Table Of ContentThe American Society of Missiology Series, in collaboration with Orbis Books, seeks to publish
scholarly works of high merit and wide interest on numerous aspects of missiology—the study of
mission. Able presentations on new and creative approaches to the practice and understanding of
mission will receive close attention.
For a complete list of titles already published in the The American Society of Missiology Series and
available through Orbis Books, visit www.orbisbooks.com.
American Society of Missiology Series, No. 16
TRANSFORMING MISSION
Paradigm Shifts in Theology of Mission
TWENTIETH ANNIVERSARY EDITION
David J. Bosch
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Copyright © 1991, 2011 by Orbis Books
New concluding chapter copyright © 2011 by Martin Reppenhagen and Darrell L. Guder Published by Orbis Books, Maryknoll, New
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Bosch, David Jacobus.
Transforming mission : paradigm shifts in theology of mission / David J. Bosch.
p. cm.—(American Society of Missiology series ; no. 16)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-88344-744-4; ISBN 0-88344-719-3 (pbk.); ISBN 978-1-57075-948-2 (rev pbk)
1. Missions—Theory. 2. Missions—Theory—History of doctrines.
3. Christianity and other religions. I. Title. II. Title:
Paradigm shifts in theology of mission. III. Series.
BV2063.B649 1991
90-21619
266’.001—dc20
CIP
For Annemie
Contents
Preface to the Twentieth Anniversary Edition
By William R. Burrows
Preface to the Series
In Memoriam: David J. Bosch, 1929-1992
Foreword
Abbreviations
Introduction. Mission: The Contemporary Crisis
Between Danger and Opportunity
The Wider Crisis
Foundation, Aim, and Nature of Mission
From Confidence to Malaise
A “Pluriverse” of Missiology
Mission: An Interim Definition
Part 1
New Testament Models of Mission
1. Reflections on the New Testament as a Missionary Document
The Mother of Theology
Mission in the Old Testament
Bible and Mission
Jesus and Israel
An All-Inclusive Mission
And the Gentiles?
Salient Features of Jesus’ Person and Ministry
Jesus and the Reign of God
Jesus and the Law (the Torah)
Jesus and His Disciples
Mission from the Perspective of Easter
The Early Christian Mission
The Missionary Practice of Jesus and the Early Church
Where the Early Church Failed
Were There Any Alternatives?
2. Matthew: Mission as Disciple-Making
A “Great Commission”?
Matthew and His Community
Contradictions in Matthew
Matthew and Israel
Matthew and “the Nations”
Key Notions in Matthew's Gospel
“Teaching Them to Observe All…”
The Sermon on the Mount
God's Reign and Justice-Righteousness
“Make Disciples…”
Modelled on Jesus, and Yet…
Matthew's Paradigm: Missionary Discipleship
3. Luke-Acts: Practicing Forgiveness and Solidarity with the Poor
The Significance of Luke
Jew, Samaritan, and Gentile in Luke-Acts
The Difference between the Gospel and Acts
The Gentile Mission in Luke 4:16-30
Encounters with Samaritans
Luke's “Great Commission”
The Jewishness of Luke
Jerusalem
To the Jews First, and to the Gentiles
The Division of Israel
A Tragic Story
Gospel for the Poor—And the Rich
The Poor in Luke's Gospel
And the Rich?
Jesus in Nazareth
Evangelist of the Rich?
All Are in Need of Repentance
Salvation in Luke-Acts
No More Vengeance!
The Inexplicable Volte-Face
Isaiah 61 in the First Century AD
Vengence Superseded!
The Lukan Missionary Paradigm
4. Mission in Paul: Invitation to Join the Eschatological Community
First Missionary: First Theologian
Paul's Conversion and Call
Paul's Missionary Strategy
Mission to the Metropolises
Paul and His Colleagues
Paul's Apostolic Self-Consciousness
Paul's Missionary Motivation
A Sense of Concern
A Sense of Responsibility
A Sense of Gratitude
Mission and the Triumph of God
The Apocalyptic Paul
The Christian Church and Apocalyptic
Apocalyptic's New Center of Gravity
New Life in Christ
The Nations’ Pilgrimage to Jerusalem
Paul's Universalism
Apocalyptic and Ethics
The Law, Israel, and the Gentiles
Paul and Judaism
The Function of the Law
Unconditional Acceptance
The Problem of Unrepentant Israel
Romans 9-11
The Church: The Interim Eschatological Community
Ekklesia in Paul
Baptism and the Transcending of Barriers
For the Sake of the World
The Pauline Missionary Paradigm
Part 2
Historical Paradigms of Mission
5. Paradigm Changes in Missiology
Six Epochs
The Paradigm Theory of Thomas Kuhn
Paradigm Shifts in Theology
Paradigms in Missiology
6. The Missionary Paradigm of the Eastern Church
“To the Jew First but also to the Greek”
The Church and Its Context
The Church and the Philosophers
Eschatology
Gnosticism
The Church in Eastern Theology
Mission in Non-Roman Asia
The Patristic and Orthodox Missionary Paradigm
The First Paradigm Shift: An Interim Balance
7. The Medieval Roman Catholic Missionary Paradigm
Changed Context
The Individualization of Salvation
The Ecclesiasticization of Salvation
Mission between Church and State
Indirect and Direct “Missionary Wars”
Colonialism and Mission
The Mission of Monasticism
The Medieval Paradigm: An Appraisal
8. The Missionary Paradigm of the Protestant Reformation
The Nature of the New Movement
The Reformers and Mission
Lutheran Orthodoxy and Mission
The Pietist Breakthrough
Second Reformation and Puritanism
Ambivalences in the Reformation Paradigm
9. Mission in the Wake of the Enlightenment
Contours of the Enlightenment Worldview
Enlightenment and Christian Faith
Mission in the Mirror of the Enlightenment
Church and State
Forces of Renewal
The Second Awakening
The Nineteenth Century
The Twentieth Century
Missionary Motifs in the Enlightenment Era
The Glory of God
“Constrained by Jesus ’ Love”?
The Gospel and Culture
Mission and Manifest Destiny
Mission and Colonialism
Mission and the Millennium
Voluntarism
Missionary Fervor, Optimism, and Pragmatism
The Biblical Motif
Modern Missionary Motives and Motifs—A Profile
Part 3
Toward a Relevant Missiology
10. The Emergence of a Postmodern Paradigm
The End of the Modern Era
The Challenge to the Enlightenment
The Expansion of Rationality
Beyond the Subject-Object Scheme
Rediscovery of the Teleological Dimension
The Challenge to Progress Thinking
A Fiduciary Framework
Chastened Optimism
Toward Interdependence
11. Mission in a Time of Testing
12. Elements of an Emerging Ecumenical Missionary Paradigm
Mission as the Church-With-Others
Church and Mission
Shifts in Missionary Thinking
“Missionary by Its Very Nature”
God's Pilgrim People
Sacrament, Sign, and Instrument
Church and World
Rediscovering the Local Church
Creative Tension
Mission as Missio Dei
Mission as Mediating Salvation
Traditional Interpretations of Salvation
Salvation in the Modern Paradigm
Crisis in the Modern Understanding of Salvation
Toward Comprehensive Salvation
Mission as the Quest for Justice
The Legacy of History
The Tension between Justice and Love
The Two Mandates
A Convergence of Convictions
Mission as Evangelism
Evangelism: A Plethora of Definitions
Toward a Constructive Understanding of Evangelism
Mission as Contextualization
The Genesis of Contextual Theology
The Epistemological Break
The Ambiguities of Contextualization
Mission as Liberation
From Development to Liberation
“God's Preferential Option for the Poor”
Liberal Theology and Liberation Theology
The Marxist Connection
Integral Liberation
Mission as Inculturation
The Vicissitudes of Accommodation and Indigenization
Twentieth-Century Developments
