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Mission amidst Ideologies: Ideology and Hegemony in The Cape Town Commitment, Together towards Life, Evangelii Gaudium, and Mission of the Orthodox Church in Today’s World


Although the present era has by some scholars been referred to as a post-ideological one, based on the argument that the so-called ‘grand narratives’ have by now become largely untrustworthy and suspicious, evidence suggests that ideology continues to play an important role in today’s world. This paper will therefore seek to revisit the post-ideology thesis using Timothy Gorringe’s distinction between ideology and hegemony. Gorringe defines ideology as an articulated system of meanings, values, and beliefs; to him, it is meaning in service of power. In contrast, hegemony for Gorringe is a taken for granted order of signs and practices whose power lies in what it silences. Employing this hermeneutic framework, the present paper will then explore what four recent major documents on mission and evangelism (The Cape Town Commitment, Together towards Life, Evangelii Gaudium and Mission of the Orthodox Church in Today’s World, respectively) have to say on the theme of ideology. Finally, an attempt will be pursued to identify what implications the discovered results might have for Christian mission as part of missio Dei today, with a particular focus on the central and eastern European context. A constructive missiological suggestion will be made that rather than providing its own ‘grand narrative,’ Christian mission is first and foremost about living out faith, love, and hope in the everyday, while also countering various types of ideology and hegemony.