Queen Esther: A Model for Foreign Missions Today?
Richard Smit critiques Professor Lee Beach's proposal that Queen Esther serves as a model for Christian missions in limited-access nations, particularly challenging Beach's argument that missionaries should advance Christ's mission by not speaking about Him. The article examines the theological and hermeneutical problems with using Esther's concealment of her Jewish identity as justification for minimizing explicit Christian witness in restricted religious contexts.
Perhaps you have never thought of the question in the title before. In the July 2012 issue of the missions magazine Evangelical Missions Quarterly, Professor Lee Beach, a professor of Christian missions at McMaster Divinity College in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, raises this question about Queen Esther of the Old Testament as an example for foreign missions. Is Queen Esther a model for foreign missions today? "Yes," teaches Prof. Beach. Prof. Beach promotes this answer in light of the...
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