Like so much in the history of social relationships, especially relationships between groups separated by culture, distance and history, a complex interweaving of the open, generous and progressive with the repressive and destructive exists and existed with missionary endeavors.

Rather than focussing excessively on across the board praise or condemnation of such endeavors, would our efforts not be better focussed more on identifying beneficial aspects (and how such aspects can be better served in modern circumstances) and those that were retrograde (and how such folly can be avoided)?