"Missionaries, Martyrs, and Political Change in Northern Thailand
in the Late 19th Century"
A talk by Dr. Don Swearer
Present: An audience of 28.
The introduction to Don's talk:
Martyrdom set within the broader context of persecution has been a defining
feature of the history of the expansion of Christianity worldwide, including
Thailand. The seminal martyrdom story in the annals of the Protestant
(Presbyterian) church is Northern Thailand is the death of two Thai
Christian men, Nan Chai and Noi Sunya (later sources use the central Thai,
Suriya) in 1869 on the authority of Chao Kawilorot, who ruled Chiang Mai
from 1856-1870. The event is set within the historical context of the early
years of the American Presbyterian mission in Chiang Mai and the late
nineteenth century political situation in the Lao States (as northern Siam
was then known) immediately prior to the emergence of the modernizing Thai
nation-state during the reigns of Kings Mongkut and Chulalongkorn from 1851
to 1910. Against this historical background, I propose to examine the
account of the death of Nan Chai and Noi Sunya based on missionary records
and assess the impact of the story on the early history of the Protestant
church in Thailand. I contend that the account of the death of Nan Chai and
Noi Sunya as a martyrdom story was primarily a theological construction;
that as such it reflected the long tradition of Christian martyrdom
beginning with St. Stephen; that this construction was consistent with the
Old School Scottish Presbyterian worldview and Second Great Awakening
American evangelical sentiment of the first Protestant missionaries in
Chiang Mai, Daniel McGilvary and Jonathan Wilson; and, that the death of the
two "heroes of the faith" (Thai, virabut haeng quam ch¢'a) reinforced the
cultural isolation of the Protestant Christian church in Thailand that
persisted for decades.
A sad story of the disastrous outcome of a combination of religious
arrogance and a lack of respect for a culture that does not share the same
belief system. |
