Recasting Theology of Mission: Impulses from the Non-Western World

Abstract

D avid J. Bosch completed writing his magisterial Transforming Mission: Paradigm Shifts in the Theology of Mission in 1990. 1 Although Bosch intimated in articles in 1983and 1984that new, non-Western patterns and paradigms wereemerg ing,2 in Transforming Mission he worked out his analysis within the framework of the missionary movement from the Western Christian tradition. The last third of Transforming Mission is a study of the way the logic of "mission in the wake of the Enlightenment" has been played out as an essentially Western initiative.The past decade has proved to be pivotal in geopolitical terms. Along with the end of the cold war and the globalization of the world economy, a sea change in the locus of Christian initiative has taken place. Churches in Asia, Africa, and Latin America are now sending thousands of missionaries to other regions and countries, while the decline and disorientation of the churches in the West is a matter of mounting concern. Today the West presents a particularly demanding missiological challenge.Recent surveys of mission theology reveal the continued domination of Western voices, with no discernible shift during the 1990s. 3 Western theology of mission has continued on an essentially unchanged trajectory. Even recent initiatives to de velop a theology that engages contemporary Western culture as A vital theology of mission flows from a missionary engagement of culture. a missionary frontier-an urgent priority-have been signifi cantly stymied by the historical burden of the Western theologi cal tradition.Since the Christian majority is now to be found outside the West and missionary initiatives from the churches of Asia, Africa, and Latin America are at the cutting edge of the Christian world mission, we must ask: What kind of theology of mission will best serve the global Christian mission in the future? What fresh theological resources can be brought to bear on this new phase of the Christian mission? It is time to listen to voices from the non-Western world that can help construct a theology ca pable of empowering the global church for participation in the missio Dei.My thesis is that (1) a dynamic theology of mission develops where there is vigorous engagement of culture by the Gospel, accompanied by critical reflection on that process; that (2) this process is decisive for shaping Christian identity; and that there fore (3) we must look to the evolving Christian movement in Asia, Africa, and Latin America to discern defining themes. Although various scholars have argued for the term "missionary

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