Introduction to Missiological Research Design / Edgar J. Elliston [book review]

Abstract

In Introduction to Missiological Research Design, Edgar J. Elliston introduces the reader to the process of designing missiological research. He contends that missiology, besides being a full-fledged academic discipline, is also complex; and as such, no single disciplinary approach, or a combination of disciplinary approaches adequately address the issues related to research methods in mission. However, because the specific focus of missiology is on what God has done, is doing, and intends to do to accomplish his purpose for human beings, other academic disciplines such as anthropology, communications, economic, history, sociology, history, and many others undergird missiological research. The twelve chapters of the book are structured in two main parts: the first part of seven chapters outlines a step by step process of doing missiological research, and the second of five chapters focuses on how other academic disciplines such as biblical theology of mission, education, communication, history, sociology, and their research methods contribute to missiology. Introduction to Missiological Research Design is a rich resource of collective insights from scholars from different academic backgrounds and is characterized by numerous strengths. The book also argues in favor of missiology being viewed as a full-fledged academic discipline that ranges across the physical, socio-cultural, and spiritual environments in which people live. As such, it necessarily calls for the insights of all those disciplines related to human life. Also, because of the dynamic human situa-