Beyond the Borders: Radicalized Evangelical Missionaries in Central America from the 1950s ...

312 Pages·2012·3.21 MB·English

by  Rod Coeller

© COPYRIGHT
by
Rodney A. Coeller
2012
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
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To Nathalie,
for all her support
BEYOND THE BORDERS: RADICALIZED EVANGELICAL MISSIONARIES IN
CENTRAL AMERICA FROM THE 1950S THROUGH THE 1980S
BY
Rodney A. Coeller
ABSTRACT
This dissertation examines the complicated relationship between radicalized
evangelical missionaries in Central America and their sending communities in the United
States during the 1970s and 1980s. This was a volatile period in Central America, with
the success of socialist revolutionaries in Nicaragua, severe repression in Guatemala and
El Salvador, and the increasingly powerful presence of liberation theology in religious
institutions and the communities they served. These potent forces deeply affected some
evangelical missionaries and they grew more sympathetic to leftist movements in Central
America. Missionaries sent out as representatives of these evangelical groups, with the
goal of converting others into the fold, were thus converted theologically or politically
themselves and no longer “fit” within their home communities.
It was also a period of rapid change for American evangelicals. During the 1970s
and 1980s, evangelicals grew more deeply committed to U.S. foreign policy, supporting
Ronald Reagan’s rise to the presidency, his vehement anti-communism, and his foreign
policy goals throughout Latin America and the rest of the world. American missionaries
in Central America were caught between these changing realities. When missionaries
adapted their political and theological perspectives to adapt to transformative experiences
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in Central America, sending groups became uncomfortable sponsoring these radicalized
missionaries who seemed to have forgotten what they were sent to Central America to do.
This dissertation analyzes the ensuing conflicts between evangelical sending
groups and these radicalized missionaries, which reveal several important things about
the nature of missionary life as well as the nature of the evangelical community. First,
there were specific, if often unspoken, beliefs about what it meant to be a missionary—
this was part of the power of the missionary narrative within the evangelical community.
And second, the boundaries of evangelical identity, while often unspoken, were clarified
by radicalized missionaries’ violations of those boundaries. Evangelical identity turned
out to be more all-encompassing than one might perceive at first glance. Theological
boundaries were important, of course, but transformed missionaries soon discovered that
there were political and cultural boundaries as well.

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I have accrued a great number of debts in the course of researching and writing
this dissertation. More thanks are necessary than I can repay in the course of this short
note. Thank you, first, to each of the missionaries that allowed me to interview them for
this dissertation. Their stories inspired this project and none of it would have been
possible without them and their willingness to open their lives to me. Many, many
thanks to each of them.
I am indebted to several important institutions for travel grants and funding that
made this project possible as well. American University, the College of Arts and
Sciences, the History Department, the Society for Historians of American Foreign
Relations, and the Cosmos Club all provided generous financial support at key moments.
I owe my gratitude to helpful archivists at each of the archives I visited. Special thanks
to Álvaro Pérez Guzman, librarian at the Universidad Bíblica Latinoamericana in Costa
Rica for his enthusiasm about my project and helpful guidance through the seminary’s
archives. I am indebted to Anthony Chamberlain and the Latin American Studies
Program in Costa Rica as well. Not only did they introduce me to Central American
history and the missionaries who inspired this study, they also provided lodging,
direction, and helpful advice when I returned years later to research.
Thank you to the many family members and friends who have provided support
that sustained me through this lengthy project as well. I could not have made it through
the process without you. My parents have been wonderfully encouraging throughout this
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endeavor. I owe them thanks for so many things. Special thanks to Nate Howard, Pete
Harkema, and Phil Mast for being great travel companions through Central America and
to Mark Hamilton for my first introduction to the history of the 1954 coup in Guatemala
while standing in line for a Rubén Blades concert in San José nearly fifteen years ago.
To each of the people who read portions or all of my dissertation in various states of
disarray: Eleanor Gease, Adam Zarakov, Allen Mikaelian, Aaron Bell, Adam Fenner,
Leanne Rinne, and James Findlay. Your thoughtful comments vastly improved this
dissertation.
The history faculty at American University has been wonderfully supportive over
the past several years. Special thanks to Bob Griffith who welcomed me to the history
department with his cheerful smile and provided thoughtful guidance during my first
years in the department. You will always be remembered.
Max Friedman has been a great support over the past few years. His helpful
advice at many key points has helped me navigate my entry into the historical profession.
He provided insightful feedback and encouraging words at important points in the
dissertation-writing process. Thank you for your astute reading and thoughtful
comments.
I met Doug Frank up in the mountains of southern Oregon a little over ten years
ago. Along with many other students, I owe him an immense debt of gratitude for
investing so many years of his life into the wonderful program known as the Oregon
Extension. My semester there still inspires my vision of what education can be. Getting
to have Doug join my committee has been a pleasure. His careful reading, compelling
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questions, and concern for the “felicity of language” have profoundly enriched this work.
Thanks for your invaluable help.
Eileen Findlay is simply a wonderful human being. Her enthusiastic practice of
doing history has inspired me from the first moment I met her. Eileen has made this
dissertation possible. From pushing me to refine my research questions to clarifying my
arguments while writing to encouraging me when I considered quitting, she has been
there for me throughout the process. I could not have asked for a better advisor, mentor,
and friend. Thank you for everything Eileen.
Finally, thanks to my son Kai for sharing his dad with a writing project this past
year and for reminding me what is most meaningful in life. And most importantly,
thanks to my wife Nathalie. Her support at every point and in so many ways has
sustained me and made it all worth it. Thank you.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

ABSTRACT………………………………………………………………………………ii

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS………………………………………………………………..iv

Chapter

1. INTRODUCTION: THE PLACE OF MISSIONARIES IN HISTORY………1

2. THE EVANGELICAL MISSIONARY NARRATIVE………………………26

3. COMING TO CENTRAL AMERICA……………………………………….52

4. ENCOUNTERS IN CENTRAL AMERICA: THE PROCESS OF
RADICALIZATION………………………………………………………….83

5. RECLAIMING CHRISTIAN AMERICA: THE TRANSFORMATION OF
EVANGELICALS IN THE UNITED STATES…………………………….130

6. NEGOTIATING TRANSFORMATION: RADICALIZED MISSIONARIES’
CONFLICTS WITH THEIR SENDING COMMUNITIES………………...184

7. CONCLUSION: MEMORY, IDENTITY, AND NARRATIVE AMONG
RADICALIZED MISSIONARIES………………………………………….258

BIBLIOGRAPHY………………………………………………………………………283

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CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION: THE PLACE OF MISSIONARIES IN

HISTORY

John Stam is a magnificent storyteller. Sitting in a small open-air building, built
by visiting church members from the U.S., next to his house on the outskirts of San José,
Costa Rica, John spills out a cascade of stories accented by bellowing laughter and a few
mischevious grins. Just one more quick story, he adds, before heading out to pick coffee
beans that will join others drying in the sun around his house. “Have I told you about my
theology class with Fidel Castro?”1 Who could turn down such a story?
And the stories keep rolling—he tells of arguing with Jeane Kirkpatrick, the U.S.
Ambassador to the United Nations, losing his pastoral credentials when a boy wrapping
soap in the supermarket found his editorial against President Reagan printed in the
communist newspaper, and on and on. Before long it becomes clear though that he really
has to get back to writing and other tasks and it is time for me to move along. He is
working on his third volume of commentary on the book of Revelation, preaching in
several different churches in the next few months, and speaking at rallies protesting the
latest free trade agreement with the United States. He just got back from Cuba and
Nicaragua and will be traveling through North, Central, and South America in the coming
months—quite a schedule for a man who is about to turn 79. But before I go, he shares a
glimpse of the historian’s gold mine that he has tucked away in his office closet. He has

1 John Stam, interview by author, San José, Costa Rica, 30 July 2007.
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