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Why Mission?
Recent years have seen heightened interest in how to read scripture
from a missional perspective. This book addresses that question by
exploring both how the New Testament bears witness to the mission of God
and how it energizes the church to participate in that mission. It also
makes a distinctive contribution by applying a missional reading to a
variety of New Testament books, offering insights into New Testament
theology and serving today’s discussions about mission and the church.
“Dean Flemming has written a game-changing book on the interpretation
of scripture for the mission of the church. This relatively slim but
rich volume is absolutely mandatory reading for all serious students of
the New Testament and for all who wish to understand the church's
participation in the mission of God. It should be on the syllabus of
every ecclesially focused course on the New Testament and every
biblically attuned course in ecclesiology and in missiology.” —Michael J. Gorman, Raymond E. Brown Professor of Biblical Studies and Theology, St. Mary's Seminary and University, Baltimore, MD
“I am always grateful when another book by Dean Flemming appears. His
writing arises out of his significant cross-cultural experience, his
outstanding scholarship, and his careful listening to the Spirit in the
text. This book is written clearly and is full of nourishing insight.” —Michael W. Goheen, Professor of Missiology, Calvin
Theological Seminary, Grand Rapids, MI; former Geneva Chair of Worldview
Studies, Trinity Western University, Langley, BC; and Teaching Fellow
in Mission Studies, Regent College, Vancouver, BC
“‘Why mission?’ is a critical question, one not asked or understood
often enough. Here is a stirring reading of the New Testament that
demonstrates a living triune God on mission, bringing redemption to the
world through a living apostolic church. So much rich theological
interpretation packed into a small book!” —Nijay K. Gupta, assistant professor of New Testament, George Fox Evangelical Seminary, Portland, OR
“Since writing The Mission of God , I have felt guilty that
it paid so much more attention to a missional reading of the Old than of
the New Testament. This fine book relieves me of that guilt. This is an
outstandingly clear and faithful exposition of what it means to read
the New Testament from the perspective of, and with the intention of
participating in, the mission of God as revealed in the whole Bible.” —Christopher J. H. Wright, International Ministries Director, Langham Partnership
from a missional perspective. This book addresses that question by
exploring both how the New Testament bears witness to the mission of God
and how it energizes the church to participate in that mission. It also
makes a distinctive contribution by applying a missional reading to a
variety of New Testament books, offering insights into New Testament
theology and serving today’s discussions about mission and the church.
“Dean Flemming has written a game-changing book on the interpretation
of scripture for the mission of the church. This relatively slim but
rich volume is absolutely mandatory reading for all serious students of
the New Testament and for all who wish to understand the church's
participation in the mission of God. It should be on the syllabus of
every ecclesially focused course on the New Testament and every
biblically attuned course in ecclesiology and in missiology.” —Michael J. Gorman, Raymond E. Brown Professor of Biblical Studies and Theology, St. Mary's Seminary and University, Baltimore, MD
“I am always grateful when another book by Dean Flemming appears. His
writing arises out of his significant cross-cultural experience, his
outstanding scholarship, and his careful listening to the Spirit in the
text. This book is written clearly and is full of nourishing insight.” —Michael W. Goheen, Professor of Missiology, Calvin
Theological Seminary, Grand Rapids, MI; former Geneva Chair of Worldview
Studies, Trinity Western University, Langley, BC; and Teaching Fellow
in Mission Studies, Regent College, Vancouver, BC
“‘Why mission?’ is a critical question, one not asked or understood
often enough. Here is a stirring reading of the New Testament that
demonstrates a living triune God on mission, bringing redemption to the
world through a living apostolic church. So much rich theological
interpretation packed into a small book!” —Nijay K. Gupta, assistant professor of New Testament, George Fox Evangelical Seminary, Portland, OR
“Since writing The Mission of God , I have felt guilty that
it paid so much more attention to a missional reading of the Old than of
the New Testament. This fine book relieves me of that guilt. This is an
outstandingly clear and faithful exposition of what it means to read
the New Testament from the perspective of, and with the intention of
participating in, the mission of God as revealed in the whole Bible.” —Christopher J. H. Wright, International Ministries Director, Langham Partnership
184 pages, Paperback
First published November 3, 2015
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Dean Flemming
19 books13 followersMy bio is at: http://www.amazon.com/Dean-E.-Flemmin...
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
September 15, 2018
I wrote this book reflection for my Intro to Christian Mission class:
The major concern of Why Mission? is to demonstrate the effect and benefit of reading the Bible, particularly the New Testament, in light of the Missio Dei, the mission of God. Flemming does this by first introducing the concept of reading the New Testament missionally, stating that it is a theological approach which seeks to identify where the mission of God is present in the narrative of the text and how the text itself energizes people to engage in the mission of God. He makes mention of two additional aspects of missional reading which focus on how the message of the text is contextualized in particular situations but makes it clear that he is going to focus primarily on the former two facets of missional reading in this book. After laying this groundwork, he works his way through seven books of the New Testament (Matthew, Luke, Acts, John, Philippians, First Peter, and Revelation), attempting to read them missionally, and he closes the book with reflections on the differences and similarities in all of their messages and functions.
All in all, with this book, Flemming creates a stunning illustration of how a missional reading of the New Testament is both enriching to our understanding of the Bible and to our understanding of what it means to live as participants in God’s mission. His compelling case, made through a careful breakdown of the text of each book, makes it impossible for me to deny the importance of such a theological reading. The only downfall I found, in my reading of the Why Mission?, was that I got lost in the multitude of missional conclusions that were derived from each book. The epilogue aided me greatly in tying together these loose ends; however, in the thick of the book, I found myself having a hard time remembering which theme was found in which New Testament book and how they tied together. This effect may have been due to how much of a visual learner I am. Perhaps a chart which illustrates the conclusions from the missional reading of each book would have brought the clarity I desired.
Despite that slight hindrance, these are some of the richest takeaways I found in my reading: 1) Matthew illustrated brilliantly how Jesus was the fulfillment of God’s mission through the Israelite people, preparing them to embody His mission to the world; 2) Mission is not purely the job of intercultural missionaries but, rather, is the role of every member of the body of Christ; and 3) Luke emphasizes the holistic redemption that Jesus seeks to bring to all people; he demonstrates that there is no realm of life or group of people that Jesus does not strive to reach with his healing.
These are formational ideas for my developing mind. While I do not know what future ministry work I will be doing, then as well as now, I can 1) rejoice in God’s faithful lovingkindness to all people, including myself; 2) actualize that even if I am not a cross-cultural missionary, I participate in the mission of God each day; and 3) seek to bring Jesus’ holistic redemption to the people I touch, not just a spiritual redemption. For all of these insights and the privilege of learning from Flemming’s book, I am grateful. I look forward to being a part of the church who embodies, lives out, and preaches the mission of God in all areas of life.
The major concern of Why Mission? is to demonstrate the effect and benefit of reading the Bible, particularly the New Testament, in light of the Missio Dei, the mission of God. Flemming does this by first introducing the concept of reading the New Testament missionally, stating that it is a theological approach which seeks to identify where the mission of God is present in the narrative of the text and how the text itself energizes people to engage in the mission of God. He makes mention of two additional aspects of missional reading which focus on how the message of the text is contextualized in particular situations but makes it clear that he is going to focus primarily on the former two facets of missional reading in this book. After laying this groundwork, he works his way through seven books of the New Testament (Matthew, Luke, Acts, John, Philippians, First Peter, and Revelation), attempting to read them missionally, and he closes the book with reflections on the differences and similarities in all of their messages and functions.
All in all, with this book, Flemming creates a stunning illustration of how a missional reading of the New Testament is both enriching to our understanding of the Bible and to our understanding of what it means to live as participants in God’s mission. His compelling case, made through a careful breakdown of the text of each book, makes it impossible for me to deny the importance of such a theological reading. The only downfall I found, in my reading of the Why Mission?, was that I got lost in the multitude of missional conclusions that were derived from each book. The epilogue aided me greatly in tying together these loose ends; however, in the thick of the book, I found myself having a hard time remembering which theme was found in which New Testament book and how they tied together. This effect may have been due to how much of a visual learner I am. Perhaps a chart which illustrates the conclusions from the missional reading of each book would have brought the clarity I desired.
Despite that slight hindrance, these are some of the richest takeaways I found in my reading: 1) Matthew illustrated brilliantly how Jesus was the fulfillment of God’s mission through the Israelite people, preparing them to embody His mission to the world; 2) Mission is not purely the job of intercultural missionaries but, rather, is the role of every member of the body of Christ; and 3) Luke emphasizes the holistic redemption that Jesus seeks to bring to all people; he demonstrates that there is no realm of life or group of people that Jesus does not strive to reach with his healing.
These are formational ideas for my developing mind. While I do not know what future ministry work I will be doing, then as well as now, I can 1) rejoice in God’s faithful lovingkindness to all people, including myself; 2) actualize that even if I am not a cross-cultural missionary, I participate in the mission of God each day; and 3) seek to bring Jesus’ holistic redemption to the people I touch, not just a spiritual redemption. For all of these insights and the privilege of learning from Flemming’s book, I am grateful. I look forward to being a part of the church who embodies, lives out, and preaches the mission of God in all areas of life.
September 27, 2017
See Greg McKinzie, "Review of Why Mission?, by Dean Flemming," Missio Dei: A Journal of Missional Theology and Praxis 7 (Summer-Fall 2016): http://missiodeijournal.com/issues/md-7/authors/md-7-mckinzie.
January 26, 2020
Had potential, but not quite there
Having picked up the book based on title and theme-setting in intro, the content was not what it alluded to achieve. Still, it does provide an interesting perspective.
Having picked up the book based on title and theme-setting in intro, the content was not what it alluded to achieve. Still, it does provide an interesting perspective.
February 22, 2016
Dr. Dean Flemming is a long-term friend, professor, and author. I serve as one of his editor/reviewers, so he recently sent me a complimentary copy of his new book. Re-reading it in finished form was so insightful that I'm sending gift copies to nine friends. So if you don't find a copy in your mailbox next week, I hope you'll order a copy from Amazon and start reading!
Dean wrote Why Mission? for followers of Jesus. It provides solid biblical and theological perspective for Christian living in secular western cultures. This book describes how followers of Jesus fit into the broad mission of God, the "misseo dei." He does this through the lenses of Matthew, Luke (his gospel and the Acts), John (his gospel and the Revelation), Saint Paul (Philippians), and Peter (1 Peter).
I particularly found that his chapters on Philippians, 1 Peter, and the Revelation offer valuable perspectives on my context in the San Francisco Bay Area. I'm sure Dean picked these two epistles because they speak profoundly to places where the culture views Christians with skepticism. This includes North America, where people increasingly see Christians, along with other religions, as part of the world's problem rather than carriers of its solution. Beyond the epistles, Dean's treatment of Revelation provides perspective and guidance on living a life of true worship of God, while the dominant culture busily worships an array of other gods.
Here are three excerpts to give you a flavor of the book:
From Dean's chapter on Philippians: Paul reminds the church that, although they conduct their public, common life - their citizenship - in a setting where Caesar seems to hold all the cards, they must do so according to a higher loyalty and a different lifestyle... they must visibly live out the values of the kingdom of Christ, not the empire of Caesar.
From his chapter on 1 Peter: Christian holiness is not a retreat from the world into a safe house of individual spirituality. Nor is it a crusade against the world, treating it as a foe to be defeated. Instead, Peter envisions a church that is radically different, yet fully engaged, for the sake of others.
From his chapter on the Revelation: The chief problem facing the churches to which John writes is not systematic persecution from Rome... For most of these churches, it was the temptation to accommodate to the dominant Roman ideology and culture.
The witness of God's people in Revelation is intertwined with worship. Worship is not only a liturgical practice. It is also a political act. Worshipers declare allegiances. Throughout Revelation, worship of the one true God in heaven is set over against the worship of the beast on earth, embodied for John's audience in the imperial cult.
Dean wrote Why Mission? for followers of Jesus. It provides solid biblical and theological perspective for Christian living in secular western cultures. This book describes how followers of Jesus fit into the broad mission of God, the "misseo dei." He does this through the lenses of Matthew, Luke (his gospel and the Acts), John (his gospel and the Revelation), Saint Paul (Philippians), and Peter (1 Peter).
I particularly found that his chapters on Philippians, 1 Peter, and the Revelation offer valuable perspectives on my context in the San Francisco Bay Area. I'm sure Dean picked these two epistles because they speak profoundly to places where the culture views Christians with skepticism. This includes North America, where people increasingly see Christians, along with other religions, as part of the world's problem rather than carriers of its solution. Beyond the epistles, Dean's treatment of Revelation provides perspective and guidance on living a life of true worship of God, while the dominant culture busily worships an array of other gods.
Here are three excerpts to give you a flavor of the book:
From Dean's chapter on Philippians: Paul reminds the church that, although they conduct their public, common life - their citizenship - in a setting where Caesar seems to hold all the cards, they must do so according to a higher loyalty and a different lifestyle... they must visibly live out the values of the kingdom of Christ, not the empire of Caesar.
From his chapter on 1 Peter: Christian holiness is not a retreat from the world into a safe house of individual spirituality. Nor is it a crusade against the world, treating it as a foe to be defeated. Instead, Peter envisions a church that is radically different, yet fully engaged, for the sake of others.
From his chapter on the Revelation: The chief problem facing the churches to which John writes is not systematic persecution from Rome... For most of these churches, it was the temptation to accommodate to the dominant Roman ideology and culture.
The witness of God's people in Revelation is intertwined with worship. Worship is not only a liturgical practice. It is also a political act. Worshipers declare allegiances. Throughout Revelation, worship of the one true God in heaven is set over against the worship of the beast on earth, embodied for John's audience in the imperial cult.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews