User:Timjd/Centre for the Study of Bible and Mission

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The Centre for the Study of Bible and Mission is a Redcliffe College initiative that aims to serve the Church by engaging in research, teaching, writing and speaking on mission in the Bible, and the Bible in mission thinking, practice and training.

History
The Centre was publically launched at an event on Wednesday 12 May 2010 at Redcliffe College.

Aims
The Centre describes its aims as encouraging Christians to reflect on mission biblically and the Bible missionally in ways that are scholarly, relevant, accessible, practical, faithful, imaginative and passionate.

Activities
This website is the virtual home of the Centre. The Bible and Mission blog, which appears on the home page, is written by Tim Davy, the Centre’s Director.

We are committed to high quality activity in several key areas:

1. Teaching CSBM is fully integrated with the life and teaching of Redcliffe, a College that equips and prepares missionaries and cross-cultural Christian workers for life and ministry. We offer training on

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and off campus.

MA in Bible and Mission Develop and deliver a postgraduate MA programme in Bible and Mission, consisting four taught modules (Method and Content in Missiological Study, Reading the Bible Missionally, Biblical Engagement in Inter-cultural Contexts, plus one other), and a dissertation on a Bible and Mission subject.

Other teaching and speaking CSBM will have an involvement in the undergraduate and postgraduate teaching programmes at Redcliffe, leading whole modules and delivering specialist content on others. We will contribute to Redcliffe’s intensive and tailored teaching formats at the College and in other locations. We will engage in teaching and preaching in Church, conference and organisational settings.

2. Annual public lecture and bi-annual consultation Each year a significant speaker will be invited to deliver Redcliffe’s ‘Annual Lecture in Bible and Mission’. In 2009 Revd Dr Chris Wright delivered the first lecture of this kind. We will host a bi-annual consultation on the Bible and Mission to coincide with the ‘Annual Lecture in Bible and Mission’. Bible and Mission scholars, practitioners and students will be invited to attend and contribute. Technologies such as video-streaming and other new media applications will be used to make these events accessible. This will enable the participation of those not able to be at the events, and will also act as a resource subsequent to the event.

3. Writing Publishing at both academic and popular levels to encourage further reflection within the Church and the academy on the Bible and Mission in theory and practice. Edit an annual issue of Redcliffe’s E-journal, Encounters, on a Bible and Mission theme, usually based on the contents of the public lecture and consultation. Encounters is Redcliffe’s free, online, web-based journal that enjoys a well established and growing reputation. See the editions from April 2007 (Mission and the Old Testament) and June 2009 (The Bible and Mission) as examples of what this might look like. Write regular posts on the Bible and Mission blog (found on the home page of this site) and produce a regular email bulletin for subscribers. These are key ways of disseminating what is happening at the Centre, and passing on knowledge in a quick and accessible way. Develop content of a Bible and Mission website, which would host the blog and contain resources useful to those engaged in the research, writing, study and practice of Bible and Mission.

4. Hosting a Visiting Bible and Mission Scholar Each year CSBM will invite a scholar from the Majority World to join us. This scholar will be currently engaged in their doctoral research, preferably on a Bible and Mission theme. They will be based at Redcliffe and will contribute to the teaching programme. They will also carry out some research for the Centre, as arranged with the Director. The rest of the time they will be working on their own research.

5. Strengthen Redcliffe’s already excellent Bible and Mission resources Redcliffe is already an excellent place to study the Bible and Mission. CSBM will further strengthen the resources available to students, as well as those who wish to visit the College for research purposes, sabbaticals, home leave, and study breaks.

The Bible and mission cannot be separated. The Bible is both the story of God’s missionary activity and also a vital tool in the work of mission. As an organisation devoted to the translation and use of the Scriptures, Wycliffe Bible Translators are delighted to be working in partnership with Redcliffe and others to develop the Centre for the Study of Bible and Mission. (Eddie Arthur, Executive Director, Wycliffe UK)