The article surveys and explains the emergence of the “science of missions” (Missionswissenschaft or science missionnaire) among both Protestants and Catholics in Europe in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and the gradual supersession of this terminology, first by the term “missiology” (which originated as the Francophone missiologie) and much later by the concept of “world Christianity”. Originally employed in the mid-20th century with primary reference to the global ecumenical movement, “world Christianity” has in the 21st century largely replaced “missiology” as a conceptual framework for the academic study of the growth of non-Western Christianity. The article identifies three main points of contrast between the perspectives adopted by world Christianity scholarship and the older missiological approaches: world Christianity is multidirectional rather than unidirectional; it is more interested in diverse patterns of reception of the faith than in its propagation; and it tends to eschew judgments of theological authenticity. The author argues that Orthodox Christians are likely to welcome the first two of these emphases, but to be more hesitant about the implications of the third.

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