Front matter — The Theology of the Christian Mission

Title page

The Theology
of the
Christian Mission

Edited and with an Introduction by

Gerald H. Anderson

Abingdon Press · Nashville · 1961

Copyright

THE THEOLOGY OF THE CHRISTIAN MISSION

Standard Book Number: 687-41523-3
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 60-53347

PRINTED AND BOUND BY THE PARTHENON PRESS AT NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Dedication

Dedicated
To all those who labor as missionaries
in His name. . . .

An endless line of splendor,
These troops with heaven for home,
With creeds they go from Scotland,
With incense go from Rome.
These, in the name of Jesus,
Against the dark gods stand,
They gird the earth with valor,
They heed their King’s command.

Onward the line advances,
Shaking the hills with power,
Slaying the hidden demons,
The lions that devour.
No bloodshed in the wrestling—
But souls new-born arise—
The nations growing kinder,
The child-hearts growing wise.

What is the final ending?
The issue, can we know?
Will Christ outlive Mohammed?
Will Kali’s altar go?
This is our faith tremendous—
Our wild hope, who shall scorn—
That in the name of Jesus,
The world shall be reborn!

Vachel Lindsay
(1879–1931)

The poem is Vachel Lindsay’s “Foreign Missions in Battle Array” (see the Acknowledgments).

Contributors

Wilhelm Andersen: Professor of Systematic Theology, Augustana-Hochschule, Neuendettelsau, Germany.
Gerald H. Anderson: Professor of Church History and Ecumenics, Union Theological Seminary, Manila, Philippines.
Christian G. Baëta: Senior Lecturer in Divinity, University College of Ghana, Legon (via Accra), Ghana; Chairman of the Ghana Christian Council and of the International Missionary Council.
Karl Barth: Professor of Theology, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland.
R. Pierce Beaver: Professor of Missions, Federated Theological Faculty of the University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois.
Ernst Benz: Professor of Church History, University of Marburg, Marburg, Germany.
Johannes Blauw: Secretary of the Dutch Missionary Council, Amsterdam, Netherlands.
A. C. Bouquet: Sometime Lecturer in the History and Comparative Study of Religions, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, England; and recently on the faculty of Andhra University in India.
Oscar Cullmann: Professor of New Testament Studies, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland, and the Sorbonne, Paris, France.
F. N. Davey: Director of the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, London, England.
Paul D. Devanandan: Director of the Christian Institute for the Study of Religion and Society, Bangalore, India.
L. Harold DeWolf: Professor of Systematic Theology, Boston University School of Theology, Boston, Massachusetts.
F. W. Dillistone: Dean of the Cathedral, Liverpool, England.
Masatoshi Doi: Professor of Church History and Ecumenics, Doshisha University School of Theology, Kyoto, Japan.
William Richey Hogg: Professor of World Christianity, Southern Methodist University, Perkins School of Theology, Dallas, Texas.
Hendrik Kraemer: Sometime Professor of the History of Religions, University of Leiden, Leiden, Netherlands; and late Director of the Ecumenical Institute, Bossey, Switzerland.
Harold Lindsell: Dean of the Faculty and Professor of Missions, Fuller Theological Seminary, Pasadena, California.
Franklin H. Littell: Professor of Church History, Southern Methodist University, Perkins School of Theology, Dallas, Texas.
Donald G. Miller: Professor of New Testament, Union Theological Seminary, Richmond, Virginia.
Lesslie Newbigin: Bishop of the Church of South India, and General Secretary of the International Missionary Council.
Frank Wilson Price: Director of the Missionary Research Library, New York, New York.
Floyd H. Ross: Professor of World Religions, Southern California School of Theology, Claremont Graduate School, and Blaisdell Institute for Advanced Study of World Cultures and Religions, Claremont, California.
Alexander Schmemann: Professor of Church History and Liturgical Theology, St. Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary, New York, New York.
Andrew V. Seumois, O.M.I.: Professor at the Institute of Missiology, Propaganda Fide University, Rome, Italy; and Consultant of the Sacred Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith.
Paul Tillich: University Professor, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Max Warren: General Secretary of the Church Missionary Society, Church of England, London, England.
G. Ernest Wright: Parkman Professor of Divinity (Old Testament), Harvard Divinity School, Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Acknowledgments

Grateful acknowledgment is made to Basler Missionsbuchhandlung G.m.b.H., Basel, for permission to publish, in English translation, Auslegung von Matthäus 28, 16-20 by Karl Barth; to the Occasional Bulletin of the Missionary Research Library, New York, for permission to reprint, after revision by the author, “The Theology of Missions” by Paul Tillich, which originally appeared in the issue of August 10, 1954 (Vol. V, No. 10); to Cambridge University Press for permission to reprint “Eschatology and Missions in the New Testament” by Oscar Cullmann from The Background of the New Testament and Its Eschatology (1956), edited by W. D. Davies and D. Daube; to The Macmillan Company for permission to use the poem “Foreign Missions in Battle Array” from Collected Poems by Vachel Lindsay, copyright 1913; and to the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the U.S.A. for permission to quote from the Revised Standard Version of The Holy Bible, copyright 1946 and 1952.

Each author is responsible for only those views expressed in his own essay.