Sage Journals: Discover world-class research

Abstract

Eschatology, though playing a major role in past missionary motivation, in recent times has been neglected as a subject for mission theology. The sudden demise of Marxism as a global ideology, along with the repudiation of belief in the ultimate triumph of Communism, raises crucial questions for Christians about their own sense of the meaning of history. Has history ended for Christians, or do they still hold to the belief that completion of the mission of God is the deepest purpose in human history and that Christ will return to consummate God's kingdom? The article raises a variety of theological and practical issues against the background of the recent CWME San Antonio Conference and the LCWE Lausanne II in Manila Congress.

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Beaver

R. Pierce

1959 “Eschatology in American Missions.” In Basileia: Tribute to Walter Freytag. Hermelink

Margull

H. J.

, eds. Pp. 60–75. Stuttgart, West Germany: Evang. Missions-verlag.

Bell

Daniel

1960 The End of Ideology: On the Exhaustion of Political Ideas in the Fifties. Glencoe, IL: Free Press.

Blauw

Johannes

1962 The Missionary Nature of the Church. London: Lutterworth.

Carpenter

Joel A.

1990

“Propagating the Faith Once Delivered: The Fundamentalist Missionary Enterprise.”

In Earthen Vessels: American Evangelicals and Foreign Missions, 1880–1980. Carpenter

J. A.

Shenk

W. R.

, eds. Pp. 92–132. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans.

Cullmann

Oscar

1961 “Eschatology and Missions in the New Testament.” In The Theology of the Christian Mission. Anderson

G. H.

, ed. Pp. 42–54. New York: McGraw-Hill.

Douglas

J. D.

, ed. 1990 Proclaim Christ Until He Comes: Calling the Whole Church to Take the Whole Gospel to the Whole World. (Lausanne II in Manila. International Congress on World Evangelization, 1989.) Minneapolis, MN: World Wide Publications.

Fukuyama

Francis

1989 “End of History?”. The National Interest 16(Summer): 3–18. (With responses by Allan Bloom and others, pp. 19–35).

Gide

Andre

Wright

Richard

Silone

Ignazio

Spender

Stephen

Koestler

Arthur

Fischer

Louis

1950 The God That Failed. Crossman

Richard

, ed. New York: Bantam.

Goodall

Norman

, ed. 1953 Missions Under the Cross: Addresses and Statements from the Willingen Meeting of the I. M. C. 1952. London and New York: International Missionary Council.

10.

Hahn

Ferdinand

1965 Mission in the New Testament. Clarke

Frank

, trans. London: SCM.

11.

International Missionary Council (IMC) 1939 The World Mission of the Church: Findings and Recommendations of the International Missionary Council, Tambaram, Madras, India, 1938. London and New York: IMC.

12.

Kelly

Orville E.

1975 Make Today Count. New York: Delacorte.

13.

Nelson

Robert A.

1954 “Mission and Eschatology.”. Ecumenical Review 6(2): 147–156.

14.

Newbigin

Lesslie

1989 The Gospel in a Pluralist Society. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans.

15.

Robert

Dana L.

1990

“‘The Crisis of Missions’: Premillenial Mission Theory and the Origins of Independent Evangelical Missions.”

In Earthen Vessels: American Evangelicals and Foreign Missions. Carpenter

J. A.

Shenk

W. R.

, eds. Pp. 29–46. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans.

16.

Wilson

Frederick R.

, ed. 1990 The San Antonio Report: Your Will Be Done: Mission in Christ's Way. Geneva: WCC Publications.

17.

World Council of Churches (WCC) 1954 “Report of the Advisory Commission on the Main Theme of the Second Assembly: Christ—the Hope of the World.”. Ecumenical Review 6(4): 430–465.

18.

World Council of Churches (WCC) 1980 Your Kingdom Come: Mission Perspectives. (Report on the World Conference on Mission and Evangelism, Melbourne, Australia, May 1980.) Geneva: WCC/CWME.

19.

World Council of Churches (WCC) 1982 “Mission and Evangelism—An Ecumenical Affirmation.”. International Review of Mission 71(284):427–451.

Why Mission Theology Cannot Do without Eschatological Urgency: The Significance of the End

Abstract

Get full access to this article

References