26th of April, 2005
Historical Paradigms of Missiology
Posted by DLW in Uncategorized at 6:59 am | 
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I am reading right now a book titled Transforming Mission - Paradigm Shifts in Theology of Mission. You can find a readers guide to it, here. I believe that Missiology should be central for us Christians, as we deliberate on praxis and doxy, inasmuch as we should view all cultures, including our own, as mission fields. We also must reflect on past praxis to determine how we collectively and individually should let our lights shine before others. For me, the biggest example where there is a need for much more reflection on praxis is with Church-State relations. As I was reading Transforming Missions, it described the missiological shortcomings of post-millenialism and pre-millenialism. I think both views are serious misinterpretations of the Bible that reflect wishful thinking that the Bible would simply just settle what is right political conduct once and for all and the hermeneutical problems of understanding a text written two millenia ago. And yet, we can learn from the experiences generated by Christians acting from within these paradigms and allow their experiences to shape our own actions. One of the reasons I enjoyed learning about the work of John R. Commons, founder of Wisconsin Institutional Law and Economics is that he sought to learn from the lessons/failures of the Social Gospel movement´s activism and past political economic thought. He did this in a way that was quite practically successful in promoting institutional reform in the US.
An emphasis on Missiology can be eye-opening. As my NT prof said this past spring, it is important to remember that missiology is far more important and comprehensive than evangelism. We must not let an overemphases on evangelism distort our witness to the world and we must not forget that we must evangelize as part of how we make disciples of all nations.
dlw
The 29th of April, 2005 at 12:45 am
I agree. Missiology is the key. We shouldn’t be teaching “The Biblical Basis for Mission” — instead we should be teaching “Missions, the Basis of the Bible.” The order of those words makes a HUGE difference in worldview.
The 29th of April, 2005 at 2:05 am
I’m reminded of Urbana 73 & 76, with Philip Teng and John Stott anchoring the proceedings with their daily teaching. Though Teng’s series was titled “The Biblical Basis for Missions”, they both did a great job of expositing the idea of “Missions, the Basis of the Bible.” Here’s links to their talks if anyone is interested:
http://www.urbana.org/_articles.cfm?RecordId=458
http://www.urbana.org/_articles.cfm?RecordId=783
The 29th of April, 2005 at 4:33 am
thankyou both for the comments.
I hope you can take the time to read and comment on more of my blog.
dlw
The 22nd of June, 2006 at 12:52 am
[…] I just found out from Sojourners today about NightLight, an organization that helps to free and employ prostitutes in Thailand. I like their purpose and goal statement. I like their holistic approach to ministry that includes relational evangelism, but does not emphasize it. This is the sort of ministry that I think tends to work better long term in many non-traditionally Christian countries and generally with people from backgrounds that presuppose to be defensive if not hostile towards the Christian faith. It’s always important to remember Evangelism is just a part of Missiology, a part that has been historically over-emphasized among white USAmerican Evangelicals. […]