10-Day Missiology Course taught in Jerusalem, November 12-23, 2012
Jesus was Jewish and he preached almost exclusively to other Jews, making his message mostly Jewish. Despite this fact, his message spread throughout the ancient world very quickly, and to this day, more and more different peoples around the world have heard and responded to this mostly Jewish message. It has indeed become a light to the nations.
In the Caspari Center 10-day missiology course, we will explore how this Jew, Jesus, became a light to the nations, and we will do so through the concept of context.
First of all, the concept of context plays an increasingly important role in contemporary missiological studies. The question how can we communicate the gospel in ways that are contextually appropriate? Or better yet, how can we help believers in a particular context construct a unique expression of faith and life as followers of Jesus that is both orthodox and contextually appealing?
In other words, how can the same gospel light be perceived as good news for all the different nations in all their diversity and plurality? We need to understand what the gospel meant in its first context if we want to present it as clear and challenging in any contemporary context as it was back then.
Second, the light for all nations is not just universal timeless truth, but the life and work of a specific first-century Jew. When God chose to become one of us, he did so in the specific cultural, social, economic, and political context of first-century Israel, making the study of this particular context a necessary prerequisite for understanding theology in any other context. In the course “Jesus the Jew – A Light to the Nations,” these different aspects of context will be studied from an array of different angles. The goal of the study tour will be to explore how knowledge of the Jewish roots of the Christian faith can help enrich contemporary contextual theologies, so that the light of this first-century Jew can continue to become the light to more and more nations throughout the world.For more information about the program and how to register, click here.
Jakob Nielsen