http://www.oneworld.org : This is a common website maintained by
more than 950 organizations committed to the promotion of a just and peaceful
world. The materials and resources available are massive. This is one of the
best websites useful to commissions and offices of Justice, Peace and
Development of our Conferences.
http://www.wcc-coe.org : This
is the Website of the World Council of Churches. This Website is very useful for
the work of Ecumenism. WCC is a fellowship of Churches, now 342 in more than 120
countries.
http://puffin.creighton.edu/jesuit/dialogue/ It is a very useful
Website for those who are involved in Interreligious Dialogue. It is maintained
by Creighton University, regularly updated.
II. Books
1. The Church in Mission: Universal Mandate and
Local Concerns, edited by Thomas Malipurathu, SVD and L.Stanislaus, SVD,
Anand: Gujarat Sahitya Prakash, 2002.
This book is just out of the press and it contains the papers presented at the
Colloquium on the occasion of the Silver Jubilee of Ishvani Kendra from 24 to 27
October 2001. It has the papers by Elisabeth Schuessler-Fiorenza, Paul Knitter,
Tom Ascheman, SVD, John Prior, SVD, Gabriele Dietrich and others. Mission today
is at the crossroads and it is under fire. How to carry out the mission of the
Church? This book underlines the importance of the local concerns and spells out
the mission of the Church taking seriously the context. New orientation and
challenging thoughts are presented in this edition. (The Book is available at
Ishvani Kendra)
2. Global Good News: Mission in a New Context, edited by Howard A.
Snyder, Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2001.
The authors of this volume recognize the legitimate
critique that post-modernism brings to the discussion of global mission. They
know that Christians have too often undermined the universality of the gospel by
grounding it on modern understandings of universal truths of reason. As
modernity's house of cards has fallen, therefore, the uniqueness and global
relevance of Christ appear to be yet more discredited Western concepts. Yet the
authors remind us it needn't be so. The early preaching of the gospel both
employed and transformed premodern ways of thinking; it can likewise be
comfortable with, yet challenging to, postmodernism. Those engaged in global
mission can best respect those of other religions by taking their claims to
ultimate truth seriously and at the same time presenting them with the gospel's
claim to the particularity and universality of God's revelation in Christ.
3. A New Paradigm for Evangelisation In the Third Millennium: In the light of
Mission in the Gospel According to St. John and the Early Upanishads, by
Namita, Bangalore: St.Peter's Pontifical Institute Publications, 2000.
The "New Paradigm for Evangelisation" invites us to
reformulate the contemporary approach to "Christian Mission" and the Theological
and Faith Formation Programmes. The parallels the author has brought out between
John's Gospel and the early Upanishads, the emphasis given for a mystical model
of mission and her proposals for a "Complementary Approach" to the Theology of
Religions, may open up new avenues for a true encounter between Hinduism and
Christianity in India.
4. Salvation and Mission of God, by P.C. Jena, Delhi: ISPCK, 2001.
Salvation and Mission are very common words and
often misunderstood and misused. In this book the author explains the meaning of
both the words as the view of a lay-person. This book gives a basic
understanding on Salvation and Mission. Analyzing the past and present
socio-economic and cultural situation, the author poses the challenge to
understand the meaning of Salvation and Mission of God in today's context and
partake in the mission in this millennium as the followers of Christ.
5. Missions: Cross-Cultural Encounter and Change
in Western India, by M. D. David, Delhi: ISPCK, 2001.
Besides outlining the impact of Christian teachings on the progressive social
thinkers and reformers, the book highlights the contribution of eminent gifted
Maharashtrian Christian leaders and thinkers. It also highlights the role of
Pandita Ramabai in the upliftment of women by opening the first Widows' Home in
India.
6. Breaking New Ground in Mission, edited by Paul Vadakumpadan, Mathew
Kariapuram and Joseph Puthenpurakal, Shillong: Vendrame Institute Publications &
Don Bosco Centre for Indigenous Cultures, 2002.
Breaking New Ground in Mission was the bold title of a National Symposium held
at Sacred Heart Theological College, Shillong, India, 5-9 July, 2001. It brought
together 120 mission theologians, scholars, researchers, pastors and frontline
missionaries from all over India to study, reflect on and explore new ways to
witness to Jesus Christ and to proclaim him in dialogue with religions, cultures
and the poor. It marked the 10th anniversary of Redemptoris Missio, the
apostolic exhortation Ecclesia in Asia and the paradigm shifts taking place in
mission as well as the many challenges Christian mission is facing today in
India. This brief presentation focuses on the more important groundbreaking
proposals that emerged from the symposium.
III. Articles
1. "Wisdom from the Margins: Systematic Theology
and the Missiological Imagination," Stephen Bevans, SVD, in Verbum SVD,
43:1(2002) 91-115.
Unlike the doctrine of the Trinity, which has recovered its central place in
systematic theology in the last several years, reflection on mission is still
marginal to the "theological imagination." This article proposes, however, that
systematic theology needs to be done with a "missiological imagination," thus
recovering its original role as "the mother of theology." Regarding the first
task, mission is understood as a respectful, dialogical crossing of cultural,
religious, personal, racial, class and even geographical boundaries and as a
life lived in commitment to proclamation and witness, liturgical celebration,
dialogue, justice, and reconciliation. Regarding the second task, the article
sketches how theology done with a "missiological imagination" will affect both
theological method and content.
2. "The Leuenberg Document - "Church -
People - State - Nation": A Critical Assessment," Eddy van der Borght, in
Exchange, 31:3 (2002) 278-298.
Since the collapse of communism in Central and Eastern Europe and the resurgence
of nationalism in Europe, the relationship between ecclesiological and national
identity has been put again on the ecumenical agenda. The theological commission
of the World Council of Churches is preparing a study on Ethnic Identity,
National Identity and the Unity of the Church as part of the ecclesiological
reflection on the local expression of the universal church. But the fifth
General Assembly of LCF in Belfast 19-25 June 2001 has already adopted the
study-document 'Church - People - State - Nation'. This article presents the
content of that study and evaluates its results in order to be of help for the
continuing ecumenical studies on the relationship church-people-nation-state.
3. "Contextualizing the Gospel in Athens: Paul's Areopagus Address as a
Paradigm for Missionary Communication," Dean Flemming in Missiology: An
International Review, 30: 2 (2002) 199-214.
The contemporary emphasis on contextualization has
not always recognized that the process of "contextualizing the gospel" goes back
to the New Testament itself. This study looks at one of the most instructive
case studies in New Testament contextualization, Paul's speech before the
Areopagus in Acts 17:16-34. It analyzes various aspects of Paul's missionary
communication, showing how both the form and the substance of the speech are
targeted to persuade an educated and philosophically minded Greek audience. At
the same time, Paul refuses to compromise the non-negotiable message of the
Christ event, in particular the resurrection of Jesus, which confronts the
worldviews of his hearers. The essay concludes with a reflection on how this
paradigmatic account can inform the task of incarnating the gospel in
pluralistic settings today.
4. "The Eucharistic Claims of Missiology" John Kudiyiruppil in
Ephrem's Theological Journal, 6:1 (2002) 58-74.
An ecclesiologist like Nicolas Afanassieff, a
Russian Orthodox priest-theologian received a lot of attention for advocating an
Eucharist-based ecclesiology, which, in fact, is a strain of thought that runs
from St. Paul to St. Ignatius of Antioch (+110) and from Ignatius down to the
time of Cyprian of Carthage (200-258). Afanassieff avers that the original
ecclesiology which existed in the second and third centuries was Eucharistic. He
formulates his thesis thus: "Where the Eucharist is, there is the fullness of
the Church; vice versa, where the fullness of the Church is not, there no
Eucharist can be celebrated." For Afanassieff, evangelization is Eucharistic.
Faith is a preliminary condition for Eucharistic participation.
IV. Church
FABC Papers No. 103 contains the following
articles:
1.. Islam revival in Asia and its Implications for Christian Muslim Dialogue -
Thomas Michel, SJ;
2.. Towards a Dialogue of Liberation with Muslims - Thomas Michel, SJ;
3.. Christians and Muslims in Europe, Responsibility and Religious Commitment in
the Plural Society: A Joint Message, The Conference of European Churches and the
Council of European Bishops' Conferences;
4.. The Presence of Buddhism in Europe, The Pontifical Council for
Interreligious Dialogue and the Council of European Bishops' Conferences
For more details
contact :
ISHVANI KENDRA
Documentation Department
P.B. 3003
Pune - 411014 - INDIA
E-mail: ishvani@pn2.vsnl.net.in
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