Encountering the History of Missions by John Mark Terry and Robert L Gallagher

Encountering the History of Missions: From the Early Church to Today by John Mark Terry and Robert L Gallagher ISBN-13: 978-0801026966 Paperback: 432 pages Publisher: Baker Academic Released: Aug. 22, 2017

Source: ebook review copy from the publisher through NetGalley.

Book Description, Modified from Goodreads:
This new addition to a highly acclaimed series portrays the sweep of missions history, revealing how God has fulfilled his promise to bless all the nations. Two leading missionary scholars and experienced professors help readers understand how missions began, how missions developed, and where missions is going. The authors cover all of missions history and provide practical application of history's lessons. Maps, tables, box inserts, sidebars, and discussion questions add to the book's usefulness in the classroom.


My Review:
Encountering the History of Missions is a textbook about missions history. The authors started at around AD 100 and went up to 2017, but the book was only loosely in chronological order. They took groups (like the Jesuits or Moravians) or movements (church growth movement, etc.) and looked at their missionary efforts. The focus was on how various individuals and groups spread the gossip (methods) and what the results where--did the church last or send out missionaries of its own?

They mainly looked at European and Asian missions efforts, though they did briefly touch on missionary work from all around the world. They looked at all Christian missions, including Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestant. However, they mostly looked at Protestant missions after describing the Reformation. They talked about missionary councils and congresses, movements, various specializations within missions (radio, Bible translations, etc.), and suggested what we can learn from past missionary efforts.

Most of the early sections gave some background to explain why the missionaries acted as they did and then gave short biographies for the notable missionaries from that group. There were also case studies and side bars with discussion questions. Overall, I found the information interesting as it provided an overall arc that I've not gotten before. But while I grant that this is a textbook, it isn't likely to keep the attention of someone not already interested in the topic.


If you've read this book, what do you think about it? I'd be honored if you wrote your own opinion of the book in the comments.


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