a contextual missiology of the spirit - eTheses Repository ...

‘reflection to orient it, to order it, to make it coherent, so that it does not lapse into
a sterile and superficial activism.’ 2 Nevertheless, it is wrong to assume that such a
concept of ‘theology following action (mission)’ has a purely Majority World
origin. In the beginning of the twentieth century, systematic theologian Martin
Kahler affirmed that mission is ‘the mother of theology.’ According to him,
‘theology began as “an accompanying manifestation of the Christian mission,” not
as “a luxury of the world-dominating church.”’ 3
6.1. Contextual Missiology
As mentioned in chapter one, missiology has become a widely established
academic discipline despite its late origin as a developed field of study. The term
‘missiology’ was coined by Ludwig Rijckevorsel in1915. 4 Although there had
long been missionary activities, the foundational work for missiology as an
academic discipline was done by Gustav Warneck on the Protestant side, and
Joseph Schmidlin on the Roman Catholic side. 5 The place of missiology in
theology is significant in the contemporary global context. According to David
Bosch,
missiology acts as a gadfly in the house of theology, creating unrest and resisting
complacency, opposing every ecclesiastical impulse to self-preservation, every
desire to stay what we are, every inclination toward provincialism and
parochialism, every fragmentation of humanity into regional or ideological blocs,
2
Gustavo Gutierrez, ‘Toward a Theology of Liberation,’ in Gustavo Gutierrez Essential Writings,
ed. James B. Nickoloff (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1996), 24-25.
3
Martin Kahler, Schrifften zur Christologie und Mission (Munich: Chr. Kaiser Verlag, 1908), 189-
90, quoted in David J. Bosch, Transforming Mission: Paradigm Shifts in Theology of Mission
(Maryknoll, New York: Orbis Books, 1994) 16.
4
Jongeneel, Philosophy, Science, 63.
5
J.A.B. Jongeneel and J.M. Van Engelen, ‘Contemporary Currents in Missiology,’ in Missiology:
An Ecumenical Introduction, 438.
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