Since their earliest days, institutions providing a Protestant education have always been respected and sought-after for their rigor and relative freedom from dogma—and despite today’s secularism and plurality, they remain so. This international handbook is the ultimate companion to protestant schooling worldwide. Its 39 chapters form the most comprehensive and wide-ranging treatment of the subject yet available, addressing Protestant education on all six inhabited continents and featuring the perspectives of leading authorities and public figures. The contributions cover in detail not only the facts and features of Protestant schooling in sundry nations, but also integrate a range of themes common to them all, themes so vital that they are of central concern to Christians around the world and of whatever denomination. Some of these topics are school choice, globalization, Bible pedagogy and character education, the fine arts, parental involvement, and the rise of Christianity in previously inaccessible locations such as China. The handbook’s stellar list of authors is a Who’s Who of authorities on the subject and includes a renowned American evangelical, a former historian of the US House of Representatives, and White House consultants responsible for framing legislation. The many contributors from outside the USA are leading academics conducting seminal research on numerous topics in the field. Both exhaustive and authoritative, The International Handbook of Protestant Educationwill be an invaluable asset to educators, ministers, parents, policy makers political leaders of any denomination—or none.
The Oxford Handbook of Mission Studies represents more than a century of scholarship related to the theology, history, and methodology of the propagation of Christian faith and the engagement of Christians with cultures, religions, and societies worldwide. It contains more than 40 articles by experts from different disciplinary and ecclesial perspectives, who are from all continents. It not only offers a broad overview of key approaches and issues in mission studies but it also highlights current trends and suggests future developments. The Handbook builds on renewed interest in mission studies this century generated by recent key statements on mission from ecumenical, evangelical, Catholic, and Orthodox sources, and by a spate of academic works on the topic. Western church leaders now apply insights from foreign missions (such as, inculturation, liberation, interfaith work, and power encounter) to today's multicultural societies. Meanwhile, there are new initiatives in mission from the Majority World, where most Christians live, so that sending is not only 'from the west to the rest' but 'from everywhere to everywhere'. Therefore, this volume aims to reflect the voices of the receivers of mission as well as its protagonists and to raise awareness of new movements. In a time of growing recognition of 'religions' more generally, this work examines and theorizes the missional dimensions of the world's largest religion: its agendas, growth, outreach, role in public life, effect on cultures, relevance for development, and its approaches to other communities.
This comprehensive guide will facilitate scholarly research concerning the history of Christianity in China as well as the wider Sino-Western cultural encounter. It will assist scholars in their search for material on the anthropological, educational, medical, scientific, social, political, and religious dimensions of the missionary presence in China prior to 1950.The guide contains nearly five hundred entries identifying both Roman Catholic and Protestant missionary sending agencies and related religious congregations. Each entry includes the organization's name in English, followed by its Chinese name, country of origin, and denominational affiliation. Special attention has been paid to identifying the many small, lesser-known groups that arrived in China during the early decades of the twentieth century. In addition, a special category of the as yet little-studied indigenous communities of Chinese women has also been included. Multiple indexes enhance the guide's accessibility.