Prophetic Dialogue: Reflections on Christian Mission Today Paperback – June 15, 2011

In their book, Prophetic Dialogue: Reflections on Christian Mission Today, Stephen Bevans and Roger Schroeder argue for a missiology that flows from a particular “spirituality” they term “prophetic dialogue” (Bevans p.2). Before delving too deeply into their ideas about prophetic dialogue, the authors begin by examining mission more broadly. Chapter one attempts to establish the missional nature of the Church and of God himself. In fact, the authors go so far as to say, “God is Mission. This is what God is in God’s deepest self” (emphasis in original, Bevans p.10). After making this point, they proceed to argue that the Church was created for this mission. In other words, the Church doesn’t have a mission. The mission has a church. And since this is true, all Christians are called to participate in the mission of God.Once these foundational ideas have been laid, Bevans and Schroeder define ‘dialogue’ and ‘prophecy’ in chapters two and three, respectively. Rather than viewing mission as an aggressive form of expansion, they argue for an understanding of mission as “first and foremost about establishing and maintaining relationships” (Bevans p.31). This is much more dialogical than traditional paradigms of mission tend to advocate for. This is especially true when it comes to Bevans and Schoeder’s idea that we should want to learn from the ‘other’ as much as we want to share our knowledge with them (see their statement about needing to be “evangelized” before we can effectively evangelize on page 59). According to the authors, prophecy is about speaking about and living out God’s Kingdom among the nations. The authors best sum up this idea, in my opinion, when they state, “in its annunciation of the gospel, the church must be equally passionate about its denunciation of injustice and evil” (emphasis in original, Bevans p.20). In chapter four, the authors tie the two ideas together and define prophetic dialogue. Then, in chapter five, they lay out the six elements of mission which help make prophetic dialogue a living reality. These include traditional mission-minded activities like proclamation as well as less obvious ones like liturgy and internal reconciliation. Bevans and Schroeder spend chapters six, seven, and eight fleshing out what prophetic dialogue looks like when it’s lived in a local context. Here, they hit several high points, including our need for moving between more prophetic and more dialogical stances in response to different situations. In chapter nine, the authors offer a brief history of Christian missions and make a number of important points – especially the fact that, historically speaking, most conversions have been the result of interpersonal relationships and “gossiping the Gospel” (Bevans p.119). Bevans and Schroeder cap off their book with a final chapter that examines several Catholic decrees/encyclicals that address missions.I felt as though Bevans and Schoeder’s arguments were similar to the idea that we need to speak the truth in love. Our lives as Christians should be characterized by both truth and love in equal measure. This is something that I’ve heard and thought about for as long as I’ve been a believer, though I’m not sure that I’ve given this much thought how this idea interfaces with missions. In my opinion, this was the biggest thing that Prophetic Dialogue offers. It calls us to think deeply about missions as a natural outgrowth of our spirituality. In fact, as I’ve already mentioned, Bevans and Schroeder plainly state that they see prophetic dialogue as a form of spirituality rather than a strategy for winning souls. What makes their case most compelling, in my opinion, is their chapter about ‘Prophetic Dialogue through the Ages.’ It seems to me that the most successful evangelists and groups of evangelists have been those who were willing to truly speak the truth in love. Men like Hudson Taylor were willing to enter into the ‘other’ as much as possible so that they could speak the truth from a place of genuine understanding and care. As I’ve already mentioned, most conversions throughout Christian history have resulted from individuals building loving and caring relationships with other individuals.Beyond these broad ideas, I also appreciated Bevans and Schroeder’s definition of the prophetic. The Church has not merely been called to preach about the Kingdom. We’ve been called to live as an alternative community. Stanley Hauerwas has made this same point when he wrote that the first task of the church is not to make the world more just but to make the world the world. In order for the world to understand its need for the Gospel, it must see the Gospel alive in the alternative society we call the Church. This is an important missional idea, in my opinion, and I’m glad that Bevans and Schroeder argued in favor of it.With all of this said, I enjoyed the first half of the book much more than the latter half. I felt like it became repetitive toward the end. And I wasn’t particularly compelled by the last chapter which examined the various Catholic decrees that have been released over the past century. Nevertheless, it was a good book in general and worth reading. If nothing else, it made me reflect more deeply on how every part of our lives is ultimately missional. May we recognize that fact more readily and thus live into it with ever more fervor.

Good

Enjoyable book about the mission of God.

Some great ideas, but it's pretty repetitive and doesn't hold together well as a whole. The inclusive language is a little forced and obnoxious. But again, I think the concept of prophetic dialogue is a helpful one and that a missions class could really benefit from reading a selected chapter or two.

Done

Great, it gives a new lens in how to do missions in and outside your country. Great to minister the migrant population.

The cover page has folds and the first page is dirty. I ordered a new book. This is not worth $24!

Love the book.