Mission Studies as Intercultural Theology

Abstract

Abstract In the last two decades, the term intercultural theology has gained currency in European countries and in North America as a technical term for what used to be called mission studies. The chapter begins by analyzing several contributions in order to identify which substantial changes in emphasis are being associated with the new term in the controversial academic debates which have ensued. The author then formulates his own understanding of mission studies as intercultural theology, on the basis of which he discusses fundamental issues related to the academic locus, which ranges between cultural studies theories (such as discourse theory, postcolonial studies, semiotics) and theological approaches (such as world Christianity, mission theology). The thesis is put forward that it is precisely by integrating different perspectives that intercultural theology can make an important contribution towards a hermeneutics of intercultural relations, mission theology, and the praxis of mission in the age of globalization.