The Way
© Sam Phelps“Therefore go and make disciples of all nations”
— Matthew 28:19
The Way is an exploration of modern day evangelic Christianity exported across the globe from the heartland of the American Bible Belt and Europe. Faith, identity, race, religious tension and the cross cultural experience are scrutinised. It is an effort to better understand the motives that drive an individual, group or nation to act on faith based impulses and the impact this has on the other they reach.
The first component of this project is a documented journey through North Carolina and Georgia in the United States visiting churches and communities that send missionaries out into the world to spread the word of Christianity.
The second component in Senegal and Guinea of West Africa concerns the established missionary community and their efforts to evangelise local populations. Focused on families from the United States and Europe, it is a study of the transplanted family unit’s adaptation and integration into often isolated settings.
As the two parts of this project weave together across continents, a narrative of parallel historic, ethnic and cultural tensions formulate.
The Way is the first chapter in a longterm project that attempts to interpret the post 9/11 convergence of various religious fundamentalisms; Christianity, Islam and Judaism.
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