Last of the Mohicans starring Daniel Day Lewis is one of my favorite movies. It is an epic tale of romance, desperate danger and hopeful courage. It also has a good soundtrack. It works for me on just about every level. It is also a fantastic story about cross cultural mission
There is war on the forntier. Britain and France are fighting for control of North America. Native American tribes are taking sides in the conflict. Britain is demanding that the colonists from Great Britain muster militias to serve alongside the British regular army. Tumult and murder are everywhere. A veritable whirlwind of chaos and violence is howling through everyone's life.
A Mohican man and his two sons, one of them a white man raised by his Mohican family, rescue 2 daughters of a British colonel and their British escort from certain death. The Mohicans finally promise to take them to the local British fort. On the way, they stop at a colonists friend's homestead and discover that they are all dead, killed by tribes who are on the French side. An amazing series of events happen which are text book examples of how Christian assumptions influence communication.
The Mohicans grieve for their friends, but decide to forego a "Christian" burial. The Brits are angry, interpreting this as savage indifference at best and pagan barbarism at worst. That night, they hide from the marauding war party in a burial ground. The following dialogue happens between Cora, one of the British ladies and Nathanel, the white Mohican.
Cora: Why didn't you bury those people?
Nathanel: anyone looking for our trail would see it as a sign we had passed that way
Cora: You knew them well?
Nathanel just looks at her. He is in pain.
Cora: You were acting for our benefit. I apologize. I misunderstood you
Nathanel: Well, that's to be expected. My father warned me about people like you. Do not try to understand them. Do not try to make them understand you. They are a breed apart and make no sense.
The raiding war party approaches and then leaves because they are in the burial ground.
How often have Christians; extracted, apart, superior, misunderstood what people were doing and saying around them? How many missionaries have approached ministry like this for their entire lives? How many people think we are stupid and unaware?
To her credit, Cora watches and quickly realizes that Nathanel, his father and brother and the colonists are pretty great people. She shuts up, listens, learns and chooses sides. She chooses the local people and rejects the movements of power and privilege and, yes, of empire.
There is war on the forntier. Britain and France are fighting for control of North America. Native American tribes are taking sides in the conflict. Britain is demanding that the colonists from Great Britain muster militias to serve alongside the British regular army. Tumult and murder are everywhere. A veritable whirlwind of chaos and violence is howling through everyone's life.
A Mohican man and his two sons, one of them a white man raised by his Mohican family, rescue 2 daughters of a British colonel and their British escort from certain death. The Mohicans finally promise to take them to the local British fort. On the way, they stop at a colonists friend's homestead and discover that they are all dead, killed by tribes who are on the French side. An amazing series of events happen which are text book examples of how Christian assumptions influence communication.
The Mohicans grieve for their friends, but decide to forego a "Christian" burial. The Brits are angry, interpreting this as savage indifference at best and pagan barbarism at worst. That night, they hide from the marauding war party in a burial ground. The following dialogue happens between Cora, one of the British ladies and Nathanel, the white Mohican.
Cora: Why didn't you bury those people?
Nathanel: anyone looking for our trail would see it as a sign we had passed that way
Cora: You knew them well?
Nathanel just looks at her. He is in pain.
Cora: You were acting for our benefit. I apologize. I misunderstood you
Nathanel: Well, that's to be expected. My father warned me about people like you. Do not try to understand them. Do not try to make them understand you. They are a breed apart and make no sense.
The raiding war party approaches and then leaves because they are in the burial ground.
How often have Christians; extracted, apart, superior, misunderstood what people were doing and saying around them? How many missionaries have approached ministry like this for their entire lives? How many people think we are stupid and unaware?
To her credit, Cora watches and quickly realizes that Nathanel, his father and brother and the colonists are pretty great people. She shuts up, listens, learns and chooses sides. She chooses the local people and rejects the movements of power and privilege and, yes, of empire.
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