DB 5 Missionary Monks

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Liberty University *

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520

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Religion

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Apr 3, 2024

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docx

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Two noteworthy apostle missionaries were coming out of Anglo-Saxons; one was Ninian from Scotland, and the other was Patrick from Ireland. Ninian was regarded as the first considerable preacher of the Gospel to the people living in Britain; he suggested that monks should be missionaries because it was a well-established method of evangelization for several centuries in the Early Church. Apostle Patrick was “born into a Christian family in 389 A.D in northwest England. After being seized as a youth and sold into slavery in Ireland and later escaped to Gaul, where he learned monasticism and subsequently became a missionary to Ireland,” 1 he was considered to lay the foundation for what is known as Irish Christianity, converting a society practicing a form of Celtic polytheism which had a pantheon of deities. Two other distinguished missionaries, Columba and Columbanus, also had an important influence on the British Isles. Columba studied in Ireland and worked as a missionary on the island of Iona. In contrast, Columbanus was one of the Celtic Christians who did minister work on the continent and “Developed a discipline method formulated in the penitential and later became widespread on the continent.” 2 Additionally, the second wave of missionaries came from Romans to England, including Theodore of Tarsus, who later became archbishop of Canterbury, and Benedict Biscop, a monk who began monasteries under Benedictine Rule. One effective strategy of the Anglo-Saxon missionaries placed their work under the pope, launching an authorized religion that everybody would follow. Ferguson states, "What was inconsistent with Christianity was to be destroyed, but what could be taken over or adapted to Christian purposes was to be used in such a way as to provide as much continuity in the religious life as possible.” 3 And working "under the protection of local land rulers," in the sense of a combination of church and state. This also applied the local pagan rituals associations of superstitions that eventually were placed on trial, and the direct application of catechetical instruction were two more effective policies. The one thing I feel that we can learn from them is the diligence and tenacity they showed in spreading the Gospel with straightforwardness and understanding, in which they still carried the torch in Jesus, when he commanded the Great 1 Everett Ferguson,Church History, Volume One, From Christ to the Pre-Reformation: The Rise and Growth of the Churchin Its Cultural, Intellectual, and Political Context, 2nd Ed. (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2005), 355 2 Ibid, 355 3 Ibid, 358.
Commission, " Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you. Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” 4 (Matt 28:19-20). 4 Unless otherwise noted, all biblical passages referenced are in the New King James Version
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