This paper explores the ways in which the religious subject can be a contingent position that is responsive to the broader socio-religious context within which it is expressed. These contingencies are acutely observed among short-term missionaries (STM), who seek out encounters with difference in pursuit of a more cosmopolitan subjectivity. Yet, while spaces of missionary encounter are inherently relational, the missions literature has tended to downplay the effects of relationality on the realisation of these subject positions. By focusing on the experiences of Singaporean missionaries working among Christian communities in Southeast Asia, I contribute a more nuanced and less pre-determined understanding of the dynamics that underpin intra-Asian missionary encounters. Drawing on interviews conducted with Singapore's STM community, I explore how materiality and new media can structure encounters and subject positions within relational missionary space. I also emphasise the limits of relational space by highlighting its untranslatability beyond the missionary terrain.

中文翻译：

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通过传教士相遇的关系空间实现偶然的宗教主题

本文探讨了宗教主体如何成为一种对表达它的更广泛的社会宗教背景作出反应的偶然立场。这些突发事件在短期传教士 (STM) 中被敏锐地观察到，他们寻求与差异的相遇以追求更加国际化的主体性。然而，虽然宣教相遇的空间本质上是相关的，但宣教文献倾向于淡化相关性对实现这些主题立场的影响。通过关注在东南亚基督教社区工作的新加坡传教士的经历，我对支撑亚洲内部传教士相遇的动力有更细致和更少预先确定的理解。根据对新加坡 STM 社区的采访，我探索物质性和新媒体如何在相关的传教空间中构建相遇和主题位置。我还通过强调其在传教领域之外的不可翻译性来强调关系空间的局限性。