Papers & Publications
Migration, Human Dislocation, and Mission Accountability
The theme of the Korean Global Mission Leadership Forum this year is "Migration, Human Dislocation, and Mission Accountability." Research Professor Jon Bonk will chair the executive meeting in New Haven on February 20th in preparation for the fourth meeting of the Korean Global Mission Leadership Forum, scheduled for Sokcho in South Korea, November 7-10. The papers and responses will be published in English and Korean as the fourth volume in the series on "Accountability in Mission."
The Indefatigable Work of Don Carlos Janes
At the turn of the 20th century, Churches of Christ had less than a nominal level of missionary activity. With few missionaries abroad and fewer churches willing to support them along with no denominationally baptized mechanism for conducting a missionary enterprise, the prospect of a viable missions program that covered the denomination seemed bleak for Churches of Christ. Don Carlos Janes (1877-1944) would find himself in this difficult situation in 1911 as he began his work as a missionary promoter. Jeremy Hegi recently published an article titled “One-Man Missionary Society: The Indefatigable Work of Don Carlos Janes” in Restoration Quarterly Vol. 58 No. 4. The essay demonstrates how Janes established and maintained a missionary consciousness among the congregations of Churches of Christ, in addition to recruiting and supporting a majority of missionaries of the denomination between 1911 and 1944.
Legacy of John Sung
In the 1930s, no evangelist traveled further, spoke more often, or led more Chinese people to faith than Song Shangjie (John Sung). In the October 2016 issue of the International Bulletin of Mission Research, Daryl Ireland explores the legacy of one of China's most dynamic and memorable Christians.
This is the first scholarly article to make use of Sung's own personal diaries (not those edited and published by his daughter). They reveal new facets of his life and ministry, most memorably regarding his time spent in an insane asylum. Sung famously spoke of his hospitalization in 1927 as a gross misunderstanding of his conversion. His diaries, however, suggest another story. What happened in the asylum is summarized in the Legacy article, but will be unpacked further in Ireland's forthcoming article on conversion in the journal Mission Studies.
Mission and Transnational Adoption
Soojin Chung, CGCM student affiliate, recently published an article “Transnational Adoption: A Noble Cause? Female Missionaries as Pioneers of Transnational Adoption, 1945-1965” in Evangelical Missions Quarterly (October 2016). This article reviews biblical and theological grounds for international adoption, followed by a case study of two prominent female missionaries who spearheaded the transnational adoption movement in Korea. In examining these two figures, the author argues that the historical context in which adoption was born was vastly different from the contemporary evangelical adoption boom, which is parent-focused rather than child-centered. The article can be found here.
Mission as boundary-crossing global ecclesiology
Anika Fast, CGCM student affiliate, recently published an article "The Earth is the Lord’s: Anabaptist mission as boundary-crossing global ecclesiology" in Mennonite Quarterly Review (July 2016). This essay reviews three strands of thinking – representatives of an older generation of North American Mennonite mission scholars and historians, younger voices speaking largely from within a Mennonite World Conference context, and a variety of thinkers from the Global South – to argue that all are converging to reaffirm a believers church perspective on mission in which ecclesiology and missiology are essentially connected. At a time when some North American Mennonites are questioning the legacy of mission, the author argues that it is time to move past a polarized debate, in which one is either “for” or “against” mission, to understand Mennonites’ historical involvement in mission as part of a larger story of working toward deepening relationships in the world church.
Mission as Globalization
David W. Scott, assistant professor of religion and Pieper Chair of Servant Leadership at Ripon College and CGCM alumnus (STH '07, GRS '13), recently published his book Mission as Globalization: Methodists in Southeast Asia at the Turn of the Twentieth Century. The book unites the history of globalization with the history of Christian mission, examining the global connections produced by the Methodist Episcopal Church's Malaysia Mission from 1885-1915. Full description of his book can be found here.
A Methodological and Demographic Analysis
Gina Zurlo, PhD candidate and student affiliate of the CGCM, and Todd Johnson, Associate Professor of Global Christianity at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, recently published an article “Unaffiliated, Yet Religious: A Methodological and Demographic Analysis.” The article appeared in the Annual Review of the Sociology of Religion and is available online here.
Indigenous and Vernacular Christianity
Eva M. Pascal, Michèle Sigg, and Gina Zurlo recently contributed a chapter "Indigenous and Vernacular Christianity" in the Wiley-Blackwell Companion to World Christianity, a collection of essays exploring a range of topics relating to the spread and influence of World Christianity. Their chapter examines indigenous and vernacular Christianity in Asia, Africa, and Latin America. They argue that indigenous and vernacular Christianity is a primary component in the global expansion of Christianity. The volume is edited by Lamin Sanneh, the D. Willis James Professor of World Christianity and of History at Yale University, and Michael McClymond, Professor of Modern Christianity at Saint Louis University. You can find the book here.
CGCM Summer Newsletter: martyred Father Machozi and religious violence
The CGCM summer 2016 newsletter is now available in PDF form, and in print at the Boston University School of Theology. The summer issue reflects on the murder and martyr of Father Vincent Machozi, a voice for the persecuted and a witness to atrocities being committed in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The issue also reflects on the wider context of religious violence around the world. You can download the PDF here: Summer 2016 newsletter no. 22.
Perfecting Unity
In his new book, Perfecting Unity, Glen Alton Messer II--the first faculty associate of the Center for Global Christianity & Mission--aids Christ's disciples in discernment in the midst of this present moment of time; in our world and context. The book is also written for those who wish to understand Christians and the things with which they wrestle as they do their best to live faithfully in the world. It is not a book that gives answers. Indeed, it is a book that challenges answers formulated previously by other faithful Christians in different moments and different contexts. It is not a repudiation of what came before; but a reminder that the practice of courage in people of faith necessitates the testing of previous worldviews and the formulation of new best attempts to incarnate the love of God in us and around us.
The book is being published one chapter at a time, with a new chapter appearing every Wednesday until October. The material is digitally accessible now, and later will be available for purchase through Amazon.