"Proselytism" is a very common word, especially in political and journalistic lexicon. It means the desire to attract to the faith or beliefs of others, and more of them. Most religions of the globe are now using proselytism, with the exception of beliefs confined to their confession or ethnicity. Consider the evolution of the meaning of the word, and how it is understood in our time.
This Term comes from the Greek language. It appeared from the verb “come”. Originally the word meant everyone who had crossed the border from one community to another. In the early years of Christianity, we encounter a new meaning of the term "proselytism". The meaning of the word began to spread of those who have changed their faith. From now on, ‘convert” called converts, or those who have found their true place, leaving that which remained previously. Also soon came to refer people who were trying to bring people from other religions to their faith.
In the gospel proselytism – the conversion of the Gentiles to Judaism. In this sense the term is used in Matthew and in Acts. Moreover, the performance of “good news” the gospel was charged with the duty of real Christians. There's a lot of examples. The Scripture says that Christ's disciples should go and preach to the world to teach other Nations and to baptize them. In ancient times synonymous with proselytism even the word “evidence” that meant the desire to argue about faith with other people. These conversations and public sermons were in early Christianity a tool for the dissemination “good news”. Many missionaries were sent to various churches in other countries for the treatment of the pagans or unbelievers. But later, when competing branches of Christianity began to accuse each other of distorting or nastynasty, proselytizing has come to mean an attempt to convert people from one faith to another.
Recommended
"Knowledge is light and ignorance is darkness": the value, meaning and alternatives
There are some sayings that would seem to need no explanation, such as “teaching & ndash; light and ignorance – darkness”. But some still do not understand their meaning. But not only for such people is written by our article. I...
What was invented by Mendeleev for the army. The history and fate of the invention
D. I. Mendeleev was a brilliant Russian scientist-polymath, who made many important discoveries in various fields of science and technology. Many people know that he is the author of “Fundamentals of chemistry" and the periodic law of chem...
The origin of the Slavs. The influence of different cultures
Slavs (under this name), according to some researchers, appeared in the story only in 6 century ad. However, the language of nationality bears the archaic features of the Indo-European community. This, in turn, suggests that the origin of the Slavs h...
Muslims have their own word to describe the treatment. It is very similar in meaning to the term "proselytism". This “give”, a kind of call to convert to Islam. The fact that the adherents of this religion believe that all human beings are born Muslims, but the circumstances of life can lead them to paganism or to “wrong” understanding of the Book (so characterized the Jews and Christians). Therefore, the goal of a Muslim is to help “the people of the book" to return to the true faith. For this there are different methods. So, a sign of traditional Islamic proselytism is prohibited for women to marry non-Muslims. The key to a proselyte is considered to be not circumcised, and the recitation of the "creed" - certificate that there is no God but Allah, and his prophet is Muhammad.
Initially, this spiritual set of beliefs is not even considered a religion, but over many centuries became of it. Therefore, the treatment played important. Historically, this is the first religious doctrine of universal character, which became proselytizing. This led to the fact that Buddhism began to spread rapidly through the activities of monks, and through special missions. It is known that the Indian Emperor Ashoka in ancient times and even sent his son and daughter to preach this religion in Sri Lanka. And now Buddhism is gaining popularity in Western Europe and the United States thanks to the proselytism of different preachers. A huge role is played by literature which is published in large circulations. Many new adherents of this religious movement attracted to what they are – at least in theory-can achieve the status of a Bodhisattva or of Buddha.
Now the term has some political sense. It means the activity of people to convert other to their religion or other beliefs. In some countries it is even forbidden. Until recently, missionary activity and proselytism were considered synonymous. But then this term appeared both negative and positive characteristics. For example, in modern Catholic doctrinal documents is that proselytizing began to accompany elements of coercion, which is unacceptable in Christian evangelism. This phenomenon is possible only in the case when it is based on mutual dialogue and pursuit of truth.
The Various activities of Christian missionaries, especially in India, China and Africa, is replete with examples of how people pay for a bowl of rice or by threats. Therefore, inthe Epistles of the popes in the twenty-first century has increasingly seen the negative perception of the word "proselytism". In fact, that attitude became the official point of view. Pope Benedict and Pope Francis has repeatedly stressed that the Church wants to increase the number of their members thanks to the proselytism, and “attraction”, just as Christ has attracted the downtrodden and oppressed.
Article in other languages:
Alin Trodden - author of the article, editor
"Hi, I'm Alin Trodden. I write texts, read books, and look for impressions. And I'm not bad at telling you about it. I am always happy to participate in interesting projects."
Related News
Territorial-natural complex. Natural complexes of Russia
Many think that nature – the essence of the disordered and somewhat chaotic phenomenon. Forests and woods, steppes and deserts – supposedly everything is randomly located natural habitats. This is not so.All natural ec...
How to find the perimeter of a polygon?
Another of the elementary schools many of us remember how to find the perimeter of any geometric figure: it is sufficient to know the length of all its sides and find their sum. The perimeter is called the cumulative length of the...
Komsomolets submarine, which was not supposed to drown
«Komsomolets" of the submarine, which is written very much. The submarine had a large number of technical innovations in comparison with analogues. For example, its designers decided to abandon the huge loading hatch, w...
The consumer society – the path of inhumanity
Many philosophers and sociologists of the twentieth century tried to define and describe the level of development reached by the most successful economically of the country. It was called and developed industrial and post-industri...
The green movement during the Civil war. The leaders of the "green" movement
Among the variety of terms that we use, taking the conversation about the world around us, there is one born during the Civil war and lived up to our days, but received a completely different meaning. The movement «green&raq...
In this article we will focus on the essential enzyme in the stomach every mammal, including humans. Be considered General information on the enzyme pepsin, information on the isomers and the role of substances in the digestive pr...
Comments (0)
This article has no comment, be the first!