REVIEWS OF BOOKS

ENCOUNTER BETWEEN EVANGELISM AND THEOLOGY

MISSIO DEI : Einführung in eine
Theologie der Mission. By GEORG F.
VICEDOM. München: Chr. Kaiser Verlag. DM 6.80. 1958.
THE UNFINISHED TASK. By STEPHEN NEILL. London: Edinburgh
House Press and Lutterworth Press. 12s. 6d. 1957.
WHAT IS EVANGELISM? By DOUGLAS WEBSTER. London: The Highway
Press. 5s. 1959.
THE WHOLE GOSPEL FOR THE WHOLE WORLD. By ALAN WALKER.
New York and Nashville: Abingdon Press. $2.00. 1957.
AN encounter between evangelism and theology seems to be one of
-**»the hopeful signs of our day. For a long time scientific theology
had very little to say about the proclamation of the gospel the content
of which it was, presumably, its task to investigate, and evangelism
was almost indifferent to the scientific study of the very gospel which,
presumably, it was its task to proclaim. Fortunately we seem to be
emerging, from both sides, from this dreadful plight. All the books
reviewed here are concerned in one way or another with this encounter.
Together they offer a stimulating and apt account of the thought and
action of the churches and theologians to-day to bridge the gap.
Dr Vicedom sets out to summarize and carry forward the discussions
regarding the theological basis of missions. The last serious and cogent
effort to do so in German theology is the work of G. Warneck in the
nineteenth century. But the twofold basis of missions which Warneck
offered (theological and anthropological) is clearly inadequate at a
time when 'as a consequence of the rediscovery of the Reformation's
message through dialectical theology' we have moved 'from an anthro-
pocentric to a theocentric' point of departure in theology (p. 9).
Warneck's anthropological approach has come under heavy fire from
the Dutch theologians (the name of Dr Hoekendijk immediately comes
to mind). Dr Vicedom, who shares their basic contention, seeks to
take up these criticisms, to correct them up to a certain point and to
present an 'Introduction' to a theology of missions.
The basic idea of this reconstruction is indicated in the title : Missio
dei. Missions are not based psychologically in man's motives or even
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in his response to God's action, but in God's own action. 'Mission is

God's own work. He is the Lord, the commissioner, the master, the
fulfiller. He is the active Subject of mission' (p. 13). God is the sender
and the sent one, and all sending and being sent is derived from this
Missio dei in Jesus Christ. Starting from this fundamental insight, the
book discusses missions in relation to the sovereignty of God (Part 2),
of the Church apostolic (Part 3 : 'The sending') ; the object of Mission
(Part 4; here we find some interesting remarks about the problem of
the particularity of different peoples and a partial and—at least to one
reader—healthful re-vindication of a Volk approach).
Bishop NeilPs book is more closely concerned with the practical
problems of mission and evangelism. TTiese, however, are never seen as
a mere matter of expediency, but in the light of the meaning of gospel
and mission. The author also comes to grips with the Dutch theology
of evangelism and, though he finds somewhat onesided its utter sub-
ordination of ecclesiology, he strongly defends a view of the Church
which understands it in relation to its mission. Perhaps this awareness
that mission is of the very esse of the Church, which makes us un-
comfortable with all traditional definitions of the Church which confine
themselves to correct doctrine and sacrament, is the most fruitful
insight of theology in this whole area to-day.
The book discusses some of the most thorny problems in missions :
nationalism, the second and third generation in younger churches (a
most urgent problem of which most writers on missions seem to-be
not even aware), the rôle of the missionary in churches which are
increasingly controlled and led by nationals, the touchy but unavoid-
able problem of denominationalism in missions, even the financial
problem (only, why is the serious 'theological' question of inequality
simply dismissed as a question of lack of understanding by the
nationals? p. 145). In all these discussions over-simplification is avoided
and the author shows an extraordinary ability to move unimpaired by
conventionally accepted answers. A remarkablefirst-handknowledge
of the missionary situation gives to the book a realism and an authority
which immediately captivate the reader. This book should be made
required reading for anybody who has anything to do with missionary
work.
The Rev. Douglas Webster conceives of his book as a popularization
of theological thought on evangelism. It is more than that, a clear and
penetrating discussion of the issues of evangelism. Evangelism is
moving to a new day : we have realized that it is necessary to enter into
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