Toward Comm/unity amid Brokenness

Abstract

This article argues that one of the postulations and, simultaneously, aims of Christian mission as part of missio Dei is to recognize the image of God in the other. To advance its arguments, it employs three central concepts, namely, brokenness, relationality, and mutuality. These concepts are to be perceived in terms of a hermeneutic arch that constitutes theological/missiological understanding of both what it means to be human and what it means to be involved in missio Dei. Taken together, they will serve as stepping stones to a relational anthropology that can give orientation to Christian mission today. In particular, the concept of “comm/unity” will be suggested as a means to address the double aspect of human essential togetherness and the relationality of distinct beings that is characteristic for the conditio humana. The aim of the article is to show that there is a deep and inherent link between mission, unity, and anthropology.