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Witnessing to Christ in a Pluralistic World Christian Mission Among Other Faiths

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Witnessing to Christ in a Pluralistic World Christian Mission Among Other Faiths 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.
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