Abstract
Drawing from insights on the Trinity from two significant Christian thinkers—St. Augustine of Hippo of North Africa and Brahmabandhab Upadhay of India—P. V. Joseph has produced an insightful analysis and offers new possibilities for a trinitarian theology of missio Dei in the Indian context.
An Indian Trinitarian Theology of Missio Dei: Insights from St. Augustine and Brahmabandhab Upadhyay is divided into five chapters. In chapter 1, Joseph begins with a detailed historical analysis of the different tributaries in the development of trinitarian theology, and goes on to examine the relationship between the Trinity and the Christian mission. Joseph traces the origin and development of missio Dei from Karl Barth, to the International Missionary Conference at Willingen in 1952, and to post-Willingen developments. The second chapter analyzes the Indian tributaries in mission discourse. Unfortunately, reading this chapter gives the impression that Christian theology in the Indian context is primarily the work of men. The contribution of women such as Pandita Ramabai and the subaltern women theologies are overlooked. Chapter 3 examines the trinitarian theology of Brahmabandhab Upadhyay. According to Joseph, Upadhyay successfully reinterpreted the Hindu philosophical category of Saccidananda to articulate the concept of Trinity in the Indian soil. Chapter 4 offers Augustine’s understanding of the doctrine of the Trinity in relation to missio Dei. Joseph summarizes by positing, “theologically, mission refers to the economic activity of the trinitarian sending in the New Testament where the Father sends the Son and the Father and the Son together send the Holy Spirit” (8).
The last chapter offers a trinitarian theology of missio Dei in the Indian context. For Joseph, missio Dei is critical to understanding mission in the Indian context. By offering a trinitarian theology of missio Dei, Joseph hopes to provide a “corrective” measure to the polarizing trends of “missiology from above” and “missiology from below” found in Christian mission theology in India. His statement that a rediscovery of trinitarian missio Dei helps make “a shift from an ecclesiocentric view of mission to a trinitarian centric approach” has particular implications for indigenous churches, and especially for the Pentecostal-charismatic churches. Furthermore, Joseph postulates that an understanding of trinitarian life, love, relationality, and dialogue provides a healthy approach to Christian mission in India.
While Joseph is correct in observing that a trinitarian framework would be helpful for “developing a Pentecostal theology,” he fails to fully wrestle with the work of the Holy Spirit in Christian mission. For example, from a Pentecostal perspective, the Holy Spirit is crucial in the work of Christian mission. One would argue that without the Holy Spirit, Christian mission would fail. Pentecostals see in their ecclesiology a corrective measure to an overemphasis on the person of God found in larger Christian tradition. In addition, a deeper dialogue with Orthodox understandings of ecclesiology and missio Dei would have been helpful to Joseph’s framework. Despite these observations, students and scholars of theology and mission will find this book very valuable. Joseph’s work is a good resource for those who are interested in learning about contextual theology and reflecting with a world Christianity framework.