MISSIOLOGY IS THE STUDY OF CHRISTIANITY AS A MISSIONARY ACTIVITY, EXPLORING HOW TO BEST SHARE THE GOSPEL BOTH WITHIN AND OUTSIDE THE CHURCH.

Missiology scholars explore how to best share the Gospel within and outside the Church

By Garan Santicola

In January 24, 2023, the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome approved a revision of the epistemological statute of the faculty of missiology as part of a broad effort to renew the mission of the 473-year-old Jesuit-run school, the first institution founded by the Society of Jesus and the most important center for Catholic theological studies today.

The final statutes of this renewal went into effect earlier this year, with a focus on incorporating the Pontifical Biblical Institute and the Pontifical Oriental Institute into the Gregorian. But the more subtle changes underway in missiology may be a perfect lens through which to understand renewal in general at the Gregorian because missiology underpins the purpose of the institution itself.

Missiology is the study of Christianity as a missionary activity, exploring how to best share the Gospel both within and outside the Church. Father Bryan Lobo, SJ, the dean of the faculty of missiology at the Gregorian, defines missiology as “a science that studies all aspects of the Church’s mission, rooted in the Missio Dei, in the person of Jesus Christ and in the proclamation of the Kingdom of God, God, according to the cultural and religious contexts it encounters, and the challenges it is called to face in today’s world.”

Father Mark Lewis, SJ, the Gregorian’s rector, told Omnes magazine in 2024 that his approach is similar to Argentine soccer star Lionel Messi’s game strategy.

“In the first half, he walks around the field and observes,” Fr. Lewis says. “After a while, he knows more or less where the ball is going to arrive. And there it is. It’s not easy. I’m not saying I can do it, but this is the challenge, to think about where the Church is going, where the world is going and how we can help both in the future. That’s the goal.”

Considering Fr. Lewis’ “mindset of anticipation,” Fr. Lobo identifies three paths within the field’s revised profile that can help the vision flourish. He also attributes the rationale underpinning the paths to the Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium and “the orientation that Pope Francis has given the present papacy.”

The first path has two parts: evangelization with a focus on taking the Gospel to the peripheries; and giving attention to particular churches with a focus on inculturation. The merger with the Pontifical Oriental Institute provides opportunity to offer more courses on important themes of the Oriental Churches, but Fr. Lobo also notes that it goes beyond distinctions in liturgical rites to encompass variations in culture.

“Courses, seminars and other aspects of missiological formation will need to be constantly renewed and reworked to help the students think of mission not in a stagnant and straightjacketed way but in a more dynamic way, so that they feel confident to embrace the future world, helping the Church to be more resourceful, reliable and acceptable for the future generation,” Fr. Lobo says.

He refers to a reverse mission that occurred in recent decades with the trend of priests coming to the West from African, Asian and Latin American countries. This is an example of missiology’s fluid nature, how it can portray a changing perspective on missiology.

Gregorian Professor Paolo Trianni suggests the current renewal effort might be seen through the lens of Aufhebung, a Hegelian concept wherein opposing ideas are synthesized into a new understanding that retains core truths from both.

“It seems to me that our authorities are accompanying this era of change by opening up to current issues but preserving the ancient,” Trianni says.

In looking to the roots of Jesuit missiology, Trianni points to the Jesuit missionaries who worked in Japan, some of whom became true Zen masters esteemed by Buddhists themselves. “Missiology has always been successful when it has shown openness,” he says, citing Fr. Matteo Ricci, SJ, a founder in 1601 of the Jesuit missions in China. “On the contrary, when, after his death and that of his companions, the theological line was changed, all the great results of his missionary action were lost. Missiology, unlike dogmatic theology, has the duty to be exploratory and innovative.”

The second and third paths of missiology under the renewed statute—mission in contemporary societies and interreligious dialogue—demonstrate the need for creativity in the field. “Embedding values that challenge the contemporary hedonistic, consumeristic and over-secularized world have become signals that influenced not just the epistemological statutes of missiology, but I think the universal Church,” Fr. Lobo says.

Trianni has been drawn to the culture of India as he searches for effective ways to interface with today’s world. “I am very attached to what I call the Theological School of Shantivanam, with figures such as Jules Monchanin, Henri Le Saux, Bede Griffiths, and I would also add Raimon Panikkar, who have produced an authentic intercultural comparison and nourished inter-monastic dialogue,” Trianni says.

His views are marked by a genuine openness to ideas and exploration of truth wherever it may be found, yet it is also important to note that he refers to Christian conversion as the apex. Immersion in Indian culture is “a very effective pastoral strategy to bring back into the Church those who have distanced themselves because they were seduced by Eastern spiritualities or yoga,” he says.

Where Trianni sees Christianity as the apex of all spirituality, he views missiology as the apex of Christianity. “Missiology today looks at the complexity of the world and the innumerable problems of contemporaneity but remains faithful to its task of announcing the Gospel and demonstrating its highest truth,” he says. “Missiology is not an appendix of theology. It is its apex, its moment of synthesis, its contact with the world.”