A missionary is someone who dedicates their life to convincing others about something, in this case, a religion. Missionaries spread the word around and attempt to draw in as many people as they can to convert them into a new belief, broadening the acceptance and tolerance of such beliefs. Essentially, a missionary is a religious activist. In Paul’s case, his interpretation and perceiving of Jesus was spread through his individual views and experiences. This relates to the overarching concept of how history is created and why we study it, as the core foundational history of Christianity of based off of what we know was there and what was told to us; in religious, missionaries played an almost essential role in the “what was told to us” part. Also when considering missionaries, historical diffusion comes into play and very much so assisted the missionaries in achieving their goals of spreading the good word of a new religion or belief. Once spread to one area or group of people, or let alone an influential individual, history would do its part in establishing a great historical significance of the growth/expansions of ideas and beliefs throughout history. It was hard enough to reach someone and convince them of a radical idea, but once done, their job was pretty much over, as that individual would inhabit their beliefs and new ideas, spread them to others, only to be continually passed down through generations to initiate a new historically religious presence. Regardless, missionaries lead to more converts which lead to more believers, ultimately exaggerating, expanding, and popularizing religion throughout history (no believers = no religion!). This whole cycle of believers trying to seek others to also become believers provoked religious significance throughout time.
Prophets, on the other hand, are people who advocate or speak in a visionary way about a new belief, cause, or theory. They are the ones throughout history who have established a personal connection with their religion and see it in a different way that nobody else can; but it is their job to enlighten and allow such enlightenment and achievement to continue throughout generations so that their religion and religious practices and all that it encompasses is not lost, but is passed on and further expanded to newer heights that cannot be reached alone, or without such insight, knowledge, and visionaries as prophets were. Cultural diffusion played a role, but a much smaller, indefinite role in the history of prophets. Think about it; missionaries spread the word but prophets gave, or initiated/introduced the word. Historical diffusion would not expand on and continue/greaten the visionary beliefs but would rather impede it from moving on; things which historically diffuse tend to have a history or previous significance, which is why missionaries were so successful and powerful. Prophets, on the other hand, were a much more diminished, not powerful force as they must have individually preached their beliefs to one, and try to gain historical significance as an individual rather than a group or religion as a whole. It was a much slower, tenuous process, and therefore, prophet’s ideas were not that well spread and were not as successful as missionaries. Not to say that none were (there were some very influential and immensely significant prophets in religious history), it was just less common and more challenging.
When comparing a missionary and a prophet, one can establish yet another middle ground. Prophet qualities can easily fit those of a missionary, as both are there to spread ideas, gain significance, and advocates for something greater. Although, they are not interchangeable because missionary characteristics do not necessarily fit those of a prophet. A missionary does not make predictions, or have individual, visionary insight to the religion/beliefs of a prophet; they merely advocate and popularize while prophets create a new belief or concept and advocate on behalf of their individual practice/belief. Therefore, these two terms are not exactly interchangeably usable, but do share some notable characteristics which are greatly accounted for when observing religious history.
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