AN INTRODUCTION TO MISSIOLOGY OF CONSECRATED LIFE
Introduction
Most of the New Testament was written within a missionary context. Theology was generated by the emergency situation in which the missionary early Church found itself. In this situation, mission became the "mother of theology". Christianity became the established religion in the Roman Empire and later, theology gradually lost its missionary dimension .
For many centuries theology was understood, first, as the actual, individual cognition of God and things related to him; it was a habitus of the human soul; second, theology was understood as a scholarly discipline about the knowledge of God and the things of God. Under the impact of the Enlightenment, this one discipline of theology was gradually subdivided: the disciplines of Bible, Church history, systematic theology and practical theology. The horizon of theology was the Church or, at most, Christianity; and the theology was un-missionary, even after the 15th century when the Church embarked on a vigorous missionary activity towards the new worlds.
In our century, Missiology was introduced as sort of part of the practical or pastoral theology in which the principal objective was to study the "mission territories" and the formation of the Church in these mission territories. However, the missionary nature of theology was not yet discovered or rediscovered. Mission was understood as the expansion of the Church and how to save souls and Missiology provided the know-how for this purpose.
Since the '60s, and especially with Vatican II, there has been a Copernican change; this was due to a new understanding of the Church as "missionary by its very nature"; mission belonging to the essence of the Church. Mission is no longer a prerogative of the Pope or hierarchy, but an intrinsic dimension of the Church everywhere: the Church is a Church sent to the world and exists for the sake of the world; mission is no longer an optional activity of the Church but an expression of the very being of the Church; the world was no longer divided into missionary Church and mission territories; mission is not peripheral to the life and being of the Church, but the Church exists to evangelize. Mission is a sort of continuation of the Incarnation; the Church becomes a partner of Jesus and the Spirit in the missio Dei; mission is a Trinitarian reality, an epiphany of God's plan of salvation revealed in Christ and in the outpouring of the Spirit (AG 9), acting in mysterious ways even beyond the boundaries of the Church.
Just as the Church ceases to be the Church if it is not missionary, theology ceases to be theology if it loses its missionary character; for theology has no reason to exist other than critically to accompany the missio Dei. A relevant theology today must be in direct contact with mission, illuminating the mystery of God in human history and searching for answers to the deepest quests of humanity
Table of Contents:
0. INDEX (download)
I. NEW TESTAMENT AS A MISSIONARY DOCUMENT (download)
1. - Mission as the "mother of Theology"
2. - Mission in the Old Testament
3. - The Mission of Jesus
4. - The early Christian Mission
5. - Important traits of the missionary ministry of Jesus and the early Church
II. - MISSION IN MATTHEW, LUKE AND PAUL (download)
A. - Matthew: Mission as Disciple- Making
B. - Luke: Practicing Forgiveness and Solidarity with the Poor
C. - Paul: Invitation to join the Eschatological Community
III. - PARADIGM CHANGE IN MISSIOLOGY ALONG THE HISTORY OF THE CHURCH (download)
1. - The Hellenistic Paradigm of the Patristic Period
2. - The Medieval Paradigm (AD 600 - 1500)
3. - The Missionary Paradigm of the Protestant Reformation: Ambivalences
4. - Mission in the wake of the Enlightenment
5. - The changes of our time demand a new missionary paradigm
IV- MISSION FROM VATICAN II TO OUR DAYS (download)
A. - From the Missions to the Mission
B. - The Trinitarian Origin of the Mission
C. - Post-conciliar Development of the concept of Mission
V. - MISSION AND CONTEXTUALIZATION (download)
1. - The Epistemological Break
2. - The Ambiguities of Contextualization
VI. - THE POLITICAL DIMENSION OF MISSION (download)
1. - From Development to Liberation
2. - The Theology of Liberation
3. - God's Preferential Option for the Poor
4. - Differences between Western Theologies and the Theology of Liberation
5. - The Marxist connection
6. - Integral Liberation
7. - Proclamation or Liberation
VII. - MISSION AND INCULTURATION (download)
1. - The History of Inculturation
2. - The anthropological concept of culture
3. - The need for adaptation
4. - Development of Inculturation in the 20th century
5. - From adaptation/accommodation to incarnation and inculturation
6. - Differences between inculturation and adaptation
7. - Interculturation
8. - Inculturation and globalization
VIII. - MISSION TO PEOPLES OF OTHER FAITHS: PROCLAMATION & DIALOGUE (download)
0. - Introduction
1. - The Problem
2. - Responses to this Christological Question
3. - Implications of religious pluralism or relativism
4. - Redemptoris Missio against the religious relativism
5. - Dialogue and Proclamation are complementary
6. - Conclusions about Mission and Dialogue
IX. - MISSION IN ASIA TODAY (download)
1. - A pastoral panoramic view of Asia
2. - What is evangelization in Asia (FABC '74)
3. - FABC and the Special Synod of Asia
A. - Pastoral Situation and Trends
B. - Theological Issues
C. - Expectations from the Synod
D. - Some specific Issues
X. - SPECIAL SYNOD OF ASIA - "ECCLESIA IN ASIA" (download)
0. - INTRODUCTION
I. - PRINCIPAL TOPICS SHARED DURING THE INTERVENTIONS AND CIRCULI MINORI
II. - THE MISSION OF THE CHURCH IN ASIA
III. - DIALOGUE WITH THE RELIGIONS OF ASIA
IV. - DIALOGUE WITH THE CULTURES OF ASIA- INCULTURATION
V. - DIALOGUE OF LIFE WITH THE POOR
VI. - THE LAITY
VII.-FORMATION FOR PRIESTHOOD AND CONSECRATED LIFE
VIII. - OTHER THEMES
XI. - ECCLESIOLOGY OF PCP-II: IMPLICATIONS FOR MISSION (download)
Introduction
The PCP-II Pastoral Thrust: towards a new way of being Church in view of the New Evangelization
Part I. - PCP-II's vision of Church
Part II. - Implications of the vision of the Church for our Renewal
XII. - MISSION OF CONSECRATED LIFE IN VITA CONSECRATA (download)
1. - Characteristics of the Mission of Consecrated Life
2. - Guiding Criteria for the Mission of Consecrated Life
3. - Consecrated Life and Mission Ad Gentes
4. - Formation for Mission
XI.- Bibligraphy
(download)