Picturing Christian Witness: New Testament Images of Disciples in Mission - Softcover

Skreslet, Stanley H.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0802829562 ISBN 13: 9780802829566

Publisher: William B Eerdmans Publishing Co, 2006

Synopsis

Christian mission in previous centuries often drew on images of imperial expansion and war. Today, foreign mission in so-called restricted-access countries is envisioned as a kind of holy espionage. But are “civilizing” crusades and warfare, even covert, appropriate images to associate with the good news of Jesus Christ?

In Picturing Christian Witness, missiologist Stanley Skreslet searches for new, more holistic images of mission from Scripture. Skreslet undertakes a novel exegetical study of mission in the New Testament that focuses on the first followers of Jesus. Skreslet highlights five actions that depict the witness of these disciples: announcing good news, sharing Christ with friends, interpreting the gospel, shepherding, and building/planting. After carefully examining key biblical passages, he draws out the implications of these five images for the theology of mission and lets each image take shape visually through an array of Western and non-Western art.

Picturing Christian Witness will provoke students of mission and of the Bible to imagine what mission will look like when actively embodied by contemporary disciples of Jesus.

About this title

Synopsis

Christian mission in previous centuries often drew on images of imperial expansion and war. While few today would describe the gospel task in such imperialistic terms, have we developed appropriate alternate images to associate with the good news of Jesus Christ? In "Picturing Christian Witness", missiologist Stanley Skreslet searches for new, more holistic images of mission from Scripture. Undertaking a novel exegetical study of mission in the New Testament, he highlights five actions that depict the witness of Jesus' first followers: announcing good news, sharing Christ with friends, interpreting the gospel, shepherding, and building/planting. After carefully examining key biblical passages, Skreslet draws out the implications of these five images for the theology of mission and lets each image take shape visually through an array of Western and non-Western art. "Picturing Christian Witness" will provoke readers to imagine what mission will look like when actively embodied by contemporary disciples of Jesus.

About the Author

Stanley H Skreslet is Professor of Christian Mission at Union Theological Seminary and Presbyerian School of Christian Education, Virginia and an ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church, USA. He is the author of Fundamentals of New Testament Greek, written and published in Arabic during his tenure as a mission co-worker and teacher at the Evangelical Theological Seminary in Cairo, Egypt.

Edition details

• Publisher: William B Eerdmans Publishing Co
• Publication date: 2006
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0802829562
• ISBN 13: 9780802829566
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 263