SWEDISH MISSIOLOGICAL THEMES SVENSK MISSIONSTIDSKRIFT

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484 Tormod Engelsviken twelve and Paul, and in a wider sense of anyone sent out from a church with the gospel message (Acts 14:4,14). In the narrow sense in the Lukan writings it denotes those who had accompanied Jesus during his earthly ministry, witnessed his death and resurrection and received a direct and personal call from the Lord (Acts 1:21-22). The concept of “apostle” in the New Testament may draw on the person and ministry of the prophet in the Old Testament as being sent to the people by God, as well as on the Jewish institution of sjaliach, a person sent by others, e.g. the Sanhedrin, with authority to act and speak on their behalf within the limits of the task given. In the history of the church, different aspects of the ministry of the apostles have been emphasised, causing debate and divisions. Their roles as church founders and missionaries have, however, been underlined from the beginning. Toward the end of the sixteenth century, there was a conflict between the Roman Catholic Robert Bellarmine and the Lutheran theologians about the apostolicity of the church. 7 Bellarmine maintained that the Lutheran church – differently from the Roman Catholic Church – lacked characteristic marks of the church, namely apostolicity and catholicity, because it was not a missionary church and was not found in all parts of the world. The Lutheran Johann Gerhard responded by asserting that apostolicity consisted in faithfulness to the teaching of the apostles as found in the Bible, and that in this regard the Lutheran Church was the more apostolic. “In the polemic of Lutheran Orthodoxy against the Catholic Counter-Reformation, the Lutheran church could claim for itself the marks of the true church without actually supporting a missionary apostolate.” 8 This answer implied a negative attitude to mission and it reached a climax in 1651 when the Wittenberg theologians declared that the apostolate had been a personal privilege of the apostles that did not apply to their successors. The Great Commission was not any longer valid since it would be imply that all ministers had to go to the heathen, which would be absurd. Moreover, the pagans already had had their opportunity (cf. Rom 10:18; Col. 1:23), and God was not under any obligation to give them a second chance. The orthodox theologians argued that the apostles alone had miracle working power and the privilege of infallibility. These aspects of their apostolic ministry were therefore unique, while other aspects such as preaching the 7 See to this Scherer 1987:67-70; Berentsen 1990:18-26; Berentsen 1994:112-114 8 Scherer 1987:68
The Missionary Task of the Church 485 gospel and administering the sacraments in the church were given to the ministers of the church. It is of particular interest that the question about why the evangelical churches did not work for the propagation of the gospel among the heathen was raised by lay people, such as Erhardt Truchsetz zu Wetzhausen and Justinian von Welz. 9 They anticipated a reaction to the views of the orthodox theologians that later would win the day under Pietism. It has been argued that the itinerant apostles in the primitive church disappeared during the second century and with it also the organised missionary activity of the church. Mission and apostolate are seen to be so closely related that when the apostolate ceased with the death of the twelve and Paul, organised mission also ceased. The patristic scholar Oskar Skarsaune wants to nuance this picture somewhat. He maintains on the basis of sources such as Origen and Eusebius that even if “apostle” ceased to be a missionary title after Didaché, the very function of the missionary continued. There are itinerant missionaries who followed the example of the apostles far into the second century, even if they then were called evangelists and not apostles. Skarsaune further argues that there are two other “offices” in the ancient church which with considerable justification may be seen as missionary functions. The one is the “apologist” with Justin Martyr as the most prominent representative, the other is the monk or ascetic. When apostles, evangelists and apologists disappear, the monks take over. 10 This happens as early as the fourth, especially in the Syrian, the Egyptian and in general the Eastern part of the church, and then in the next century in the West. Especially in the more marginal areas of the church a monastic ideal developed with a special emphasis on going out with the gospel for the sake of Christ (peregrinatio Christi). 11 In the eastern part of the church the mission moves further eastwards towards India, Central-Asia and China, and southwards towards Arabia, Ethiopia and Nubia. In the opposite extreme western part of the church, in Ireland, a 9 Sherer 1969 10 Skarsaune 1994:89-94. See also Sundkler/Steed who with regard to the early monastic movement in Egypt, says, “The monks were the missionaries of the church”, Sundkler/ Steed 2000:15. 11 Skarsaune 1994:94
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The Diaconia of the Cross-Cultural
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1. Swedish Missiological Themes, 91
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Ecumenical Understanding of the Mis
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5. Ecumenical Understanding of the
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Swedish Missiological Themes, 91, 4
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Missionary Self-Understanding in a
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Missionary Self-Understanding in a
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Conclusion Missionary Self-Understa
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Introduction Swedish Missiological
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Missionary Identity: Attitudes and
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Rituals for the Sending Forth of Mi
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Stories of a Woman Missionary 603 m
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Stories of a Woman Missionary 605 T
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Stories of a Woman Missionary 607 C
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Stories of a Woman Missionary 609 w
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Returning to Sweden Stories of a Wo
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Stories of a Woman Missionary 617 o
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Stories of a Woman Missionary 619 p
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Stories of a Woman Missionary 621 N
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Missiology Today 625 of Jesus Chris
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Missiology Today 627 salvation” (
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Missiology Today 629 situation for
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Missiology Today 631 In the missiol
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From “Who Cares?” to “Why Car
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Gender, Race and Religion in Nordic
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Mission and Bible Translation in Ru
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SWEDISH MISSIOLOGICAL THEMES SVENSK MISSIONSTIDSKRIFT

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