Etymologically, anthropology is the study of man (anthropos plus logos) which scholars approach in a number of ways: linguistic anthropology, medical anthropology, and anthropology of religion, etc. The study of cultural anthropology prepares us to understand and interact with other cultures. Cultural anthropology is particularly helpful in reducing our ethnocentric tendencies to unfairly judge the values, languages, standards, and characteristics of another culture. When we view new cultures against the backdrop of our own culture, we usually see the “foreigners” as inferior. The ethnocentric mindset that views other culture as inferior creates barriers between the missionary and host culture.A thorough grounding in cultural anthropology will help the intercultural worker to understand
the culture shock he will experience when he arrives on the mission field. Culture shock is the process that occurs when two cultures collide and learned worldview cues no longer function. A thorough awareness of the culture shock process helps to minimize the length and depth of the rejection stage and maximizes the hopes of attaining cultural acceptance and adaptation. Yet, if the missionary refuses to recognize or account for the cultural distinctions between his home culture and the host culture, he will perpetuate ethnocentrism and foster cultural stress. Inevitably this will hinder his ability to adapt to the host culture and to connect with those to whom he hopes to minister.Culture refers to everything one learns from birth to death about acting and interacting in one’s society. Cultural anthropology helps the missionary understand new cultures with regard to languages, religion, magic, myths and legends, animism, oral cultures, economies, use of technology, marriage and courtship, kinship systems, role, status, forms of government, gender-specific behavior, housing, food, etc.
Sir Edward Tylor described culture as, “Culture is that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, custom, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society.” Missiologist Paul G. Hiebert defines it similarly, “The more or less integrated system of ideas, feelings, and values and their associated patterns of behavior and products shared by a group of people who organize and regulate what they think, feel, and do.” (Anthropological Insights for Missionaries, 1985:30) Culture then, by definition, is the learned design or pattern of living for a group of people.
The Willowbank Report: Report on a Consultation on Gospel and Culture states, “Culture is a term which is not easily susceptible of definition. In the broadest sense, it means simply the patterned way in which people do things together. If there is to be any common life and corporate action, there must be agreement, spoken or unspoken, about a great many things.”Without training in cultural anthropology, missionaries must find their way through a dizzying world of diverse customs and practices that make little sense when considered within his worldview and life experiences. Cultural Anthropology is a discipline of study that prepares missionaries to research the new people group, adapt to culture more quickly, and become both bilingual and bicultural in the target culture. In this way, he will be able to be the effective change agent that God has called him to be by reaching, teaching, and planting churches in new cultures.
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