Currents in Theology and Mission

Book Reviews April 2025

Craig L. Nessan, Troy M. Troftgruben — Tue, 18 Mar 2025 00:00:00 -0500

Reviews of books on topics of interest to the audience of the journal, written by colleagues in the field.

Return to Love

Man Hei Yip — Tue, 18 Mar 2025 00:00:00 -0500

This article first unveils how the coloniality of power taking hold in the United States colludes with the Christian faith to reconstruct the knowledge system that reinforces the ideology of nationalist imperialism. Second, it explores the concept of basileia tou theou (the reign of God) to demonstrate love’s reign, and how love as a unifying force can unsettle the life-denying powers. The article culminates in a call for ecumenical solidarity as a form of diakonia-missiological resistance.

A Post-Colonial Response to Servant Leadership

Darryl W. Stephens, Myka Kennedy Stephens — Tue, 18 Mar 2025 00:00:00 -0500

Given the problematic nature of Robert Greenleaf’s servant leadership model and subsequent issues that arise from applying it to Christian contexts, what might a better model look like? From a decolonial perspective, servant leadership is overly focused on serving the needs of others to the neglect of power dynamics and contextual factors. In contrast, leadership informed by the emerging ecumenical consensus regarding diakonia provides a more holistic model that makes space for empowerment, social justice, and healing. The authors present the contours of a new leadership model rooted in diakonia, in which the orientation toward service to self, community, humanity, and the divine is understood through multiple facets: sage, emissary, companion, steward, and healer. Diakonia thus provides the theological foundation for an indigenously Christian paradigm of missional leadership.

Diakonia and Mission

Veronica J. Mwakasungura — Tue, 18 Mar 2025 00:00:00 -0500

This article reflects on the ways diakonia has transformed communities, especially at the interface between the emerging field of diaconal studies and a revised theology of mission. Following the ecumenical document, Called to Transformation, we discover great value in the concept of diakonia as a guiding theme for imagining and practicing mission in our times, especially as the source of growth for the churches in Africa.

Public Theology and Diakonia of Reconciliation

Paul S. Chung — Tue, 18 Mar 2025 00:00:00 -0500

This constructive article examines how the new theology of prophetic diakonia contributes to a postcolonial theology of God’s mission in World Christianity. It begins by setting public theology (Moltmann and Bonhoeffer) in a postcolonial context and then exploring God’s mission beyond Empire (Jonathan Ingleby). Methodologically, the concept of an effective history is employed as a social critical tool to interpret how those in power shape historical narratives and how marginalized voices might be reconsidered. Bonhoeffer’s view of the legacy of modernity is interrogated, and his counterargument on modernity and subaltern realities is employed to cultivate a prophetic diakonia of reconciliation to reimagine God’s mission beyond Empire.

In Persona Christi

Andrew Stoebig — Tue, 18 Mar 2025 00:00:00 -0500

Recent revisions to the ELCA ordination rites have brought a stronger sense of shared ministry between ministers of Word and Sacrament (pastors) and ministers of Word and Service (deacons). Even so, the liturgical expressions of these ministries at times lack clarity and default to the pastoral position as the norm. In reexamining the principle in persona Christi, an authentically diaconal position is sought, one which calls the worshipping assembly away from itself and outward in mission for the life of the world.

Building the Denomination through Mission

Maria Erling — Tue, 25 Mar 2025 00:00:00 -0500

As American denominations emerged in the nineteenth century, the missionary movement played a key role in structuring the churches, especially by enlisting women’s involvement in purposeful Christian service. This article explores the important way that Women’s Missionary Societies were instrumental in shaping the outlook and activities of Lutheran church bodies in North America. Christendom of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries was in part shaped by women in congregations, and in networks formed to support missionary work by women for women. This aspect of the missionary impulse taken up by women involved activities that transformed societies where they lived by educating girls and women. Back home, the support structures for mission shaped the growth of American Lutheran denominations.

Dispossessing the Giants

Jan Schnell — Tue, 18 Mar 2025 00:00:00 -0500

This article wrestles with the portrayal of God as conqueror in Deuteronomy 9. It finds that even as the Deuteronomists searched for stories that told of God’s faithfulness, we search for such stories ourselves, discovering they all start and end in Jesus. We find courage to tell stories of God’s faithfulness in Jesus that land with people we love and serve.

A Public Vocation

Erik A. Hoeke — Tue, 18 Mar 2025 00:00:00 -0500

Almost 40 percent of seminary graduates plan to use their degree outside of the local church, and those who serve within the local church will be preaching and teaching online because of shifts in congregational practice. As these students follow their vocational call into the world, the radically innovative Fred Rogers and his “neighborhood” congregation offers a model for their work. His work in children’s television was ministry ahead of its time. This paper examines Rogers’ work through the lens of and as an example of public theology and considers ways in which it offers insight for twenty-first century ministry.

God's Bridge

John Rollefson — Tue, 18 Mar 2025 00:00:00 -0500

This article is a meditation on the practice of the Easter Vigil and the surprising power of light in the midst of the darkness of our world. The author includes an interpretation to the Joseph saga that communicates how God can turn toward good that which was intended for evil. The article concludes with an original poem, “Felix Culpa,” that expresses unanticipated surprise at God’s raising of Jesus from the dead.

Diakonia as Mission

Craig L. Nessan — Tue, 18 Mar 2025 00:00:00 -0500

The shape of Christian mission in the twenty-first century calls for a new paradigm. This issue of Currents in Theology and Mission addresses a crucial question: What can the new theology of prophetic diakonia contribute to a postcolonial theology of mission? A theology of diakonia can shift reflection on Christian mission toward engagement with the experiences of those who suffer and the cries of creation. Prophetic diakonia can serve to turn the church inside out to refocus what it means to be a church in mission.

How Can We Preach in Such a Time?

Barbara K. Lundblad — Tue, 18 Mar 2025 00:00:00 -0500

Preaching Helps are offered here for the weekends in April, May, and June 2025. Sermon suggestions are contributed by clergy upon invitation of the editor.