Text and Task: Scripture and Mission

Text and Task aims to show the significance of reading the biblical text appropriately and with faithful engagement for our theology and missiology.

A team of biblical scholars suggests ways forward in areas such as the implicit missional narrative of David and Goliath, the story of Solomon and his Temple-building, the genre of lament, the explicit gracious message of the prophet Isaiah, Paul's understanding of divine call and gospel and the place of mission as a hermeneutic for reading the Bible. Theological chapters engage the issues of the Trinity and the unevangelized, the missional dimensions of Barth's view of election, the gospel's loss of plausibility in the modern West, the place of preaching in mission and the idea of belonging to a church community before one believes the gospel.

Michael Parsons is Head of the Department of Christian Thought at the Baptist Theological College, Perth, England.