Trinitarian Theology and the Mission of God
30 January 2020
11.30am – 12.45pm
TTC Multi-purpose Hall
Speaker: Dr Lalsangkima Pachuau, (Ph.D., Princeton Theological Seminary) is the John Wesley Beeson Professor of Christian Mission and Dean of Advanced Research Programs at Asbury Theological Seminary. After teaching at the United Theological College, Bangalore, India, for seven years, Pachuau joined the faculty of Asbury Seminary in 2006.
Early in his ministerial career, Pachuau was an itinerant evangelist in his home state of Mizoram in northeast India. He has also served among Hindu communities in India and in the United States. For a year, he coordinated the “neighborhood friendship [ministry] project” of the Presbytery of New Brunswick (New Jersey), an outreach ministry among the Hindu communities in Central New Jersey.
A member of the Center of Theological Inquiry (Princeton, NJ) where he served as a research scholar in 2004-5, Pachuau has published numerous articles, authored and edited several books. Two of his latest books are World Christianity: A Historical and Theological Introduction (Abingdon Press, 2018), and Indian and Christian: Historical Accounts and Theological Reflections of Christianity and Theological Reflections in India (ISPCK, 2019). Currently, he is researching and writing on theology and mission in a global Christian context.
He was the editor of Mission Studies: Journal of the International Association for Mission Studies for eight years (2004-2012). He has also served as a visiting professor in a number of institutions in Asia, Africa, and Latin America. Ordained by the Presbyterian Church of India, Pachuau is a member of Transylvania Presbytery of the PCUSA where he currently serves in the Commission for Preparation of Ministry. He is married to Lalneihkimi (“Kimi”) Sailo and they have two sons.
Synopsis “Trinitarian Theology and the Mission of God”
Missionary thinking of the twentieth century has also developed a new theology founded on the missio Dei (God’s mission), while in recent decades trinitarian theology is experiencing an exciting renaissance. This lecture will ask what the two developments have to do with each other and how theology of mission may be refined and redefined. What does missio Dei mean to Trinitarian theology and what can it draw from the latter? By analysing the works of some of the pioneers on Trinitarian theology and missio Dei, this lecture will try to draw new theological meanings for the church in the twenty-first century.