Christian History Home > Issue 56 > The Paradox of David Livingstone: From the Editor - Livingstone - The Great Non-Missionary
The Paradox of David Livingstone: From the Editor - Livingstone - The Great Non-Missionary
Mark Galli | posted 10/01/1997 12:00AM
It's okay not to be a missionary, mystic, or theologian. That's one message Christian History would like to communicate with this issue.
Church history is littered with theologians, from Athanasius to Augustine to Luther to Edwards. Our history is also filled with missionaries (from Patrick to Jim Elliot) and "mystics" (the super spiritual like Francis and Count Zinzendorf).
If you're going to make it into the history books, it seems, you'd better fit into this triad of callings.
But Livingstone doesn't. Not that historians haven't tried to make him fit. Early biographies, and even Livingstone himself, tried to pin "missionary" on his lapel.
He started out as a missionary, certainly. But he converted only one African his entire life, and that convert reverted to paganism. He established no hospitals, nor did he translate the Bible into a foreign tongue. Some missionary.
But he is famous for his explorations, which admittedly were partly motivated by cross-cultural compassion: he sought the ... To view this item, you must be a member of ChristianHistory.net.
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