Beginning at the beginning: Reading missio Dei from the start of the Bible
While Missiological hermeneutics have pointed to the missio Dei concept as key to the entire Biblical narrative, these readings have described God's mission activity as commencing after the entrance of sin, rather than at the beginning of the Bible. This article argues that a mission hermeneuti...
Published in: | Missiology |
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Main Author: | |
Format: | Electronic Article |
Language: | English |
Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
Journals Online & Print: | |
Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
Published: |
Sage
[2017]
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In: |
Missiology
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IxTheo Classification: | HA Bible KAJ Church history 1914-; recent history RJ Mission; missiology VB Hermeneutics; Philosophy |
Further subjects: | B
Creation
B Genesis B Humanity B Mandate B Hermeneutics B Missio Dei |
Online Access: |
Volltext (Verlag) |
Summary: | While Missiological hermeneutics have pointed to the missio Dei concept as key to the entire Biblical narrative, these readings have described God's mission activity as commencing after the entrance of sin, rather than at the beginning of the Bible. This article argues that a mission hermeneutic ought to begin with the Bible's opening chapters, where humanity's vocation in the narratives of Genesis 1 and 2 need not be treated as a separate creation mandate, but as involvement in the missio Dei. Iranaeus' theology provides a precedent for thinking that God's perfecting work was still at an early stage when sin entered creation; and G. K. Beale's reading of Eden as a garden sanctuary to be expanded gives at least one exegetical avenue for seeing the creation narratives as continuous with the mission entrusted to Abraham's descendants. Missio Dei participation, then, is inherent to humanity, and sin's origins can be framed as a refusal to embrace it. |
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ISSN: | 2051-3623 |
Contains: | Enthalten in: Missiology
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Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1177/0091829617728533 |