Open AccessFaith to faith – Missiology as encounterology
Author(s) -
J.N.J. Kritzinger
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
verbum et ecclesia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.386
H-Index - 8
eISSN - 2074-7705
pISSN - 1609-9982
DOI - 10.4102/ve.v29i3.31
Subject(s) - missiology , faith , witness , praxis , dialogical self , sociology , reflexivity , epistemology , theology , philosophy , law , social science , political science
This article responds to a book edited by Prof PGJ Meiring in 1996 on the religions of South Africa. It appreciates the integration between the fields of Religious Studies and Theology of Religions in the book, but suggests that a missiological approach should explore the inter-religious encounter, rather than merely what others believe or what we believe about the possibility of their being saved. An approach of encounterology requires: a) a holistic and reflexive process that considers seven different dimensions of the encounter; b) a dialogical approach in which a Christian enters into a journey of mutual witness with a follower of another faith. The article uses a seven-point praxis cycle to indicate what such an encounterology could look like