Peters on M Terminology: “Socialization”

October 31, 2008 – 2:59 pm

For the past few weeks, we have looked at what George Peters, in his book A Biblical Theology of Missions, has to say about the terms Evangelization, Christianization, Socialization and Civilization. He argues that “they do not express the same idea.” (p.11) This week we will observe his definition of Socialization.

Socialization

Socialization [italics his] is not a biblical term, but it expresses a biblical idea. While Christianization deals more with the conformity of the individual believer to Christ, socialization refers to the process by which the individual believer is led to conform to Christian ideals, standards, institutions, and a way of life as perceived by a group of believers, a church or a Christian institution. It is a molding process and ideally, it is a postconversion process. [12]

Previous articles in this series: “Peters on M Terminology: ‘Evangelization’” and “Peters on M Terminology: ‘Christianization’”