MI510/610: Thinking Missiologically (4 units)

Doug McConnell, Dean and Associate Professor of Leadership
Winter 2007 Pasadena

 

 

COURSE DESCRIPTION:

As with every field of study, missiology has its particular focus, literature, and methods. To engage in missiological integration requires appropriate skills to use the tools and resources available. This course integrates the learning from the core courses in missiology taught in the MA degrees in the School of Intercultural Studies. A special feature of the course is the use made of the case study model to engage missiological investigation, reflection, and action. The School of Intercultural Studies’ framework for missiological study—Word, Church, and World—will be employed. Because effective missiology is developed interactively, opportunity will be given for collaboration in learning.

LEARNING OUTCOMES:

• Describe the contribution of each of the core courses in the MACCS or MAICS programs of the School of Intercultural Studies to the theory and practice of missiological integration.
• Distinguish the critical contributions of each of the core missiological disciplines to the issues in a particular context as identified in a case study.
• Formulate a response to a case study that reflects the missiological integration related to the relevant issues identified in a case study.

COURSE FORMAT: 10-week course will meet one day per week for 4 hour sessions. The class combines introductory lectures on major themes of missiology with small group engagement centered on case studies.

REQUIRED READING: Read 1,200 pages from the following. If you have previously read any of the required texts, please select an alternative text from the recommended reading list or a book approved by the instructor.

Gerald H. Anderson, et al., eds., Mission Legacies: Biographical Studies of Leaders of the Modern Mission Movement. Orbis Books, 1994.

John Isbister, Promises Not Kept: The Betrayal of Social Change in the Third World. 7th edition. Kumarian Press, 2006.
Wilbert R. Shenk, ed. The Transfiguration of Mission. Herald, 1993.

RECOMMENDED READING:

Charles R. Taber, To Understand the World, to Save the World: The Interface Between Missiology and the Social Sciences. Trinity Press International, 2000.

ASSIGNMENTS:

1. A 500 word critical reflection on each of the required books by Isbister and Shenk.
2. The class will be divided into teams of 5 persons. Each team will collaborate on the 4 assigned case studies. Each student will submit a 500-word paper identifying at least one critical contribution from a minimum of three missiological disciplines for each case study. The group will submit a 3,000-word integration response to one of the cases and participate in an integration exercise with other groups designed to facilitate collaboration.
3. A 2,000-word paper describing the nature of missiological integration based on the student learning outcomes for the School of Intercultural Studies. This paper should demonstrate knowledge of the integration of missiological perspectives, contextual factors and insights gained from the study of the core courses in missiology.
4. ThM. students: read and write a review of an additional book from Basic Books in Missiology list (for a total of 4 reviews); write a 4,000-word term paper. This should demonstrate a more rigorous and advanced understanding of missiological method and application.

PREREQUISITES: Students must have completed 24 units of Missiology courses including 16 units of MACCS or MAICS Core Competencies.

RELATIONSHIP TO CURRICULUM: For MAICS meets core competency/integration requirement. For MACCS meets integration requirement.

FINAL EXAM: None.

Last Date Edited: October 3, 2006