The previous blog offered a negative example of exploring the Bible and mission. The following book review of Richard Bauckham's Bible and Mission was originally published in Transformation 21.3 (2004): 204-207. Bauckham offers a solid way forward for exploring the interface between the Scripture and the Church's mission.
Bauckham, Richard. Bible and
Mission Carlisle : Paternoster
Press and Grand Rapids , MI
This little book constitutes lectures
delivered by Richard Bauckham on two occasions: the 2001 Easney Lectures at All
Nations Christian College in Hertfordshire, England and the 2002 Frumentius
Lectures at the Ethiopian Graduate School of Theology in Addis Ababa,
Ethiopia. The book is divided into four chapters. While Bauckham's wide reading and gifts as a
Biblical scholar and theologian are evident throughout the book, this
constitutes mostly his own interpretation and argument. Yet the lack of detailed interaction with
mission scholarship allows Bauckham to present his narrative reading of the
Bible for missions today in a brief and cogent argument. It is an opening for further discussion in
which many will want to engage.
Chapters one and four address the
contemporary situation. In chapter one, 'A Hermeneutic for the Kingdom
of God,' Bauckham begins by following the argument of the Chief Rabbi of
Britain, Jonathan Sacks, on the post-9/11 world. What we saw then and continue to see is a
clash between two universalist cultures: that of globalisation and that of
Islam. Sacks' own position deplores
universalist culture per se for its
presumptions, imperialism, and institutional powers, which threaten anything
local, traditional and particular.
Universalist cultures represent worldviews that involve a
'metanarrative'--one narrative to rule them all--whereas postmodernity is said
to entertain an incredulity towards metanarratives. But this is precisely where Bauckham comes
into the argument: is there an alternative to this 'hermeneutic' of culture?
Bauckham suggests that Christianity based on
the Bible offers a hermeneutic for moving from the particular to the
universal. 'Christian communities or
individuals are always setting off from the particular as both the Bible and
our own situation defines it and following the biblical direction towards the
universal that is to be found not apart from but within other particulars. This is mission' (p. 11). A
Biblical hermeneutic must be canonical in its scope and entail a
synthesis that is narrative. The
narrative hermeneutic is temporal, spatial, and social (pp. 13-15). Bauckham explores this in chapter two,
primarily with regard to the Old Testament, but in ch. 1 he notes that this
also provides us with a hermeneutic for missions: temporally Christians anticipate the Lord's return, geographically Christians proclaim the
Gospel throughout the world, and socially
Christians see the Gospel proclaimed to every creature. Bauckham further notes that there are
'already' and 'not yet' aspects to each of these three notions already within
the New Testament, such that no Christian church in history can locate itself
in a salvation or mission history progressing towards the end. '…the New Testament puts the church in its
missionary situation in a dialectic of anticipated closure and permanent
openness' (p. 25).
Chapter
two, 'From the One to the Many,' explores the
movement from the particular to the universal in three Old Testament narratives
that set up trajectories running throughout the Old Testament, and in one theme
running through both Testaments:
*The
Story of Abraham, producing a trajectory of blessing
*The
Story of Israel, producing a trajectory of God's self-revelation to the world
*The
Story of David, producing a trajectory of rule, i.e., God's kingdom over all
creation
*The
theme of 'to all by way of the least'
Yet Bauckham also notes that the New
Testament has a particular narrative that picks up each of these particular Old
Testament narratives, focuses them, and provides a way to move from the
particular to the universal. This is the
Story of Jesus.
In Abraham's being 'singled out' by God
from the nations, the theme of 'blessing' is key: he will be blessed, the
nation from him will be blessed, and all families of the earth will be blessed
(Gen. 12.2-3; 18.18; 22.18; 26.4; 28.14).
This idea appears later in four important OT passages (including Ps.
72.17; Zech. 8.13). Bauckham discusses
two others. Jer. 4.1-2 makes the point
that Israel's covenant obedience would lead to this universal blessing of the
nations. Is. 19.24-25 envisions an
extension of Israel's covenant status to Syria and Egypt--Israel's
arch-enemies. Bauckham pursues this
trajectory into the New Testament, such as in discussing Matthew's setting of
his narrative in the context of a genealogy beginning with Abraham and concluding
his Gospel with the Great Commission to all nations, or in noting that the
opposite of blessing--curse--follows Israel throughout the Old Testament, with
Jesus becoming this curse to bring blessing (Gal. 3.13f).
Bauckham's examination of the story of
Israel entails a look at Old Testament geography and the view that occasionally
surfaces that the nations will come to Zion (see ch. 3), a notion that is
'fundamentally about the knowledge of who God is' being made known to all (p.
37). Thus deliverance of Israel from the
nations in the Exodus and again in the Return from Exile has a wider or
universal purpose in the Old Testament narrative than just Israel's separation
and deliverance from them. God's acts for
Israel bear witness to the nations of who He is (Josh. 4.24; 1 Kgs. 19.19; Is.
37.20; Ez. 36.22-23; 36.38; 38.23; 39.7; Ps. 67.1-3; Ps. 22.21-27; etc.). This knowledge of God might entail judgement
or salvation, but it includes all peoples of the earth. In particular, Is. 40-66 bears this message
in terms of a new exodus from captivity, YHWH's return to Zion, and the
consequent revealing of His identity (cf., e.g., Is. 45.22-23; 52.10) (p.
39). This trajectory is picked up in the
New Testament. The apostles' commissioning as witnesses to the ends of the
earth (Acts 1.8; 13.47; cf. 13.47) echoes Is. 49.6 (p. 40). Other significant passages are 1 Th. 1.9;
Acts 17.23-29; Rev. 14.7; 15.4; and Phl. 2.10.
The trajectory of YHWH as King has a very
particular dimension to it in David's dynasty or in Zion as the place of
either's throne. But the Old Testament
is ambivalent about any king ruling Israel other than YHWH, and the theme finds
its universal fulfilment not in Israel but in God's reign over all peoples. Bauckham examines four key OT passages (Ps.
72; Zech. 9.10; Mic. 5.4; and Ps. 2), and the trajectory can again be found in
the New Testament (Heb. 12.22; 2 Pt. 1.18; Rev. 15.1; 21.10; Gal. 4.26)., but
not in its geographical dimension (see ch. 3).
The New Testament first focuses the Old Testament
trajectories in another particular narrative--'Jesus the Jew from Nazareth' (p.
48). Through Jesus, the particular
narratives become universal. Powerfully
drawing together the particular Old Testament narratives and the narrative of
Jesus is a theme in both Testaments: 'to all by way of the least' (p. 49). This theme is the basis of Paul's argument in
1 Cor. (cf. 1.26b-29). Bauckham
interprets this trajectory as follows: '…the church's mission cannot be
indifferent to the inequalities and injustices of the world into which it is
sent' (53). This is one of the very
concrete concerns that appears throughout the book. But Bauckham does not endorse the notion that
the Gospel is somehow the property of the poor and powerless per se.
He writes: '…God singled out
the poor and the powerless, choosing to begin his work with them, not because
God's love does not extend to the cultural and social élite, but actually for
the sake of the wealthy and the powerful as well as for the poor and the
humble. God's love has to reach the
strong via the weak, because the strong can receive the love of God only by
abandoning their pretensions to status above others' (p. 50).
Chapter
three turns more specifically to the spatial
dimension of the Biblical narrative: 'Geography--Sacred
and Symbolic.' Here Bauckham
examines Old Testament geography, place names, and symbolic numbers, as they
are relevant, in various passages. Gen.
10's list of seventy (seven and multiples of seven symbolise completeness)
descendants from Shem, Ham, and Japhet intends to represent all nations (so
also Lk. 10). Other OT texts similarly
use seven to represent the nations of the earth (Ez. 25-32 has oracles spoken
to seven nations; cf. Ez. 38). Also,
some OT texts use names of distant nations to represent the ends of the earth
(e.g., Ps. 72). Is. 66.18-19 lists seven
nations which are probably to the north and west of Israel as the places to
which survivors will go. In Acts, Luke
narrates a similar movement of the early Church's mission to the nations, thus
representing a mission to all nations of the earth. Also, over against Greek ethnocentricity,
Israel's chosen status is just that, God's choice, not their inherent
superiority over others. Israel's story
persistently keeps other nations in view.
This all comes together in a text like Acts 2, where representatives
from fifteen nations where a significant Jewish diaspora could be found are
mentioned as the initial conduit through which the Gospel was to be taken to
the ends of the earth.
Some OT texts envision a centripetal
movement of the nations to Jerusalem (Zech. 8.20-23; 14.16), whereas others of
a centrifugal movement from Jerusalem to the nations (Is. 2.3; 66.19;
Mic.4.2). One centripetal movement
entails Jews returning from the diaspora to Jerusalem (Zech. 8.7-8; Is. 11.12;
43.5-6; 49.12; Ps. 107.3); another entails Gentile nations returning with the
diaspora Jews (Is. 49.22-23; 60.1-9; 66.20; Zech. 8.23). Jesus also envisioned a centripetal movement
(Mt. 5.14 (cf. Is. 2.2; Mic. 4.1); 8.11; Lk. 13.29), but the usual NT view is
of a centrifugal movement (e.g., Acts 1.8).
Both movements are indicated with the image of Zion as a light of God's
glory (Is. 60.1-3; cf. Mt. 5.14-15; Phl. 2.15) or with the idea of an
individual being sent (especially in the NT).
Yet Jerusalem and the temple become a
metaphor: the church is the new temple, the community God's eschatological
presence (e.g., Eph. 2.12, 21), and, in John, the temple is Jesus himself, who
draws all people to himself. Related to
these geographical images is the notion of God's people as exiles among the
nations, not an otherworldly religion but a counter-cultural movement (cf.
Hebrews, 1 Peter). In all these ways,
geography functions symbolically in the NT.
Chapter
4, 'Witness to the Truth in a Postmodern and Globalized World,' draws the Biblical studies in chapters 2 and 3 back to the matter
of missions in our day. Whereas
Modernity's metanarrative has to do with progress through education, technology
and imperial power, postmodernity has to do with deconstructing such
metanarratives, revealing them for the projects of power and domination that
they are. Postmodernity appreciates
'particularity, diversity, localism, and relativism' (p. 88), whereas
globalisation today represents another version of Modernity's narrative of
progress, now focused on economics. Yet
postmodernity, inasmuch as it responds to Modernity's
metanarrative, does not directly address the Biblical understanding of a
metanarrative, which is not about progress through human mastery and
achievement. The Kingdom of God is 'not
a matter of cumulative progress over time,' not humanly comprehensible apart
from divine revelation (and that with much mystery remaining!), and not about
human effort so much as God's purpose (p. 91).
The Bible, while it does have a metanarrative, does not thereby diminish
or obliterate its particular narratives, which have an openness about their
meaning and cannot be encapsulated in some system (pp. 92f).
Christian mission today, then, must resist
the new imperialism of (economic) globalization but also postmodernity's
challenge of relativism. The biblical metanarrative is true, but in a way that opens up an alternative to modernity and
postmodernity. For truth to be claimed
as true it must be claimed not by force but by witness. The notion of
witness has these virtues: (1) it answers the postmodern suspicion that
metanarratives are oppressive because it is non-coercive (note the significance
of witnessing to the cross); (2) it 'must
be a lived witness involving the whole of life and even death'; (3) as a
witness 'it can show itself to be not self-serving' (p. 99); and (4) witness
can 'mediate the particularity of the biblical story and the universality of
its claim' (p. 100). In a postmodern age
more than ever (but this was already true in 1 Corinthians), mission entails
telling the particular stories of the Bible in such a way that they expose
aggressive metanarratives, globalization in particular (pp. 101f). The use of the Bible in such confrontation is
made easier by the fact that the Biblical stories again and again confront the
imperialism and power of their day, from Egypt to Babylon to Rome. And 'what Jesus projects is a counter-metanarrative,
an alternative to Rome's, a narrative not of coercive power but of witness' (p.
107). Revelation, in particular, sees
Christian witness of Jesus and of God's deity and kingdom as the alternative to
Rome's military violence, tyranny and economic exploitation. Moreover the Gospel does not homogenise
diverse cultures but, like tongues in Acts 2, allows each to hear the Gospel in
his or her own language.
Bauckham's Bible and Mission, then, searches for an alternative to 'Modernity'
and 'Postmodernity' in a Biblical understanding of mission. There is here an excellent example for doing
Biblical theology by means of a narrative understanding and intertextual
approach. Bauckham's notation of the
importance of Isaiah 40-66 for Biblical theology requires further attention,
although the book offers several suggestions of the importance of this for
mission theology (as his God Crucified
did for Christology). By giving greater
attention to the Old Testament, Bauckham contributes a much needed study of the
Old Testament for mission theology.
The book is significant for several other
conversations in mission theology.
Bauckham does not discuss the significance of his argument for any
dialogue with Islam as he does for Globalisation--the two metanarratives noted
in the book. Jonathan Sacks' postmodernity
hardly offers a worthy Jewish perspective.
But the significance of Bauckham's arguments for Christian dialogue with
Islam and Judaism calls for further consideration. Secondly, the book functions as a critique of
theologies that have greatly affected mission theology over the years, although
Bauckham does not engage these. His emphasis on the Biblical theme of 'to all
by way of the least' unravels any programme that seeks to use power to undo
power, such as in some instances of Liberation Theology, Feminist Theology and
Postcolonial Theology. Thirdly, his
affirmation of the particular and local affirms contextual theologies, but not
ones which fail to listen to the Biblical witness or resist transformation by
the universalising stories of Scripture.
On the other hand, fourthly, his emphasis on mission as witness cautions
against approaches to mission that are imperialistic and complicit with
globalization. Fifthly, his comments on
symbolic geography offer yet another challenge to Dispensationalist
hermeneutics and Zionism. With all this
I thoroughly agree. Where I would like
to hear Bauckham clarify his argument further is on what he says--or does not
say--about eschatology. His undercutting
of a Modernist metanarrative for history may be on the mark, but where does
this leave Christian expectations that mission has a direction and
conclusion? How are the particular and
universal not just existential perspectives but related to the movement of
mission and God's future?
I highly recommend this book for reading
lists for introductory courses on mission theology and possibly for a course on
Biblical theology (both for the topic and as a demonstration of method). The argument is accessible to laity and could
be the basis for a series on missions in church Bible study groups. This is another excellent book by Richard
Bauckham, bringing together Biblical scholarship, theology, and missions.
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