Missiology

Missiology, or mission studies, is a difficult field of study to capture through a single lens or focus. Generally not considered a "classical" discipline of the academy, missiology is a relatively new and multidisciplinary area of study. Students of mission and mission activists draw upon biblical, theological, historical, and anthropological scholarship to discern, understand, and advance God's saving activity in the world. As such, missiology is always praxis oriented and grounded in the lived experience of Christians seeking to be faithful to the Good News in the midst of everyday life. The goal of missiology is to assist the Body of Christ to participate more fully in God's mission of reconciliation and restoration across different cultural, geographic, ethnic, and temporal contexts. The ten books listed below are thus a representative blend of mission scholarship drawing upon a variety of perspectives and disciplines and oriented towards a diverse range of contexts from North America to the wider world. For lack of a better organizational scheme, the books are listed in alphabetical order. It must be acknowledged, however, that, consistent with the bias and privilege accorded to Western scholars by publishing houses and the academy, the majority of books listed below are written by European or North American mission scholars. This "Essential Reading in Missiology" thus warrants a related article, "Essential Reading in World Christianity," to reflect more fully the plurality and breadth of Christian witness in the world today.

1. Barrett, David, George T. Kurian, and Todd M. Johnson, eds. World Christian Encyclopedia: A Comparative Survey of Churches and Religions in the Modern World. New York: Oxford University Press, Second Edition, 2001.

David Barrett is an English, Anglican, mission scholar, statistician, and futurist known for his annual statistical tables on the state of global mission. This two-volume (800+ pages each), folio-sized encyclopedia is an incredibly rich resource presenting a country-by-country breakdown of the status of Christianity around the world, complemented by additional information on cultures, languages, political systems, cities, and other demographic realities in each country under consideration. Although beyond the reach and budget of most personal libraries, the encyclopedia should be included in any library collection.

2. Bosch, David. Transforming Mission: Paradigm Shifts in Theology of Mission. Maryknoll, N.Y: Orbis Books, 1991; and its companion volume: Thomas, Norman E. Classic Texts in Mission and World Christianity. Maryknoll, N.Y: Orbis Books, 1996.

David Bosch's magnum opus is a comprehensive and authoritative biblical, historical, and theological study of mission. It utilizes paradigmatic philosophical theory and seeks to articulate the possibilities for mission in a postmodern world. Norman Thomas's accompanying collection of primary mission texts wonderfully fleshes out the different paradigms in mission thought articulated by Bosch.

3. Guder, Darrell L., ed. Missional Church: A Vision for the Sending of the Church in North America. Grand Rapids, Mich.: William B. Eerdmans, 1998.

Following in the footsteps of Lesslie Newbigin, this book takes seriously the context of North America as a new "mission field." Darrell Guder and his fellow contributors are deeply engaged in the Gospel and Our Culture Network, which is dedicated to the "missionary encounter of the gospel with North American assumptions, perspectives, preferences, and practices." Although generally more reformed than Newbigin's work in its ecclesiological presuppositions, Missional Church challenges Anglicans in the West as to our understanding of and commitment to mission in our own context.

4. Johnson, Eleanor, and John Clark. Anglicans in Mission: A Transforming Journey. London: SPCK, 2000.

At its ninth meeting in Cape Town in 1993, the Anglican Consultative Council established a new Mission Commission for the Anglican Communion entitled MISSIO. This collection of essays, proceedings of meetings, documents, and prayers was prepared by MISSIO as its summary report to the 1999 meeting of the Anglican Consultative Council. Much more than a commission report, Anglicans in Mission is an important collection of current missiological thought and mission imperatives of the Anglican Communion following the Decade of Evangelism.

5. Presler, Titus. Horizons of Mission. Cambridge, Mass.: Cowley Publications, 2001.

The eleventh volume in the New Church's Teaching Series, this accessible book addresses scriptural, historical, and cultural questions related to the engagement of the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion in world mission today. Its "vision for mission in the twenty-first century" and commitment to "energizing communities for mission" are particularly useful for parish and diocesan study. The fact that Cowley Publications has included, for the first time, a book on mission in its New Church's Teaching Series reflects the growing interest in missiology in the church.