Samuel Escobar - An Anthology

By Samuel Escobar and Mark Greenwood

Samuel Escobar is one of the most thoughtful, stimulating, and influential missiologists in the contemporary world. He has made outstanding contributions within the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students (IFES), the Lausanne Movement, and in theological institutions in three continents. His voice is rooted in Scripture, shaped in Latin America, and stimulated and sharpened by engagement in the student world. This anthology introduces us to some of his most significant contributions in the fields of culture and mission, mission in Latin America, theological and missiological education and integral mission. It is an indispensable companion for anyone interested in these major areas of reflection and praxis.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Regnum Books International
• Release date: Mar 1, 2022
• ISBN: 9781914454356

Samuel Escobar

Samuel Escobar, a native of Peru and a leading Latin American theologian, was one of the key participants in the 1974 International Congress on World Evangelization at Lausanne, Switzerland. He is professor emeritus of missiology at Palmer Theological Seminary and a past president of the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students. His books include The New Global Mission and La Palabra: Vida de la Iglesia.

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REGNUM GLOBAL VOICES

Samuel Escobar: An Anthology

Series Preface

The Global Voices series takes the missiological work of writers who have written in their own language and makes this accessible to the English-speaking world through translation and republishing. The key principle here is that the translated work reflects the context, experience and thinking of the local context. In so doing, Regnum Books seeks to amplify voices less easily heard outside their own contexts. Work of this nature will make a significant contribution to the development of ‘polycentric missiology’; namely, mission thinking and practice that truly reflects the contexts, concerns and contributions of the global church in all its rich diversity.

Series Editors

REGNUM GLOBAL THEOLOGICAL VOICES

Samuel Escobar: An Anthology

Samuel Escobar

Edited by Mark Greenwood

Copyright © Samuel Escobar 2022

First published 2022 by Regnum Books International

Regnum is an imprint of the Oxford Centre for Mission Studies

St. Philip and St. James Church

Woodstock Road

Oxford OX2 6HR, UK

www.regnumbooks.net

The right of Samuel Escobar as the Author of this Work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All previous publishing data has been provided by Samuel Escobar, and is provided at the beginning of each relevant chapter.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electric, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher or a licence permitting restricted copying. In the UK such licences are issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, 90 Tottenham Court Road, London W1P 9HE.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN: 978-1-914454-36-3

Typeset by Words by Design

for Regnum Books International

The publication of this volume is made possible through the financial assistance of Evangelisches Missionswerk and BMS World Mission.

Contents

Series Editors’ Note

Preface

The Mission of the Church: A Latin American Perspective Alderi Souza de Matos

A: Integral Mission

1.From Praxis to Reflection: The Development of Integral Mission in Latin America

2.Liberation Theology and the Development of Latin American Evangelical Theology

3.The Pilgrimage Towards Holistic Mission

4.Doing Evangelical Theology at a Time of Turmoil: A Retrospective Survey of Andrew Kirk’s Latin American Experience

B: Theological and Missiological Education

5.Fundamentalism and Education in Latin America

6.Teaching for Ministry in the Twenty-First Century

7.A New Harvest of Theological Books in Spanish

C: Culture and Mission

8.The Distinctive Traits of an Anabaptist Mission Theology

9.Refugees: A New Testament Perspective

10.Doing Theology in Community

D: Mission from Latin America

11.Faith and Hope for the Future: Toward a Vital Evangelical Theology for the 21st Century

12.The Missiological Significance of Latin American Protestantism

13.It’s Your Turn Young Ones – Evangelical Mission in Latin America and Beyond

14.The Missionary Effort from Latin America

Series Editors’ Note:

Over the course of a distinguished career spanning over six decades, mission theologian Samuel Escobar has published numerous books and hundreds of papers and articles. In conversation with Samuel we have chosen and organised the writings in this anthology to bring together a small but representative sample of his thinking, as well as introducing some previously unpublished materials. Some chapters have been significantly updated by the author, or by the editors, or by both. Due to the volume being a collection of thoughts from a wide range of dates and original contexts, there are sections which revisit similar reflections. We ask for the reader's discernment and forgiveness. At the same time, such passages maintain the integrity of the original and offer a clear sense of the development of Samuel's thinking through the decades.

During the preparation of this publication, Samuel emphasized to us his desire that readers pay particular attention to the women he mentions throughout, and their contribution to concepts and movements in mission.

It is hoped that through this anthology, the extraordinary contribution of this Peruvian missiological giant will become more accessible and widely known.

Preface

The Mission of the Church:

A Latin American Perspective

Alderi Souza de Matos

Translated from Portuguese by Daniel Clark

One of the most crucial questions in missiology concerns how to define the very concept of mission. What should one understand by Christian missions? What are the objectives and the nature of the mission of the church? Evidently, different presuppositions and theological commitments will lead to a great variety of answers. An older approach is the debate concerning evangelization and civilization.¹ Currently, it is more common to talk about evangelism and social responsibility. Different twentieth century authors have sought to express the mission of the church in terms of development, Christian presence, interreligious dialogue, justice and peace, stewardship, and other concepts.

This is certainly a controversial issue but of considerable importance for the church and for individual Christians. How can the church be what it should be and do what it should do if it does not have a clear understanding of its purpose in society and the world? The objective of this anthology is to present these themes from the perspective of Samuel Escobar, one of the most noteworthy evangelical missiologists in Latin America. Escobar´s selection is justified for many reasons. He has a deep knowledge of the religious, social and political situation of Latin America, and he has worked in many countries as a pastor and missionary; he is an articulate and creative theologian, writer and speaker; he has been a respected leader in missiological and theological circles; he has been in a constant dialogue with representatives of important movements and groups in Latin American and world Christianity and finally, for many years, he has been a lecturer at North American and Spanish theological institutions which has placed him in a privileged position to speak to a wider audience and to take to the First World a valuable Third World perspective about missions.

Throughout the years, Escobar has defended a concept of mission which is biblical, evangelical, contextual, and sensitive to Latin America’s complex spiritual, political, social, and economic realities. He is critical of reductionist or dichotomist missionary models, proposing a programme which involves taking the integral Gospel to the integral human being, across the full scope of their needs and relationships.

Biographical Data and Writings

Samuel Escobar was born in Peru and went to a British missionary school in Arequipa. In 1956 he received his Masters in Arts and Education at the University of San Marcos in Lima, after which he dedicated himself to primary, secondary and university education.

In 1959 Escobar became the itinerant secretary of the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students, visiting nearly all the countries in Latin America. He worked as a missionary among university students in Argentina and Brazil² and was director of the Kairos Evangelical Community in Buenos Aires. A few years later, he studied for his Ph.D. at the Complutense University of Madrid and later worked as secretary of the Canadian Inter-Varsity Fellowship based in Toronto.³

Escobar was one of the founders and the first President of the Latin American Theological Fraternity (1970–1986), and from 1979 to 1985 he was General Secretary of the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students. In the 1960s and 1970s, Escobar and other Latin American theologians became well known in evangelical and ecumenical circles through their participation in important conferences. Beyond this, Escobar has been for many years a member of the Theological Commission of the World Evangelical Fellowship, having participated in many of its consultations across the world.⁴ Now in his retirement in Spain, Samuel Escobar is past President of the United Bible Societies and former Professor of Missiology at the Eastern Baptist Seminary in Philadelphia.⁵

Escobar continues to write. He is the author of various theological and missiological books, and of essays which have been published as book chapters. Finally, he has also written numerous articles which have appeared in prestigious journals, such as Evangelical Missions Quarterly, Evangelical Review of Theology, International Bulletin of Missionary Research, Transformation, Missiology and International Review of Mission, among others. In this anthology, Escobar has selected a sample of these articles and included some new writings.

Escobar’s influences, especially through the movements he participated in from the 1960s onwards, help us to understand the concerns expressed in the titles of his essays.

Theological Reflection and Relationships

Samuel Escobar identifies himself as an Evangelical.⁶ On the one hand, this means that he has no particular connection with the different currents of liberation theology, be they Catholic or Protestant, which are still an important component of Latin American theology. On the other hand, he is far away from sharing fundamentalist ideas and commitments, being considerably critical towards this theology/ideology.

Escobar’s Latin American identity is an essential component in his theological reflections and relationships. Having lived during a turbulent period in Latin American history, marked by injustice and oppression, political violence, military coups, dictatorships and social and economic chaos, Escobar and some of his colleagues felt that it was not enough to preach a purely spiritual Gospel. For Escobar, the Gospel is relevant to all of life. The church should proclaim Jesus Christ as Saviour and Lord, as human beings are in need both of reconciliation with God and of dignity and integrity in their life in this world, as individuals and as members of a society. The Gospel has revolutionary social and political implications which cannot be omitted. Consequently, Escobar has a deep interest in missions. As a pastor, a leader of student movements, a teacher, and a theologian, he has always been interested in the mission of the church, especially in a context of poverty and suffering. For Escobar, the full biblical message, and especially the ministry and teaching of Jesus, reveals the love of God for all of human needs, and the church should share in this interest. Escobar considers it his task to articulate this holistic missiology and to inspire others – students, pastors, lay Christians, and leaders – to share this vision.

International audiences heard Escobar for the first time at the IFES conventions held in Urbana, United States of America, in the 1960s. Alongside other Latin American speakers, he challenged North American Evangelicals to recognize the need to promote social justice and political reform as part of their responsibilities as Christians. At the 1970 convention, Escobar would talk passionately about the need to establish a relationship between social concern and global evangelization.

At the World Evangelism Congress, Berlin, 1966, Escobar was among many Third World leaders who spoke emphatically in favour of native churches. He encouraged missionaries to overcome the paternalistic, imperialistic, and colonial mentality, to allow the development of indigenous churches having strong foundations in the faith, a well-trained national leadership and the ability to work with effectiveness in their local context.

Nonetheless, the main international forum at which Escobar’s voice was heard was the International World Evangelisation Conference, Lausanne, 1974. Bassham observes that the presentations and discussions at Lausanne revealed a spirit of openness, diversity of perspectives and depth of analysis which had never been reached before at an evangelical conference.⁷ The contributions from Third World speakers were one of the main influences in the Congress’ deliberations. The impact of leaders, such as Samuel Escobar and René Padilla, through the Radical Discipleship Group was especially noteworthy.

While Lausanne’s theological orientation remained firmly evangelical, emphasizing the authority of Scripture, the uniqueness of Christ and the need for evangelism, it also led to some well defined changes in evangelical mission theology. The Lausanne Pact went far beyond traditional evangelical statements, demonstrating that biblical evangelism is inseparable from social responsibility, Christian discipleship and the renewal of the church. Lausanne explored the wider theme of global evangelization, referring to the total ministry and mission of the church. On many occasions, participants affirmed a permanent and profound interest in social action in favour of the poor and needy, even to the point of seeking to change social structures. Latin American speakers, such as René Padilla, Orlando Costas and Samuel Escobar, made strong statements that, being concerned with humanity’s social needs and becoming involved in these needs was a necessary part of Christian responsibility and witness in regards to the world. Bassham quotes the following statements by Escobar:

A spirituality without discipleship in the daily social, economic and political aspects of life, is religiosity and not Christianity … once and for all, we should reject the false notion that concern with the social implications of the Gospel and the social dimensions of Christian witness are the result of a false doctrine or the absence of evangelical conviction. On the contrary, it is our interest in the integrity of the Gospel that motivates us to emphasize its social dimension.⁸

At a continental level, Samuel Escobar played an important role in the First Latin American Evangelization Congress, (CLADE 1, Bogotá, 1969), which was planned as a response to the request of Latin American delegates present at the Berlin Congress, three years before.⁹ Of the 28 main speeches, his presentation on the social responsibility of the church received the most enthusiastic response.¹⁰ He argued eloquently that both evangelism and social action are necessary for Christian witness:

There are sufficient grounds in the history of the church and the teachings of the Word of God to affirm categorically that concern for the social aspect of evangelical witness in the world is not to abandon the fundamental truths of the Gospel, on the contrary it is to take those themes which form the foundation of the Gospel, the teaching concerning God, Jesus Christ, humanity and the world to its full consequences … We emphasize that evangelization which does not take into account social problems and which does not announce salvation and the sovereignty of Christ within the context where those who are listening live, is a deficient evangelization, which betrays biblical teaching and does not follow the model established by Jesus, who sends the evangelist.¹¹

This emphasis found its place in the Bogotá Evangelical Declaration which affirmed, the time has come for us, Evangelicals, to take seriously our social responsibility. Participants affirmed that Christ’s example needs to be incarnated in the critical Latin American situation of sub-development, injustice, hunger, violence and despair,¹² if Christians desire to faithfully witness in their social and cultural context.

Orlando Costas comments that 1969 was for Protestants what 1968 had been for Catholics (II Latin American Episcopal Conference in Medellin, Colombia). That year, alongside CLADE I, Latin American Protestants also held another major conference – the Latin American Evangelical Conference (CELA III), in Buenos Aires. Despite the differences between the two movements, Costa sees the emergence of new missiological tendencies in the documents coming from both events characterized by three main interests: a search for a historical understanding of missions, the expression of a more authentic form of Christian unity in the missionary enterprise and a more serious and profound missiological reflection. In his opinion, this third quest has taken various forms, one of which is the ethical-missiological model, that is, mission from the perspective of ethical questions as articulated by Samuel Escobar and René Padilla, among others.¹³

Escobar himself believes that his model can be better described as holistic.¹⁴ He argues that Latin Evangelicals chose the Lausanne Covenant as an expression of their basic doctrinal consensus and their clear commitment to a model of biblical and integral mission.¹⁵

In a chapter on Latin America, which he wrote for the book, Toward the Twenty-First Century in Christian Mission (1993), Escobar mentions two other Latin American missionary conferences, both held in Brazil. One was the First Latin American Missionary Conference (Curitiba, 1976), which produced a statement maintaining Lausanne’s emphasis on social concern as part of the mission of the church: Just as in the past Jesus Christ’s call and his mission were a call to cross geographical borders, so today the Lord is calling us to cross the borders of inequality, injustice and ideological idolatry. ¹⁶

Nonetheless, Escobar laments the fact that the Iberian-American Missionary Congress (COMIBAM, Sao Paulo, 1987) ceased considering such essential concepts in missiological understanding, including the dramatic reality of the poverty which surrounded the place where the delegates were meeting.¹⁷

For this reason, Escobar is a rigorous critic of the Church Growth Movement, started by Donald McGavran, in 1960. He is concerned about a managerial missiology which emphasizes the verbal proclamation and the growth of the number of adherents to the church as the main components of Christian missions. Reacting against the easy triumphalism of statistics and the tyrannical control of data, Escobar believes that the success of Protestant advances in Latin America needs to be interpreted through serious questions about its transformational dynamics and its contribution to justice in social relations.¹⁸

He believes that the foundation of this enquiry lies not only in a clear commitment to the task of missions and evangelization, but also through a conscious effort to carry out this task by following biblical standards. In this way, one can witness the emergence of a new contextual theology, which calls for integrity in mission and seeks to associate evangelistic zeal with holistic passion.¹⁹

In response to an article by McGavran, Escobar affirms that as an Evangelical, he wholeheartedly agrees with two points of McGavran’s appeal: first, the church should never lose its sense of mission and its calling to proclaim Jesus Christ as Saviour and Lord. Secondly, as Jesus Christ is Lord, humanity can only find salvation in His name, and Christ’s uniqueness is essential for the church’s message.²⁰ What Escobar questions is whether someone can really evangelize announcing Christ as Saviour while leaving the issue of Christ’s lordship over all of creation to a second stage, which might never come.

He observes that the great missionaries of the first 1800 years would be unlikely to make a distinction, like McGavran, between the spiritual (evangelization) and the rest. They did not seek to establish a hierarchy in these terms because they operated with a holistic, biblical understanding of human beings. What the Church Growth Movement needs is to be corrected by a solid biblical theology. Escobar argues that the great dilemma that missiology should be aware of is different. Will missionary work follow the model of Jesus and the first Apostles, or will it adopt the techniques and standards of functionalist sociology, marketing, and public relations?²¹

Understandably, Escobar appreciates the dynamic and growth of popular Protestantism (Pentecostalism) in Latin America. As an Evangelical, he approaches this movement as a participant observer, someone who has sought to be a loving interpreter and critic – a severe critic on some issues – from the inside.²² He emphasizes various missiological lessons that can be extracted from the impressive growth of Latin American Protestantism: it is a religious movement (not a social or political movement); it is a popular movement; it mobilizes people for mission and creates a sense of community. As Escobar declares:

For masses in transition, these churches are not only offering a shelter or refuge in the limited sense, but the only available way to find social acceptance, achieve human dignity and survive the impact of the forces of anomie which act in large cities.²³

He observes that some Latin American Pentecostals also chose the Lausanne Covenant as an expression of their commitment to a biblical and holistic model of mission. If, on the one hand, Escobar disagrees with the Church Growth Movement, on the other hand, he has little enthusiasm for liberation theology. He observes that in the beginning of Protestant missions to Latin America, the Gospel was the true liberating force in the lives of Latin Americans, whereas the official religion was an oppressive force.²⁴ In recent decades, as the Latin American Roman Catholic Church has sought new political and social relevance, liberation theology has become one of the consequences of this process.

Escobar understands liberation theology as an eloquent voice seeking to reinterpret the history and the message of Christianity and, therefore, must be assessed by evangelical missiology.²⁵ Liberation theology confronts evangelical missiology with two challenges: one in the area of historical consciousness, and the other in hermeneutics. With regards to the first, while Escobar considers the Marxist analysis and the eschatology of liberation theology inadequate, he admits that evangelical missiology is learning to take a less naïve and more mature attitude to mission history. He admits we can no longer accept a missiology which refuses to take political and social realities seriously.²⁶

With regards to hermeneutics, Escobar reaffirms the evangelical emphasis on the centrality of Scripture and questions the strongly ideological approach to interpretation adopted by liberation theologians. He admits that evangelical hermeneutics needs to be constantly purified from ideological presuppositions, and appeals to a genuine Christological missiology which, in the words of René Padilla, emphasizes Christian discipleship as something which implies putting the totality of life under the lordship of Jesus Christ.²⁷ Against the docetic Christ of traditional Latin American Catholicism, Escobar and his colleagues at the Latin American Theological Fraternity have reflected on Jesus in the Gospels, and how his work and teaching are relevant for all areas of life, both individual and social. This reflection includes a critique of Latin American Evangelical Christianity. Escobar again quotes his friend, René Padilla, (Evangelicalism) affirms the transformative power of the Gospel with regards to the individual but is completely incapable of relating the Gospel to social ethics and social life. ²⁸

This Christological missiology seeks a new model to inspire missionary activity by approaching biblical material from various perspectives, which possess missiological meaning. There is a serious reflection on what the Gospels say about the person and work of Jesus of Nazareth. There is also concern for the features of Jesus’ mission, with the understanding that to be his disciple is to be called by him – both to know him and to participate in his mission. Beyond this, there is a concern for the meaning and the integrity of the Gospel – Jesus Christ is both the content of one´s model of mission and the goal of the proclamation of the Gospel.

Escobar identifies this missiological reflection, which is coming not only from Latin America, but also from Africa and Asia, as a critical missiology from the periphery. He observes that this missiology is characterized by a strong hermeneutical emphasis which insists on the importance of reading the world and reading the Word, even if this means an uncomfortable and serious examination of evangelical heritage.²⁹

He argues that it would be beneficial for the globalization of missions and evangelical theology if the different currents in evangelicalism (European, Church Growth, Third World) could converge in a better articulated and co- operative movement to face the missionary task of the third millennium. In an article on the preparation of mission leaders, Escobar observes that the internationalization of Christian missions requires recognizing that God has raised large and flourishing churches in the Third World. In these Southern hemisphere churches, the churches of the poor, God is raising a new missionary force. Escobar would like to hear North American churches say, Let us discover what God is doing in other parts of the world, especially on the frontiers of mission and how he is doing it, and let us unite with our brothers and sisters in order to complete the unfinished task.³⁰

In his already mentioned work published in Portuguese, Escobar deals in five essays with some of his fundamental concerns. Initially, he emphasizes the importance of the preparation of missionaries and missiologists for the Latin American context. In this sense, he argues that our training programme in Latin America needs to be elaborated based on biblical convictions, life experiences, historical consciousness and pastoral concern.³¹ Once again he expresses his enthusiasm for popular Protestantism (Pentecostalism) due to its focus on the mobilization of lay Christians, its contextualized forms of worship and missionary action, and the role granted to the ministry of the Holy Spirit and the element of spiritual conflict related to the mission of the church.

After emphasizing the new factor in the history of Christianity in the transfer of missionary dynamism to the Southern hemisphere (Africa, Asia and Latin America), he indicates that Latin American Evangelicals have a greater affinity with the Pietists, Moravians and Revivalists of the seventeenth and eighteenth century than with the Reformers of the sixteenth century. This has led Escobar, in recent years, to give a greater emphasis to the role of the Holy Spirit in Christian mission, alongside his prior focus centred on Christ. He understands that Latin American Evangelicals need a renewed impulse from the Holy Spirit and a new and contextual reading of God’s Word.³²

While expressing his admiration for popular churches, Escobar recognizes that in their emphasis on converting individuals to the Gospel, they face the risks of the excesses of individualism, a spirit of competition, the lack of a clear ecclesiology, and sectarian attitudes. To overcome these problems, he once again proposes the model of integral mission, which goes beyond personal religious experience to include the community and the world.³³

Finally, Escobar alerts evangelical Christians to the constant need for incarnation and a contextualization which rejects every and any form of paternalism and discrimination, from the local community itself. He stresses the need for a profound spirituality allied to an equally intense concern with the ethical demands of the Gospel, and concludes with an analysis of Paul’s missiological model, with its noteworthy interaction between reflection and missionary action.

Final Reflections

Samuel Escobar does not identify himself as a Reformer or as a Calvinist. His biography and ministry reveal a predominant connection with the Anabaptist tradition. Nonetheless, some of his major themes would receive the support of John Calvin and his followers. In the writings of the great Reformer, be it in his commentaries, letters, sermons or The Institutes, we can see a constant concern for the social and communal implications of the Gospel, something which has been extensively recorded by various researchers.³⁴ Historically, Reformed Christians have emphasized a comprehensive understanding of the church’s mission, although their practice has not always corresponded to these convictions

It is not necessary to agree with all that Escobar has written. In fact, some aspects of his missiology need repair, such as his almost exclusive emphasis on the impoverished masses in Latin America as the object of the church’s missionary action. Although there continue to be impoverished masses, our continent has witnessed the increasingly accentuated growth of a significant middle class which should also be the object of the church’s interest. Also, Escobar tends to over-emphasize the positive values of popular churches, giving little attention to some serious problems these churches exhibit, especially in doctrinal and ethical areas, as is the case of some recent Neo- Pentecostal movements.

Nonetheless, Escobar and his colleagues have something important to say to the historical evangelical churches of Latin America, which truly face the risk of becoming irrelevant in society, if they do not wake up to some painful realities which exist around them. This would be a deplorable historical regression, as the Christian church in general, and evangelical churches in particular, have a long and honoured history of integral mission across the world. It is enough to remember the intense effort of missions and social reform generated by the Great Revivals of the eighteenth and nineteenth century, both in Europe and the United States.

At the same time that they sent missionaries to all the corners of the world, churches and individual Christians were also involved in the vanguard of movements against the slave trade, for the abolition of slavery, the reform of prisons, the struggle against child labour, the fight against alcoholism, and other noble causes. Unfortunately, at the start of this century, the theological controversies exemplified by the fundamentalist-modernist controversy in the United States led to the dichotomous conception of the mission of the church which we observe today. Overall, conservatives have held on to the idea that the exclusive mission of the church is evangelization, leading to individual conversions,