BISAM UPDATES

September 2007
February 2007
May 2006
January 2006

BISAM UPDATE (5) September 2007

7th September 2007

Dear BISAM friends,

Warm greetings. Some of us are enjoying the season of spring, others autumn; some are flooded as the monsoons are in full swing, others are bearing up during a prolonged dry season. Wherever and however, warm greetings.

IAMS 2008:
"Human Identity and the Gospel of Reconciliation: Agenda for Mission Studies and Praxis in the 21st Century."

The upcoming IAMS Assembly in Hungary (16th – 23rd August 2008) is less than a year away. I expect those who are intending to take part have made their decision by now. Let's hope that many are BISAM "old timers", and that many more "new timers" will be joining the BISAM group in Hungary. If you are aware of friends and colleagues who will be attending IAMS 2008 and might wish to take part in BISAM group discussions, please put them in contact with me and with our BISAM BLOG: http://biblestudiesandmission.blogspot.com

BISAM PAPERS

A number of us have sent our paper abstracts to the IAMS secretariat on the theme "Human Identity and the Gospel of Reconciliation: Agenda for Mission Studies and Praxis in the 21 st Century", with particular reference to Gal 3:26-29. The cut off date for abstracts was 31st August last. Joseph Pathrapankal and Batara Sihombing also forwarded me their abstracts.

Joseph is preparing a paper on Gal 3:26-29 as a "baptismal felicitation" in the early church given by the participating congregation to the group of newly baptised Christians.

Batara, hailing from North Sumatra Indonesia, which neighbours Aceh where almost 200 thousand died in the 2004 tsunami, is exploring "mission in the context of disaster" - ethnic and religious issues in a strongly Islamic area.

If you have an abstract, do forward it! Thanks!

With every best,

John Prior, svd

BISAM convenor, 2004-2008.
--
John Prior, svd,
until November 2007
100 Albion Road,
Box Hill, Vic. 3128,
AUSTRALIA.

BISAM UPDATE (4) February 2007
Subject: IAMS 2008

BISAM UPDATE (3) May 2006
Flores, 13 May 2006,

Dear BISAM Colleagues,
Warm greetings from Flores, Indonesia as we approach Pentecost, a feast
of fire and wind, the beginning of the journey through Antioch to the ends
of the earth.

IAMS is now half way through its journey from Port Dickson (2004) to
Bucharest (2008). I have not yet heard of the theme for Bucharest,
although I expect it will not be long in coming. Meanwhile how is BISAM network
jogging along?

EXERCISES IN MISSIOLOGICAL READINGS
This project is almost completed. At the time of writing three of the
six authors have still to send in their proofs to the editor of MISSION
STUDIES. This means that the June edition of MISSION STUDIES will be delayed.
Yes, we are all over-worked.

Our other projects from Port Dickson are still pending.

PRELIMINARY BIBLIOGRAPHY ON THE USE OF THE BIBLE
As Johannes Nissen has asked to be replaced, I am taking over as
coordinator/editor of A Preliminary Bibliography on the Use of the
Bible in Grassroots Communities/Churches. We shall see if something can be put
together over the coming 12 months. I appeal for any and every
reference that BISAM colleagues come across. Thanks!

EDINBURGH 2010: THE USE OF THE BIBLE IN ECUMENICAL DOCUMENTS
We thought this a good topic for a doctoral student, ideally from the
South. Any news?

Please will all BISAM members let me know how Edinburgh 2010 is
engaging them or their faculties? Thanks.

TOWARDS BUCHAREST 2008 AND EDINBURGH 2010
BISAM seeks to study collaboratively various ways in which the Bible is
used in mission today, and the questions this raises among peoples of
different race, sex, class, culture, creed and social location. BISAM is
inter-disciplinary. Its three major areas are the textual, the historical
and the contemporary.

The 1998 Durban Consultation compiled a 10-page encyclopaedic listing
of issues of concern to BISAM members. (see, To Cast Fire upon the Earth:
Bible and Mission Collaborating in Today’s Multicultural Global Context. Ed.
Teresa Okure, pp.239-248).

During each IAMS conference many creative ideas emerge. Those which
matured and saw the light of day in recent years are two sets of missiological
readings published in International Review Of Mission (January 2002)
and Mission Studies (June 2006).

What does this say about our BISAM study group?

We are able to collaborate only when the project dovetails with our own
research and heavy academic and ecclesial commitments. Therefore we
need to be realistic.

BISAM was launched in 1976 as a study project in response to “an
increasing estrangement of biblical scholarship from mission studies”.
Mission Studies published the ongoing conversation. Marc Spindler
opened with “Visa for Witness in a New Focus on the Theology of Mission and
Ecumenism” [MS 5 (1986) 51-60]. This invited comments by David Bosch,
Lesslie Newbigin & George Soares-Prabhu [MS 6 (1986) 65-87] and by Dan
Beeby & John Parratt [MS 7 (1987) 65-69]. Spindler responded with “Witness
under Cross-Examination” [MS 8 (1987) 67-73].

Recently a similar conversation has been taking place outside BISAM.
See, An Ulterior Gospel: The Mission of Critical Hermeneutics and the Critical
Hermeneutics of Mission, SBL-AAR Conference, Philadelphia November
2005.

Concerns during this period centred upon 1) Hermeneutics; 2) Mission in
the
Bible; and 3) Biblical foundations for mission.

In the 1980s BISAM faced a choice between continuing with a
‘classic’ European conversation about the Bible and mission or
moving into a more experiential model as advocated by David Bosch and
George Soares-Prabhu. Here context is a crucial. As Soares-Prabhu wrote in his
1986 piece, “A more appropriate method for the study of Bible and mission
might be one which would promote local discussion in well defined
cultural contexts… and only then at a second stage attempt to collate their
results.”

Hans de Wit and his team undertook such an attempt with remarkable
results: Through the Eyes of Another: Intercultural Reading of the Bible.
Amsterdam 2004.

The BISAM proposal of 1988 to produce studies on each book of the Bible
in relation to mission did not materialise. However, 16 years later Daniel
Patte edited Global Bible Commentary (Abingdon, 2004) with contributions from BISAM members.

With David Bosch’s tragic car accident in 1992, BISAM went into
abeyance until revived by Teresa Okure after the IAMS Buenos Aires
Conference of 1996.

If you have followed me this far you must be interested!
Two years to Bucharest, four years to Edinburgh.

What crucial issues of Bible, mission and context are you grappling
with? What does this say about the direction BISAM might take as we approach
Bucharest 2008 and Edinburgh 2010?

Let me and the BISAM network hear your answers. I shall place them on the BISAM BLOG
www.biblestudiesandmission.blogspot.com

There are 31 members in the BISAM network. 11 in Europe, 10 in Asia, 5
in Africa, 3 in the Americas, 2 in Oceania. 4 are women, 27 are men.

In the Spirit of Pentecost,

John Prior,
Puslit Candraditya,
Jln. Lerowulan 1,
Wairklau-Maumere 86 112,
Flores-NTT, Indonesia.
 

BISAM UPDATE (2) January 2006
Maumere, Indonesia, 28 January 2006.

Dear BISAM Colleagues,

Salam (peace) on the eve of the Lunar New Year (29 January), the Year of the Dog which, according to Asian tradition, is a year of faithfulness.

EXERCISES IN MISSIOLOGICAL READINGS
Our Missiological Readings project is now drawing to a close. Of the 11 fascinating papers sent in, six have been chosen for the upcoming edition of MISSION STUDIES (2006, Vol. 23, No.1). They are OT: The Genesis of Reconciliation: The Reconciliation of Genesis, Clare Amos; 'Power' and 'The Other' in Joshua: The Brutal Birthing of a Group Identity, John Prior; Conflicting Visions of Jonah – or Rather Diversity? Mercedes Bahmann. NT: From Areopagus to Corinth (Acts 17:22-31; 1 Cor 2:1-5): A Study on the Transition from the Power of Knowledge to the Power of the Spirit, Joseph Pathrapankal; Thinking Mission with Paul and the Romans (Rm 15:1-33), Daniel Patte; The Ministry of Reconciliation (2 Cor 5:14-21): Paul's Key to the Problem of 'the other' in Corinth, Teresa Okure.

It remains for me to convey my sincerest thanks to everyone involved for your willing cooperation, for your patience with my occasional prodding and for the understanding of those whose papers were not chosen this time.

Now to our other projects.

A PRELIMINARY BIBLIOGRAPHY ON THE USE OF THE BIBLE IN GRASSROOTS COMMUNITIES/CHURCHES
Coordinator Johannes Nissen. 

The aim is to establish a preliminary bibliography on the use of the Bible in mission with special reference to grassroots communities or Churches. I trust that each of us is sending Johannes references that we have gathered from our contacts and networks.

I note that the Society of Biblical Literature at their annual meeting (Philadelphia, November 2005) held a session on Mission and Biblical Interpretation: Toward a Missional Hermeneutic. For information on the papers and discussion please contact Michael Barram mbarram@stmarys-ca.edu

BUCHAREST 2008, EDINBURGH 2010
We aim to explore the use of the Bible in ecumenical documents leading up to, during and subsequent to Edinburgh 1910. We are hoping that a doctoral student might take this up as the topic of her/his thesis. Any news?

On the internet I came across an article by Teresa Okure entitled The Church in the Mission Field, Edinburgh 1910: A Nigerian/African Response. If you put Teresa's name on a Google search you will find it easily enough. What else have BISAM members been publishing, or are at present researching, on Edinburgh 1910-2010? Let me know and I'll post the references on the BISAM blog www.biblestudiesandmission@blogspot.com

The next IAMS meeting due to be held in Bucharest is just two years away. When the theme is finalised we can commence our BISAM preparations.

MISSIONALIA
The August 2005 edition of MISSIONALIA (SAMS) has recently arrived here in eastern Indonesia. Much of the edition takes up BISAM concerns. Two articles "New Testament studies and Missiology in South Africa: Uneasy bedfellows?" (Saayman) and "New Testament studies and Missiology in South Africa: Comfortable bedfellows!" (Stenschke) remind us of the first concern of BISAM when the study group was set up in 1976 (Spindler, Pobee, Bosch). A third article "Do you understand what you are reading? The Bible in African homes, schools and churches" (John Mbiti) lines up with BISAM's The Use of the Bible in Grassroots Communities/Churches project being coordinated by Johannes Nissen.

BISAM SURVEY
A question. On the IAMS Website there is a BISAM SURVEY more precisely a "Hermeneutics and Mission Survey." Does anybody know anything about this? John Roxoborogh's name is on it, but John is no longer the IAMS webmaster. Can anyone enlighten me? Thanks!

 That's it for this time. Do keep in contact. Above all let us work on as comprehensive a bibliography on the grassroots use of the Bible and work on our Edinburgh 1910 project.

In the Word that is life, life in abundance,

John Prior

BISAM Convenor 2004-2008.