‘이슬람을 향한 사도’ 사무엘 즈웨머의 선교이론 탐구

Samuel Marinus Zwemer was born in 1867 in a Dutch Reformed minister’s family. Zwemer left America as a missionary for Islam in 1890. He began his mission in the Middle East with the spirit of triumph in the 19th century Protestant missions, but his perspectives to Muslims had been modified during his 40 years of mission. This change should not be overstated because Zwemer never abandoned his belief that Islam was fatally flawed. In the first half of his ministry(until 1916) he focused on four different issues; general understanding of Islam and muslim; Islam theology included Allah, the Prophet, and the Quran and traditions; moral issues related to women and children; and mission to Islam. Zwemer often criticized Islam at that time. “Like all other non-Christian systems and a philosophies Islam is a dying religion.” “Moslems have long realized that the dead weight of formality called tradition, the accumulation of many centuries, is an intolerable burden.” In the second half of his mission, Zwemer dealt with the law of apostacy in Islam. It is one of major issues that Christian missions struggled. And he introduced ‘Hidden Disciples’ who were the followers of Jesus, but did not reveal their conversion in public. In any given context, Zwemer always emphasized that “The Moslem heart and the Moslem world have only one great need-Jesus Christ.” For doing that, Zwemer insisted that the missionary among Moslems is driven daily to deeper meditation on the Cross, so that it become the very heart of Christians’ message and mission. He understood the difficulties of mission in Islam context, but he boldly claimed all Christian should not draw back. It is because “The battle is the Lord’s, not ours; we are but instruments to carry out His purposes.” Zwemer encouraged all Christians to participate in His mission in Islam context.