timjdavy Bible and Mission

New Bible and Mission book

Bible and Mission bookJust flagging up a very interesting looking new book that I will be reviewing in the next few weeks from publishers Neufeld Verlag:

Bible and Mission: A Conversation Between Biblical Studies and Missiology edited by Rollin G. Grams, I. Howard Marshall, Peter F. Penner and Robin Routledge (Schwarzenfeld: Neufeld Verlag, 2008)

Here are the publisher blurb and contents:

In the narrow orientations in theological education, we seldom find a meaningful conversation between the different departments. However, it is vital to bridge between the various areas of study and to listen to research work done in the other “camp”. This book is an attempt to contribute to the conversation between Missiology and Biblical Studies.

Articles in this book offer some perspectives on various aspects of witness, evangelism and mission as one finds them in the Bible. They are supplemented and enriched by others who bring mission perspectives to bear on the biblical text. The deep conviction that this book affirms is that biblical as well as missiological research will only benefit if its representatives continue a conversation between the two areas.

1. Mission and Covenant in the Old Testament – Robin Routledge

2. Some Geographical and Intertextual Dimensions of Matthew’s Mission Theology – Rollin G. Grams

3. The Use of the Book of Acts in Mission Theology and Praxis – Peter F. Penner

4. Paul’s Mission According to Romans – I. Howard Marshall

5. Reconciliation as a Missiological Category for Social Engagement: A Pauline Perspective from Romans 12:1-21 – Corneliu Constanteanu

6. The Personification of Righteousness within a Metaphoric and Narratorial Setting: A Perspective on the Content of Paul’s Proclamation of the Gospel – David Southall

7. The Status and Calling of Strangers and Exiles: Mission According to First Peter – Christoph Stenschke

8. Missions, the Judgment of God, and the Centrality of Scripture – A Response to David Macdonald Paton from 2 Peter – Scott Hafemann

9. How a Missiologist Utilizes the Bible – J. Andrew Kirk

10. The Bible, the Qur’an and Mission – David W. Shenk

The review will appear in the June edition of Encounters Mission Ezine, which will focus on the theme of ‘Bible and Mission’ and will be based on the Chris Wright lecture at Redcliffe College on 12 May.

timjdavy Bible and Mission

Human trafficking and mission

A practical question for those engaging in Bible and Mission: How do we relate verses like the following with the MTV Exit video below? Check out Stop the Traffik as well.

Deuteronomy 10:17-18
For the LORD your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God, who is not partial and takes no bribe. He executes justice for the fatherless and the widow, and loves the sojourner, giving him food and clothing. (ESV)

Psalm 68:5-6
Father of the fatherless and protector of widows
   is God in his holy habitation.
God settles the solitary in a home;
   he leads out the prisoners to prosperity,
   but the rebellious dwell in a parched land. (ESV)

Job 31:16-23
“If I have withheld anything that the poor desired,
   or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail,
or have eaten my morsel alone,
   and the fatherless has not eaten of it
(for from my youth the fatherless grew up with me as with a father,
   and from my mother’s womb I guided the widow,
if I have seen anyone perish for lack of clothing,
   or the needy without covering,
if his body has not blessed me,
   and if he was not warmed with the fleece of my sheep,
if I have raised my hand against the fatherless,
   because I saw my help in the gate,
then let my shoulder blade fall from my shoulder,
   and let my arm be broken from its socket.
For I was in terror of calamity from God,
   and I could not have faced his majesty. (ESV)

(If you are having trouble viewing the embedded video, click here to see the video)

timjdavy Bible and Mission

Bible and Mission talks at Mission-Net

mission-net: congress 2009Mission-Net, the pan-European mission youth congress, takes place next week in Oldenberg, Germany.

One of the seminar streams is entitled, ‘Is Mission Really in the Bible?’. I will be giving two talks on mission and the Old Testament (‘Do you understand the Old Testament? A journey into God’s missionary heart’) on Saturday 11 and Sunday 12, both at 1.45pm to 3pm.

Other speakers on this seminar track include:

  • Eddie Arthur (Wycliffe UK) – ‘A missionary God for a missionary people’
  • Dr Matthias Radloff (Institut Biblique et Missionnaire Emmaüs) ‘For heaven’s sake: An interview with Moses Abraham, and a few other guests’ and ‘Highway to Heaven – from nowhere to somewhere’
  • Dr. Detlef Blöcher (Deutsche Missionsgemeinschaft) – ‘Putting feet on your faith! Integral mission and the Micah-Initiative’
  • Dr. Volker Rabens (Theologisches Seminar Adelshofen) – ‘Missional life in the power of the Holy Spirit: How the Spirit  transforms and empowers us’
  • Dr. Peter Kuzmic (Evangelical Theological Seminary, Osijek, Croatia) – ‘The Holy Spirit: He will change you, if you let him!’
  • Lauro Castelli (WEC International) – ‘It’s war!! Spiritual warfare and missions’

I’ll also be on the Redcliffe College stand in the exhibition area. If you will be at Mission-Net, do come and say hello!

timjdavy Bible and Mission

A missiologist and a biblical scholar review Chris Wright’s The Mission of God

missionofgodBack in April 2007 I edited an issue of Encounters Mission Ezine, on the theme of Mission and the Old Testament. Every now and then I will blog on these articles as contributors came up with some really interesting stuff.

At the time, Chris Wright’s The Mission of God had just come out so we featured an interview with him about it. As the book spans both Missiology and Biblical Studies, I was interested to see what specialists from each discipline would make of it. So I asked both Dr Kang-San Tan, Head of Mission Studies at Redcliffe College, and Prof Gordon McConville, Professor of Old Testament Theology at the University of Gloucestershire, to review it.

Both described The Mission of God as “remarkable”. Here are a couple of extracts from their reviews.

Prof Gordon McConville:

The product of Wright’s readiness to embrace the particularity of Israel in his view of mission is a holistic Gospel.  The exodus model shows that political freedom is part of God’s purpose for humanity; similarly, the Jubilee (Leviticus 25) illustrates an economic aspect.  Such facets of social existence are inseparable from the spiritual life, and the twin dangers of over-spiritualizing and over-politicizing the Gospel are well addressed (pp. 275-88).  Mission ultimately embraces all dimensions of human life, including praise (p. 132), pastoral and ethical concerns (pp. 182-86), and environmental issues (pp. 397-420).  And this vision informs evangelism, since ‘the fundamental theology behind [the Jubilee] also lies behind our practice of evangelism’ (p. 300).  In these ways, the particularity of Israel is put to the cause of a universal proclamation.  In God’s purpose, Israel not only witnesses to the nations, but the nations are finally brought under covenant obedience along with Israel.  Ultimately too, the divine mission overcomes death, for a biblical concept of salvation is distinguished from all others by its promise of the defeat of death itself (p. 440).
Read Prof McConville’s review article in full

Dr Kang-San Tan:

Although it was not the expressed purpose of the book, The Mission of God contributes towards the closing of the existing gap between missiology and biblical studies.  Instead of separating theology and biblical studies from mission contexts, Wright approaches the texts of scripture through a mission paradigm.  In some circles, theological and biblical studies have been considered academic and scientific, while missiology still finds itself under suspect by scholars of other academic disciplines.  Part of the distrust may come from missiologists using biblical proof-texts to justify their mission theories and strategies.  To some extent, Wright demonstrates in action, more than words, that mission readings and careful exegesis of scripture are both needed for critical missiology.
Read Dr Tan’s review article in full

timjdavy Bible and Mission

Eddie Arthur’s Kouya Chronicle blog

kouya chronicles blogI said recently that I would blog on Eddie Arthur’s blog Kouya Chronicle. Eddie is Executive Director of Wycliffe UK, which is part of the Wycliffe Bible Translators family.

Eddie is a prolific, informative and thought-provoking blogger on a wide range of subjects including Bible and mission, Bible translation, missiology, theology and current events.

From what I have seen, Wycliffe have been one of the most ready mission agencies to work with new media such as blogs, video, twitter and Facebook. I had the pleasure of visiting Eddie a few weeks back and was really impressed both with him, and the work and approach of the organisation. They are also enthusiastic sponsors of Chris Wright’s public lecture on The Bible and Mission, which will be held at Redcliffe on 12 May.

So, do check out Eddie’s blog, and also Wycliffe UK’s website.

timjdavy Bible and Mission

Bible, mission and mosaics

Assesments at Redcliffe College take many forms including essays, group or individual presentations, and the occasional exam. One of the highlights for me is when my colleague Derek Foster takes in the assessments for his Psalms course. Students are required to produce a piece of creative work that expresses a Psalm, and write an accompanying reflection.

HandsI’ll blog more about the immense variety of creative responses another time; for now I want to highlight one student for whom this assessment became a catalyst for a new creative vocation. Ali Edmondson is now in her final year on the BA (hons) in Applied Theology.  Her piece of Psalms coursework was a mosaic, ‘Hands’ (opposite), inspired by Psalm 24 (‘The earth is the LORD’s and everything in it…’).

MarySince that initial piece she has developed her obvious, God-given creative gift and produced a number of other stunning mosaics that reflect deeply on biblical texts. ‘Mary’ (opposite) came about as a result of work Ali was doing on my Isaiah course.

Check out Ali’s new website, Mosaic Creations. You can order prints of the mosaics in various formats.

timjdavy Bible and Mission

A missional hermeneutics blog

Through Eddie Arthur’s excellent kouya chronicles blog I came across another exciting resource for Bible and Mission. Brian Russell’s realmealministries blog has a wealth of material on reading the Bible missionally.

Here’s Brian’s bio from the blog:

Brian Russell is a thinker, teacher, and writer.

He serves a Professor of Biblical Studies at Asbury Theological Seminary on the Orlando campus.

He is an expert on biblical interpretation focusing his research issues broadly on developing a missional hermeneutic and specifically on the books of Exodus and Psalms.

At heart, Brian is a passionate practitioner committed to unleashing men and women to live as the people whom God created them to be. Mission is the reason for the existence of God’s people. Brian and his family seek to serve as voices of hope in and for the world.

There really is a broad range of interesting looking stuff on there, so check it out. The other day our Jesus, the Kingdom of God, and Christian Mission class spent a double lecture discussing the first two chapters of Chris Wright’s The Mission of God. I’ll be recommending Brian’s site to them next week.

PS. I’ll do a post on Eddie’s blog soon…

timjdavy Bible and Mission

Bible, Mission and the Environment in a Finite World

Encounters issue 28Issue 28 of Encounters, Redcliffe College’s missions E-journal, is now out. The theme is Mission and the Environment in a Finite World and contains papers from the 2009 Environment Day held at Redcliffe in January in partnership with the John Ray Initiative.

Of particular note for Bible and Mission enthusiasts are two articles by Dewi Hughes, Theological Advisor for Tearfund, who writes on True Wealth from the perspectives of the Old and New Testaments: True Wealth (Part One: Old Testament) – God’s blueprint for justice-based living and True Wealth (Part Two: New Testament) – Jesus’ radical Kingdom-ethics message.

I also contribute a book review of Ruth Valerio’s revised edition of her ‘L’ is for Lifestyle.

Please read, enjoy, reflect, and respond: Go to Issue 28 of Encounters

timjdavy Bible and Mission

Chris Wright Bible and Mission Redcliffe Lecture details

I previously wrote that Revd Dr Chris Wright will be giving this year’s Redcliffe Lecture in World Christianity on the theme of The Bible and Mission. We’ve had an overwhelmingly positive response from all those we’ve spoken to about the event and are delighted to be putting it on in partnership with Bible Society, Wycliffe UK, Keswick Ministries, Global Connections, and Slipstream. It will also form the basis for the September issue of Encounters Mission Ezine. Hope to see you there!

Here are the details, which you can also find on the Redcliffe website:

Redcliffe Lecture in World Christianity:
The Bible and Mission

With Revd Dr Christopher Wright, International Director, Langham Partnership International

Tuesday 12 May 2009
7.00pm to 9.00pm

In partnership with Bible Society, Wycliffe UK, Keswick Ministries, Global Connections, and Slipstream.

The renowned Bible and mission scholar, Revd Dr Chris Wright, will deliver this year’s Redcliffe Lecture in World Christianity, looking at the relationship between the Bible and Mission.

Christians often talk about a ‘Biblical basis for mission’, citing key verses such as Matthew 28:19 (‘Therefore go and make disciples of all nations…’, NIV). But is there more to it than this? How does mission fit into the whole of the Bible and how does our understanding of Scripture influence our thinking and practice of mission?

Revd Dr Wright has written and spoken on these issues for many years. Among many other plaudits his award-winning The Mission of God: Unlocking the Bible’s Grand Narrative has been described as the most important work of this generation on the subject. His combination of scholarship, experience, clarity and passion make him the ideal choice for this lecture.

Revd Dr Christopher Wright is International Director of Langham Partnership International and serves as chair of the Lausanne Committee’s Theology Working Group. After completing an Old Testament PhD and a spell in pastoral ministry Chris taught at Union Biblical Seminary (UBS) in Pune, India, for five years. On his return he joined the faculty at All Nations Christian College and became the Principal there in 1993. He joined Langham in 2001.

Book now
The lecture is free but pre-booking is required. To book your place, contact David Marriott.

timjdavy Bible and Mission

Jesus, the Kingdom of God, and Christian Mission

This is the name of a brand new module Dr Kang-San Tan and I began teaching this morning at Redcliffe. A good crowd of our final year Applied Theology degree students came along and they are going to be treated to a course full of Bible and Mission!

I’ll be taking them for three double sessions relating to mission and the Kingdom of God in the Old Testament. We’ll be working with books by Graeme Goldsworthy, Walter Brueggemann, Chris Wright, and Arthur Glasser. Next week we’re looking at the ‘Yahweh is king’ metaphor in the Old Testament, and then discussing Goldsworthy’s use of ‘kingdom’ as a way of framing the whole biblical story.

It is a Brueggemann filled week as I am also using his Theology of the Old Testament as the jumping off point for an MA group on our Global Issues in Contemporary Mission programme. One of the modules is a critique of Prosperity Theology teaching (a huge issue globally), and I spend a double session with them looking at what the Bible has to say about suffering.

I don’t agree with everything Brueggemann says, but I love reading his stuff, which can be thought-provoking to say the least.