Introducing Christian Mission Today

Mission--a driving force in the long Christian story--today is often cast as the embarrassing relative of tall-steeple religiosity. In our wider culture it's now tucked in the endnotes of book-club histories or forms the ghostlike ellipses in the six o'clock news. But in Introducing Christian Mission Today, Michael Goheen brings the vibrant history, motivation and challenges of Christian mission to the fore.
Through the centuries Christian mission has always been recalibrating, retooling and re evangelizing. It has repeatedly taken surprising turns as it is carried along by the Spirit of God. Goheen's introduction to mission's biblical, theological and historical dimensions engages the present and anticipates the future. As he unfolds the major issues of the global and urban, the pluralistic and wholistic contexts of mission today, he lays the ground for engaging in God’s great kingdom enterprise.

This full-scale text incorporates the keen missional insights of Lesslie Newbigin, David Bosch and other formative thinkers. It will be a valued resource not only for those in cross-cultural contexts but also for those engaged in re evangelizing the West.

• Preface
• Introduction: A Paradigm Shift in Mission Studies Today
• PART I: BIBLICAL AND THEOLOGICAL REFLECTION ON MISSION
• 1. Scripture as a Narrative Record of God’s Mission
• 2. Theology of Mission and Missional Theology
• PART II: HISTORICAL AND CONTEMPORARY REFLECTION ON MISSION
• 3. Historical Paradigms of Mission
• 4. An Emerging Ecumenical Paradigm of Mission
• 5. A Survey of the Global Church
• PART III: CURRENT ISSUES IN MISSION TODAY
• 6. Holistic Mission: Witness in Life, Word and Deed
• 7. Faithful Contextualization: Church, Gospel and Culture(s)
• 8. Toward a Missiology of Western Culture
• 9. A Missionary Encounter with World Religions
• 10. Urban Mission: The New Frontier
• 11. Missions: A Witness to the Gospel Where There Is None
• Indexes