timjdavy Bible and Mission

Reading the Bible missionally – getting into the authors – part 2

I recently posted about the module, ‘Reading the Bible Missionally’ on Redcliffe’s MA in Bible and Mission programme and how we are seeking to complement our reading of Chris Wright’s The Mission of God: Unlocking the Bible’s Grand Narrative by engaging with six other key authors on missional hermeneutics. I then gave links for three of them: Michael Goheen, Richard Bauckham and Dan Beeby to give a flavour of their writing (you can read that blog post here: Reading the Bible missionally – getting into the authors – part 1).

The other three writers we have been dealing with are Michael Barram, James Brownson and Darrell Guder. Here are some samples of their work:

Barram, M. ‘‘Located’ Questions for a Missional Hermeneutic‘, unpublished paper on GOCN website.

Brownson, J.V. Speaking the Truth in Love: New Testament Resources for a Missional Hermeneutic (Harrisburg: Trinity Press International, 1998).

Guder, D. ‘Missional Hermeneutics: The Missional Authority of Scripture‘, Mission Focus, Annual Review, 15 (2007), 106-121.

You can find more links to writing on missional hermeneutics and more general studies on the Bible and mission in our Bible and Mission books and articles page.

timjdavy Bible and Mission

Free acces to new orality Journal from International Orality Network

ion journalOrality is one of the biggest and most exciting issues in Bible and mission today. I have blogged about it many times (see here for posts mentioning orality) and we have even developed a section for resources on the Bible and orality. Orality is also addressed in our teaching here at Redcliffe both at undergrad and postgrad levels (especially through the BA degree’s module, ‘Story, Song and Social Networks: Bible Engagement and Oral Culture’ and the MA module, ‘Bible Engagement in Intercultural Contexts’).

One of the key networks for Bible and orality is the International Orality Network. ION have recently announced the publication of the first issue of a new journal focusing on the theme of orality. You can find a link to the full issue pdf here: Orality Journal – volume 1 number 1.

No doubt this will be an indispensable journal. Here is the description of the journal and list of articles to the current issue:

Orality Journal is the journal of the International Orality Network.  It is published online semi-annually and aims to provide a platform for scholarly discourse on the issues of orality, discoveries of innovations in orality, and praxis of e!ectiveness across multiple domains in society.  This online journal is international and interdisciplinary, serving the interests of the orality movement through research articles, documentation, book reviews, and academic news.  Occasionally, print editions will be created. Submission of items that could contribute to the furtherance of the orality movement are welcomed.

Contents

Editor’s Notes – Samuel Chiang.

The Extent of Orality: 2012 Update – Grant Lovejoy. Using UN and OCED stats, the author shares how a credible analysis emerges concerning the size of oral preference learners in the world today.

The Worldwide Spread of Bible Storying: A Look at Where We’ve Been – J.O. Terry. An overview of the recent history and expansion of the Bible Storytelling movement.

The Two Journeys of Shanti and Jasmine – Tricia Stringer. This article covers insights and elucidation of the rippling effects when orality is practiced in hi-tech communities.

One Thousand Orphans Tell God’s Story – Marlene LeFever. The author shares what could happen when a ministry retools in realtime and includes orality principles and practices.

Mind the Gap: Bhutan as a Case Study – A. Steve Evans. A fresh look at using orality in Bhutan.

timjdavy Bible and Mission

Wycliffe Bible Translators to move their training to Redcliffe College – a personal reflection

Wycliffe Bible Translators logoLast week Redcliffe College and Wycliffe Bible Translators announced that Wycliffe will be moving their training to Redcliffe. You can see the full press release on the websites of both organisations: Wycliffe / Redcliffe. Here is a snippet:

Eddie Arthur, the Executive Director of Wycliffe Bible Translators in the UK, says, ‘This is a wonderful opportunity for us and for people interested in worldwide mission. Redcliffe College already provides a fantastic portfolio of courses equipping people for mission and leadership roles. Drawing Wycliffe’s courses and experienced teaching staff into the mix can only serve to strengthen the quality of education and training offered at Redcliffe.’

Rob Hay, Principal of Redcliffe College, says, ‘This move will create fantastic opportunities for future students who are training to serve God around the world. There will be the chance to study cross-cultural mission, Biblical studies and linguistics all under one roof. There’s also potential for new courses in the future that formally combine the skills and expertise of the two organisations.’

Along with Bible Society, Wycliffe have been instrumental partners in the development and delivery of the MA in Bible and Mission here at Redcliffe and the wider initiative that is the Centre for the Study of Bible and Mission. For this and many other reasons the joining together of Redcliffe and Wycliffe’s training makes such a lot of joyful sense. Partnership works when it is driven by a shared commitment to the Kingdom; mutual trust and humility; an imagination for what could be; and a sense of what needs to happen to get there. The more I have worked with friends at Wycliffe the more humbled and inspired I am by the ministry and the people engaged in it. As I have learnt more about Bible Translation, Scripture Engagement, Orality, and the many other aspects of Wycliffe’s work I have found myself deeply challenged in my own engagement with the Bible and the complexities and joys of sharing it with others. I believe the experience has enriched my view of God, of his Word, of his Church and of his mission, and I hope this comes across in my teaching as well.

So it is with gratitude and excitement that I reflect on the past and consider the future. May God bless this strategic partnership for the service of his Kingdom. May we all learn from one another and may we be more equipped for our participation in God’s mission as a result.

timjdavy Bible and Mission

Reading the Bible missionally – getting into the authors – part 1

The ‘Reading the Bible Missionally’ module on Redcliffe’s MA in Bible and Mission is now in full swing. Having surveyed the development of the approach, we have discussed George Hunsberger’s article , ’Proposals for a Missional Hermeneutic: Mapping a Conversation‘. We then spent last week getting to grips with Chris Wright’s methodology, as laid out in part one of his The Mission of God: Unlocking the Bible’s Grand Narrative. In later sessions we will follow the structure of Wright’s book as we unpack what a missional reading of the Bible will look like. However, it will be important for us to be drawing our discussions from a wider context and so this week and next students are coming prepared to present on and chew over the work of six other writers in the field of missional hermeneutics.

This week will be the turn of Michael Goheen, Richard Bauckham and Dan Beeby. As a sampler of what we are reading here is a link for each of them of articles or previews freely available on the web:

Goheen, M.W. ‘Continuing Steps Towards a Missional Hermeneutic’, Fideles, Volume 3 (2008), pp.49-99.

Bauckham, R. ‘Mission as Hermeneutic for Scriptural Interpretation‘, Currents in World Christianity Position Paper, Number 106 (1999).

Beeby, H.D. Canon and Mission (Harrisburg: Trinity Press International, 1999).

timjdavy Bible and Mission

Psalm 23 and mission – Jesus as shepherd, host, Emmanuel

I came across this quote in McCann’s NIB commentary on the Psalms while preparing for an undergad module on Missional Texts: Psalms & Genesis 1-11

In short, in NT terms, Jesus is shepherd, host, Emmanuel. When Psalm 23 is heard in the context of Psalm 22 and of Jesus Christ, its profoundly radical implications are even clearer: God is with us, but is not ours to own; the God who shepherds us to life also gives life to the world; the table at which we are hosted is one to which the whole world is invited.

timjdavy Bible and Mission

Students Uncover the Gospel of Luke

Uncover projectWhen I was a student at Aston University in Birmingham we gave out Luke’s Gospels as part of a mission week. Christian Unions all over the UK were doing questionnaires, lunchtime evangelistic talks, big meetings, small groups Bible studies, and so on. That was back in 1994-5 and things have come full circle but in a digital media way.

Have a look at what UCCF have done to help people engage with the Gospel of Luke: Uncover website.

And here’s some info from UCCF’s own website about the project:

Uncover Gospel Project

Uncover is a national Christian Union campaign to give 50,000 students the opportunity to meet with Jesus in Luke’s gospel.

Would you pray for five friends, give them a gospel and invite them to read it with you? If every CU member did so, we’d reach 50,000 students. Want to take part in the biggest CU project in Great Britain? Order Uncover Seeker Bible Study guides, encourage your friends to ask their questions at uncover.org.uk and finally, if you’re a CU leader, order Uncover Gospels for your CU.

timjdavy Bible and Mission

Missional hermeneutics – what are the actions?

Just a short post today inspired by my four-year-old daughter, who has just started school.

I jokingly asked her whether she wanted me to come to her school and teach them about missional hermeneutics. Her reply amused me at first and then caused me to reflect on the purpose of it all:

‘No, they won’t know the actions.’

Reading the Bible must lead to something: change, conversion, challenge, repentance, worship, etc. So where does a missional reading of the Bible lead us? Surely it should be to transformation, of the self, of communities, and of the world.

My daughter ‘spoke more than she knew’. She is quite right to expect that missional hermeneutics should involve action, as well as reflection. I also like the assumption that missional hermeneutics can be conceptualised as a song. But what are the actions?…

timjdavy Bible and Mission

Bible Sunday 2012

ImageThe brilliant Bible Society are providing resources for Bible Sunday on 28 October here in the UK. Here’s some explanation from the Bible Society website:

28 October or any day you choose!

 

Welcome! We hope you will join Christians all over England and Wales as we celebrate the Bible.

Then join our campaign to Bless You by putting the Word into action with acts of biblically-based blessing.
 

Anyone can join the celebration

As an individual: Take time yourself on Bible Sunday to get deeper into the Bible. Share it on facebook.

As a group: Use our Bible Society resources for a fresh approach to the Bible in your home group and share the stories of people waiting for the Bible in their own language.

As a church: Hold a Bible Sunday service at your church, celebrating the importance of the Bible and raising money to see people all over the world receiving the Bible.
 

Celebrate the Bible

Bible Sunday is about celebrating the impact of the Bible in our lives, our churches and our communities. Share your story on facebook!

timjdavy Bible and Mission

Making a Biblical Studies programme missional, part 4

In order to understand God’s Word we need to understand God’s mission.

In order to understand God’s mission we need to understand God’s Word.

In this series of posts I have been setting out our approach to teaching the Bible from a missional perspective here at Redcliffe College.

In today’s post I’ll talk about the final year of the degree. As well as a placement and a personal development report, in their final year of the degree students must take four modules from the following list and also submit a dissertation. 

  • Story, song and social networks: Bible engagement and oral culture
  • Missional texts: Isaiah
  • The Christian encounters with postmodernism and globalisation
  • Global philosophies and theologies of religion
  • The Kingdom of God: mission on the edge
  • Just mission: Justice and transformation in a complex world
  • Between the global and the local: missional theologies in context
  • The art of Christian Soulcare and companionship
  • Leadership, leaders and the global context
  • Communicating Christ to a complex world II

The two main ‘Bible’ modules are Story, Song and Social Networks’ and ‘Missional Texts: Isaiah’. (The Kingdom of God has loads of biblical material in it as well, especially from the NT).

The Isaiah module aims to equip students with a more in-depth understanding of the content of Isaiah and engage with a number of important issues concerning the book’s background, theology, interpretation and significance for the thinking and practice of mission. It covers: The function of the book of Isaiah as part of a missional reading of the Bible; Prophets and prophecy in Israel and the Ancient Near East; Key issues in understanding and interpreting Isaiah, including historical and cultural contexts, genre, structure, intertextuality, literary features and theological themes; Case-studies in exegeting passages from Isaiah; The contemporary application of Isaiah, especially in relation to the thinking and practice of mission.

Story, Song and Social Networks aims to equip students with an understanding of the thinking and practice of communicating the Bible to individuals and communities of oral learners in a variety of cultural contexts. It covers: The nature of orality and the challenges and opportunities of engaging oral learners with the Bible; The increasing use of Bible storying, song and other creative approaches in Bible Engagement; Case studies in Bible Engagement (sometimes called Scripture Engagement or Scripture Use) in a variety of contexts (both traditional oral cultures and in cultures where people prefer to engage with information in more creative ways than reading books); The role of web-based social networks in Bible Engagement.

So, students get to grips with both mission in the Bible and the Bible in mission. By this stage of their training it is vital that they are thinking not only about the richness and complexities of the content of the Word of God. They should also be thinking through the richness and complexities of communicating that Word to others. Orality seems to be a very helpful angle for this because it is so central a part of how most of the world communicates; the Cape Town Commitment did a good job of highlighting this. Indeed, in the CTC they call on colleges ‘to provide curricula that will train pastors and missionaries in oral methodologies.’ For more on this see this post.

Next in the series I will look at the MA in Bible and Mission.

timjdavy Bible and Mission

Free Bible and Mission resources

One of our aims as a centre is to provide or make people aware of material on the Bible and mission. You will find a link to our resources section here: Bible and Mission resources.

In particular I’d like to highlight the mountain of material available through our Bible and Mission Books and Articles section. If you are preparing to study, teach or preach on the Bible and mission over the next few months I hope it will be of much use to you.

In one of his regular round-ups of Bible and Mission blog activity, Wycliffe Bible Translators’ Eddie Arthur described our resourcing section as ‘exhaustive’ and keeping ‘anyone in reading material for the next decade or two.’ We’ll keep adding to the list and, in time, will look to differentiate it so that it doesn’t become unwieldy.

Happy studying!