Description: This book offers a critical analysis of the use of language in mission studies. Language and Christian missionary activity intersect in complicated ways to objectify the other in cross-cultural situations. Rethinking missiological language is both urgent and necessary to subvert narratives that continue to fetishize the other as cultural stereotypes. The project takes a step forward to reconceptualize otherness as gift, and such an affirmation should create a pathway for human flourishing and furthermore, open new avenues for missiological exploration to address issues arising from a world dominated by bigoted discourses, lies, and hate speech. -- back cover.
Brief description:
Craig L. Nessan is William D. Streng Professor for the Education and Renewal of the Church and professor of contextual theology and ethics at Wartburg Theological Seminary. He is the author of several books, including Wilhelm Loehe and North America (2020).
Review Quotes: "A thoughtful and provocative construction and deconstruction of the language of the other in colonial and post-colonial discourses in Christian theology of mission. By re-framing and re-imagining otherness as gift, this volume offers a much-needed corrective to distorted perceptions of the other in Christian cross-cultural engagement. A must-read for those concerned about the future of Christian mission!"
--J. Paul Rajashekar, Luther D. Reed Professor of Systematic Theology, United Lutheran Seminary
"Man-Hei Yip weaves together a rich array of theoretical approaches--post-colonial theory, structuralism, post-structuralism, sociology of knowledge--in the service of what one might call a missiology of mutual friendship. . . . Man-Hei Yip deploys sophisticated analytical tools to help conceive of Christian mission beyond paternalism, cultural homogenization, and inequalities built into one-way relationships between 'giver' and 'receiver.'"
--John F. Hoffmeyer, Associate Professor of Systematic Theology, United Lutheran Seminary
"Mission means to be sent, but sent to whom? That question, Man-Hei Yip argues, reveals that Christian mission is already divided against itself. It suggests that the reconciliation which God accomplished in Jesus Christ is effective for some but not others. Modern missions have often portrayed others as lost, weak, and needy. Yip offers a different portrait: in Christ the other is a gift. Anyone crossing boundaries in Jesus' name must consider her words."
--Daryl Ireland, Research Assistant Professor of Mission, Boston University
"Yip issues an evangelical call to convert missiology itself--away from self-centered notions of evangelizing a needy or inadequate other, into a vision of sharing in God's reconciling work amid a many-voiced, religiously pluralistic Pentecost. Deftly gathering linguistic, post-colonial, social-scientific, and exegetical insights into a theological framework, Yip analyzes shifting forms of self-serving 'othering' in eighteenth through twenty-first-century Western Christian mission discourses, and identifies an emergent missiological language of repentance and kenotic intersubjectivity."
--Amy Carr, Professor in Religious Studies, Western Illinois University