23. The Oxford Handbook of Mission Studies: Book Review
by Graham Kings
Date added: 07/03/2025
Kirsteen Kim, Knud Jørgensen and Alison Fitchett-Climenhaga (eds). 2022. The Oxford Handbook of Mission Studies. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 768, Hb £137.50. ISBN-13: 9780198831723.
Book review by Graham Kings in Studies in World Christianity Vol 31 No 1 pp.106-108.
I have waited many years for such a magisterial publication as The Oxford Handbook of Mission Studies and congratulate the editors, authors and publisher. It is extraordinary in its range, depth, diversity, structure and variety of disciplines.
The editors are Kirsteen Kim (Paul E. Pierson Chair in World Christianity and Associate Dean for the Center for Missiological Research at Fuller Seminary, California); Knud Jørgensen (Adjunct Professor at the MF Norwegian School of Theology, Religion and Society); and Alison Fitchett-Climenhaga (Research Fellow at the Institute for Religion and Critical Inquiry at the Australian Catholic University).
The book is the fruit of ecumenical ‘friendships-in-scholarship’ formed over the years at the International Association for Mission Studies, and especially of seeds planted at the 2016 IAMS conference in Seoul.
Over its 700 plus pages, we imbibe the Ecumenical, Catholic, Evangelical and Orthodox worldwide Christian traditions. The forty-one chapters are set out lucidly in seven systematic parts: Mission Studies as a Discipline; Mission Studies and Theology; Studies in Mission Practice; Christian Mission and History; Christian Mission and Cultures; Christian Mission and Religions; and Christian Mission and Society. The notes and short bibliographies (‘Key Works’) at the end of each chapter are detailed and informative. I found myself delving into the notes and enjoying various ruminations before returning to the chapter in hand. Of the forty-seven authors, twenty-nine are male (60 per cent) and eighteen female (40 per cent), and these include emerging as well as established scholars. Ed Kessler, a Jewish Scholar of interfaith relations, seems to be the only author from another faith.
‘Mission Studies’ is described as ‘an interdisciplinary field of inquiry into Christian mission or missions that utilizes theological, historical, and various social scientific methods’ (3).
Perhaps it may be invidious to mention specific chapters, but I venture to offer the following, in chapter order, which I enjoyed in particular, with the proviso that this is from a personal perspective: Sandra Mazzolini, ‘Mission and Evangelization in Christian Doctrine’; Stephen Bevans, SVD, ‘Theologies of Mission’; Henning Wrogemann, ‘Mission Studies as Intercultural Theology’; Dana L. Robert, ‘Mission Studies and World Christianity’; Peter Phan, ‘Mission as Inculturation’; Gina Colvin and Rosemary Dewerse, ‘Christian Mission and Indigenous Peoples’; Miikka Ruokanen and Chen Yongtao, ‘Christianity in Chinese Soil’; J. Kwabena Asamoah-Gyadu, ‘Christian Mission and African Traditions’; Muthuraj Swamy, ‘Christian Missionary Constructions of Hinduism’; Joanildo Burity, ‘Christian Mission and the Social Sciences’; Nico A. Botha and Eugene Baron, ‘The Protestant World Mission and Race Discourse’.
I noticed some interesting inter-critiques amongst the authors as well as criticisms of other writers. The editors (17, n.7) disagree with Henning Wrogemann’s definition of ‘world Christianity’ in his chapter on ‘Mission as Intercultural Theology’ (especially 157ff.). Dorrotya Nagy’s critique of ‘missional’ (62) raises some uncomfortable questions. Christine Lienemann criticises the stereotyping she sees in the works of Andrew Walls, Lamin Sanneh and Jehu Hanciles (158). John Mansford Prior highlights the critiques of David Bosch by Andrew Kirk (for avoiding violence and peacebuilding and environment) and by Kirsteen Kim (for omitting mission of the Spirit, ecology, indigenous movements and feminist movements).
Concerning errors, Lesslie Newbigin is described as Scottish (42): however, although he served as a missionary of the Church of Scotland, he was English, born in Newcastle. Concerning what is missing, again from my perspective: the observation of the confluence of Catholic, Evangelical and Ecumenical mission statements 2011 to 2013 could also have mentioned the similar convergence between 1974 and 1976; M. Louise Pirouet’s seminal book, Black Evangelists: the Spread of Christianity in Uganda, 1891—1914 (1978) should have been noted (185); Twitter/X should have been included in the chapter on ‘Mission Communication Explored’; Joseph Schmidlin’s Christian name and dates are missing from the index; the female missiologists Georgina Gollock, Emma Wild-Wood and Cathy Ross should have been included (32).
This handbook is a treasure trove of fascinating historical facts as well as thoughtful insights on influences. Three examples will suffice. John Mansford Prior points out (170) that the French Dominican Marie-Dominique Chenu (1895—1990) taught Yves Congar, spearheading the nouvelle théologie movement, and supervised the doctoral thesis of fellow Dominican Gustavo Gutiérrez. Michael W. Goheen (189) mentions that Yves Congar thought that the ecumenical openness of the Roman Catholic Church owed much to the Missio Dei theology of the 1952 IMC conference at Willengen. Dana L. Robert provides both an objective and an insider’s perspective on the background and workings of The Pew Charitable Trusts grants from 1992 to 1999, which were so significant in enabling and publishing research in mission studies and world Christianity (391).
I have profound admiration for the detailed editing process, and sensitive correspondence with forty-one authors, involved in such a work. Kirsteen Kim’s skills and experience in editing (again with Knud Jørgensen) the thirty-nine volumes of the Regnum Edinburgh Centenary series and (with Stephen Bevans and Miikka Ruokanen) the Brill series Theology and Mission in World Christianity (from 2016) have borne fruit yet again.
I recommend that theological libraries and scholars throughout the world invest in buying this exceptional handbook and that it features as a foundation of bibliographies for students of mission and of world Christianity.
