EM002-512 - History of Christian Mission

  • 2,679 Standard Tuition Fee
  • 12
    Credit Points
  • 0.125 EFT 
  • 5
    AQF level
  • Category foundational unit
    A
  • evangelism missiolUnit Discipline

Exclusions

Prior to 2020, this unit content was delivered under the unit code EM202.

Unit Exclusions: CH019

Learning outcomes

On successful completion of this unit, students will

A. Know and understand

Demonstrate Foundational knowledge and understanding of the history of Christian mission including the motives, methods and policies of the mission outreach of the church.

B. Be able to

1. Identify the main trends in the history of Christian mission

2. Comment on the motives and methods of the mission outreach of the Church

3. Present Organised evidence-based perspectives on the history of Christian Mission

C. Be in a position to

1. Relating perspectives and skills from ‘History of Christian Mission’ to mission and ministry contexts

Content

Section A: The Apostolic Age to the 19th Century (30%)

  • Early and medieval period (AD 100-1500) including the spread of Christianity to AD 500 (especially in the Roman Empire); the conversion of Europe, the effect of the rise of Islam.
  • Reformation and Counter-Reformation (AD 1500-1750), including missions in the colonial empires of Portugal, Spain and France, especially the Jesuits in Asia and the Americas; initial Protestant efforts.
  • Reawakening and development of missionary concern in churches in Europe, Britain and the USA in the 18th and 19th centuries.

 

Section B: The Church Planted in Different Continents (40%)

Two of topics 4 to 9 should be studied in detail:

  • The Indian sub-continent in the 19th century including Serampore and the early Baptists, Duff and education, mass movements in South India.
  • China from 1807, including the relationship of missions to the political situation in the 19th century, Hudson Taylor and C.I.M.; the church under Communists.
  • Africa, south of the Sahara, including Creole Christianity, Moffatt, Livingstone, the Church in Uganda and the Niger Delta to 1914, African Independent Churches.
  • Missions in the Muslim World.
  • The Pacific to 1900.
  • Missionary endeavour in Australia and New Zealand to 1900.

 

Section C: Developments in the 20th century (30%)

  • Colonialism, nationalism and mission to 1947.
  • Effect of World Wars I and II on Missions.
  • The Edinburgh Missionary Conference 1910; the development of the International Missionary Council to 1961.
  • The development of Evangelical strategy for mission through the Lausanne Movement.

Set Readings

This unit's indicative bibliography is currently being revised. Students should contact their home college for further details at the time of taking this unit.


Prescribed:

Anderson, G. H., et al, Mission Legacies: Biographical Studies of Leaders of the Modern Missionary Movement (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, 1994).

Irvin, D. T. and S. W. Sunquist, History of the World Christian Movement: Earliest Christianity to 1453 (Vol. I; Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, 2001).

Lewis, D. M. (ed.), Christianity Reborn: The Global Expansion of Evangelicalism in the Twentieth Century (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2004).

Packer, J. I. and T. Oden, One Faith: The Evangelical Consensus, (Downers Grove: IVP, 2004).

Sanneh, L., Whose Religion is Christianity? The Gospel Beyond the West (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2003).

Shenk, W. (ed.), Enlarging the Story: Perspectives on Writing World Christian History (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, 2002).

Tucker, R. A., From Jerusalem to Irian Jaya: A Biographical History of Christian Missions (2nd ed.; Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2004).

Wright, C. J., The Mission of God: Unlocking the Bible's Grand Narrative (Nottingham: IVP, 2006).

 

Recommended:

Escobar, S., The New Global Mission: The Gospel from Everywhere to Everywhere (Downers Grove, IL: IVP, 2003).

Stanley, B., The Bible and the Flag (Leicester: Apollos, 1990).

Taylor, W. D. (ed.), Global Missiology for the 21st Century (Grand Rapids, Baker Academic, 2000).

Thomas, N., Classic Texts in Mission and World Christianity (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, 1995).

Tiplady, R., One World or Many? The Impact of Globalization on Mission (Pasadena: William Carey, 2003).

 

Classics:

Neill, S. C. and O. Chadwick, A History of Christian Missions (Rev.; 2nd ed.; New York: Penguin, 1991).

Stott, J., Making Christ Known, (Carlisle: Paternoster Press, 1996).

Yates, T., Christian Mission in the Twentieth Century (Cambridge University Press, 1994).