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...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Missiology
Main Author: Anderson, Christian J. (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Sage [2017]
In: Missiology
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)
Description
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.
ISSN:2051-3623
Contains:Enthalten in: Missiology
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1177/0091829617728533