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Philippians and Philemon: Prison Epistles, Part 2

  1. Lesson One
    Overview of Philippians (Philippians 1–4)
    22 Activities
    |
    1 Assessment
  2. Lesson Two
    Philippians: Suffering and Community (Philippians Review)
    22 Activities
  3. Lesson Three
    Overview of Philemon
    22 Activities
  4. Lesson Four
    Paul and Slavery (Philemon, Romans 6 Review)
    17 Activities
    |
    1 Assessment
  5. Lesson Five
    Social Impact
    9 Activities
    |
    4 Assessments
  6. Course Wrap-Up
    Course Completion
    1 Activity
    |
    1 Assessment

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A number of biblical passages promote the spreading of the Bible’s message around the world. In the Gospels, it is said that: 

The gospel must first be proclaimed to all the nations.
Mark 13:10 NIV

And that:

This gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world . . . to all nations, and then the end will come.
Matthew 24:14 NIV

Passages like this inspired the vibrant missionary movements that have characterized Christianity throughout its history and carried the Bible’s message into many different cultures globally. But for European nations who wanted to spread their power in the ages of Imperialism and colonial expansion, these passages were a convenient excuse for the subjugation of native peoples and the confiscation of their lands. 

French colonial expansion in North America in the early seventeenth century is a prime example of this use of biblical content in defense of national interests. When lawyer Marc Lescarbot argued for the expansion of French culture in modern-day Canada, he based a part of his argument on Jesus’ Parable of the Talents, which he claimed demonstrated the authority of the French to claim native territories as their own:

These people are like the man of whom it is spoken in the Gospel, who had wrapped up in a napkin the talent which had been given unto him, instead of turning it to account, and therefore it was taken away from him.

In his view Native Americans were “guests of these forests and maritime shores” waiting for European settlers to come and teach them how to cultivate and civilize their land as the Bible had commanded. The call to “preach to the whole world” and the parable of the talents, according to Lescarbot, not only excused French imperialism but also placed on the French a moral obligation to colonize.

Source: Saliha Belmessous, Assimilation and Empire: Uniformity in French and British Colonies, 1541-1954, 013, pp. 20-23.

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