Posted by: timjdavy | May 14, 2012

Tue 15 May Live streaming of Annual Lecture in Bible and Mission

Tomorrow evening, Tuesday 15 May 7.30pm UK time, LST’s Prof Steve Walton will be giving the 2012 annual lecture in Bible and Mission on The Acts of the Apostles as the Mission of God.

If you are not able to come along then you can catch it live via this link:

Watch 2012 Annual Lecture in Bible and Mission

This ustream link allows you to use social media as well. Alternatively, we will be using the hashtag #actsasmission on Twitter.

Here are further details of the event:

Action plans or missio Dei – the 2012 Redcliffe Lecture in Bible and Mission

Action plans are frequently used to develop a churches’ mission strategy, but are they the right approach to take? Who really drives mission in the church – God or people?

Professor Steve Walton from LST will be exploring possible answers to this question in the 2012 Bible and Mission lecture on the topic of The Acts of the Apostles as the Mission of God at Redcliffe College on Tuesday 15 May from 7.30-9.30pm.

Using the Acts of the Apostles as a framework, Professor Walton will reflect on the work of God in the early church in driving the story of Acts forward, in the light of the contemporary emphasis on Christians joining God where he is already at work (missio Dei).

Tim Davy, Lecturer in Bible and Mission at Redcliffe commented, “We’re really excited to be turning our attention to the book of Acts in this year’s lecture. At the cutting edge of New Testament scholarship, Steve Walton will bring fresh thinking to this familiar ‘missionary’ book and enlarge our horizons for understanding its place (and ours!) in the mission of God.’

The lecture is free, but pre-booking is required – you can book online at www.redcliffe.org/bible-and-mission-lecture-2012 or phone 01452 308 097 .

Prof Walton’s lecture is one of the events organised by Redcliffe’s Centre for the Study of Bible and Mission. From the 1-7 July 2012, there is also the opportunity to learn Biblical Hebrew or New Testament Greek in a week. The two short courses are aimed at people who want to get to know the Bible in deeper ways and who are looking for a friendly environment in which to learn. There is a 20% discount on the costs for people working with churches or mission agencies. Booking deadline is 1 June.

For more information about these and other Redcliffe College events, visit www.redcliffe.org/events

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Posted by: timjdavy | April 25, 2012

Elephants in the Bible and Mission room

Just a brief thought. The Bible is a very big book with lots to say about mission. It is easy to focus on the ‘obvious’  passages and play down or ignore other texts that seem to be either challenging or irrelevant to the mission of God.

The contention of those who employ a missional hermeneutic is that, by definition, any text of the Bible could be read from the perspective of God’s mission. This sounds good but we then have to acknowledge the elephants in the room. How do we read geneaolgies ‘missionally’? How do we read texts like the destruction of the Canaanites ‘missionally’? How do we read Song of Songs ‘missionally’.

I am not saying these things can’t be done. My point is to ask, ‘When will we get round to the more tricky texts?’

What would you say are the five texts of the Bible that present the most problems for a missional reading?

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Posted by: timjdavy | April 2, 2012

Action plans or missio Dei? – the 2012 Redcliffe Lecture in Bible and Mission

This is from a press release that we have just sent out about Prof Steve Walton’s forthcoming public lecture on Acts. See more on our Annual Lecture in Bible and Mission

Action plans or missio Dei – the 2012 Redcliffe Lecture in Bible and Mission

Action plans are frequently used to develop a churches’ mission strategy, but are they the right approach to take? Who really drives mission in the church – God or people?

Professor Steve Walton from LST will be exploring possible answers to this question in the 2012 Bible and Mission lecture on the topic of The Acts of the Apostles as the Mission of God at Redcliffe College on Tuesday 15 May from 7.30-9.30pm.

Using the Acts of the Apostles as a framework, Professor Walton will reflect on the work of God in the early church in driving the story of Acts forward, in the light of the contemporary emphasis on Christians joining God where he is already at work (missio Dei).

Tim Davy, Lecturer in Bible and Mission at Redcliffe commented, “We’re really excited to be turning our attention to the book of Acts in this year’s lecture. At the cutting edge of New Testament scholarship, Steve Walton will bring fresh thinking to this familiar ‘missionary’ book and enlarge our horizons for understanding its place (and ours!) in the mission of God.’

The lecture is free, but pre-booking is required – you can book online at www.redcliffe.org/bible-and-mission-lecture-2012 or phone 01452 308 097.

Prof Walton’s lecture is one of the events organised by Redcliffe’s Centre for the Study of Bible and Mission.  From the 1-7 July 2012, there is also the opportunity to learn Biblical Hebrew or New Testament Greek in a week. The two short courses are aimed at people who want to get to know the Bible in deeper ways and who are looking for a friendly environment in which to learn.  There is a 20% discount on the costs for people working with churches or mission agencies. Booking deadline is 1 June.

For more information about these and other Redcliffe College events, visit www.redcliffe.org/events

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Posted by: timjdavy | April 1, 2012

Genesis 1-11 and the Mission of God – what some scholars say

As we reach the final session of Redcliffe’s Missional Texts: Psalms and Genesis 1-11 module, I am sharing a number of quotes for us to discuss. If you were in the class, which one or two would you want to discuss the most and why?

Kaiser, W. (2000) Mission in the Old Testament: Israel as a Light to the Nations, Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Book House

No one can charge the Old Testament with beginning its story in a chauvinistic way. Genesis 1-11 is decidedly universal in its scope and outlook… rather than being pro-Jewish or featuring Israel as God’s favored or pet nation… Genesis 1-11 begins with the original human couple, Adam and Eve, and moves on until seventy nations of the world are encompassed in the scope of its message (in the Table of Nations in Genesis 10).

The earth is filled with a multitude of peoples and nations by the time we finish the first eleven chapters of Genesis. All of this is the result of the blessing of God. (Kaiser, 2000, p15)

O’Collins, G. (2008) Salvation for All: God’s Other Peoples, Oxford: Oxford University Press

The opening chapters of Genesis apply to the entire human community: first, their creation through the goodness of God and then their fall into sin that has affected all subsequent generations. What we read in those chapters refers universally to all human beings, their origin, and their life in the presence of God. (O’Collins, 2008, p2)

Genesis expresses not only humanity’s inherent dignity (as created by God and endowed with God-like qualities) but also the mission that issues from that dignity. Human images of God manifest the divine rule on earth and have the privileged task of being stewards, continuing and completing God’s creative work by presiding in the divine name over the rest of creation. (O’Collins, 2008, p3)

In language that is as fresh as ever, the Genesis story drives home the point: far from enhancing their life, sin leaves everyman and everywoman less than they should really be, and ushers in destructive consequences… Flanked by suffering and pain, death signals the radical change that sin brings to the human condition. (O’Collins, 2008, p5)

Yes this curse also suggests the future possibility of human salvation… Human sin does not do away with divine mercy. (O’Collins, 2008, p6)

We can sum up this vision of all humanity with which the Bible starts. Even after their sin, human beings continue to display the divine image and likeness and to experience the loving concern of God. They must rely on God for everything, and hope for redemption to come. The universal benevolence of God brightens a situation darkened by human sin. While human guilt is universal, the divine love and concern are also universal. (O’Collins, 2008, p7)

On the covenant with Noah (and so, with the rest of creation):

The account was written/collected during a period in which Israel’s sense of national identity as the people of God was well established, yet they still held to the assertion that ‘God’s loving care extended to everyone.’ (O’Collins, 2008, p10)

 

Okoye, J. (2006) Israel and the Nations: A Mission Theology of the Old Testament, Maryknoll, New York: Orbis Books

Israel enshrined in her religious tradition the awareness that the purposes of God enfold the entire creation and that somehow Israel holds brief for humanity. Creation, as portrayed in the myths, is God’s first act of redemption…

The cycle of rest, in imitation of God’s rest on the seventh day, is a perpetual reminder of the lordship of God over all creation. It is also a pledge that a time will come for God’s own just order, in which there will be no masters and slaves, no citizens and foreigners with unequal rights. In this new order, Israel and the nations will finally rest together in the rest of God. (Okoye, 2006, p34)

Glaser, I. (2005) The Bible and Other Faiths: What does the Lord Require of Us?, Leicester: Inter-Varsity Press

On Noah’s covenant:  The first thing the Bible teaches us about people of other faiths is that they are human beings, in God’s land and under God’s rainbow, just like us. (Glaser, 2005, p55, author’s italics)

On the perfect numbers of Gen. 10:  The whole chapter, then, tells us that this great variety of peoples, each with its own land and culture, is good, and part of God’s creation. (Glaser, 2005, p55)

When you look at the people of different faiths around you, what can you see (a) of the image of God and (b) of the results of the fall? Is this any different from what you can see in Christians in your area? (Glaser, 2005, p56, author’s italics)

What can we learn about religion from Gen. 1-11? (Glaser, 2005, pp62-65)

1. Humans need a way to God

2. Sacrifice is one way

3. Religion can cause violence

4. Babylonian religion is criticized

5. We can make two fundamental religious mistakes: thinking we can become the same as God & thinking that God is far away and that we can find a way to reach him

6. Two pictures of true faith – rest and walking

What can we learn about communication? (Glaser, 2005, pp65-66)

Whatever the historical relationship between the Genesis stories and those of the surrounding nations, we can see the writer of Genesis using

  • familiar literary forms to express ideas – people would enjoy the language and rhythms of the stories;
  • stories to challenge stories – anyone could see that the Babel story mocked the story of Marduk’s temple;
  • images people would understand – everyone knew that there were stories about gods battling with waters, so they would immediately see the implications of God’s control of the flood;
  • appropriate thought categories – people would understand the story of the serpant and the fall much better than any abstract discussion of temptation and sin.

Wright, C. (2010) The Mission of God’s People: A Biblical theology of the Church’s mission, Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan Publishing House

Where can the mission of God go from here? What can God do next? Whatever it may be, it will have to tackle a broad redemptive agenda. Genesis 1 – 11 poses a cosmic question to which God must provide a cosmic answer. The problems so graphically spread before the reader in Genesis 1 – 11 will not be solved just by finding a way to get human beings to heaven when they die. Death itself must be destroyed if the curse is to be removed and the way opened to the tree of life. The love and power of God must address not only the sin of individuals, but the strife and strivings of nations; not only the need of human beings but also the suffering of animals and the curse on the ground. (Wright, 2010, pp65-66)

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Posted by: timjdavy | March 13, 2012

The Bible and human trafficking – part 1

Are there any Bible verses about human trafficking? What does the Bible say about human trafficking?

This post is the first in an ongoing series reflecting on the way the Bible can help shape the Church’s thinking and practice concerning trafficking so that together, and in God’s strength, we can seek to tackle this terrible phenomenon as part of our participation in God’s mission.

The first point I want to make is that exploitation is nothing new, though each generation finds its own unique ways of oppression the weak and vulnerable. Consider Psalm 10:

10 Why, O Lord, do you stand far away?
    Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?
2 In arrogance the wicked hotly pursue the poor;
    let them be caught in the schemes that they have devised.
3 For the wicked boasts of the desires of his soul,
    and the one greedy for gain curses and renounces the Lord.
4 In the pride of his face the wicked does not seek him;
    all his thoughts are, “There is no God.”
5 His ways prosper at all times;
    your judgements are on high, out of his sight;
    as for all his foes, he puffs at them.
6 He says in his heart, “I shall not be moved;
    throughout all generations I shall not meet adversity.”
7 His mouth is filled with cursing and deceit and oppression;
     under his tongue are mischief and iniquity.
8 He sits in ambush in the villages;
    in hiding places he murders the innocent.
His eyes stealthily watch for the helpless;
9     he lurks in ambush like a lion in his thicket;
he lurks that he may seize the poor;
    he seizes the poor when he draws him into his net.
10 The helpless are crushed, sink down,
    and fall by his might.
11 He says in his heart, “God has forgotten,
    he has hidden his face, he will never see it.”

Verses 8-9 are particularly striking, reflecting as they do the experience of so many caught up in slavery.

But what biblical texts do you think are important for building up a biblical theology of human trafficking?

(PS. If you’d like to think through these and wider issues why not check out jusTice, Redcliffe’s new justice, advocacy and reconciliation initiative. jusTice feeds into Redcliffe’s BA(Hons) Degree in Applied Theology in Intercultural Contexts, as well as a forthcoming MA in Justice, Advocacy & Reconciliation in Intercultural Contexts (currently in the process of validation through the University of Gloucestershire).)

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Posted by: timjdavy | March 12, 2012

Chris Wright on Noah and the mission of God

In our journey through Genesis 1-11 on Redcliffe’s Applied Theology in Intercultural Contexts degree programme we have reached the account of Noah.

Here is what Chris Wright in The Mission of God says about the covenant God makes with Noah in Gen. 9

The narrative of the covenant that God made with Noah in Genesis 8:15-9:17 is the first explicit reference to covenant-making in the biblical text… The Noachic covenant establishes at least two foundational points that are relevant to the rest of the biblical concept of mission.

God’s commitment to all life on earth. In the context of God’s radical judgment on the comprehensive nature of human sin (repeatedly portrayed as “violence and corruptions”), God still commits himself to the created order itself and the preservation of life on the planet. Although we live on a cursed earth, we also live on a covenanted earth. There is an unambiguous universality about God’s covenantal self-commitment here: His promise is not only with humanity but also with “every living creature on earth” (Gen 9:10). This Noachic covenant provides the platform for the ongoing mission of God throughout the rest of human and natural history, and thereby also, of course, the platform for our own mission in participation with his. Whatever God does, or whatever God calls us to do, there is a basic stability to the cotnext of all our history.

This does not of course mean that God would never again use his natural creation as the agent of his judgment as well as his blessing (as the rest of the Old Testament amply testifies). But it does set limits to such actions within history. Apart from the final judgment of God that will bring an end to fallen human history as we presently know and experience it on this sinful planet, the curse will never again be expressed in an act of comprehensive destruction as the flood. This is God’s earth, and God is also covenantally committed to its survival, just as later revelation will show us that God is also covenantally committed to its ultimate redemption. Even the final judgment will not mean the end of the earth as God’s creation but the end of the sinful condition that has subjected the whole of creation to its present frustration. Our mission then takes place within the framework of God’s universal promise to the created order. This is a framework that gives security and scope to all our mission: security because we operate within the parameters of God’s commitment to our planet, and scope because there is nothing and no place on earth that lies outside the writ of God’s covenant with Noah. The rainbow promise spans whatever horizon we can ever see.

The ecological dimension of mission. The language with which God addresses Noah at the end of the flood clearly echoes Genesis 1. In a sense this is a fresh start for all creation. So Noah and his family are blessed and instructed to fill the earth and (although not with the same phrase) to have dominion over it. The creation mandate is renewed. The human task remains the same-to exercise authority over the rest of the creation, but to do so with care and respect for life, symbolized in the prohibition on eating animal blood (Gen. 9:4). So there is a human mission built into our origins in God’s creation and God’s purpose for creation. To care for creation is in fact the first purposive statement that is made about the human species; it is our primary mission on the planet. The covenant with Noah effectively renews this mission, within the context of God’s own commitment to creation. (pp326-327, his italics)

Here are a few questions to get you thinking.

  • Is our reading of the Bible so focused on humanity that we miss what it says about God’s purposes for the wider creation?
  • What do you make of God making a covenant with all of creation, and not just humans?
  • What do you think of Wright’s point that, ‘there is nothing and no place on earth that lies outside the writ of God’s covenant with Noah’? How does it rebuke or encourage you as you engage in God’s mission?
  • How does Wright’s section on ecology inform discussions on creation care? To what extent do we treat creation care as peripheral to mission?

What do you think? Leave a question or comment below…

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Posted by: timjdavy | March 1, 2012

The Bible, justice, advocacy and reconciliation

jusTice initiative at Redcliffe CollegeOne of the many exciting things going on at Redcliffe is the new jusTice initiative.

Part of the initiative is the development of a new MA in Justice, Advocacy and Reconciliation in Intercultural Contexts.

Some info about the course is available below. First, though, here is what Joel Edwards says about it:

Justice is still the ugly sister in theological education. This is an awful tragedy because it remains one of the most pervasive ideas and convictions in the Bible. Our reluctance to go beyond acts of kindness to explore and respond to systemic injustices has a great deal to do with a distinct lack of theological reflection. This new MA, and the jusTice Initiative is attempting to put that right and deserves our support. A more robust biblical reflection on this critical issue will produce a generation of men and women who are truly able to show the whole council of God, make a substantial difference to our biblical advocacy and in turn, make a material difference to the 1.4 billion people who still live in abject poverty. (Joel Edwards, International Director of Micah Challenge)

Justice, advocacy and reconciliation are key biblical themes which frame our Christian witness and contribute to creating a world where people and the environment can flourish and become all that God wants them to be.

In an increasingly complex and globalised world, there is a critical need for us to identify and understand how the structures of society can facilitate or obstruct the flow of justice and how the Church can act in ways which promote justice, advocacy and reconciliation.

Redcliffe’s exciting new MA in Justice, Advocacy and Reconciliation in Intercultural Contexts seeks to equip the rapidly-growing number of people involved in justice and mission-related activity. Students will explore Biblical frameworks, mission thinking and practice and explore a number of key issues in areas of socio-political, economic and environmental (in)justice.

The course is being developed in consultation with Christian Aid, International Justice Mission, Micah Challenge, CARE and Coventry Cathedral’s Reconciliation ministry, along with others who will be involved in the ongoing development and delivery of the course. It is subject to validation by the University of Gloucestershire and the planned start date is September 2012

Who is the course for?

  • Mission agencies who require their members to develop biblical, theological and missiological frameworks in preparation for justice, advocacy or reconciliation-related work
  • Partner agencies with members who wish to develop theological and missiological perspectives to undergird their justice-related expertise
  • Those already engaged in mission who want to reflect biblically and missiologically on their role and activity
  • Members of para-church agencies and non-governmental organisations working in related areas who wish to develop biblical and theological frameworks for reflective critique
  • Missionaries on home leave, looking to reflect and engage with such issues, relevant to their mission context
  • Church leaders and the wider Christian community engaged in justice-related ministry and who wish to add a theological/missiological framework

Course structure
Subject to validation, students complete three compulsory modules* and choose one further module from the options below.

  • Method and content in missiological study*
  • Just Mission – justice issues in intercultural contexts*
  • Advocacy, Reconciliation and Peace-building in intercultural contexts*
  • The mission of the Church in the context of post-colonialism and globalisation
  • Theology of religions
  • The Greening of mission
  • Crucial issues in Asian mission and theology
  • Crucial Issues in European mission and theology
  • An introduction to global leadership
  • Independent study module

The MA is available in full-time, part-time and flexible learning modes. 

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Posted by: timjdavy | February 24, 2012

2012 lecture in Bible and Mission – Steve Walton on the book of Acts as the mission of God

Each year we host an Annual Lecture in Bible and Mission at Redcliffe. Following previous lectures by Chris Wright, Gordon Wenham and Eddie Arthur, Prof Steve Walton from LST will be speaking on Tuesday 15 May on ’The Book of Acts as the Mission of God’.

Here are some further details taken from the main Redcliffe website:

The Acts of the Apostles as the Mission of God

Tuesday 15 May 2012  7.30pm-9.30pm

Delivered by Prof Steve Walton, Professor of New Testament at London School of Theology

Steve WaltonAction plans for mission are widely used today: but are they right? Who really drives mission? In the Acts of the Apostles, the church is frequently slow to recognise and get on board with what God is doing. Mission among the Gentiles happens slowly and is a result of God’s initiative, not the church’s plans – and this reflects the wider point that it is God who drives the story of Acts forward, not the believing community. This challenges some modern emphases on the role of the church in mission.In this lecture, Steve Walton will explore the work of God in Acts, and reflect on this key feature of Acts in the light of the emphasis on missio Dei (the ‘mission of God’) in contemporary missiological thinking.
Prof. Walton has taught at LST since 1999 and has a special interest in Luke-Acts, Paul and New Testament Greek. Among other publications, he is the co-author of a popular textbook on the Gospels and Acts (in SPCK’s Exploring the New Testamentseries) and is currently working on the Acts volume in the Word Biblical Commentary series.  He is a retired international volleyball referee and now works in training and developing other referees, which takes him around the world from time to time.
The Lecture is free but pre-booking is required. Please visit Redcliffe’s website for more details on the 2012 lecture in Bible and Mission
For more details on previous annual lectures, visit the Public Lecture page.

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Posted by: timjdavy | February 6, 2012

Chris Wright on dancing the gospel

In his 2003 essay, ‘Future Trends in Mission’ Chris Wright opens with a nice, illustrative story. (the essay can be found in Bartholomew et al, The Futures of Evangelicalism)

‘The people who prefer to dance’ – a very short story

There is a tribe in northern Nigeria known as the Gwandara-wara. During the early part of the twentieth century, two attempts were made by Christian missionaries to reach and evangelize this tribe. Both attempts failed. The gospel was not communicated. Nobody came to faith in Christ. No church was planted. In the mid 1980s, a third group of missionaries tried again. This time they were more successful. They were allowed to live among the tribe and cultivate some land. They discovered that the tribe’s name means, ‘The people who prefer to dance’. From the tribal elders and story-tellers – the guardians of the tribe’s identity and history – the missionaries established that the name went right back to the tribe’s rejection of Islam in the nineteenth century when, in response to the attempt to covert them to Islam, the tribe had insisted, ‘we prefer to dance’ – that is, we will not give up our culture of music and dance for a religion which wants to prohibit them.

Reflecting on this new information, the third group of missionaries came up with a new strategy of evangelism: they would dance the gospel to the ‘people who prefer to dance’. So they devised a means of telling the Bible story, including the story of Jesus and the cross, through the medium of African music and dance. The communication gap was bridged. There was a breakthrough of understanding; some believed the gospel and there is now a church of Jesus Christ among the Gwandara-wara.

Who were this third group of missionaries who succeeded where others had failed. They were not white nor Western, neither American nor European. They were in fact Africans, members of the Evangelical Missionary Society of ECWA – the Evangelical Church of West Africa, one of the largest churches in Nigeria and throughout West Africa. The EMS is a fully indigenous Nigerian mission agency, with some 1,000 missionaries serving cross-culturally throughout western Africa.

This is a story which could be repeated myriad times in many other parts of the world. It illustrates at least three things about mission today and in the future. First, God is still keeping his promise to Abraham. Second, mission, like the church itself, is multinational and multidirectional. Third, God is calling for adaptation, creativity, flexibility and hard thinking in mission.

Reflecting on this story in relation to how we communicate the Bible, it seems to me that Wright’s final points are particularly helpful. We look back and see in Scripture the assured promises of God – we are encouraged. We look around and see the many and varied ways that the global church can join together to understand and communicate the Bible more fully – we are rebuked of the narrowness of how we have done this in the past, but inspired by what might be possible in the future. As we partner together we look ahead to see the ways we as a global church can develop the creativity and appropriateness with which we will strive to communicate God’s Word together.

And I like his final statement. These changing dynamics lead to innovation in practice, but also some hard thinking. The realities of mission should be reckoned with in biblical, theological and missiological thinking, as well as in our practice.

And a brief piece of self-critique to round things off: is it significant that I reflected on Wright’s summary/explanation rather than the story itself? Read up on the differences between oral and non-oral communicators to see why this might have been the case: Bible and orality resources.

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Posted by: timjdavy | January 25, 2012

Mission in Context: Explorations Inspired by J. Andrew Kirk

Mission in ContextMission in Context is a new book edited by John Corrie and Cathy Ross and features a number of notable articles that will be worth checking out. In particular, I’m intrigued by the article by Peter Penner on ‘Practising Community in the early Church: A Missional reading of the summary texts in Acts’. My former Redcliffe colleague Darrell Jackson also has an article on the European context. Darrell is now teaching at Morling College in Australia.

Anyway, here’s the blurb and contents for the book:

Stimulated by Andrew Kirk’s mission theology, this book brings fresh theological reflection to a wide range of mission issues. A formidable group of international missiologists are drawn together to explore current reflections on a wide range of issues including: poverty and injustice, environmentalism, secularism, the place of scripture in a pluralist culture, science and faith, liberation theology, oppression and reconciliation, and much more. Kirk’s influence and reputation is international, and extends to South America, USA, Eastern Europe, Africa and SE Asia. Latin American mission has been especially enriched by Kirk’s innovative thinking on revolutionary politics, contextualisation and holistic mission. This is an indispensable resource of up-to-date missiological reflections for all involved in mission at every level.

 ‘Andrew Kirk has through his own life and scholarship in mission studies embodied a union of evangelical faithfulness, passionate regard for social justice, and deep theological reflection. This union – sadly all too rare in the field – is exemplified by this rich collection of essays in his honour.’
Brian Stanley, University of Edinburgh, UK

‘The richness, freshness, and depth of the essays in this book provide a fine tribute to J. Andrew Kirk as one of the most significant missiologists of our time. This collection will enrich any library – academic or personal.’
Steve Bevans, Catholic Theological Union, Chicago, USA

Contents

Foreword by Christopher J.H. Wright

Introduction - John Corrie and Cathy Ross

Part I: J. Andrew Kirk: His Life and Work
1 Missiologist and theologian - Cathy Ross
2 A Life in Mission - Daniel Kirk
3 Doing evangelical theology at a time of turmoil: A retrospective survey of Andrew’s Latin American experience - J. Samuel Escobar

Part II: What Is Mission?
4 Global Partnership and integral Mission - C. René Padilla
5 Evangelicals and Liberation theology - John Corrie
6 Practising Community in the early Church: A Missional reading of the summary texts in Acts - Peter Penner
7 The Gospel and nation-Building in emergent nations: An evangelical Agenda - Hwa Yung

Part III: Truth in a Pluralistic World
8 Convictional Perspectivism: A Constructive Proposal for a theological response to Postmodern Conditions - Parush R. Parushev
9 Truth and Pluralism - Vinoth Ramachandra
10 Intercultural and inter-religious Dialogue in europe: Are the EU and the Council of europe Participants or Arbiters of the Dialogue? - Darrell Jackson
11 Worldviews and Christian Conversion - Andrew F. Walls

Part IV: Culture, Education and Religion
12 A Missiology of Western Culture: Background and Development of a Project - Wilbert R. Shenk
13 Christian Faith, Freedom and Illiberal Liberalism: Leads from Lesslie Newbigin - David Kettle
14 Mission and Violence: inculturation in the Fourth Century – Basil and Ambrose - Alan Kreider
15 Dilemmas and Challenges for Theology in Post-Communist Eastern Europe - Peter Kuzmic
16 The Significance of Pentecostalism to Mission - Allan Anderson

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