Het vak missiologie anno nu: De plaats en betekenis van missiologie in het theologisch curriculum

Samenvatting

Because missiology as a theological discipline has come under attack in the slip-stream of post-colonialism, Western guilt, and ongoing secularization, proposals have surfaced to change its name into, for example, ‘Mission Studies’ or ‘Intercultural Theology’. This article, while affirming that these proposals are valuable in themselves, advocates the retention of the theological discipline of Missiology. This discipline takes seriously the urgency of evangelization both within and outside Europe, an urgency that is affirmed time and again by Christians from the global South. Missiology’s place in the theological curriculum will increasingly be determined by the current turn to practices as the object of theology. In cooperation with other disciplines, especially the social sciences, it will contribute its own theological voice to the science of missions. Finally, as the living memory of Christianity’s own expansion, missiology will continue to be a rich resource for public theology in a secularizing and pluralizing society.