Author: Rob Hay
Abstract:
In his “In Memoriam” in the front of Transforming Mission, Gerald H Anderson, talking of his friend David Bosch concludes by recognising and praising his “bold humility”. I don’t know if I am the only person wondering:
• Why did God allow the Christian world to lose its leading missiologist so soon after publishing his Summa Missiologica?
• Will all of eternity be long enough to chew the fat with Bosch on all those statements he made that raise another hundred questions in my mind?
• And where are the new Bosches now?
Over the last few years as we have seen the concept of postmodernity becoming a reality my admiration of Bosch has continued to grow recognising the foresight he showed particularly in his section on “The Emergence of a Postmodern Paradigm”. The book was published in 91, when much of the Christian world had yet to encounter the word postmodern let alone engage with its implications. Bosch’s scope is still daunting and yet his ability to move between the big picture and the small and simple was perhaps his greatest gift. This is the man who wrote “Mission is, quite simply, the participation of Christians in the liberating mission of Jesus, wagering on a future that verifiable experience seems to belie. It is good news of God’s love, incarnated in the witness of a community, for the sake of the world.”
I am not nominating or suggesting any of the writers here as the new Bosch. However in publishing them I do hope that just as he helped a generation look beyond themselves and discern not just the times they were in but also the times they were entering, so too these writers may help us see things we have not seen to date and recognise some of the changes and changing challenges around us today.
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