M7320
Course Unit Outline
Unit Code
M7320
Unit Name
Anthropology for Christian Mission
Unit Weighting
9 cps.
Type of Unit
Specialised
Prerequisites or corequisites
18 credit points from M7100 series units or 9 credit points from M7200 series units
Academic Staff
Patricia Harrison PhD (UQ); M Div, ThM, MA (Intercultural Studies) (Fuller Seminary); MSt (Oxon); M Ed
St (TESOL) UNISA; BA Hons, Dip Ed, Grad Dip Multicultural Ed, Grad Dip Aboriginal Ed (UNE);
MACE.
Curriculum Objectives:
This course unit provides students with an understanding of culture and key insights from anthropology. It
will help them use this knowledge in the service of Christian ministry and mission.
Learning Outcomes
At the end of this unit students will be able to:
1. demonstrate familiarity with key anthropological concepts, categories, and terminology;
2. examine current methods of anthropological research, comparing these with research methods in
other social sciences;
3. utilise anthropological research methods;
4. explore the relevance of anthropological perspectives to Christian mission, and to their own crosscultural relationships and ministries;
5. apply anthropological concepts and research methods to the production of an ethnography based on
field research.
Threshold concepts to be acquired in this unit
 Recognition of the importance of empathy, and of not jumping to hasty conclusions about
people and cultures that are different from our own;
 Understanding of the vital distinction between form and function, between behaviours and
their meaning in different cultural contexts. The need to distinguish observed words or actions
from our own interpretation of these.
Content
1. Introduction to anthropology: the concept of culture; cultural differences; the nature of anthropology
and its relation to other social sciences; different approaches to anthropology; the value of anthropology
for Christian mission and other cross-cultural vocations; how anthropology can help us understand the
Bible;
2. Ways of looking at culture: Cultures as ecological systems; universals, commonalities and differences;
Ways of classifying types of Society (e.g. “Hot- versus Cold-Climate Cultures; or Three Types of Society,
following Service, Sahlins and Wolf, and Nida’s work on applying this model to mission);
Anthropological insights into aspects of our own culture and Christian subcultures.
3. Research and description of culture: methods of anthropological research; how to plan and undertake a
simple research project; different types of research (e.g. The New Ethnography – Ethnographic
Semantics); photographs in research; the use of informants;
4. Basic concepts in anthropology, e.g. worldview; form, function and meaning; status and stratification.
5. Key categories in anthropology including: life cycles and enculturation; acculturation; technology and the
economy; kinship, marriage and family; language and non-verbal communication; political and social
organisation; political and community organisation and leadership; magic, science and religion.; culture
change.
6. Application of anthropological understandings to cross-cultural Christian ministry culture shock and
reverse culture shock; contextualisation; cultural factors that influence comprehension of the gospel,
church-planting, leadership development, and mission-church relations.
Learning Activities:
A mix of these and similar activities: Lectures; tutorials; reading; discussion; small group activities and
presentations; excursions; interviews; field research; case studies; simulations, study of relevant films,
documentaries and literary works; podcasts; listening to ethnic music; studying ethnic art, etc.
Required Specialist Facilities or Equipment
Students will need opportunity for some field research and to observe at least one cultural scene that is new to
them.
Assessment Profile
Assessments tasks are designed both to help students attain the unit outcomes and to enable teachers to
assess student attainment. In this unit, the required assessment tasks will enable students to demonstrate how
successfully they can:
1. Apply anthropological insights to one’s own relationships and ministry. E.g. Short essay or seminar paper.
[Outcomes 1 and 4]
2. Analyse important concepts in cultural anthropology, and apply these to mission. A broad-based
assessment such as a Test, Exam, Exercise with Short-Answer Questions based on lectures and reading, Series
of short practical exercises, etc. (This assessment could include some means of accountability for required
reading.) [Outcomes 1 and 4]
3. Produce an ethnography based on field research. Study of a small local cultural scene, not necessarily
cross-cultural, as the aim is to practise using basic research methods. Presented in essay or tutorial format or
as a Power Point presentation, etc. Students could be asked to use a particular research method. (Examples
of a manageable ‘cultural scene’ - an ethnic congregation, a Greek club, a Vietnamese restaurant, a school
class, a club, a sports team, etc.) [Outcomes 1, 2, 3 and 5]
Representative References
1. Bosch, D.J. Transforming Mission. Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis Books, 1991.
2. Ferraro, Gary (ed.) Classic Readings in Cultural Anthropology. (2nd edn.) Wadsworth, 2008.
3. Heider, Karl G. Seeing Anthropology: Cultural Anthropology through Film (with Ethnographic Film Clips
DVD) (4th edition) UK: Allyn & Bacon, 2006.
4. Hiebert, P.G. Anthropological Insights for Missionaries Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 1985.
5. Hovey, K.G. Before all else fails… Read the instructions. Brisbane: Harvest Publications, 1986.
6. Kraft, C.H. Anthropology for Christian Witness. Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis Books, 1996.
7. Lessa, Wm A, and Vogt, Evon Z. Reader in Comparative Religion: An Anthropological Approach.(4th edn.)
UK: Allyn and Bacon, 1997.
8. Livermore, David. Cultural Intelligence. Baker Academic, 2009.
9. Loewen, J.A. The Bible in Cross-Cultural Perspective. Pasadena, Calif.: William Carey Library, 2000.
10. Luzbetak, L.J. The Church and Cultures: New Perspectives in Missiological Anthropology Maryknoll, NY:
Orbis, 1989.
11. Malina, Bruce. The New Testament World: Insights from Cultural Anthropology. (3rd edn.) Westminster
John Knox Press, 2001.
12. Tucker, Frank. Intercultural Communication for Christian Ministry. Adelaide: Tabor College, 2011. (Pdf
file in electronic format. And Baker Book House: in press 2012.)