Ninth International Conference on The Image

Abstract

Theological Elaboration of Missionary Catechesis from the Biblical Paul Today mission Ad Gentes is pursued in a more complex and changing reality. John Paul II expanded and enriched the idea of mission and missionary activity by citing situations and circumstances to which mission is directed . Mission is also for those baptized but have lost a living sense of the faith or those who no longer consider themselves members of the Church and live a life far removed from Christ and his Gospel. Drawing inspiration from Acts 17:22-31, Redemptoris Missio describes St Paul in the Areopagus as an ancient metaphor for reaching out to this intermediate group. Paul had spoken without inhibition to a learned assembly in one of the great cultural centers of the ancient world. He proclaimed Christ to an audience that was intellectually and philosophically sophisticated – whose religious practices manifests a search for life’s meaning and so a special concern of the new age. And today it can be taken as a symbol of the new sectors in which the Gospel must be proclaimed. These situations clearly manifest an all-embracing point of missions as clearly seen in Paul’s missionary work of catechizing. It is the objective of the researcher to present the biblical Paul as model for the understanding and appreciation of Missionary Catechesis today.