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The Theology of the Christian Mission
Edited by Gerald H. Anderson
341 pp. New York, McGraw Hill Book Co., Inc., 1961. $6.50.

This remarkable volume contains twenty-five essays, grouped under the headings: "The Biblical Basis" (G. Ernest Wright, Johannes Blauw, Oscar Cullmann (a reprint), Karl Barth (a translation of a study published in German), Donald G. Miller, F. N. Davey); "Historical Studies" (William Richey Hogg, Franklin H. Littel, Andrew V. Seumois, O.M.I. (a revision of an article published in French)); "Christianity and Other Faiths" (Ernst Benz, Paul D. Devanandan, Frank W. Price, Masatoshi Doi, Hendrik Kraemer, A. C. Bouquet, L. Harold De Wolf, Floyd H. Ross); "Theory of the Mission" (Max Warren, Harold Lindsell, Alexander Schemann, R. Pierce Beaver, F. W. Dillistone, Paul Tillich (a reprint), Christian G. Baeta, Wilhelm Andersen). The editor provides an Introduction and a Bibliography of twenty-two pages, and Lesslie Newbigin contributes a Foreword. It will be seen that the contributors represent a wide diversity of ecclesiastical tradition, theological outlook, and nationality. They also write on very diverse subjects only in a very general way indicated by the headings quoted above. The discussion of common topics from different standpoints therefore occurs incidentally rather than by design.

The value of the individual contributions is naturally unequal, whether considered as essays on particular subjects or in relation to the central issues of the current discussion about the nature and basis of the Christian mission, to which some of the essays are more directly related and some more peripheral. There is much useful material in the volume both in ideas and in information, and anyone concerned with the Christian mission today will find in it considerable stimulus to thought.

That stimulus will come by way of both agreement and disagreement, for no reader could possibly agree with all that is said in all these essays. Despite the title, no one should suppose that the volume contains an exposition of "the" theology of mission, in the sense of a single, coherent theology of the basis and nature of the Christian mission. On the contrary, a first reading creates an impression of great diversity in basic standpoint as well as in emphasis. The editor expresses the hope (p. 16) that the essays "coming as they do from a wide range of scholars who differ in many respects, may help to bring into focus a more catholic and well rounded Trinitarian point of view that will increase our understanding of

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the Christian mission today." The "focus" might have been more apparent if writers of different theological standpoints had been invited to write on one subject. The double diversity of both theological outlook and subject matter makes it difficult to discern the extent of agreement and disagreement on any single main issue.

Reflection on these essays, however, suggests that within their diversity there are indications of some recurrent issues towards which the discussion of the theology of mission is beginning to address itself. They may prove to be the issues around which a new formulation of the meaning of mission may arise.

I

One of the principal focal points of the discussion-perhaps it is even the focal point-is the question of the Christian understanding of history. This was one of the issues emerging from theological discussion at the Willingen meeting of the International Missionary Council as requiring further study. It was there posed in the form of the relation between history and "salvation history." It is significant that a considerable number of the essays in this volume refer in one way or another to the meaning of history. The affirmation that the "event" of the coming of Jesus Christ into history is the focal point of human history and gives it both its meaning and its goal seems to be emerging as one of the fundamental affirmations on which a theology of mission in our time may be constructed. Whether or not that affirmation is made or implied constitutes a radical line of division among the writings on this subject, differentiating those who find the basis of mission in the action of God to whom the Bible testifies from those who would reduce the Christian mission to a cultural activity, or a search for truth, or an attempt to unite the religions of mankind.

A fundamental affirmation of this kind is an important starting point for a new formation of a theology of mission. It is, however no more than a starting point. A second step is to ask how seriously this affirmation is taken in any new formulation. The results of asking that question are some-Limes unexpected. For example, some of those who base their thought about mission on a doctrine of the infallibility of Scripture sometimes seem to be so concerned with the communication of its revelation, conceived as a series of propositional truths, with the intention of moving the will of the individual to an act of decision, that the contemporary history of mankind seems to be left on one side, and the Gospel reduced to a series of truths the purpose of which is confined to their effect on individuals. The result of such a formulation is, paradoxically enough, to create the impression that Jesus Christ is Lord only of a private universe in which the individual exists in isolation, and that human

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history is outside his control. Such a reduction of the range of the Lordship and Saviourhood of Jesus Christ hardly seems to do justice to the great affirmations of the first chapters of Colossians and Ephesians.

To take seriously the affirmation that the "event" of Jesus Christ is the focus and goal of history obviously determines the main direction of thought about the relation of that "event" to the religions of mankind. Within that general direction it leaves large room for different emphases, as these essays demonstrate. It may nevertheless exclude two extremes. As already suggested, it excludes the view that the purpose of the Christian mission is simply to engage those of all faiths in a common search for truth. On the other hand, it also excludes views which would set an impassable gulf between Christians and men of other faiths. To affirm that Jesus Christ is the focus and goal of history involves the recognition of human solidarity, for it is to make an affirmation of what is of ultimate significance for all mankind. The task of the Christian mission is consequently seen to be to bear witness to an "event" which has happened for all men, in which also the "earnest" of the end of history is offered to all men. It is the event through which all men are offered the possibility of realizing their true manhood cf. G. E. Wright: "Central to the Bible is God's creation of a new community in which the individual finds his true humanity" (p. 26); and J. Blauw: "Israel has been elected to represent the true man, the right man, in a world where men refuse to recognize God as God and to serve him as his humble creatures" (p. 36). Some such understanding as this is surely what makes possible any communication in the realm of ultimate belief between Christians and non-Christians. It is surely the basis of cooperation between Christians and men of other faiths who seek to preserve and extend the possibility of a truly personal existence. It is surely the ground for rejecting the identification of the Gospel with any cultural system and an essential check on tendencies in the Christian mission to arrogance.

The recurrence of references to this point about human solidarity in these essays is remarkable. It is not surprising that within this general context there are differing views of the consequences to be drawn regarding the attitude of Christians to other religions. It is only recently that Christian theology has begun to examine seriously the question of the theological significance of other religions for its own understanding and expression of the meaning of the "Christ-event." Might it not make for clarity in the further study and discussion which are needed if two things were distinguished for purposes of discussion (though they are necessarily interlocked in living), namely, first, the relation between the "Christ event" and the beliefs affirmed in men's religions, and second, the appropriate methods of approach by those whose ultimate commitment is

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to faith in Jesus Christ to those who do not share that commitment? The first is a question of theological truth, concerned with what might be called the ontological status of the "Christ-event" and of the beliefs of men expressed in their religions. The second is a question of method, of the way of approach, of understanding of what might, from within the Christian commitment, be described as a pastoral question (which does not, of course, remove it from theological criticism, since pastoral methods are only kept sound and wholesome if they are subject to theological scrutiny). Much of the present debate seems to be vitiated because those who are speaking about the second sphere are regarded (and perhaps regard themselves) as addressing themselves to the first-and vice versa. The result is that the parties to the debate seem to be often "talking past each other."

II

This recognition of human solidarity leads to an increasing emphasis in thought about the Christian mission on the significance of the "Christ event" for man in his social relationships. For instance, religions are viewed increasingly in terms of their significance for society. There are many issues arising here for the theology of mission. The status of the structure, of human society, e.g., the family, industrial and commercial structures, the state, the "nation" (whatever that ill-defined word may mean) in the light of the "Christ-event" as the focus and goal of history is not explicitly discussed in these essays. An intriguing hint is given in Karl Barth's exegetical study of Matthew 28: 16-20 in his exposition of παντа τά έθνη: "It means, first of all, people from among all nations who are received into discipleship. They become significant for the existence of their respective nations because the nations now come within the reach of the apostolate and its proclamation and receive their concealed center through the Christian community living in their midst. Note the àvrovs which occurs twice. It cannot refer to έθνη. Not the nations as such are made disciples" (p. 64; cf. the quotation above from G. E. Wright).

An intriguingly contrary view, from within Orthodoxy, appears in Alexander Schmerman's essay: "State, society, culture, nature itself are real objects of mission and not neutral milieu in which the only task of the Church is to preserve its own inner freedom, to maintain 'its religious life' " (p. 256). But if religion is seen as bound up with social structures, particularly "national" structures; and if one consequence of the "event" of Jesus Christ is the calling into being of communities of his disciples within those social structures but not identified or coterminous with them, are there not raised some important issues for the Christian mission to which insufficient attention is being given? What, for instance, are the

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responsibilities of the community of the disciples within any particular nation to the structures of national life, which may well include religious structures? What are the responsibilities of the total Christian mission towards them?

To think in terms of a "Christian nation" may be to reduce the "Christ event" to a mere phenomenon within history, as distinct from the focus and goal of all history, and thereby to make it one religion among others and destroy its true universality. But if that is so, must not the implication be drawn that it is part of the function of the Christian mission to work for the "secularization" of the structures of human society, particularly their national structures; not in the sense that these are removed from any relation to God's act in Jesus Christ, but in the sense that they are removed from ecclesiastical control, whether the ecclesia in any particular case be a Christian Church, or a Hindu or Buddhist or any other empirical "ecclesia"? The consequences of drawing that implication for the whole range of Christian activity would indeed be far reaching. The issue was raised in the reviewer's mind at many points in these essays, but it is not examined as such in this volume. It is an issue on which much further study is required.

III

A closely related issue also clamoring for further study in the context of the theology of mission might be put in the form of the question: How are we to understand the relationship between the consequences of the "event" of Jesus Christ for human history and its consequences for the person? ("Person" is not meant as synonymous with "individual"; it is meant to imply "the individual-in-his-relationships.") As indicated earlier, the view that the "Christ-event" is concerned only with the individual seems to the present writer untenable. It removes the sphere of social structures from the realm of the Lordship of Christ and leads to an ultimate dualism (Christ is Lord of the individual, the devil is Lord of society). But the affirmation that Jesus Christ is the focus and goal of history need be no more than an interesting external fact, with no apparent consequences for my existence as a person in my immediate situation. The affirmation surely needs to be made in both the historical and the personal contexts. F. N. Davey remarks in his essay on "St. John's Gospel and the Christian Mission" about the Fourth Evangelist's "apprehension that Jesus reveals and makes accessible the truth and grace of God to men, in the world they live in, so as to make sense both of that world and of their own lives in it" (p. 90; italics added). There may well be widespread agreement with that, but the difficulty begins when one tries to draw out the one meaning both for history and for me in my concrete situation. Thus another way of posing the issue for the theology

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of mission might be to ask, What are the consequences in social ethics of conversion to commitment to the "Christ-event"?

Discussion of such issues will not proceed far without the appearance of the word "Church." To take seriously in the contemporary situation the affirmation that Jesus Christ is the focus and goal of history might possibly provide fresh insight into the nature of the Church. On the one hand, if the Church considered as the worshipping company of those committed to the "Christ-event" is the place at which the hidden focus and goal of history at any time and place becomes manifest, then the Christian mission involves the calling into being of the Church in this sense. But this surely excludes any conception of the Church as itself the focus and goal of history; it is subject to that focus and goal which are Jesus Christ, and is witness to but not guarantor or proprietor of them. On the other hand, if that event which is Jesus Christ is the focus and goal of history, and therefore involves all mankind, then the Church exists on behalf of mankind and not in isolation from it. From such considerations a double-sided concept of the Church seems to be emerging -as the ecclesia viatorum and as the "part on behalf of the whole" of humanity. This might offer a meeting place for ecclesiologies which start from quite different places: see, for example, the essays by such diverse writers as Barth (the remarks on p. 70), Tillich, Schmemann, and the comments on the Church in the light of the theology of mission in Wilhelm Andersen's essay, pp. 310-312. But the question to which no clear answer seems yet above the horizon is: How is the Church so conceived related to the Church as an historical phenomenon, extended in time and space? On the answer to that question the actual life and action of the Churches largely depend.

IV

A question which receives scant attention in this volume is that of the place of foreign missions within the total Christian mission. There is in the volume much material to help those who seek an answer to the question, Is there a mission for Christians in the world today, and if so, what is its basis? There is almost no material directly relevant to the question, Granted Christians have a duty to share in the Christian mission, why should any of them go outside their own country to do so? This may represent a healthy reaction from a former tendency to see "mission" exclusively in terms of "foreign mission," but it is a surprising omission in view of the extent to which that question is being asked, and in view of the increasing involvement of Christians in Asia in Christian missions beyond the bounds of their own countries. Can questions about the relation of the "Christ-event" to religions, to the structures of human

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society, to the place of personal existence in the historical process be rightly answered without taking account of the question whether foreign mission is a permanent necessity arising out of the very nature of the "Christ-event," or whether it is a temporary form which the Christian mission took in the particular historical circumstances of one era-a form which is now in principle unnecessary in view of the existence in almost all countries of the world of Christian Churches, however small minorities those Churches may be? Most of the essays in this volume leave one in no doubt that the Christian mission is universal; they do not, however, answer the question whether there is any theological necessity (as distinct from the requirements of a wise Christian statesmanship in the deployment of available resources) for either Churches or individual Christians to engage in that universal mission beyond the bounds of their own immediate environment. This is the more surprising inasmuch as several of the essays stress the eschatological character of the Christian mission. It may be doubted whether the concept of the Church as the pilgrim people by itself is adequate to express and maintain this eschatological character of the universal Christian mission. Will the understanding of mission by Churches and individuals, or the actual engagement in it, retain this eschatological and universal character if Churches are not, through some of their members specifically commissioned to the task, constantly engaged in mission beyond their own environment, and so expressing in action the universal and eschatological character of the mission that has its origin in the coming into history of the focus and goal of all history, and which must therefore preserve its "foreignness" in any country and in any historical epoch?

There is in this volume, then, material which will contribute to the present understanding of mission today and to a new formulation of the meaning of mission in the circumstances of our time. But a fresh and compelling conviction of the rightness and urgency of the mission that is Christ's first and in which his disciples in every age participate through their commitment to him will not come only through intellectual effort and theological discussion, though it will not come without these things. Nor will it come from a dogged persistence in the practice of missions as that practice has been known during the last century and a half-a persistence too easily involving a closing of the ears to the questions put by humanity's situation in our day and to the understanding of the meaning of the event of Jesus Christ for our time which the work of Christian thinkers in many disciplines is giving us. It will come only as we act on the insights we already have into its meaning and reflect upon the meanings which those actions reveal, in that dialogue between the theologians and those engaged in the practice of mission, which is part of that larger

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dialogue between thought and action in which are always engaged the servants of the Word made flesh.

Ronald K. Orchard
International Missionary Council
London, England