Frå Edinburgh til verdas ende: Utviklingstrekk i fortolkinga av kyrkjas misjonsoppdrag, 1910-2010, i lys av to talar

Abstract

This article compares one speech held in Edinburgh, 1910 with one held in Cape Town, 2010, both by important Norwegian Church leaders. With the help of a focused rhetorical analysis of the two speeches and a comparison of the implicit mission theology of the two speeches, we aim to trace some signi#cant developments in how the Church’s mission and the ecumenical task is perceived. Whereas General Secretary of Norwegian Mission Society (NMS) Lars Dahle gives some advice concerning the code and conduct of Christian missionaries and their responsibility to act with one voice when facing the pagan governments (1910), World Council of Churches (WCC) General Secretary, Olav Fykse Tveit, underlines that the Church was mainly an instrument for creating peace and reconciliation. Dahle’s speech can be understood in light of a desire to reach all people with the gospel. Tveit’s speech on the other hand, re!ects the modern ecumenical movement that had developed from the Mission assembly in Edinburgh 1910 hundred years later.