Confession: I read Bosch in the bath. This is not very sensible, because I'm supposed to be making notes on Bosch, and I can't really do that in the bath, but it's just the right sort of reading to be doing when you're not doing anything else. As I get a grip on his understanding of the new theology, I'm surprised by how often he references the Kuhnian model of paradigm shifts in the history of mission without making the obvious inference - theological and missiological paradigms are incommensurable.
In other words, it makes as little sense to say "The Early Church had better theology than we do because they were closest to Jesus" as it does to say "We have better theology than the Early Church because we have twenty centuries of development and relevation, and better tools to understand the original era". In fact, we are living in an entirely different world and worldview from the Early Church, (and the post-Schism Catholic domination, and the Reformation, and so on) and there is no continuity of reference between them.
Just an idea.
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