Called into the mission of God : a missional reading of Paul's Thessalonian correspondence

In Called into the Mission of God , Roji George argues that Paul's primary interest was neither doctrinal teaching nor the articulation of an anti-imperial discourse. Instead, he contends that amidst the many problems that faced the local Thessalonian community--problems arising out of eschatological fears, ethical difficulties in the community, and persecution from outside groups--Paul brought primarily a missional concern to impart ethical exhortation and eschatological teaching in a political language. The book will be helpful to those theologians, scholars, teachers, and students grappling with the message of Paul in his own time and in ours. Called into the Mission of God represents an increasing commitment on the part of Fortress Press to support the wide dissemination of the best theological and biblical writing by the best scholars from the Global South. Front Cover Praise for Called into the Mission of God Called into the Mission of God Title Page Contents Acknowledgments Introduction Reading a Text Missionally 1.1. Important terms and definitions 1.2. A definition of missional hermeneutic 1.3. Why missional hermeneutic in biblical studies? 1.4. Competing or complementary trends in missional reading 1.5. Missional hermeneutic: A reader-oriented interpretive strategy? 1.6. Reading the Thessalonian correspondence missionally Locating Thessalonians in its Missional Context 2.1. The city of Thessalonica: Social, cultural, religious, and political context 2.2. Authenticity and date of Paul’s Thessalonian correspondence 2.3. The question of sequence and occasion of 1 and 2 Thessalonians 2.4. The purpose of 1 and 2 Thessalonians 2.5. Paul’s Thessalonian community and the Christians in a pluralistic and hostile context in India Eschatology: A Framework for Missional Theology 3.1. The centrality of eschatology for Paul’s missional theology in Thessalonian correspondence 3.2. The language of eschatology 3.3. Eschatology, Paul’s mission, and the Thessalonians God and His Community in Thessalonica 4.1. God in 1 and 2 Thessalonians 4.2. God and the missional community in Thessalonica 4.3. The church as a risk-taking missional community 4.4. Church in India: A missional call The Gospel and Missional Pneumatology 5.1. The gospel in Thessalonica 5.2. Missional pneumatology 5.3. The creative word, the Spirit, and the Charismata for the life and mission of the church today Imitation: A Pauline Strategy of Discipleship 6.1. Interrelationship between imitation and discipleship 6.2. Discipling through imitation in 1 and 2 Thessalonians 6.3. Missional ethics 6.4. Cultural ambiguity, strategic identity, and discipleship “in Christ” 6.5. Imitation for discipleship and Christian witness in India Conclusion Bibliography "Roji George argues that Paul's primary interest was neither doctrinal teaching nor the articulation of an anti-imperial discourse. Instead, he contends that amidst the many problems that faced the Thessalonian community--eschatological fears, ethical difficulties, and persecution from outside groups--Paul brought primarily a missional concern to impart ethical exhortation and eschatological teaching. The book will appeal to scholars, teachers, and students grappling with the message of Paul in his time and in ours." -- Publisher, page four of cover