The Future of Missiology as an Academic Discipline in Seminary Education: An Attempt at Reinterpretation and Clarification

Abstract

his study grows out of a decision of the officers of the Association of Professors of Missions to deal with “tradition and change in the T teaching of missions” at the 1985 annual meeting, and to focus attention on changes in the approach to the teaching of missions since 1974, the year of the last previous study on the subject. The present study briefly chronicles antecedent developments, surveys trends of the past decade (1975-89, and anticipates probable directions of the future. It concludes with some preliminary reflections on the chief tasks and future role of missiology in theological education. Data was obtained from 66 participating U.S. member schools of the Association of Theological Schools (ATS), out of a total of 154 schools polled, plus two additional institutions engaged in mission research or education but not ATS-related. Bible colleges and nonaccredited seminaries were not included in the survey. The survey is broadly representative of the situation in mainline Protestant denominational, Roman Catholic, nondenominational, evangelical, and independent theological seminaries, based on a 44 percent return of the questionnaires sent. Brevity of time, sabbatical leaves, personnel and administrative changes, and other factors made it impossible for some institutions to comply. Statistical data are at best partial, and undoubtedly weighted on the side of those participating institutions with the greatest interest and investment in the topic.