Eckhard J. Schnabel, Early Christian Mission, Volume 1: Jesus and the Twelve. IVP Academic, 2004. Also Early Christian Mission, Volume 2: Paul and the Early Church. IVP Academic, 2004. (Comes as a two-volume set)
Referenced in: Theology of Mission, Proposals and Formulations – Missionally Responsive/Evangelical
LifeandLeadership.com Summary
This is a massive two-volume work, consisting of almost 2,000 pages. As such, it is a reference tool, not one to be read cover-to-cover. It is scholarly and dense, and not for the theologically uneducated. For its purpose, however, it is excellent.
Volume 1 includes a detailed outline of both volumes, and the index is in Volume 2. It is an exhaustive, comprehensive look at how the evangelistic mission of the church was fulfilled, beginning with a look at God’s intent for Israel to be a light to the Gentiles, the mission of Jesus and the Twelve in both the Gospels and Acts, and the missionary journeys of Paul. It concludes with a section on the identity, praxis, and message of early Christian mission, drawing implications for twenty-first century efforts.
From the Publisher
How is it that a first-generation Jewish messianic movement undertook a mission to the pagan world and rapidly achieved a momentum that would have a lasting and significant impact on world history? This momentous question has surprisingly eluded the concentrated focus of historians and New Testament scholars.
Perhaps it is because the story of early Christian mission encompasses so much of the history of early Christianity. And to tell that history is to traverse a broad spectrum of issues in contemporary New Testament studies, all of which have been investigated in specialized depth, though frequently unconnected to a unified picture. On the other hand, as Eckhard Schnabel comments, those who have attempted to paint “the portrait of early Christian missions” have “often painted with brush strokes too broad.” As a result, an “undifferentiated picture of early Christian mission” is widely held.
In this monumental study, Schnabel gives us both a unified and detailed picture of the rise and growth of early Christian mission. He begins with a search for a missionary impulse in the Old Testament and Second Temple Judaism. He then weighs the evidence for a mission of Jesus to Gentiles. But the center of focus is the apostolic missionary activity as it is related in Acts, Paul’s letters and the rest of the New Testament.
Here is a study that seeks to describe all the evidence relevant to the missionary strategy and tactics of the early church, to explain the theological dimensions of the early Christian mission, and to integrate the numerous studies published in the last decades into a synthetic overall picture. Schnabel’s detailed and immensely informed analysis will reward careful reading and reflection, and form a solid basis for a new understanding of the rise of Christianity and the nature of Christian mission—both then and now.
About the Author
Eckhard J. Schnabel (Ph.D., University of Aberdeen) is professor of New Testament at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield, Illinois. He has taught previously at Freie Theologische Akademie (Giessen, Germany), Wiedenest Bible College (Bergneustadt, Germany) and Asian Theological Seminary (Manila, Philippines).
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