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Health, Religion, and Politics: Re-assessing the Role of Christian Missionaries in Colonial Assam Mission Studies Pub Date : 2024-03-05 Jagriti, Madhumita Sengupta
Most studies of Christian missionaries in British Assam have focused on their role in promoting Christianity or education, not to mention their contributions to the development and standardization of local languages. There has been a singular lack of studies concerning the immense contributions made by the missionaries in setting up a healthcare infrastructure in the region. This absence has further
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“Give Us This Day Our Daily Bread” Mission Studies Pub Date : 2024-03-06 Charles Amarkwei
The goal of this paper is to present a Christian mission of hunger and poverty alleviation through a life in communion with the trinity and in the context of the Ga celebration of homowo in Ghana. It is in the hope of the renewal of all things at the end of the world. It is to appreciate the essence of homowo in order to appropriate it for a Christian mission. The paper seeks to achieve this goal of
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The Holistic Effects of Mystical Union with Christ in the Soteriology of Dhanjibhai Fakirbhai Mission Studies Pub Date : 2024-03-05 Ray Burbank
This article addresses the relationship between eschatological and present issues in Christian soteriological debates of the mid-twentieth century, particularly in post- colonial India. It focuses on the writings of Dhanjibhai Fakirbhai. As mystical views of Christian salvation can be criticized for their irrelevancy to secular society, Dhanjibhai presents a contrast to this in a type of mystical soteriology
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An Unfinished Quest: David J. Bosch’s Legacy Concerning the Relationship between Evangelism and Service Mission Studies Pub Date : 2024-03-05 Andreas C. Jansson
David Bosch calls the relationship between evangelism and service “one of the thorniest areas” in Missiology. He analyses and criticises Western dichotomic thinking, which tends to contrast evangelism and service, word and deed, soul and body. This is the source of what Bosch calls “a battle for supremacy” between evangelism and service, and during his own life, he committed himself to “a personal
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Muslim-Christian and Missiological Discourses on Cultural Identity in Maluku, Eastern Indonesia Mission Studies Pub Date : 2023-12-09 Steve Gerardo Christoffel Gaspersz
This article is an imaginary dialogue that is critical of the thoughts of Arnold N. Radjawane, theologian and pastor of the Protestant Church of Maluku (GPM). This is shown in one of the articles he wrote in the 1960s. For some Muslim clerics in Maluku, the article reveals the idea of Christianization through local culture in Maluku, which they believe had hardened Christian-Muslim cultural relations
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The Polish Rulers and the Catholic Missionaries from the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in the Black Sea Region (1625–1721) Mission Studies Pub Date : 2023-12-09 Natalia Królikowska-Jedlińska
The paper examines the key elements characterizing the Polish rulers’ policy towards the Polish-Lithuanian Catholic missionaries in the Orient through three vital events of its history: the establishment and development of the Dominican mission in the Crimea (1625–1659), the plans of John II Casimir Vasa and Louise Marie Gonzaga to found the network of Jesuit stations in three Oriental capitals in
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Racialized Experiences with Host Nationals: The Experiences of U.S. Religious Cross-cultural Workers of Color Mission Studies Pub Date : 2023-12-09 Lindsey Huang
Religious cross-cultural workers of color (RCCWC s) from the United States serve in international contexts with their own racialized dynamics. In order to explore how race shapes RCCWC s’ experiences with host nationals, sixteen qualitative interviews with RCCWC s were conducted. Three major findings emerged from the data: (1) sharing a similar racial or ethnic identity with host nationals results
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Gathered by the Word: Latin Pentecostal Migrant Congregations in the Nordic Countries Mission Studies Pub Date : 2023-12-07 Leonardo Marcondes Alves
Migration from Portuguese and Spanish-speaking countries has produced over two hundred Evangelical/Pentecostal congregations in the Nordic region during the early twenty-first century. These churches attract people of diverse backgrounds, demanding ongoing negotiations to keep their distinctive existence. I argue that their existence is owed to shared interpretative practices of the Bible and migration
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Cultural Change versus Adaptability? The Ascendance of the Christian God within Zo Traditional Cosmology Mission Studies Pub Date : 2023-10-05 Pum Khan Pau, Thang Sian Mung
This paper examines the endeavors of Christian missions seeking converts from an indigenous society. It places the concept of “cultural change”, often promoted by Christian missions, against the concept of “cultural adaptability”. Taking the case of the Zo people of the India-Burma borderlands, this paper argues that the ascendance of the Christian God within a traditional Zo cosmology was not simply
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The Gospel as a Life to Live: Tokunboh Adeyemo and the Evangelical Debate on Mission Mission Studies Pub Date : 2023-10-05 Wouter Theodoor (W.T.) van Veelen
This article analyzes the theological legacy of Tokunboh Adeyemo, a leading voice in African evangelical circles. In academic literature on African Christianity, African evangelical theologians are often accused of endorsing a biblicist or Westernized form of theology that fails to deeply engage with African realities. This study retraces Adeyemo’s contribution to the evangelical debates on mission
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Integrating Pentecostal Healing and Western Medicine: A Case Study Mission Studies Pub Date : 2023-10-05 Karl Inge Tangen
Medical missions are criticized for having a secularizing effect. Progressive Pentecostals who combine prayer and Western medicine represent one possible solution to this problem. This article explores whether Western medicine and Pentecostal-charismatic healing practices can be sustainably integrated by offering a case study of the medical missiology of Osvald Orlien. The article shows that Orlien’s
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Mission as Hospitality with Refugees and Other Migrants: Exploring Ross Langmead’s “Guests and Hosts” in Australian Churches Mission Studies Pub Date : 2023-10-05 Darren Cronshaw, Hanna Hyun, Peter Laughlin, Titus S. Olorunnisola, Stephen Parker
This article explores the “mission of God” and its relationship with refugees and migrants in Australia. At its best, this mission is experienced as hospitality to, by, and with people of cultural diversity. Ross Langmead (2014) called for a theology of mission as an expression of divine hospitality to those marginalized and forcefully displaced, and recalled the significance of the cultural diversity
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Missionary Linguistics and the Protestant Policies for Missionary (Re)translations (English into Judeo-Spanish) in the Nineteenth Century Mission Studies Pub Date : 2023-10-05 Daniel Martín-González
Missionary Linguistics attempts to analyze texts either written or (re)translated by missionaries, especially those produced by Spanish and Portuguese ministers in Latin America and Asia. However, some more specific case studies have been taken for granted, such as the case of the Scottish Protestant missionaries who wanted to convert Sephardic Jews in Constantinople in the nineteenth century. This
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Social Discourses in Egypt: Historical Developments of Interfaith Relations between Christians and Muslims Mission Studies Pub Date : 2023-10-05 Toby Kan
Based on analysis through the lens of Laclau and Mouffe’s discourse theory, this article demonstrates how the theory is applicable to the complex situation of Christian and Muslim relations in Egypt. It argues that although the discourse of national unity remains dominant after the 2011 Egyptian Revolution, the humanist voice has become more vocal under the spirit of revolutionary fervor. Moreover
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Church as Family: Creating Healing and Transformative Spaces for Children at Risk through a Reimagining of Ecclesiology Mission Studies Pub Date : 2023-06-03 Cara L. Pfeiffer
Children growing up in contexts of toxic stress face a cascade of deleterious realities that impact them at every level of their being. However, when children are securely attached to healthy adults in their lives, those supportive relationships can be both protective and transformative for those young people. Given the power of secure attachment and the New Testament’s frequent use of the metaphor
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Power in Context: Healing Practices in Churches in Norway and Madagascar Mission Studies Pub Date : 2023-06-03 Tormod Kleiven, Hans Austnaberg, Anne Austad, Marianne Rodriguez Nygaard
The aim of this article is to investigate the power dynamics at play in open and announced healing practices in Norway and Madagascar. The main research question is: What characterizes the power dynamics at play in healing practices in Norway and Madagascar? We analyzed empirical material by using a power theoretical approach to describe the exercise of power. Through a study in two different ecclesial
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Spirit-Possession in Fiji: The Pastoral Challenges of Discerning and Healing Mission Studies Pub Date : 2023-06-03 Francis Hoare
Spirit possession elicits two common responses – rites to exorcise Satan or medical intervention. Drawing on pastoral experiences in the two major cultures of Fiji, this paper examines different types of spirit possession from the perspectives of social anthropology, psychology, and theology, which all play important roles in dealing with cases of spirit possession. Understanding of and communication
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Where Are Children in Missiology? English- Language Publications over the Past Decades Mission Studies Pub Date : 2023-06-03 David H. Scott
Twenty-five years ago, it was claimed that only two articles existed in missiological journals that directly considered children and mission together. This article updates and systematizes that research, analyzing the results in English-language publications decade-by-decade in conversation with other trends to better understand and engage with children and young people in the church, in the world
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Ideologies and Commitments: An Analysis of Three Typical Attitudes to the Protestant Missions in the Anti-Christian Movement Mission Studies Pub Date : 2022-12-26 Jue Wang (王珏)
This paper presents various Chinese-Christian understandings of the Protestant missions from the U.S. and U.K. in the 1920s. By examining three typical attitudes represented by Zhao Zichen, Li Chunfan, and Zhang Yijing, the author argues that external influences from ideologies – such as nationalism – alone are insufficient to explain the differences among them. Looking closely at what Zhao, Li, and
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A Declaration on the “Russian World” (Russkii Mir) Teaching Mission Studies Pub Date : 2022-07-05 Brandon Gallaher, Pantelis Kalaitzidis
On March 13, 2022 (Sunday of Orthodoxy), Orthodox theologians and scholars from around the world issued an unprecedented theological declaration that draws on both the Barmen Declaration (1934) and the Synodikon of Orthodoxy, and is directed against the ethnophyletist and nationalist “Russian world” ideology that serves as the religious underpinning for Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine in February
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Missio Dei: Is There Any Common Ground? Mission Studies Pub Date : 2022-07-05 Rolf Kjøde
Missio Dei has become a common and valued expression in most wings of the church. To what extent do we mean the same thing when we use this term? This article explores the understanding of the concept missio Dei in contemporary conciliar and evangelical contexts, with special emphasis on The Cape Town Commitment and Together towards Life. Although missio Dei has had a turbulent life with diverse definitions
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Mission as Integral Ecology: Doing Theology at Bethany Mission Studies Pub Date : 2022-07-05 Emmanuel Katongole
Christianity’s reality in the global south where poverty, climate change, ecological degradation and marginalization are the daily, lived experience of the majority of the world’s population, presents theologians with a unique moment of challenge and opportunity for theological exploration, experimentation, and missiological innovation. This article explores and analyzes one such experiment, the Bethany
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Shalom and Sangsaeng: Transforming Discipleship in a Pandemic-Stricken World Mission Studies Pub Date : 2022-07-05 Jooseop Keum
This article examines the theme of the 15th Assembly of the IAMS in 2022, “Powers, Inequalities, and Vulnerabilities: Mission in a Wounded World”. It focuses on putting justice, equality, and liberation at the heart of the Christian mission as a way of transforming discipleship in a pandemic-stricken world. The biblical concept of shalom and the Korean concept of sangsaeng will be examined and discussed
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The Urgent Demands of the Present: Missiological Discernment in a Wounded World Mission Studies Pub Date : 2022-07-05 Paul Kollman
This article considers implications of the IAMS 15th Assembly theme “Powers, Inequalities, and Vulnerabilities: Mission in a Wounded World.” After describing the theme’s origins and reflecting on wounds and woundedness in Christian mission, it develops a framework to consider missiology shaped by the theme, that is, when prioritizing mission as constituted by its setting in a wounded world shaped by
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What Does J.N. Farquhar Have to Say about Islam? Mission Studies Pub Date : 2022-07-05 David Emmanuel Singh
John Nicol Farquhar was a Scottish missionary and orientalist, well-known even today for his ideas on fulfilment theology. Whereas Farquhar’s position on Hinduism vis-a-vis Christianity is still widely discussed, few are aware of what he wrote about Islam. This is because it is assumed that his view of Islam was no different from his view of other religious traditions. This article discusses the question
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Wounded in Mission: Where in the World Are You from? Identity and Suffering in Discipleship and Witness Mission Studies Pub Date : 2022-07-05 Rosalee Velloso Ewell
This essay examines the missionary calling and character of the people of God. The argument is made that the call to discipleship has significant implications for how Christians understand their identity. To be a disciple means to submit to a kingdom and a way of life that challenge the powers of this world and nationalistic understandings of identity. Discipleship also implies that following Christ
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Contextualization and the ‘Death and Resurrection’ Pattern Mission Studies Pub Date : 2022-02-15 E.J. David Kramer
Grasping contextualization through the New Testament pattern of ‘death and resurrection’, invigorates the conversation between missiology and systematic theology and affords numerous conceptual benefits. By employing N.T. Wright’s rendition of the Apostle Paul’s life-transformation as ‘dying and rising with Christ’, a pattern suggests itself that accounts for both continuity and discontinuity between
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Herman and Johan Herman Bavinck on the Uniqueness of Christian Theism Mission Studies Pub Date : 2022-02-15 Nathan D. Shannon
This article presents Herman Bavinck and Johan Herman Bavinck’s explications of the uniqueness of Christian theism in terms of the absolute personalism of the Christian Scriptures. Both argue that, outside of Christian special revelation, absoluteness and personality appear in irresolvable dialectic. The dogmatician Herman Bavinck detects this tension in the history of Western philosophy, and the missiologist
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The Pedagogy of Evangelism: Moving from a Didactic to a Conversational Model of Evangelism Mission Studies Pub Date : 2022-02-15 James Butler
This paper argues that while evangelicalism has sought to maintain the importance of communicating a normative understanding of faith, it has done so primarily through a didactic understanding of evangelism. This has made it difficult to integrate informal and non-verbal expressions into an account of evangelism and, I argue, has contributed to evangelicalism’s problems of understanding the relationship
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Transforming Lord’s Supper: Indonesian Protestant Responses to the Covid-19 Pandemic Mission Studies Pub Date : 2022-02-15 Rachel Iwamony
By focusing on the issue of the Lord’s Supper, this article explores the contextual theological responses of three Protestant churches in the eastern part of Indonesia towards the Covid-19 pandemic. The article argues that discourses on the Lord’s Supper in response to the pandemic reflected the mission theology of these communities in terms of their beliefs (doctrine) and practices (rites, structures
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Theology & the Anthropology of Christian Life, written by Robbins, Joel Mission Studies Pub Date : 2022-02-15 John Mansford Prior
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Convertir l’empereur? Journal du missionnaire et médecin George-Louis Liengme dans le Sud-Est africain. 1893–1895, written by Eric Morier-Genoud Mission Studies Pub Date : 2022-02-15 Marie-Hélène Robert
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Context, Plurality, and Truth: Theology in World Christianities, written by Mika Vähäkangas Mission Studies Pub Date : 2022-02-15 Chammah J. Kaunda
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Facing West: Evangelicals in an Age of World Christianity, written by David R. Swartz Mission Studies Pub Date : 2022-02-15 Thomas John Hastings
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Te Hāhi Mihinare: the Māori Anglican Church, written by Hirini Kaa Mission Studies Pub Date : 2022-02-15 Steve Taylor
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Christianity in East and Southeast Asia, edited by Kenneth R. Ross, Francis D. Alvarez SJ, and Todd M. Johnson Mission Studies Pub Date : 2022-02-15 Chammah J. Kaunda
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Pentecostal Rationality: Epistemology and Theological Hermeneutics in the Foursquare Tradition, written by Simo Frestadius Mission Studies Pub Date : 2022-02-15 Chammah J. Kaunda
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Asia Pacific Pentecostalism, edited by Denise A. Austin, Jacqueline Grey, and Paul W. Lewis Mission Studies Pub Date : 2022-02-15 Tobias Brandner
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The Spirit and the Common Good: Shared Flourishing in the Image of God, written by Daniela C. Augustine Mission Studies Pub Date : 2022-02-15 Pavol Bargár
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‘Mama I Can’t Breathe!’: Black/African Women of Faith Groaning for Social Justice and Gender Equality Mission Studies Pub Date : 2021-12-15 Damaris Parsitau, Esther Mombo, Ini Dorcas Dah, Tatiana Wairimu Gitonga
This article explores some residual entanglements of colonialism, Christianity, and Afro-western engagement in Africa by using the murder of George Floyd at the hands of police and his cries for “breath” and “mama” as a framework for examining the following. First, we argue that one way in which the repercussions of the transatlantic slave trade remain evident in Africa is the continued police brutality
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Missions in Contested Places/Spaces: The SPG, Slavery, and Codrington College, Barbados Mission Studies Pub Date : 2021-12-15 Janice McLean-Farrell, Michael Anderson Clarke
Mentioning the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, a seminary, and slavery in the same breath seems incongruous. Nonetheless, within the account of Codrington College, Barbados, the Anglican Communion’s first theological college, we find these three inextricably linked. Using a historical-analytical approach, this paper reveals the troubling missionizing principles which advanced oppressive
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Nigerian Pentecostal Diasporic Missions and Intergenerational Conflicts: Case Studies from Amsterdam and London Mission Studies Pub Date : 2021-12-15 Bisi Adenekan-Koevoets
Since the 1960s, African-led Pentecostal churches have flourished in the UK and Europe, often identifying the evangelisation of White indigenous populations as a key missiological aspiration. This desire has not yet been realised, although by numbers and social engagement, African Pentecostals are making their presence known and returning conversations on religion to the public sphere in Europe. This
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The Prophetic Lens: A Missiological Function of Film for Black Social Movement from Martin Luther King, Jr. to the Camera Phone Mission Studies Pub Date : 2021-12-15 Phillip Allen
Through technological advances and its democratization, the camera is found to have dual functionality. It is both a prophetic and a missiological tool used to awaken the collective conscience of a nation apathetic towards the Black experience and to offer a counter-narrative reorienting the US to becoming a more racially just society. This paper considers definitions of gospel, missions, and the prophetic
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Racism and Religious Intolerance: A Critical Analysis of the Coloniality of Brazilian Christianity Mission Studies Pub Date : 2021-12-15 Raimundo C. Barreto
This article examines the persistence of religious intolerance experienced by practitioners of Afro-Brazilian religions. Drawing from recent reports and historical resources on religious intolerance, it approaches religious diversity in Brazil from a decolonial perspective, pointing to the contradiction between the image of Brazil as a place where religious change and plurality occurs with minimal
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Speaking for Ourselves: The Ghanaian Encounter with European Missionaries – Sixteenth–Twenty-first Centuries Mission Studies Pub Date : 2021-12-15 Daniel Justice Eshun
This paper (re)examines European missionary encounters with Ghanaians from the sixteenth – twenty-first centuries from Ghanaian perspectives. The paper makes three main arguments: first, European missionary endeavours were quite peripheral to ongoing indigenous religious activities and daily life, with the movement of Christianity from the periphery to the center of Ghanaian society a more recent phenomenon
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Migration and Public Discourse in World Christianity, edited by Afe Adogame, Raimundo C. Barreto and Wanderley Pereira da Rosa Mission Studies Pub Date : 2021-12-15 Jessie Fubara-Manuel
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Roadmap to Reconciliation 2.0: Moving Communities Into Unity, Wholeness and Justice, written by Brenda Salter McNeil Mission Studies Pub Date : 2021-12-15 Patrick Wallace
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Communion Ecclesiology and Social Transformation in African Catholicism: Between Vatican II and African Synod II, written by Idara Otu Mission Studies Pub Date : 2021-12-15 George Ossom-Batsa
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African Pentecostalism and World Christianity: Essays in Honor of J. Kwabena Asamoah-Gyadu, edited by Nimi Wariboko and Adeshina Afolayan Mission Studies Pub Date : 2021-12-15 Kyama M. Mugambi
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In My Grandmother’s House: Black Women, Faith, and the Stories We Inherit, written by Yolanda N. Pierce Mission Studies Pub Date : 2021-12-15 Irene Amon
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Obituary for Karel Adriaan Steenbrink (16 January 1942–22 August 2021) Mission Studies Pub Date : 2021-12-15 Freek L. Bakker
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Obituary for Andrew Finlay Walls (21 April 1928–12 August 2021) Mission Studies Pub Date : 2021-12-15 J. Kwabena Asamoah-Gyadu
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African Theology, Philosophy, and Religions: Celebrating John Samuel Mbiti’s Contribution, edited by Chammah J. Kaunda and Julius Gathogo Mission Studies Pub Date : 2021-12-15 Laurenti Magesa
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Black Suffering: Silent Pain, Hidden Hope, written by James Henry Harris Mission Studies Pub Date : 2021-12-15 Dwight A. Radcliff
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World Christianity in Western Europe: Diasporic Identity, Narratives and Missiology, edited by Israel Oluwole Olofinjana Mission Studies Pub Date : 2021-12-15 Babatunde Adedibu
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Obituary for Wilbert Ray Shenk (January 16, 1935–July 13, 2021) Mission Studies Pub Date : 2021-12-15 James R. Krabill
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Colonial Politics, Missionary Rivalry, and the Beginnings of Seventh-Day Adventist Mission in Northern Nigeria Mission Studies Pub Date : 2021-09-28 John Garah Nengel†, Chigemezi Nnadozie Wogu
When compared to its relative success in the Southern and Western parts of Nigeria, Seventh-Day Adventism (S.D.A.) had some difficulties in establishing its mission in the North from the 1930s onward. This paper argues that there were three reasons why S.D.A. missionaries found the North difficult. First, the S.D.A. joined the Christian missionary scene in Nigeria rather late. Second, due to colonial
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Identity and Nation-Building: Intercultural Reading of Isaiah 56–66 in the Ghanaian Context Mission Studies Pub Date : 2021-09-28 Nicoletta Gatti
The worrisome growth of nationalism and ethnicism worldwide emphasizes the distance between state and nation, geographical borders, and the sense of a shared common project, which is at the heart of nation-building. The problem is not new, as the ancient writings of Israel testify. The question of what constitutes Israelite identity is central to post-exilic books, where exclusive-isolationistic and
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Learning from “Fresh Expressions of Church” and the “Loving-First Cycle” through a Case Study from Cape Town Mission Studies Pub Date : 2021-09-28 Benjamin Aldous, Michael Moynagh
This article outlines and engages the “loving-first cycle” as a contextual model for starting new faith communities and as potentially one of the lessons from “fresh expressions” for the wider church. Initially we describe two alternative approaches to church multiplication and explain the “loving-first cycle” as a contrasting methodology arising from the experience of fresh expressions of church in