Missionary Peoples

Abstract Covenanted peoples tend to turn inwards, away from the profane world in their dedication to, and witness of, the true faith and the sacred duty of obedience to God’s commands. Missionary peoples are equally dedicated to what they see as the true faith and the word of God, but they seek to expand into and transform the world, by example, persuasion, or force, or a combination of these. Typically, we find their leaders and their dominant elites and institutions bent on entering and converting the profane or heathen world-through missionary activities, or conquest. Through such transforming acts, the true nature of the communities they lead are revealed, for the sacred task entrusted to them by the deity is both in and of this world, their goal being nothing less than the submission of the profane world to the deity and its sanctification through the salvation of souls. Of course, the distinction between missionary and covenanted peoples is one of degree only. We know that the ancient Judahites sought to convert the Edomites through conquest by the Hasmoneans, and that the Solomonic dynasty of medieval Ethiopia was equally dedicated to the conquest and conversion of neighbouring heathen peoples to the true Monophysite faith. Indeed, at different periods of their history,