History
Missiology as an academic discipline appeared only in the 19th century. It was the Scottish missionary Alexander Duff who first developed a systematic theory of mission and was appointed in 1867 to a new chair of Evangelistic Theology in Edinburgh. The chair was short-lived and closed after Duff's departure.Scope of study
Missiology became recognizable first of all within the study of Christian theology. On the other hand, over the centuries of missions the missionaries encountered various cultures and attitudes to accepting the Gospel by the different peoples. This caused theologians to reflect on issues of society and Christianity, and anthropology and Christianity. Communicating the Gospel and comparing the Christian teaching with other religious or secular teachings made the task of the missionaries even more difficult. They needed a solid theoretical framework within which they could more efficiently found their mission and succeed in spreading Christianity. In this way missiology became the Christian theological discipline which interacted with many other sciences, such as anthropology, history, geography, communication theory, comparative religious studies, social studies, education, psychology, inter-religious relations, etc. The core of the new discipline remains the teaching of the Church: "Inherent in the discipline is the study of the nature of God, the created world, and the Church, as well as the interaction among these three." Missiology as an academic discipline is a broader term that encompasses a variety of subtopics:Definition
The wide scope of study of the discipline of missiology makes it difficult for missiologists to agree upon a unified definition of what missiology is. One approach is to reflect on what mission is and then define the ways in which mission is explained theologically: “Mission is the participation of the people of God in God’s action in the world. The theological and critical reflection about mission is called missiology” Johannes Verkuyl states, “Missiology’s task in every age is to investigate scientifically and critically the presuppositions, motives, structures, methods, patterns of cooperation and leadership which the churches bring to their mandate” Every mission needs a strategy which can be employed in specific environment, among specific cultural context. This adds to the definition of missiology a three-dimensional area of study: “Missiology is made up of three interdependent areas of study: theology, the social sciences, and strategy. Theology explains the foundations of mission, culture (the social sciences) elaborates on the arena of mission, and strategy explicitly points to the ways in which missions is implemented. Defining what is missiology continues even today and it will continue in the near future until a definition acceptable to all missiologists is coined.Current developments
Today missiology is taught at many Christian theological schools and its scope of study and relations with the other theological and social sciences differ to a great extent. It continues to be considered a Christian theological discipline and at the same time it is argued whether missiology is a strictly church discipline or academic one. There are several academic societies for the discipline. Two of note are thSee also
*References
Literature
* Bevans, Stephen; Schroeder, Roger (2004). ''Constants in Context. A Theology of Mission for Today.'' Maryknoll, New York: Orbis Books. * Wrogemann, Henning (2018). ''Theologies of Mission.'' Downer´s Grove, Illinois: Intervarsity Press. {{Authority control Practical theology Christian missions