Missions and Unity: Lessons from History 1792--2010 (American Society of Missiology)

This study is the first comprehensive history of the impact of the modern missionary movement on the understanding of and work toward Christian unity. It tells stories from all branches of the church: Roman Catholic Orthodox and Protestant in its many types (conciliar evangelical Pentecostal and independent). Part 1 Historical highlights the contribution of modern missions to Christian unity from William Carey and his antecedents and peers to present-day missions. Part 2 Ten Models of Unity takes an inductive approach to history asking not how should Christians cooperate? but how has the missionary movement helped Christians to work together at the local national regional and global level? Part 3 Wider Ecumenism broadens the evidence to include how the missions movement has helped not only institutional churches but also broader society to have concern for the unity of the entire human family. Included here is the story of how the Protestant missionary movement influenced the forming of the United Nations as well as the drafting of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The study also covers the movements impact on Christian attitudes toward and relations with persons of other faiths. Mission and Unity is the standard reference work in the field for persons studying modern history modern church history missions and ecumenics. Flowing from a lifetime of scholarship and activism this timely book on a classic theme could only be written by Norman Thomas. His panoramic yet thorough treatment of missions and unity will help to restore this subject to the central place it deserves in mission praxis. This useful book belongs on the shelf of everyone who cares about the continued relevance of Jesus visions for his followers. --Dana L. Robert Truman Collins Professor of World Christianity and History of Mission Boston University School of Theology It is often remarked that missionary work and efforts of Christian unity are vitally linked. What Norman Thomas has shown in these pages is how very true this is. I dont know of any other source that treats the topic of missions and unity with comparable depth clarity and careful scholarship. This books is a gift to missiology. --Stephen Bevans SVD Louis J. Luzbetak SVD Professor of Mission and Culture Catholic Theological Union Common participation in mission has consistently been the most powerful solvent of the historic divisions between churches. Yet Christians have frequently disagreed about the appropriate means of mission and may struggle to agree even about the goals of mission. The twin themes of mission and unity are thus intertwined in complex and ambiguous ways throughout the history of the Church. Norman Thomass book is a timely and helpful reminder of that ambiguous yet inescapable relationship. --Brian Stanley Professor of World Christianity University of Edinburgh This book is quintessentially Thomas. I know of no one more aptly experienced or academically capable of writing this immensely useful historical assessment of the interstices of world missions and the ecumenical movement. This will become a standard reference on the theme. --Jonathan J. Bonk Executive Director Overseas Ministries Study Center Norman E. Thomas is Professor Emeritus of World Christianity at United Theological Seminary in Dayton Ohio USA. He is the editor of Classsic Texts in Mission and World Christianity (1995) and of the International Mission Bibliography: 1960-2000 (2003).