Theology of Mission

MISSION AND MANY CULTURES IN NEW ZEALAND
SCHOOL OF MINISTRY THREE WEEK INTENSIVE JULY 2004

Section B. MISSION THEOLOGY 19-22 July 2004

Structures of Missiological Thought	Monday July 19, b, c	John Roxborogh
Biblical Foundations	Tuesday July 20, a, b	John Roxborogh
Protestant Missiology since Lausanne	Tuesday July 20, c	John Roxborogh
Global Paradigms, Culture and Religion	Wednesday July 21, a	John Roxborogh
Catholic Missiology since Vatican II	Thursday July 22, a (Forum)	Stephen Bevans SVD

This section of the Mission and Many Cultures intensive paper aims to provide a theoretical foundation and a global framework for reflection on mission issues and mission in New Zealand.

It can be rather challenging trying to understand and evaluate abstract ideas, so we will try to keep things related to practice as well as theory, even though the concrete stuff will be dealt with later on. The way people think about Christian mission has changed, and self-awareness about our assumptions and reliable information about how others are approaching issues is essential for informed decision making about mission in our time and place.

Some of this material may be difficult to digest quickly, and you may want to reserve judgement about ideas that seem strange or wrong to you. Working through the paper as a whole and the assignment for this section will help you process ideas and their connection with the real world. It is important to engage actively in class. You should also feel free to discuss things with other people, your tutor, and with me.

Not everyone cares about truth or authority, and it is often assumed that all true Christians know what is right. This course is taught from the viewpoint that issues of truth and authority still matter, and that Christians are often wrong about things. We may or may not be able to stem the tide of careless and populist spiritual opinion, but we can help point to quality discussion about how we know what God wants us to be doing, and what we can learn from others on this journey.

Pre-Reading:

Stephen B Bevans, "From a Church with a Mission to a Missionary Church" - this paper for Forum will be provided for pre-reading before the end of semester one.

You will find it helpful to look up the Vatican Documents quoted on the web (see Resources), and to use Bosch Transforming Mission for reference.

Key Texts: (see also Resources)

David Bosch, Transforming Mission, Orbis, 1991

Stephen B Bevans and Roger Schroeder, Constants in Context. A theology of mission for today, Orbis, 2004 (available in July for a special price from OC Books, Dunedin).

Philip Jenkins, The next Christendom, the coming of global Christianity, OUP, 2002.

Andrew Kirk, What is Mission, DLT.

A Scott Moreau, Gary R Corwin and Gary B McGee, Introducing World Missions, Baker, 2004.

John Roxborogh

Assessment

It is now 40 years since the Documents of Vatican II became available and 30 years this July since the International Congress on World Evangelization (ICOWE) was held in Lausanne Switzerland. Stephen Bevans will be talking to us about some of the Vatican II documents and those that came after (see resources for links). The Billy Graham Archives Bulletin Board has archival material from Lausanne.

There is one 1500 word assignment for this part of the course:

Discuss how and why you would rewrite either the Lausanne Covenant (or another missiological statement of your choice) to suit the needs of the global church and world in 2005?

Please make an appointment to discuss your assignment and theology of mission issues of interest to you. Let me know if a completion date by the 25 August would create difficulties .

You are encouraged to discuss this with others as you go. The restriction is not to give your draft or final essay to another student doing the same topic before you both have finished - but talk is fine!

The resources you need to use include the library, the worldwide web, and conversation with one or more people outside the community of the School of Ministry.

There is to be evidence of all three categories of information in the bibliography.
Bosch Transforming Mission and Bevans and Schroeder Constants in Context need to be among the books consulted whatever document you choose.
The "one or more people" may, and probably will, include people who had never heard of Lausanne or Vatican II but who were willing to let you explain it to them and interact with you about it.

The following is one way you can choose to structure your answer if you wish.

1) Decide on which document you are working with (eg Lausanne)

2) Decide on one topic or issue of concern to you.

3) Write a paragraph of about 200 words in the same style as the existing document.

4) Use the rest of your essay to

a) say anything else you wish to say about other issues or the document in general - perhaps another 200 words and

b) (at greater length, about 1100 words) to explain why you chose this issue and what it is about.

Try to keep within the 1500 word overall envelop, but write it first and fix the word length second. Footnotes count in the 1500 words, but not bibliography.

Essays must be printed out and have a coversheet attached. Download Coversheet

Please follow normal essay conventions of layout, margins, bibliographical style and bibliography.
Essays should be handed to Juan Kinnear by the 25 August or other agreed due date.
Essays without a cover sheet will be returned.

Have fun,

John Roxborogh