Robert J. Priest

U.S. Megachurches and New Patterns of Global Mission

April 2010 R Wuthnow, a leading sociologist of religion, points out that while “the demographic center of Christianity is shifting to the global South, the organizational and material resources of global Christianity remain heavily concentrated” in North America and its churches. He argues that missiologists have not sufficiently appreciated the expanding role of American congregations, and especially of American megachurches, in shaping global Christianity.1 Megachurches and their pastors are forging influential new patterns of North American congregational involvement in global mission. Their influence on mission patterns often surpasses the influence of denominational leaders, mission executives, or leading missiologists. And yet neither in missiological scholarship nor in the emerging new research on megachurches2 do we find a systematic treatment of megachurch involvement in global mission. This article addresses this lacuna.

Introduction: Theme Issue on Short-Term Missions

Like the anthropology of tourism, research on short-term missions has had to overcome a bias against what is often assumed to be a trivial phenomenon. As scholars in a variety of fields have encountered this growing, global phenomenon, they have begun to develop a vibrant and multifaceted research-based literature exploring its cultural, historic, economic, and political aspects. This introduction to a special issue of Missiology on short-term missions presents a brief overview of the development of this emerging literature, as well as synopses of the six articles advancing our understanding of short-term missions.

The value of anthropology for missiological engagements with context: The case of witch accusations

This article reviews an earlier history where anthropology came to be valued as playing a significant role within missiological education, and considers the more recent partial decline of professional anthropology within missiological institutions. It calls for a revaluing of anthropology for what it contributes to missiology and contextual theology. To illustrate the sorts of strength that anthropology brings to missiology, the article examines the old anthropological topic of witchcraft accusations, a topic that turns out to be remarkably contemporary because of its significant revitalized presence in churches in major regions of the world. The article considers contemporary dynamics where church leaders themselves participate in witch accusations, and attempts to showcase the sorts of considerations that an anthropological approach contributes to missiology.

Putting Witch Accusations on the Missiological Agenda: A Case from Northern Peru

was blamed for all these deaths in the village, wrapped up in fishing nets, and beaten up severely.” So recounted star Indian javelin thrower Debjani Bora, recent target of a witch hunt in the northeastern Indian state of Assam. The accusation and attack were spearheaded by a woman village elder later arrested for inciting the violence. According to BBC News India, police in Assam report that over the last five years nearly ninety people, mostly women, have been “beheaded, burnt alive or stabbed to death” as a result of witch accusations.1 Such incidents occur incessantly and in various locations, as articles here indicate. Indeed, challenges presented by witchcraft and witch accusations have long been urgent concerns of countless

Doctoral Dissertations on Mission: Ten-Year Update, 2002–2011 (Revised)

October 2013 Robert J. Priest is G. W. Aldeen Professor of International Studies and Professor of Mission and Anthropology at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, Deerfield, Illinois. He currently serves as President of the American Society of Missiology. —rpriest@tiu.edu E ten years the International Bulletin of Missionary Research (IBMR) commissions a review of Englishlanguage dissertations related to Christian mission.1 As in the past, the focus in this update is on research doctorates (such as the Ph.D. or Th.D.), not on professional doctorates (such as the D.Min. or D.Miss.). The first two IBMR reviews, for the years 1945–81 (by E. Theodore Bachmann) and 1982–91 (by William A. Smalley), focused exclusively on dissertations from North America. By contrast, the next review, 1992–2001 (by Stanley H. Skreslet), considered English-language dissertations from around the world, as indeed the present update does. While previous reviews were accompanied by a subject index and a complete list of dissertation titles, the current availability of electronic databases and search engines makes inclusion of such a listing and index of less strategic value. However, as in the past, we provide an overview of patterns and trends in research related to missiology and Christian mission.