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Topic · Religious studies

Christian Theology and Mission

Christian Theology and Mission is a research topic within Religious studies. Science Explorer counts 19k research works in it since 1950. 9.7% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers explores the transformation of global Christianity since 1945, focusing on topics such as the impact of short-term missions, the role of religious experience, migration and mission, public theology, African Christianity, missionary movements, ecological crisis, and the church in global cities. It delves into the changing landscape of Christian mission and the diverse challenges and opportunities it faces in a rapidly evolving world.

  • Global Christianity
  • Short-Term Missions
  • Religious Experience
  • Migration and Mission
  • Public Theology
  • African Christianity
  • Missionary Movement
  • Ecological Crisis
  • Church in Global Cities
  • Women in Mission
Research works
19k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
1.8k
per year above
Top-10% rate
9.7%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
+8%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
United States
33% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
Christian Theology and Mission

Which countries lead Christian Theology and Mission research?

By volume, the United States and Indonesia publish the most (904 and 533 works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 United States 904 works
  2. 2 Indonesia 533 works
  3. 3 South Africa 411 works
  4. 4 United Kingdom 302 works
  5. 5 Germany 121 works
  6. 6 Nigeria 101 works
  7. 7 Australia 94 works
  8. 8 Canada 93 works
  9. 9 Brazil 91 works
  10. 10 Kenya 82 works

How concentrated that is

The same countries as shares of everything the list above accounts for. A node where two countries do two thirds of the work and one spread evenly across twelve read alike as a ranking and not at all alike here.

United States: 33.1%Indonesia: 19.5%South Africa: 15.1%United Kingdom: 11.0%6 others listed: 21.3%33%largest
United States904 · 33.1%Indonesia533 · 19.5%South Africa411 · 15.1%United Kingdom302 · 11.0%6 others listed582 · 21.3%

Shares of the rows listed above, not of the whole node.

Which institutions lead Christian Theology and Mission research?

By volume in 2022-now, Jakarta Theological Seminary publishes the most Christian Theology and Mission research, followed by University of South Africa and Institut Sains dan Teknologi Terpadu Surabaya.

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Jakarta Theological SeminaryIndonesia 115 works
  2. 2 University of South AfricaSouth Africa 106 works
  3. 3 Institut Sains dan Teknologi Terpadu SurabayaIndonesia 96 works
  4. 4 University of PretoriaSouth Africa 75 works
  5. 5 University of the Free StateSouth Africa 59 works
  6. 6 North-West UniversitySouth Africa 54 works
  7. 7 Stellenbosch UniversitySouth Africa 49 works
  8. 8 Institut Agama Islam Negeri BengkuluIndonesia 41 works
  9. 9 Fuller Theological SeminaryUnited States 28 works
  10. 10 Universitas Teknologi YogyakartaIndonesia 27 works

Who are the leading researchers in Christian Theology and Mission?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Christian Theology and Mission include George Davey Smith, Wolfgang K. Huber and Daniel J Kim.

  1. 1 George Davey Smith United Kingdom 435k citations
  2. 2 Wolfgang K. Huber Germany 239k citations
  3. 3 Daniel J Kim United States 171k citations
  4. 4 Stefan Schreiber Germany 163k citations

Ranked by citations received across their whole record, among researchers with at least three works on this topic.

What are the most cited papers in Christian Theology and Mission?

The most cited paper in Christian Theology and Mission is "Christian moderns freedom and fetish in the mission encounter" (Webb Keane, 2007), with 1,497 citations. Next come "The Multinational Mission: Balancing Local Demands and Global Vision" (874) and "The Globalization of Pentecostal and Charismatic Christianity" (818).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 Christian moderns freedom and fetish in the mission encounter Webb Keane 2007 1,497
2 The Multinational Mission: Balancing Local Demands and Global Vision Kendall Roth · Journal of International Business Studies Jun 1988 874
3 The Globalization of Pentecostal and Charismatic Christianity Joel Robbins · Annual Review of Anthropology Review Oct 2004 818
4 Christian theology: An introduction Alister E. McGrath, M. Sarot · Sophia Dec 1995 405
5 Pax in development Peter Gruß, Claudia Walther · Cell May 1992 404
All 99 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Christian Theology and Mission research done?

The largest centres of Christian Theology and Mission research in 2022-now are Pretoria (South Africa), Jakarta (Indonesia), Surabaya (Indonesia) and Bloemfontein (South Africa). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Kew East.

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 PretoriaSouth Africa 185 works
  2. 2 JakartaIndonesia 143 works
  3. 3 SurabayaIndonesia 99 works
  4. 4 BloemfonteinSouth Africa 59 works
  5. 5 LondonUnited Kingdom 54 works
  6. 6 PotchefstroomSouth Africa 54 works
  7. 7 StellenboschSouth Africa 51 works
  8. 8 NairobiKenya 45 works
  9. 9 BengkuluIndonesia 44 works
  10. 10 ChicagoUnited States 38 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. Kew EastAU · 20.5 works362×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in Christian Theology and Mission than the world average.

See Christian Theology and Mission on the map

Where is the best place to study Christian Theology and Mission?

Among universities, judged by research, University of South Africa, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology and University of Pretoria score highest, combining citation excellence, specialisation, size, growth and international reach. Research strength is one signal when choosing where to study; it does not measure teaching.

0%10%20%30%mean 18.56%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →North-West UniversityUniversity of South …Kwame Nkrumah Univer…University of Pretoria
above the meannear itbelow it

One dot per university in the first ten of the table below, at the default weights. The upper left is the interesting corner: small places doing unusually strong work.

Citation excellenceshare of its work in the world top 10%, 2022-now and all time averaged
40%
Specialisationhow much of its work is in this field, counted up to 10× the world share
10%
Sizeits output in this field, on a log scale
30%
Growthoutput growth, counted from -20% to +20%
10%
Internationalshare of its work with a co-author abroad
10%
Each slider sets a weight; the share it gets of the score is beside it.
#UniversityScoreTop 10%SpecialisationWorksGrowth
1University of South AfricaSouth Africa 93.627.8%79.6×106 +29.5%
2Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and TechnologyGhana 74.423.9%29.3×20 +37.5%
3University of PretoriaSouth Africa 72.921.2%56.3×75 -20.3%
4North-West UniversitySouth Africa 71.728.4%62.3×54 -32.5%
5Institut Sains dan Teknologi Terpadu SurabayaIndonesia 71.613.2%113.7×96 +146.9%
6Jakarta Theological SeminaryIndonesia 65.88.0%335.5×115 +189.0%
7University of the Free StateSouth Africa 61.714.7%80.9×58 -3.4%
8University of GhanaGhana 59.914.9%17.4×14 +75.9%
9University of the Western CapeSouth Africa 59.220.3%25.2×12 -38.5%
10Universitas Teknologi YogyakartaIndonesia 57.513.2%48.5×27 +718.1%

Universities only. The score blends citation excellence (40%), size (30%), specialisation (10%), growth (10%), international reach (10%), 2022-now; growth compares 2018-21 with 2022-25 and counts up to +20%, since a jump from a small base is mostly noise.

Every institution in Christian Theology and Mission, country by country

Is Christian Theology and Mission research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 8% higher than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2025. The fastest-growing topics are Christian Theology and Mission.

still counting19801990200020102020
grewheldshrank

The same series as a ribbon: one cell per year, darker for more. The line above answers how much; this answers when.

Its share of all research

Growing output can still be a shrinking share: all of science grows. This is Christian Theology and Mission as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.014% in 2024.

still counting0.020%0.040%Christian Theology and Mission0.015% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Christian Theology and Mission over all fractional works that year. How the balance of science has shifted.

How much of it reaches the world top 10%

Year by year.

still counting5%10%15%Christian Theology and Mission10.2% in 2025200020102020

Of each year's works in it, the share that reached the world's 10% most cited for their field and year. A field is the world for its own topics, so there is no other line to hold it against.

Which topics inside it are moving

Growth and decline on one axis around a shared zero. Two lists side by side hide the thing that matters: whether the growth dwarfs the decline, or the other way round.

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