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Showing posts from July, 2014

Engaging the Bible in Mission Theology Scholarship: Mission Practice as Moral Craft

Engaging the Bible in Mission Theology Scholarship: Mission Practice as Moral Craft Introduction Following Aristotle ( Nichomachian Ethics ), ethics might be thought of in terms of a craft ( te,cnh ) practised by a guild.  This notion highlights the roles of ends, virtues, tradition, community, friendship, apprenticeship, and practices in ethics.  To this idea of moral craft has been added (particularly starting in the 1970s through Stanley Hauerwas’s work) the important notion in ethics of ‘narrative’—the story-formed identity of a community.  This brief essay offers an application of these ideas to mission practice in an outline form for further discussion and reflection.  By seeing mission practice through the lenses of ‘moral craft’, the hope is that the field of ethics will contribute something to mission studies.  Some suggestions for discussion are offered for each of the points briefly introduced in the following essay. 1. Ends .  We need ends or goals ( te,loj ) t

Why Foreign Missions? 22b Heaven

Why Foreign Missions? 22b Heaven Introduction We speak of ‘heaven’ as the place where the righteous/believers go after death.  The previous study focused on the terms ‘sheol’ and ‘paradise’ as the place of the departed.  The present study will expand this with a focus on ‘heaven.’  Under investigation here is to what extent should our proclamation of the Gospel offer a personal hope beyond this life.  Holistic ministries that help the poor are rightly grounded in Scripture.  Yet we need to recognize that there is a potential (not necessary) tension between mission that is focussed on addressing human need here and now and mission that involves pointing people to the hope we have after death and in the future.  Also, the Prosperity Gospel, so wide-spread and so unbiblical, is a false teaching that has infected many Evangelical and charismatic fellowships in recent decades.  It offers health and wealth to believers here and now and has no answer to suffering and death apart fro