Christian Mission among Other Faiths

300 Pages·2017·2.46 MB·English

Oral Roberts University
Digital Showcase
Regnum Edinburgh Centenary Series Holy Spirit Research Center
2011
Witnessing to Christ in a Pluralistic World:
Christian Mission among Other Faiths
Lalsangkima Pachuau
Knud Jorgensen
Follow this and additional works at:http://digitalshowcase.oru.edu/re2010series
Recommended Citation
Pachuau, Lalsangkima, and Knud Jorgensen. 2011. "Witnessing to Christ in a Pluralistic World: Christian Mission among Other Faiths." .
http://digitalshowcase.oru.edu/re2010series/13
This Book is brought to you for free and open access by the Holy Spirit Research Center at Digital Showcase. It has been accepted for inclusion in
Regnum Edinburgh Centenary Series by an authorized administrator of Digital Showcase. For more information, please [email protected].
REGNUM EDINBURGH 2010 SERIES
Witnessing to Christ in a Pluralistic World
Christian Mission among Other Faiths
REGNUM EDINBURGH 2010 SERIES
The Centenary of the World Missionary Conference of 1910, held in
Edinburgh, was a suggestive moment for many people seeking direction for
Christian mission in the twenty-first century. Several different constituencies
within world Christianity held significant events around 2010. From 2005, an
international group worked collaboratively to develop an intercontinental and
multi-denominational project, known as Edinburgh 2010, and based at New
College, University of Edinburgh. This initiative brought together
representatives of twenty different global Christian bodies, representing all
major Christian denominations and confessions, and many different strands of
mission and church life, to mark the Centenary.
Essential to the work of the Edinburgh 1910 Conference, and of abiding
value, were the findings of the eight think-tanks or ‘commissions’. These
inspired the idea of a new round of collaborative reflection on Christian
mission – but now focused on nine themes identified as being key to mission in
the twenty-first century. The study process was polycentric, open-ended, and as
inclusive as possible of the different genders, regions of the world, and
theological and confessional perspectives in today’s church. It was overseen by
the Study Process Monitoring Group: Miss Maria Aranzazu Aguado (Spain,
The Vatican), Dr Daryl Balia (South Africa, Edinburgh 2010), Mrs Rosemary
Dowsett (UK, World Evangelical Alliance), Dr Knud Jørgensen (Norway,
Areopagos), Rev. John Kafwanka (Zambia, Anglican Communion), Rev. Dr
Jooseop Keum (Korea, World Council of Churches), Dr Wonsuk Ma (Korea,
Oxford Centre for Mission Studies), Rev. Dr Kenneth R. Ross (UK, Church of
Scotland), Dr Petros Vassiliadis (Greece, Aristotle University of
Thessalonikki), and coordinated by Dr Kirsteen Kim (UK, Edinburgh 2010).
These publications reflect the ethos of Edinburgh 2010 and will make a
significant contribution to ongoing studies in mission. It should be clear that
material published in this series will inevitably reflect a diverse range of views
and positions. These will not necessarily represent those of the series’ editors or
of the Edinburgh 2010 General Council, but in publishing them the leadership
of Edinburgh 2010 hopes to encourage conversation between Christians and
collaboration in mission. All the series’ volumes are commended for study and
reflection in both church and academy.
Series Editors
Knud Jørgensen Areopagos Foundation, Norway, MF Norwegian School of
Theology & the Lutheran School of Theology, Hong Kong.
Chair of Edinburgh 2010 Study Process Monitoring Group
Kirsteen Kim Leeds Trinity University College and Edinburgh 2010
Research Coordinator, UK
Wonsuk Ma Oxford Centre for Mission Studies, Oxford, UK
Tony Gray Words by Design, Bicester, UK
REGNUM EDINBURGH 2010 SERIES
Witnessing to Christ
in a Pluralistic World
Christian Mission
among Other Faiths

Edited by
Lalsangkima Pachuau and Knud Jørgensen
Copyright © ‘Edinburgh 2010’, 2011

First published 2011 by Regnum Books International

Regnum is an imprint of the Oxford Centre for Mission Studies
St. Philip and St. James Church
Woodstock Road
Oxford OX2 6HR, UK
www.ocms.ac.uk/regnum

09 08 07 06 05 04 03 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

The right of ‘Edinburgh 2010’ to be identified as the Editors of this Work has
been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a
retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electric,
mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission
of the publisher or a licence permitting restricted copying. In the UK such
licences are issued by the Copyright Licencing Agency, 90 Tottenham Court
Road, London W1P 9HE.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN: 978-1-870345-95-8

Typeset by Words by Design (www.wordsbydesign.co.uk)
Printed and bound in Great Britain for Regnum Books International
by TJ International LTD, Padstow, Cornwall

The photo on the cover shows ‘Christ Temple’ at the Tao Fong Shan center for
dialogue, spirituality and studies in Hong Kong. The center and the Christ Temple
were built in the 1930s as a meeting place for Buddhist monks from China and
Christians. The center functioned in that manner until the beginning of World
War II. Today the center, with its Chinese and Buddhist architecture, continues to
be a place of dialogue between people of living faiths.
This volume has been sponsored by the
Areopagos Foundation in Norway and Denmark
CONTENTS
Foreword
Kirsteen Kim 1
Editorial Introduction
Lalsangkima Pachuau and Knud Jørgensen 3
Christian Mission among Other Faiths
Report on the theme prepared for the Edinburgh 2010 conference 8
POSITION PAPERS FROM VARIOUS CHURCHES AND TRADITIONS
Protestant Perspectives
Hans Ucko (Sweden, conciliar) 37
Harold Netland (USA, evangelical) 45
Roman Catholic Perspectives
Antony Kalliath (India) 57
Carmelo Dotolo (European) 68
Orthodox Church’s Perspectives
Petros Vassiliadis (Greece), Nikos Dimitriadis (Greece)
and Niki Papageorgiou (Greece) 75
Pentecostal Perspectives
Julie Ma (Korea) 79
Adventist Perspectives
Ganoune Diop (Senegal) 90
THEMATIC PAPERS
Evangelism and Apologetics
Alister McGrath (Reformed) 103
Theologies of Religion
Veli-Matti Kärkkäinen (Pentecostal) 110
CASE STUDIES
Mission among Muslims
John Azumah (Ghana) 121
Charles Amjad-Ali (Pakistan/USA) 132
David Greenlee (USA) 139
vi Witnessing to Christ in a Pluralistic World
Mission among Hindus
Pramod Aghamkar (India) 149
K.P. Aleaz (India) 161
H.L. Richard (USA) 170
Mission among Buddhists:
Notto Thelle (Norway) 178
Lai Pan-Chiu (Hong Kong) 189
Mission and New Religious Movements
Ole Skjerbæk Madsen (Denmark) 197
Mission and Judaism
Matt Friedmann (USA) 204
Kai Kjær-Hansen (Denmark) 214
Mission and Primal Religions
Marcello Vargas (Bolivia) 222
Jeannie LeBlanc Lowe and Terry LeBlanc (Canada) 230
Bibliography 239
Index 265
List of Contributors 273
FOREWORD
Kirsteen Kim
From the start ‘study theme two’ was one of the most challenging of the
nine study themes of the Edinburgh 2010 project. The general topic of
interfaith issues in mission was bound to be important in the preparatory
research and in the conference discussion, especially because when the
themes were first identified, in 2005, it was just four years after 9/11. But
in this very contentious climate, is mission an appropriate response?
In 1910 the ‘world religions’ paradigm with which we are familiar today
was not yet established. Delegates to the World Missionary Conference in
Edinburgh generally understood that Christianity was ‘the world religion’,
the only truly universal religion which was the fulfilment of all other
religions, and to which they would eventually submit. A century or so later
when the term is applied to Christianity it is to say that the Christian faith is
‘a world religion’ – one among several deemed worthy of the name.
Textbooks differ as to whether there are five or six or sometimes more
‘world religions’. Each is given a logo and they are taught from an
apparently neutral position as independent and autonomous systems of
equal worth and bearing no fixed relation to one another. The religions are
variously perceived to be in conflict or competition, or to offer
complementary paths of life.
Over the last one hundred years different Christian churches have
wrestled with this new perception and have found various ways of
expressing the uniqueness or distinctiveness of Christianity, and its relation
to the other religions, but without religious domination. These solutions
have been variously expressed in terms of Christian apologetics and
theologies of religion. On the ground situations of religious pluralism –
familiar for centuries in many parts of Asia and Africa but a recent
development for many in Europe and the Americas – have afforded
opportunities for experiments in interfaith dialogue and cooperation. New
ways are being sought to address intractable conflicts which are
exacerbated by religious differences. In some situations Christian majorities
have been challenged to make room for other faiths while in other places
Christian minorities have insisted on religious freedom.
Its recent colonial legacy, including the negative approach towards other
traditions at Edinburgh 1910, has led many Christian scholars of religion
and interfaith practitioners to eschew the word ‘mission’. The distinctive
contribution of Edinburgh 2010 was to insist that Christian mission has a
2 Witnessing to Christ in a Pluralistic World
place in a pluralistic world, even in the tense post 9/11 situation. This book
of the work of study theme two is notable in reclaiming the practice of
mission, in the sense of witness to Christ, as an appropriate, justifiable and
considered response to the presence of other faiths.
Having re-learnt what the Orthodox have long known and Pentecostal
movements have more recently experienced – that the Christian church has
a unique identity and God-given task in the world to witness to Christ, this
important book also highlights another insight of Orthodox theology and
Pentecostal conviction – that the church witnesses as part of the economy
of the Holy Spirit. Christian witness is joining in the work of the Christ-like
Spirit of God who blows to vivify and sanctify the whole creation. On the
one hand this pneumatological approach expands both the scope of mission
– to include the redemption of the whole creation – and also the partners of
mission – to include even those of other faiths who share the same spirit.
On the other hand, it delimits mission to witnessing to Christ and it
precludes attitudes and actions in mission that are incompatible with the
love of Christ. By dealing mainly in position papers from different church
perspectives and case studies of several different religious traditions in a
variety of global contexts, Witnessing to Christ in a Pluralistic World
graphically illustrates what it means to do mission among other faiths today
in the (self-sacrificing) power of the Holy Spirit. It ties this not to a grand
theory of everything but to the particular witness of Jesus Christ incarnated
among us.
The editors and the conveners of study theme two are to be
congratulated in bringing together a wide variety of contributors and
facilitating such a useful and stimulating discussion of the continuing
imperative of Christian mission among other faiths.

Prof. Kirsteen Kim, PhD
Professor of Theology and World Christianity and
Director of Programmes in Theology and Religious Studies,
Leeds Trinity University College, UK
INTRODUCTION
Lalsangkima Pachuau and Knud Jørgensen
The present volume comes from the preparatory study works of theme
number two (or “theme two” as popularly termed), namely “Christian
Mission among Other Faiths” of “Edinburgh 2010,” the centenary
celebration of the World Missionary Conference of 1910. Edinburgh 2010
had Witnessing to Christ Today as its main theme which was subdivided
into nine themes (or sub-themes). Nine study groups were organized around
the nine themes to do preparatory studies on each theme with participants
and input from all the Christian families and all parts of the world. The
approach of the studies was expected to be inclusive of both theoretical and
practical, with perspectives drawn from academic and practice-oriented
viewpoints.
The core study group of theme two began with a small number and
expanded eventually. The group was led by co-conveners Lalsangkima
Pachuau, Asbury Theological Seminary, USA (Presbyterian, India) and
Niki Papageorgiou, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (Orthodox,
Greece) together with Knud Jørgensen, Areopagos, Norway (Lutheran,
Denmark/Norway) who also represented the Study Process Monitoring
Group of Edinburgh 2010. Other members of the group were Michael Biehl
of Missionsakademie, University of Hamburg (Lutheran, Germany), Eunice
Irwin of Asbury Seminary (Christian and Missionary Alliance, USA), and
John Azumah, London School of Theology (Presbyterian, Ghana).
Each study group was asked to prepare a 10,000 word summary essay on
the theme considering the followings:
1. Identify some key questions and items which are of global
importance within the area of your study theme.
2. Highlight some general historical achievements and
developments in your study area since 1910 till today.
3. Give some illuminating and telling regional case studies and
examples which illustrate major trends and challenges in your
area of study.
4. Identify key priorities for global Christianity concerning the
future of Christian mission in the 21st century in the area of
your study theme.
5. Identify strategic recommendations which you propose for
being listened to and communicated.