New Missiology Books October 2010
As a doctoral student in missiology I like to keep up on the new things getting published on the subject. Here are a few new books that are out that have caught my attention. ((Books include referral code links to Powell’s Books an Independent bookstore in Portland, Oregon.)) Summaries provided by Powells.com.
In 1910 Protestant missionaries from around the world gathered to explore the role of Christian missions in the twentieth century. In this collection, leading missiologists use the one hundred year anniversary of the Edinburgh conference as an occasion to reflect on the practice of Christian mission in today’s context: a context marked by globalization, migration, ecological crisis, and religiously motivated violence. The contributors explore the meaning of Christian mission, the contemporary context for mission work, and new forms in which the church has engaged–and should engage–in its missionary task. From these essays, a vision of twenty first-centurymission begins to emerge–one that is aware of issues of race, gender, border spaces, migration, and ecology. This renewed vision gives strength to the future of shared Christian ministry across nations and traditions.
First, this is a book about doing theology, emphasizing not so much content but theology as an activity, a process. Second, this is a book about doing Catholic theology, that is to say anchored in Scripture but also as interpreted by ecclesial Tradition and Magisterium, theology rooted in the experience that the divine is to be found in a sacramental world and community. At a third level, Bevans describes systematic theology as reflection upon the central teachinkgs of the church – creation, sin, redemption, Trinity, anthropology, salvation and eternal life, ecclesiology. And a fourth key insight, the contextual nature of theology, as it makes sense of life in a global world shot through with cultural and religious plurality.
Aimed at practitioners, church leaders, academics, and students of mission and world Christianity, Mission in the Twenty-First Century provides fresh insights on the theology and practice of mission in our age. It brings together scholarly reflection on practice, case studies and stories, and questions for discussion. Addressing the “five marks of mission: evangelism and proclamation, discipleship, social service, social transformation, and ecological concern chapters examine these marks in the context of such important factors as globalization, migration, Islam, “old Christendom,” and peace and reconciliation. In addition to the editors, the international group of contributors includes Desmond Tutu, Jehu Hanciles, Anne Marie Kool, David Zac Nirigiye, Tony Gittins, Lamin Sanneh, Ashish Crispal, Melba Maggay, Hami Tutu Chapman, Gerald Pilay, Kwame Bediako, and Moonjang Lee.