Missio Dei towards the Kingdom of God: From Σωτηρία to βασιλεία

Abstract

In the last decades since the Willingen Conference of 1952, the concept of missio Dei has been extensively studied in the field of theology, especially by missiologists. Such commendably extensive scholarship, however, seems to have taken great pains not to unequivocally identify salvation (Σωτηρία) as signifying a transitional phase in attaining the Kingdom of God (βασιλεία) as the definitive objective of the missio Dei. This paper finds it somewhat concerning that literature on missio Dei seem uninterested in distinguishing salvation as a mechanism by which the definitive objective of missio Dei (the all-embracing kingdom of God) is to be attained. Consequently, based on a literature review, it is argued here that the history of salvation in its entirety is to be regarded as the decisive key to enable entry into the kingdom of God as the definitive objective of the missio Dei. In other words, it addresses what appears to be a lack of emphasis that underscores salvation as not an end in itself, but a means to an end. While the limited scope of this paper is to distinguish between salvation as a precursor and the kingdom of God as the ultimate goal of missio Dei, it warrants future research that will expand and test the novelty of their claims.

Intradisciplinary and/or interdisciplinary implications: The scope of this paper extends theological anthropology as it addresses human participation in the attainment of the primary ends of God’s mission, or missio Dei, as it were.