David Bosch - Some personal reflections

Abstract

Written by one of David Bosch's long-time colleagues, this paper provides an informal, yet important personal view into the life and work of David Bosch, revealing not only an internationally recognized missiologist, but also a man whose everyday life was intimately connected to his missiology. His was a life formed by missiology, yet his missiology also characterised his life. Key events in Bosch's life are related personally, including his early missionary experience in the Transkei, his role in the formation of the Southern African Missiological Society and its journal Missionalia, the worldwide impact of his magnum opus, Transforming Mission, and the devastation many experienced by his death in 1992. Bosch's focion ecumenical missiology, "alternative community", and pacifism are explored alongside his commitment to, and tension with, the Dutch Reformed Church in South Africa. The paper concludes by lauding one of Bosch's greatest missiological contributions: his liberation of the definition of mission, moving away from "mission is..." and toward "mission as..." or, "mission in many modes". © 2009 Brill Academic Publishers.