Theology Today - Vol 36, No. 4 - January 1980 - BOOK REVIEW - Contemporary Missiology: An Introduction

575 - Contemporary Missiology: An Introduction

Contemporary Missiology: An Introduction
By Johannes Verkuyl
Translated and edited by Dale Cooper. Grand Rapids, Eerdmans, 1978. xiv, 414 pp. $14.95.

This noteworthy volume, which first appeared in Dutch in 1975, belongs to a rare genre. Missionaries, missiologists, pastors, and theological professors and students will use it as an encyclopedic resource

576 - Contemporary Missiology: An Introduction

and a standard work. One welcomes its availability in English and hopes that its supplementary and companion volume, The Study of Evangelism: An Introduction (Dutch, 1978), soon also may be published in English.

Its author, Johannes Verkuyl, was interned during World War II in Indonesia, afterwards taught theology in Djakarta, and in 1963 returned to Holland as general secretary of the Dutch Missionary Council. Two years later he accepted appointment as successor to J. H. Bavinck at the Free Reformed University of Amsterdam. He retired there in 1978 as professor of missiology and evangelism, but he continues to be a prolific writer.

As he makes clear, missiology's concerns are vast and varied. On probing the text and table of contents for Verkuyl's structural frame, this reviewer discovered that four implicit sectional categories suggest themselves:

1. Missiology's Definition, Relations, and History (Chaps. I-III)
2. Missiology's Foundational Concerns (IV-VIII)
3. Missiology's Reorientation: An Emerging World Civilization (IX-XII)
4. Missiology and Encounter: Religions and Ideologies (XIII-XIV).

Brief examination of these "sections" will convey some of the main themes.

In the first section, the historical coverage is Protestant, with one page on Roman Catholic sources, and constitutes the book's longest segment. Verkuyl briefly examines or refers to more than fifty key figures. He treats extensively, and chiefly biographically, only Bavinck and H. Kraemer, his "gurus," and India's P. D. Devanandan.

The second section explores the biblical foundations, the motives, the goal, and the "ways and means" of mission. Those methods include kerygma, diakonia, and koinonia and also struggle for justice normed by the goals of the kingdom, or missio politica ecumenica-an important theme.

Of striking importance, in a long chapter growing from and following his biblical exploration, Verkuyl treats historically, theologically, and politically the often omitted relation of the church and gospel to the Jews. Because Jews and Christians "are involved in the same covenant with God," the "relation between them must take the form of a [communicating/witnessing] dialogue," and he identifies this with Paul's position in Romans (p. 134). He disowns the traditional phrase "mission to the Jews" as theologically incorrect, but also disavows the positions of Niebuhr and Tillich. Yet he holds to a dialogical relationship which includes evangelism-a position debated by Christians and viewed with mistrust by those of other faiths concerned for dialogue.

The third section develops the dynamic importance for the church of all that Asia, the Pacific, Africa, Latin America, and the Caribbean now present in the world. Themes include the decolonizing of historiography, regional ecumenical bodies, and an extended survey of the theologies of the Third World.

578 - Contemporary Missiology: An Introduction

The fourth section centers on religions and ideologies. With Newbigin, M. M. Thomas, Vicedom, and others, Verkuyl makes the trinitarian confession the touchstone for a theology of religions. He points to God's Spirit at work in other religions, but rejects the positions of Rahner, Schlette, and Panikkar as well as Troeltsch, Hocking, and W. Cantwell Smith. He urges dialogue for understanding, for cooperation, and also for witness. Here he relates himself to Kenneth Cragg and D. T. Niles. In addition, he holds that one of missiology's most basic tasks today is assessing the world's ideologies-the "powers." They can neither be denied to be important by an apolitical pietism nor be substituted for the gospel. Rather, they pose a challenge to missio politica ecumenica, the clear-headed service of justice wherever injustice exists.

Several retrospective comments conclude this review, and the first is general. Verkuyl seeks to delineate the contours of missiology, to indicate its status, and to provide an "integrated analysis" of the worldwide literature that gives it form. Authors and titles appear on almost every page, and bibliographies that follow most chapters add more. If one allows for its "representative" coverage, the book provides a bibliographical treasure-one of its greatest assets.

Second, he offers a catalogue of organizations, books, persons, and theological developments. Yet one wishes that he had provided more theological evaluations and also had included a clearer picture of the theological tensions in missiology. For example, the book appeared before the Lausanne, 1974, and Nairobi, 1975, interaction could be measured; but Verkuyl attended Bangkok, 1973, and it set off a major debate to which he makes no reference.

Third, despite the book's wide coverage, some notable omissions are evident. Mao's thought is noted, but China goes unconsidered. Again, Verkuyl writes as a missionally committed, orthodox Protestant within the WCC and ecumenical orbit, but he gives little attention to the concerns that engage evangelicals. Despite a few references to it, he gives scant treatment to Roman Catholic thought. Orthodoxy goes unmentioned. The book's broad title requires explanatory qualification in the preface, for this is a Protestant work.

Fourth, Verkuyl focuses on Asia, Africa, and Latin America because here, amid the bulk of the world's population, are those "ripe for mission" (p. xiv) and here, he affirms, missiology centers its attention. In contrast, he holds that the discipline of evangelism studies the communication of the gospel to Western peoples (p. 9). But elsewhere he declares that this "distinction is no longer tenable" (p. 340). Overtones of this confusing disjunction appear at several points without explanation or clarification. Evangelism is part of mission, but each is distinct from the other, and both operate worldwide. Verkuyl has a major, unresolved problem here. Does it relate to the two fields assigned to his chair? One hopes that his Study of Evangelism will clarify it.

Fifth, in a work that will be used widely for reference, one regrets the spelling errors in personal and place names in the text and in the index.

579 - Contemporary Missiology: An Introduction

Finally, one must express gratitude for the mature vision that informs this work with its focus on God's kingdom as the norm and goal for mission. The book will be used for years to come.

W. Richey Hogg
Southern Methodist University
Dallas, Texas