or Mohammed, or Christ. It is just such excessive pride of ancestry in religion, nation and race which perpetuates old delusions, in- flates the heart with false conceits, and sets a man against his neighbor. What is called for on the part of Christian and non-Christian is a mutual understand- ing, an attitude of sympathy and good will, a readiness to give and take, and a willingness to sacrifice when necessary for the larger good. It is essential that the missionary enterprise itself be a practical demonstra- tion of the attitudes which it advocates. If this is done 294 THE CORRESPONDING INTERPRETATION OF MISSIONS there will be less need for preaching and more effec- tiveness will attach to such preaching when it is offered. It is primarily a matter of reorientation. Let a man see himself and all others caught up in a common proc- ess which has produced each one of them, let him in his imagination place himself at the present-day junc- tion points of culture contacts, and if he even begins to comprehend the importance of these centers of crea- tivity, he will experience a great awakening, which like the new birth will make all things new. Instead of looking at international issues so exclusively from the standpoint of his own person, religion or native land, which is divisive, he will also learn to contemplate such issues from these foci where human movements con- verge. Then it will be much easier to assume those attitudes which befit and condition all cooperative creativity. This means that the former gestures of conflict and paternalism inherent in mission work must be reduced to a minimum, and even that the characteristic attitude of benevolence shall be revised until it is transformed into something quite different. Benevolence can be transformed only when the giver gives himself along with Ms gift. The missionary crosses the seas and settles down to a life of service in the land of his adop- tion. But to bridge the geographical gap is not neces- sarily to give one's self completely. It has been well said that it takes two journeys to bring a missionary to his life work. The first is a journey of ten thousand miles to the foreign land. The second is a journey of ten feet to bridge the social distance separating him 295 CHRISTIAN MISSIONS AND A NEW WORLD CULTURE from the people. There has been a great difference between missionaries with respect to this last journey. Some make it; others fail. The platform upon which the preacher stands, the office desk behind which the administrator sits, the walls of the mission compound, the table from behind which the teacher addresses his pupils, these and many other apparent incidentals may maintain a social distance over which the missionary may never succeed in passing, limiting him to secon- dary and formal relationships. In so far as this is true, benevolence still remains a sacred hand-out and pos- sibly a hand-down. Once the missionary succeeds in crossing this dis- tance, a vast transformation takes place in all his be- nevolent activities. They become gestures of a new attitude. No longer does he simply give the gospel, or render philanthropic service. He now freely gives himself. He enters the homes of people, befriends them, and identifies himself with their lives to such an extent that they recognize him as one of them. Catholic missionaries in North America even went so far as to seek adoption as full members of an, Indian tribe, in order to bridge the chasm which separated them from the souls they wished to save. Protes- tant missionaries have established other relations of intimacy. There is one other gesture which comes nearer still to that perfection where the attitude of benevolence ceases to be benevolence. The missionary is not con- tent simply with the identification of himself with the group life of other people. The alien is now brought nigh and incorporated within an increasing number of 296 THE CORRESPONDING INTERPRETATION OF MISSIONS the missionary's own groups, as is the case with inti- mate friends. He is no longer treated as an outsider, and the last vestige of distance is removed. The choic- est gift that any tribe or society can confer is to be willing to receive an outsider into the inner circle of fellowship. Nothing less than this attitude of mutual- ity which abolishes aloofness and social distance befits this interpretation of missions. III. THE AUDITING OF ACCOUNTS Before oriental and occidental can cooperate effec- tively, both must join together in an honest auditing of their respective claims and basic assumptions, without reservation. Altogether too many assurances are be- ing offered by religious propagandists to a credulous public, set forth in alluring colors like gilt-edge stock certificates with little or nothing to substantiate them. As an integral part of this plan, the Christian should take the lead and call upon men of integrity every- where to join with him in a universal stocktaking, by neutral bodies of appraisers where possible a care- ful auditing of the spiritual securities offered to the public, as a preliminary condition to doing business to- gether. The world will never be saved by the continued reaffirmation of unverified and unverifiable pretensions by rival parties. Nothing less than a deliberate defla- tion of watered stock, a ruthless debunking of chau- vinistic patriotism, racial pride, economic greed and pious humbug will ever qualify nations and religions to engage in the task of world reconstruction. Only thus will life be reduced to a solid basis of reality upon 297 CHRISTIAN MISSIONS AND A NEW WORLD CULTURE which alone can be built a sound and lasting structure which will house our sublimest hopes and confidences. IV. CHRISTIAN MISSIONS AS COOPERATION We have now unearthed the fundamental issue which is dividing missionary forces today, and alienating Christian from non-Christian. It concerns the rela- tion of our beliefs and practices to those of other re- ligions, and hence the methods to be employed as we face the peoples of other faiths, or of none at all. Three methods are available. The first is the use of force as the method for im- posing our will and our convictions upon others. Chris- tian workers however have largely repudiated the use of war, political intrigue and economic pressure; al- though certain vestiges of these unworthy methods linger in some localities. The usual method has been that of persuasion and affirmation; and this method no doubt will long con- tinue to be employed. This also goes on the as- sumption that the Christian is right, and that to him has been made the final revelation. With reference to certain non-essentials he is willing to listen to reason. But what he considers to be the essence of his religion is held with a finality which permits of no questioning. One who has enjoyed a rich Christian experience may always claim the right to give his testimony. The question concerns whether this testimony is submitted as a device for persuasion, or as a contribution to joint deliberation. Most of the present-day discussion in America con- 298 THE CORRESPONDING INTERPRETATION OF MISSIONS cerning missions is insisting that there are some things in Christianity which are beyond dispute. Therefore, we are to lead people to accept these essentials. The methods employed have been suggestion, imitation and persuasion; subtle types of conditioning designed to win consent to certain propositions without opening up the question of their truthfulness or even of their es- sential meaning for serious consideration. Even when the missionary has appeared to appeal to reason, it has been for the purpose of persuading people to accept his interpretation of truth, rather than of making an honest investigation. So completely has this been the genius of the missionary enterprise that many maintain that any other kind of mission work is impossible. But it is precisely these assumptions of finality and these insidious methods of propaganda, which some missionary supporters are calling in question today, and which the more enlightened of the orientals are protesting against. They are up in arms against what is termed " western imperialism." Now the most in- sidious of all imperialisms is the imperialistic claim to be absolutely right, and also the imperialistic influence of one mind over another under the guise of suggestion and persuasion. Non-Christian peoples are demanding the right to use their own intelligence to the full More- over an increasing number of Christians are coming to see that the methods of suggestion and persuasion do violence to the highest development of personality. These are little more than respectable ways of " putting something over " on another. It is rather the methods of discussion and deliberation that render due homage to the inherent worth of personality and bring to full 299 CHRISTIAN MISSIONS AND A NEW WORLD CULTURE fruition its highest endowments. No doubt missionaries should, and will, continue to use the art of persuasion but as a second-best. And even in such cases it should not be used for leading people to accept a proposed finality, but for inducing them to try the experiment of joint deliberation and cooperative action. Consequently, a new school of missionary interpreta- tion is appearing which abandons all claims to abso- lutism and finality, which trusts less to persuasion, and relies more upon the methods of joint deliberation. Missions becomes a cooperative quest for truth, and a cooperative activity for the good of mankind. Those who are confident of the truth which they possess are sufficiently confident to place it again in the fiery furnace of criticism. They are ready to meet with all sincere men about the basic issues of life, which are the common meeting grounds for us all. Here let them pool the best wisdom and the fullest data from both the East and the West. Here let the claims of both be scrutinized by precisely the same methods of investigation. Let the proposals of both to the solution of these problems be weighed and the possible outcomes projected and evaluated. Let time be taken for ex- perimentation and for the slower pace of social proc- esses. Then after joint conclusions have been reached, even on a limited number of questions, such cooperative action as is undertaken will be genuine. It will soon be discovered that the people with whom we have to deal arrange themselves in an ascending and descending scale according to the possibilities of cooperation. The policy should be to carry such cooperation to the fullest limit which promises to be fruitful for good. A change 300 THE CORRESPONDING INTERPRETATION OF MISSIONS in the attitudes of both parties will enlarge this limit. This is the next great step which the human family must learn to take, if it would change this world into a neighborhood of peace and prosperity; and the mas- tery of it will be neither easy nor speedy. In general, the method is as follows. The missionary seeks to identify himself with the interests and strug- gles of the people of the community, as certain mis- sionaries are actually doing today. He wins their con- fidence as friend and counselor, even should this require patience. Until this is accomplished little or no co- operative effort is possible. Their problems become his problems, and his problems theirs. Together they address themselves to those issues which are judged to be most urgent. In some situations, one matter will appear to be the most urgent; in other situations, an- other. But in every case it is necessary to begin with issues of which the people themselves are aware and in which they are interested. An effort is made to diagnose the total setting out of which any particular issue arises. It is necessary to identify the historical antecedents and the present- day factors, for it is these which must be dealt with if any improvement is to be made. The enterprise be- comes thus a matter of joint deliberation, carried on either by the missionary and all the community, or by the missionary and the acknowledged leaders of the community. Together they project the alternate lines of procedure which seem to offer promise. Together they try to forecast the outcome now of this proposal and now of that. Once a line of action is agreed upon, then all join together in the effort to carry it out as a 301 CHRISTIAN MISSIONS AND A NEW WORLD CULTURE joint project. If full agreement is not forthcoming, then two or more experiments may be pursued; but first and foremost these are for the purpose of clari- fying a confused issue and arriving at a common agree- ment, rather than for the purpose of promoting rival causes. Then, finally, all likewise join in carrying out such projects as are thus warranted, and in a careful appraisal of these policies in the light of past experi- ence, present satisfactions and future prospects. V. JOINT CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE COMMON TASK The only resources which mankind has are the ac- cumulated wisdom and proved virtues of past and present generations. Here East and West should open up their storehouses and bring to the common under- taking such contributions as each can make. It may be tools and culture accessories, diverse or similar cus- toms, institutions, practical techniques, ideas of gov- ernment, economic systems, methods for arriving at truth, theories, doctrines, and such virtues and values as are held in high esteem. There is no assurance that the contributions of the West will be an improvement over those of the East, in environments that are pecul- iarly oriental; nor is it a foregone conclusion that the oriental plow, family system or religious doctrines are the best suited f o- 113 Proselyte, 224-226 Proselytism, 57 Protestantism, 23-29 Psychological laboratory, 96-97 Reintegration: through non-religious experi- ments, 219-222 through reactionary groups, 222-224 through embracing Christian- ity, 224-232 through reforroi movements, 232-233 through revitalizing the old re- ligion, 233 321 INDEX through new groupings, 217- 234 about some center of reference, 235-258 stages in, 239-258 Rejection and selection: criteria of, 148-153, 311-312 agencies of, 153-160 of culture elements, 236 Religion: as related to culture, 13-21 origins of, 14 functions of, 16-19, 290-291 Religious confidence, 288-290 Reorientation involved, 97-99, 294-297 Responses: subjective and overt, 107 conditioning of, 115-133, 264- 273 what determines, 274-276 Sanctions: as norms, 147 testing of, 150 and criteria, 311-312 Satisfactions: taken as norms, 142 testing of, 149 Scales of value, 146 Scientific methods for discovering truth, 77 Scientific technology, 75 Secondary relationships, 72 Selection: as part of the process, 41 criteria of, 142-148, 311-312 agencies and methods, 153-160 made by group life, 153-156 made by supra-personal agen- cies, 156 made by the individual, 157 made by nature forces, 158-160 Smallpox goddess, 195 Society: structure of, 32-34 stratification of, 33 South American culture, 208-211 Stimuli: objective and subjective, 101 Christian message as, no, 260- 262, 276-277 Stimulus-response circuit, 100 Structure: of culture, 31 of society, 32-34 of culture and personality, 163- 180 historical depth, 165 levels of, 165-180 disintegration of, 188-208 reintegration of, 217-258 Suggestion: a form of conditioning, 118 conditions of, 119-127 Supra-personal movements, 156, 286 Syncretism, 248-255 Synthesis, 255-258 Testing: as part of the process, 41 of norms and sanctions, 148- 153 of methods and instruments, 148 of satisfactions and ends, 149 Troeltsch, E., quoted, 26 Unique and universal, 312-313 Values: as norms, 145 scales of, 146 center of reference as supreme, 304 supremacy over symbols, 308 VincHcation of missions, 315- 318 Virgin of Copacabana, 237 Watson, J. B., quoted, 115-116 Wilson, R, S., quoted, 249-251 Wiser, C. V., quoted, 133-134 Wissler, Clark, quoted, 168 Worship, 170 322 30694