Fides 22 N2

FIDES REFORMATA XXII, Nº 2 (2017): 139-162
The Reformers and Missions:
Warneck, Latourette, Neill, Kane, Winter,
and Tucker’s Arguments – Part 2
Elias Medeiros *
ABSTRACT
Since the nineteenth and the early twentieth century, mission historians
such as Gustav Warneck and Kenneth Scott Latourette have tended to portray
the Protestant reformers as indifferent to foreign missions or world missions. The
author describes the reasoning of such historians and argues that they and several
of their more recent disciples do not deal adequately with the primary sources.
All too often, many of them simply rely on secondary sources and do not make
the effort to evaluate the original documentation that might provide a different
perspective on the subject. In so doing, they help to perpetuate an unjustified bias
against the reformers and missions. It is imperative to assert the importance the
reformers attributed to the universal spread of the gospel and the reasons they were
not so emphatic about missions as compared to later generations of Protestants.
KEYWORDS
Protestant reformers; Foreign missions; Martin Luther; John Calvin;
Gustav Warneck; Kenneth S. Latourette.
INTRODUCTION
The purpose of the previous article and this article is to investigate the
statements and the reasoning of Warneck, Latourette, Neill, Kane, Winter, and
* Elias dos Santos Medeiros earned his master (M.A., Th.M.) and doctoral (D.Min., D.Miss.,
Ph.D.) degrees from Reformed Theological Seminary, in Jackson, Mississippi. He is a lecturer of
Missions at this seminary and a visiting professor at Andrew Jumper Graduate Center. He authored the
book Evangelization and Pastoral Ministry. The first part of the article was published in Fides Reformata
XVIII-1 (2013).
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