Polyphonic: Mission After Empire
Jul 13, 2026 · 36 min · 12 segments
**About this episode** To understand where missions is going, we have to dealhonestly with where itʼs been. Imer follows the thread of memory and history with voices like Mark Charles, Brian Stanley…
Imer SantiagoHost
Brian StanleyGuestHarvey KwiyaniGuest
Mark MatlockGuest
Sarah BreuelGuest
It's a pretty common argument that missionaries forced the people they interacted with to adopt their clothing, their language, and their customs, and that this was a necessary part of the sharing of the gospel.

But why would they do this? Was there more to this story that we don't understand being several centuries separated? I wanted to talk to a historian.

And what better place for this discussion to start than from the heart of one of the great imperial powers, the United Kingdom.

He did a PhD and taught at Cambridge and ended up as a professor at the University of Edinburgh.

I'll tell you one of the things in my life that's helping me see my blind spots.

And as I'm trying to be a great dad and, you know, I think I'm doing a decent job.

But there's times when they're like, Dad, have you thought about this? Or they point out inconsistencies in one's actions at times.

And it's a beautiful thing because I appreciate their boldness in their actions.

But that's one of the things that has really in my life taught me like, yeah, I've got blind spots.

I might think I'm going to, you know, I'm doing some things different than the generation before me, my parents.

Yeah, I mean, one way of looking at it is to say that the past is another country.

It's a pretty common argument that missionaries forced the people they interacted with to adopt their clothing, their language, and their customs, and that this was a necessary part of the sharing of the gospel.

But why would they do this? Was there more to this story that we don't understand being several centuries separated? I wanted to talk to a historian.

And what better place for this discussion to start than from the heart of one of the great imperial powers, the United Kingdom.

He did a PhD and taught at Cambridge and ended up as a professor at the University of Edinburgh.

I'll tell you one of the things in my life that's helping me see my blind spots.

And as I'm trying to be a great dad and, you know, I think I'm doing a decent job.

But there's times when they're like, Dad, have you thought about this? Or they point out inconsistencies in one's actions at times.

And it's a beautiful thing because I appreciate their boldness in their actions.

But that's one of the things that has really in my life taught me like, yeah, I've got blind spots.

I might think I'm going to, you know, I'm doing some things different than the generation before me, my parents.

Yeah, I mean, one way of looking at it is to say that the past is another country.
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