Abstract:

Missio Dei has become a key term in Christian circles. From the time it came to use in the 1950s to contemporary times, the concept has occupied a central position in theological and missiological reflections. However, despite its centrality to theology and missiology, missio Dei has remained an extremely complex concept and its semantic content far from unambiguous. As a result, the concept has been misunderstood, misused, abused, pulled in every direction and, often. trivialized such that for some, it has become a hollow term. Because missio Dei still remains a theme of strategic importance for the theology of mission, it is urgent to clarify its content and delineate its significance in view of enabling missionary practitioners to better conceptualize and implement it. This study aims at elucidating the concept. It studies the New Testament basis of missio Dei, surveys related major debates and examines its central themes analyzing them from an integrative, Christological and mathetic perspective

Introduction

Since its inception in the second half of the twentieth century, mission Dei has become crucial in understanding Christian mission and Scriptures in general. Shirrmacher (2017) is convinced that “missio Dei… belongs to the heart of Christianity” (p. 19). Corwin (2017) affirms that, in terms of hierarchy, missio Dei is at the top of the “vocabulary that dominates the theology of mission today.” Dreier (2011) upholds that missio Dei has “become one of the catchphrases of the missional church conversation [and] the phrase itself has a