Missiology is the academic study of the Christian mission history and methodology. It began to be developed as an academic discipline in the 19th century. [1]
Broadly speaking, missiology is "an interdisciplinary field of inquiry into Christian mission or missions that utilizes theological, historical, and various social scientific methods." [2] It has historically focused on the missionary and evangelistic work of Protestant and Catholic denominations from Europe and North America into other continents. But the decline in Christian numbers in the West has been met by the rise of Evangelical and Pentecostal Christians in the Majority World "for which mission and evangelism are their raison d'être." [2]
Through missionary work in new contexts and the gradual shift in the World Christian population from the West to the non-Western world, Christians have had to grapple with new questions. While biblical and theologically rooted, missiology has therefore sought a deep engagement in the social sciences, in disciplines such as anthropology, history, geography, communication theory, comparative religious studies, social studies, education, psychology, and inter-religious relations. [3] Missiology has thus included topics like inculturation, contextualization, interfaith relations, and reverse mission. [2]
Missiology as an academic discipline appeared only in the 19th century. It was the Scottish missionary Alexander Duff who first developed a systematic theory of mission and was appointed in 1867 to the first chair in missiology in the world, the new chair of Evangelistic Theology in New College, Edinburgh. The chair was short-lived and closed after Duff's departure. [4]
Gustav Warneck is often recognized as the founder of Protestant missiology as a discipline. He founded the first scientific missionary periodical in 1874, Allgemeine Missions-Zeitschrift, and was appointed the chair of missionary science at the University of Halle in Germany in 1897. His three-volume work on Protestant mission theory Evangelische Missionlehre and his survey of the history of Protestant missionary work were extremely important for the young discipline. [1] [5]
Influenced by Warneck's work, Catholic church historian Joseph Schmidlin began lecturing in missiology in 1910 at the University of Munster and was appointed to the first chair of Catholic missiology at the same university in 1914. [6]
Since the 1950s, missiology has generally been discussed within the theological framework of the missio Dei , the "Mission of God." This has shifted the discussion away from "missions" in the plural, an exclusive focus on the evangelizing of the non-Christian in overseas contexts, to "mission" in the singular, a broader topic including a multiplicity of God's activities in the world. Hence, "Mission is the participation of the people of God in God's action in the world. The theological and critical reflection about mission is called missiology." [emphasis in original] [7]
Today missiology is taught at many Christian theological schools and its scope of study and relations with the other theological and social sciences differ to a great extent. While it continues to be considered a Christian theological discipline, [8] [9] some have contested whether missiology is a strictly church discipline or academic one. [10]
There are several academic societies for missiology, such as the North American organizations the American Society of Missiology (ASM) and Evangelical Missiological Society (EMS), and the International Association for Mission Studies (IAMS). In European academia, especially in German-speaking contexts, there is the growing dominance of the term "intercultural theology." [11]
The close interaction between missiology, social sciences and culture made scholars to shape the discipline within the framework of history and sociology [12] and remind about the "colonial past of missions" when Christians often attempted to use their political and economic power in evangelism. Many missiologists are now disavowing these methods and attempt to construct a new paradigm that does not employ such imperialistic approaches which lead to language and cultural imposition. [13]
Intercultural relations, sometimes called intercultural studies, is a field of social science. It is a multi-disciplinary academic field designed to train students to understand, communicate, and accomplish specific goals outside their own cultures. Intercultural relations involves, at a fundamental level, learning how to see oneself and the world through the eyes of another. It seeks to prepare students for interaction with cultures both similar to their own or very different from their own. Some aspects of intercultural relations also include, their power and cultural identity with how the relationship should be upheld with other foreign countries.
Indigenous churches are churches suited to local culture and led by local Christians. There have been two main Protestant strategies proposed for the creation of indigenous churches:
Arthur F. Glasser was a missiologist and missionary who taught at Fuller Theological Seminary, last serving as Dean Emeritus of the School of Intercultural Studies. He also completed five years of missionary service in China.
Missional living is a Christian practice to adopt the thinking, behaviors, and practices of a missionary in everyday life, in order to engage others with the gospel message.
Missio Dei is a Latin Christian theological term that can be translated as the "mission of God", or the "sending of God".
David Jacobus Bosch was an influential missiologist and theologian best known for his book Transforming Mission: Paradigm Shifts in Theology of Mission (1991) — a major work on post-colonial Christian mission. He was a member of the Dutch Reformed Church in South Africa (NGK), also known by its English abbreviation DRC. On Freedom Day, 27 April 2013, he posthumously received the Order of the Baobab from the President of South Africa "for his selfless struggle for equality ... and his dedication to community upliftment. By doing so, he lived the values of non-racialism against the mainstream of his own culture."
Frontier Missions is a Christian missiological term referring to the natural pioneering of the gospel among ethno-cultural and ethno-linguistic population segments where there is no indigenous church. The phrase was originally used with reference to Roman Catholic, and later Protestant, mission stations in the Western United States.
Stanley Jedidiah Samartha was an Indian theologian and a participant in inter-religious dialogue.
Alan Richard Tippett was a Methodist missionary, missiologist, and anthropologist.
Contextual theology or contextualizing theology refers to theology which has responded to the dynamics of a particular context.
Darrell Likens Guder is a theologian and missiologist who is Professor of Missional and Ecumenical Theology Emeritus at Princeton Theological Seminary.
The International Association for Mission Studies (IAMS) is an international, inter-confessional, and interdisciplinary professional society for the scholarly study of the Christian mission and its impact in the world and the related field of intercultural theology. It is based in England and South Korea.
Paul Gordon Hiebert was an American missiologist. He was "arguably the world's leading missiological anthropologist."
World Christianity or global Christianity has been defined both as a term that attempts to convey the global nature of the Christian religion and an academic field of study that encompasses analysis of the histories, practices, and discourses of Christianity as a world religion and its various forms as they are found on the six continents. However, the term often focuses on "non-Western Christianity" which "comprises instances of Christian faith in 'the global South', in Asia, Africa, and Latin America." It also includes Indigenous or diasporic forms of Christianity in the Caribbean, South America, Western Europe, and North America.
Dana Lee Robert is a historian of Christianity and a missiologist. She is a professor at Boston University, where she has worked since 1984. She was the co-founder of the Center for Global Christianity and Mission in 2001, one of the first university-based Centers on World Christianity in North America. For years, Robert held the School of Theology's Truman Collins Professorship in World Christianity and History of Mission, but in 2022 she was installed in the William Fairfield Warren Distinguished Professorship, the highest distinction bestowed upon senior faculty members who remain actively involved in research, scholarship, teaching, and the University’s civic life.
Practical theology is an academic discipline that examines and reflects on religious practices in order to understand the theology enacted in those practices and in order to consider how theological theory and theological practices can be more fully aligned, changed, or improved. Practical theology has often sought to address a perceived disconnection between dogmatics or theology as an academic discipline on the one hand, and the life and practice of the church on the other.
Gustav Adolf Warneck (1834–1910) was a German missiologist. In 1874, he established the first German missiological journal, Allgemeine Missionszeitschift. He was also involved in the founding of the German Protestant Missions Committee in 1885, serving as secretary until 1901. He held the first university chair in missiology at Halle University from 1896 to 1908. He is considered to be one of the first missiologists. David Bosch describes him as "the father of missiology as a theological discipline."
Siga Arles was an Indian missiologist and founder of the Centre for Contemporary Christianity.
Orlando Enrique Costas was a Hispanic Evangelical theologian and missiologist.
Stefan Paas is a Dutch theologian and missiologist. He is Director of the Centre for Church and Mission in the West, Professor of Missiology at Theological University Kampen, and J. H. Bavinck Professor of Missiology and Intercultural Theology at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. He specialises in church planting in a post-Christian context.
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