David Jacobus Bosch (born December 13, 1929 in Cape Province, South Africa and died 1992) was a member of the Dutch Reformed Church, married to Annemie and author of "Transforming Mission: Paradigm Shifts in Theology of Mission" (1991) - a major work on post-colonial Christian mission. December 13 is the 347th day of the year (348th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1929 (MCMXXIX) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will take you to calendar). ... Under the Union of South Africa and after that under the Republic of South Africa, the old Cape Colony became the Cape of Good Hope Province (though it was commonly known as the Cape Province). ... 1992 (MCMXCII) was a leap year starting on Wednesday. ... The Dutch Reformed village church of St. ... 1991 (MCMXCI) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Since the Lausanne Congress of 1974, a widely-accepted definition of a Christian mission has been to form a viable indigenous church-planting movement. ...

Life and Ministry

Bosch was raised in an nationalist Afrikaner home with little regard for his nation's blacks citizens and in 1948 when the National Party (South Africa) came to power and began implementing its program of apartheid Bosch welcomed it. Afrikaners are an ethnic group primarily associated with Southern Africa and the Afrikaans language. ... 1948 (MCMXLVIII) was a leap year starting on Thursday (the link is to a full 1948 calendar). ... The National Party (Afrikaans: Nasionale Party) (with its members sometimes known as Nationalists or Nats) was the governing party of South Africa from June 4th 1948 until May 9th 1994, and was disbanded in 2005. ... A segregated beach in South Africa, 1982. ...

That same year however Bosch began studying teaching at the University of Pretoria, where he joined the Student Christian Association and was more exposed to black members of the community. This began a lifelong involvement in Christian mission and he was soon questioning the apartheid system. The University of Pretoria is a university in South Africa, with a total of about 38 499 students being enrolled in 2005. ... Since the Lausanne Congress of 1974, a widely-accepted definition of a Christian mission has been to form a viable indigenous church-planting movement. ...

Sensing a call to be a missionary, Bosch changed to the Theological school and graduated with a Bachelor of Divinity and a Master of Arts in languages (Afrikaans, Dutch, German). He then went to Switzerland to study for his doctorate in the field of missiology at the University of Basel, under Oscar Cullmann, who influenced Bosch to accommodate more ecumenism. The University of Basel (German: Universität Basel) is located at Basel, Switzerland. ... Oscar Cullmann (25 February 1902 Strasbourg - 16 January 1999 Chamonix) was a Christian theologian in the Lutheran tradition. ... The word ecumenism (also oecumenism, œcumenism) is derived from Greek (oikoumene), which means the inhabited world, and was historically used with specific reference to the Roman Empire. ...

In 1957 Bosch began a decade working as a missionary with the Dutch Reformed Church planting churches in the Transkei. 1957 (MCMLVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Dutch Reformed village church of St. ... Flag of Transkei bantustan Political Map of South Africa prior to 1994 Transkei, as of 1978 The Transkei — which means the area beyond the Kei River — is a region situated in the Eastern Cape of South Africa. ...

In 1967 he took up a position as lecturer in church history and missiology at the Dutch Reformed Church's Theological School training black church leaders in the Transkei, where he also built ties with the Roman Catholic and Anglican churches, and began developed his ministry of writing on mission theory. Bosch wrote about his concerns that the Christian mission to bring good news to black Africans could be confused with colonial and nationalistic motives that entrenched racial divisions. 1967 (MCMLXVII) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar (the link is to a full 1967 calendar). ... The Dutch Reformed village church of St. ... The Roman Catholic Church, most often spoken of simply as the Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with over one billion members. ... The term Anglican describes those people and churches following the religious traditions of the Church of England, especially following the Reformation. ...

What is the end goal of mission with such a motivation? Is it to maintain the white people in South Africa--or is it the foundation of the church of Christ...? Is it to serve South Africa--or to serve God? Is it to hear together the sentimental voice of our own blood--or to hear together the last command of Christ? Have we, by this missionary motive, created a sheep in wolf's clothes--or is it perhaps a wolf in sheep's clothes?¹

Isolated from the majority in the Dutch Reformed Church who supported apartheid, Bosch left his college in 1972 to become Professor of Missiology at the University of South Africa in Pretoria, which at the time was South Africa's only interracial university. There he edited its journal "Theologia Evangelica" and continued to write. The Dutch Reformed village church of St. ... A segregated beach in South Africa, 1982. ... 1972 (MCMLXXII) was a leap year starting on Saturday. ... Note: UniSA can also refer to the University of South Australia. ... City motto: Praestantia Praevaleat Pretoria (May Pretoria Be Pre-eminent In Excellence) Province Gauteng Area  - % water 1,644 km² 0. ...

He was offered the Chair of Mission and Ecumenics at the elite Princeton Theological Seminary in New Jersey, USA but chose to remain working against apartheid from within South Africa and the Dutch Reformed Church. In 1979 he helped coordinate a gathering of more than 5000 African Christians from every background as a demonstration of the church as an alternative community embodying the Kingdom of God. In 1982 he promoted an open letter to the Dutch Reformed Church, signed by more than 100 pastors and theologians, publicly condemning apartheid and calling on the church to unite with black churches. The steeple of Alexander Hall Princeton Theological Seminary is a theological seminary located in Princeton Township, New Jersey in the United States. ... Official language(s) None, English de facto Capital Trenton Largest city Newark Area  Ranked 47th  - Total 8,729 sq mi (22,608 km²)  - Width 70 miles (110 km)  - Length 150 miles (240 km)  - % water 14. ... A segregated beach in South Africa, 1982. ... The Dutch Reformed village church of St. ... This page refers to the year 1979. ... The Kingdom of God (Greek basileia tou theou,[1] or the Kingdom of Heaven) is a key concept in Christianity based on a phrase attributed to Jesus of Nazareth in the gospels. ... 1982 (MCMLXXXII) was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Dutch Reformed village church of St. ...

Bosch also bridged evangelical and ecumenical divisions in the global church, participating in both the Lausanne Congress and World Evangelical Alliance events, while also serving the World Council of Churches. The First International Congress on World Evangelization held from July 16. ... The World Evangelical Alliance is an organisation based in Washington USA, which serves as a network for evangelical organisations and denominations around the world. ... The World Council of Churches (WCC) is the principal international Christian ecumenical organization. ...

He died in a car crash in 1992.

Transforming Mission

Bosch wrote more than 150 journal articles and six books, including his magnas opus "Transforming Mission: Paradigm Shifts in Theology of Mission" (1991), which was jointly published by the American Society of Missiology and the Catholic Foreign Mission Society of America's Orbis books.

The book was praised as groundbreaking by Hans Kung who called it the first book on mission to implement paradigm theory. Lesslie Newbigin nominated it a new standard calling it "a kind of Summa Missiologica" in reference to Thomas Aquinas' foundational thirteenth centaury work "Summa Theologiae". Hans Küng (born March 19, 1928) is an eminent Swiss theologian, and a prolific author. ... Saint Thomas Aquinas [Thomas of Aquin, or Aquino] (c. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ...

The book surveys paradigms of mission both in the New Testament (reflecting Bosch emphasis on biblical foundations for mission) and through Church history (highlighting that mission has always been shaped for good or ill by its context). He then explores in extensive detail what he sees as an emerging post-modern or post-colonial missionary practice, including one that is ecumenical, evangelical and a quest for justice and liberation. John 21:1 Jesus Appears to His Disciples--Alessandro Mantovani: the Vatican, Rome. ... Postmodernism (sometimes abbreviated pomo) is a term applied to a wide-ranging set of developments in critical theory, philosophy, architecture, art, literature, and culture, which are generally characterized as either emerging from, in reaction to, or superseding, modernism. ...

"Mission is, quite simply, the participation of Christians in the liberating mission of Jesus, wagering on a future that verifiable experience seems to belie. It is good news of God's love, incarnated in the witness of a community, for the sake of the world."²

References

¹from "Jesus, Die lydende Messias, en ons sendingmotief" (Jesus, the suffering Messiah, and our Missionary Motive) translated by Kevin Livingston

²from "Transforming Mission: Paradigm Shifts in Theology of Mission" (1991)