Building on the work and legacy of Darrell L. Guder, Converting Witness: The Future of Christian Mission in the New Millennium, explores key questions and new possibilities in missiology in light of the world Christian context. The conversation around missional theology and the missional church has examined the gap between theology and mission with the intent of fostering renewal within North American Christianity. But this can only fully occur in relation to the reality of world Christianities and the framing significance of global cultural diversity. Many of the classic categories and methods—such as church planting, catholicity, and even the term “world Christianity” itself—are in need of fresh examination and thoughtful analysis. The contributors to this volume address a range of important missiological topics, including globalization, interfaith dialogue, integral mission, intercultural hermeneutics, and church practices.

Cutting-edge essays on the globalization of Christian mission from the historic Iguassu conference.

What does the changing face of missions look like? What challenges will appear in the years to come? A number of key missionaries, mission agency leaders, seminary professors and pastors present insightful presentations of missions, past and present, seeking to revitalize the future of world evangelism.

Western society is now a very different, very difficult mission field. In such a situation, the mission of evangelism cannot succeed with an attitude of "business as usual." This volume builds a theology of evangelism that has its focus on the church itself. Darrell Guder shows that the church's missionary calling requires that the theology and practice of evangelism be fundamentally rethought and redirected, focused on the continuing evangelization of the church so that it can carry out its witness faithfully in today's world. In Part 1 Guder explores how, under the influence of reductionism and individualism, the church has historically moved away from a biblical theology of evangelism. Part 2 presents contemporary challenges to the church's evangelical ministry, especially those challenges that illustrate the church's need for continuing conversion. Part 3 discusses what a truly missional theology would mean for the church, including sweeping changes in its institutional structures and practices. Written for teachers, church leaders, and students of evangelism, this volume is vital reading for everyone engaged in mission work.

Redemption and Dialogue makes available for the first time both of these vital Catholic statements, one on mission and evangelization and the other on dialogue with other faiths. It contains authoritative commentaries on both Redemptoris Missio and Dialogue and Proclamation as well as shorter critiques by an international group of Catholic and Protestant scholars. Part I, the full text of John Paul II's encyclical Redemptoris Missio is followed by a meticulous discussion of the document and its development by Marcello Zago, O.M.I. Part II then presents the full text of Dialogue and Proclamation and commentary by Jacques Dupuis, S.J. Part III provides the international assessment by Catholic and Protestant scholars of the strengths, weaknesses, and challenges of these documents. By providing the complete text of both documents and the fruits of the international discussion they spark, Redemptoris and Dialogue provides a fascinating treatment of both documents, their meanings for the church, and their significance for all concerned with issues in mission theology and interfaith dialogue.

In this highly accessible discussion, Bart Ehrman examines the most recent textual and archaeological sources for the life of Jesus, along with the history of first-century Palestine, drawing a fascinating portrait of the man and his teachings. Ehrman shows us what historians have long known about the Gospels and the man who stands behind them. Through a careful evaluation of the New Testament (and other surviving sources, including the more recently discovered Gospels of Thomas and Peter), Ehrman proposes that Jesus can be best understood as an apocalyptic prophet--a man convinced that the world would end dramatically within the lifetime of his apostles and that a new kingdom would be created on earth. According to Ehrman, Jesus' belief in a coming apocalypse and his expectation of an utter reversal in the world's social organization not only underscores the radicalism of his teachings but also sheds light on both the appeal of his message to society's outcasts and the threat he posed to Jerusalem's established leadership.