Wheaton College announced it will be removing a plaque honoring several alumni missionaries who were “brutally slain” by an indigenous tribe in Ecuador because the plaque’s language includes the word “savage” to describe the tribe.
The school plans to replace the plaque, located in the Edman Chapel lobby, with updated language.
“Specifically, the word ‘savage’ is regarded as pejorative and has been used historically to dehumanize and mistreat indigenous peoples around the world,” Wheaton’s president Philip Ryken said in a letter obtained by the Christian Post (CP). “Any descriptions on our campus of people or people groups should reflect the full dignity of human beings made in the image of God.”
The plaque, which can be viewed here, currently states:
For generations all strangers were killed by these savage Indians. After many days of patient preparation and devout prayer, the missionaries made the first friendly contact known to history with the Aucas.
On January 8, 1956 the five missionaries were brutally slain – martyrs for the love of God.
The Gospel Coalition recounted that the Auca tribe speared the missionaries to death.
According to CP, the suburban Chicago evangelical school sent the letter to students, faculty, and staff last week after Ryken said he heard concerns the plaque’s use of the word “savage” to describe the murderers of the missionaries was offensive.
The plaque commemorates Christian martyr Jim Elliot and four missionaries killed by the tribe while preaching the gospel in Ecuador during “Operation Auca.”
Elliot and Edward McCully were both members of the Wheaton class of 1949. The plaque honoring their memory was dedicated in January 1957.
Two years after Elliot’s murder, his wife Elisabeth and their toddler daughter went to live with the same tribe that killed her husband, to continue his mission of preaching the gospel, reported Bethany Global University. In 1960, the Auca tribe converted to Christianity.
Wheaton communications director Joseph Moore told CP the school’s officials made the decision to remove the plaque and rephrase its language to “continue to honor the sacrificial witness of the five missionaries it honors while at the same time avoiding the unnecessary offense of pejorative stereotypes.”
Moore said the school’s decision to remove the word “savage” from the plaque has received “extremely positive” feedback. He added a task force will be appointed to create rephrasing recommendations.
“The reworded plaque will carry forward the memory at Wheaton College of brave missionaries and their sacrificial witness, while at the same time respecting the Waodani [formerly Auca] people with whom they shared the gospel of the love of Christ,” Ryken noted in his letter.
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