Christianity is not only a global but also an intercultural phenomenon. In this second volume of his three-volume Intercultural Theology, Henning Wrogemann turns to theologies of mission. Mission theologies, he argues, are found in a wide range of implicit as well as explicit forms, from the practice of Christian presence by a Pakistani Christian among a marginalized people to the published deliberations of mission scholars in the West. The task of intercultural theology is to investigate and promote awareness of the variety of culture- and context-specific theologies of mission. From Warneck to Bosch, from Edinburgh to Lausanne to Busan, Wrogemann provides an overview of the theological underpinnings, rationalizations, and visions for mission and its practice. Tracing developments across a range of Christian traditions, movements, themes, and regions of the globe, from Europe and North America to sub-Saharan Africa, Wrogemann presents us with an array of mission theologies across the scope of the modern missionary movement. This rich conspectus is rounded out with the doxological dimension of mission and the varied facets of oikoumenism. Masterful in its scope and detail, this volume will richly inform the study of missiology and global Christianity. And it is essential reading for doing theology in a multicultural key. In a day when the church in the West struggles to understand and appreciate its missionary legacy and calling, Wrogemann's work sparkles with its deeply informed insights and inspiring vision.
"Following the acclaimed first volume of Intercultural Theology, the English translation of this second volume, Theologies of Mission, breaks new ground in mission studies and intercultural theology. While never losing sight of his context in Germany, Wrogemann begins with an overview of developments in mission theology over the past century and then spotlights how major church traditions have handled the subject. Next, he offers an illuminating comparison of approaches to contemporary controversies in mission and concludes with a constructive approach he calls 'mission as oikoumenical doxology.' The scope of this volume is grounded and global, empirical and theoretical, and the methodology Wrogemann presents is highly instructive for those trying to make sense of the myriad theologies of mission in the context of world Christianity today."
Thomas John Hastings, executive director, OMSC, editor, International Bulletin of Mission
