Missiology and the colour of fish

One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish by Dr. Seuss

I haven't read this, but GoodReads recommended it to me, based on the books in my Missiology shelf. That intrigued me. I see most of my GoodReads friends who have rated it gave it a high rating, -- perhaps they can tell me what it has to say about missiology. 

Here are some of the books on my missiology shelf, and I'm not sure how the Dr Seuss book fits in with these:

• Allen, Roland 1962 [1912]. Missionary methods: St Paul's or ours.
• Allen, Roland 1960. The spontaneous expansion of the church and the causes which hinder it.
• Bosch, D.J 1991. Transforming mission.
• Davies, John D. 1983. The faith abroad.
• Kaplan, Steven 1984. The monastic holy man and the Christianization of early Solomonic Ethiopia.
• Stamoolis, James 1986. Eastern Orthodox mission theology today.
• Bosch, David 1980. Witness to the world: the Christian mission in theological perspective.
• Veronis, Luke 2009. Go forth: stories of mission and resurrection in Albania.
• Griffiths, Michael 1980. Shaking the sleeping beauty: arousing the church to its mission.
• Ajayi, J.F. Ade 1965. Christian missions in Nigeria, 1841-1891: the making of a new elite.
• Anderson, Gerald; Stransky, Thomas F. 1976. Mission Trends No 3: Third-World Theologies.
• Becken, Hans-Jurgen (ed) 1973. Relevant theology for Africa.
• Beeching, Jack 1979. An open path: Christian missionaries, 1515 - 1914.
• Beidelman, T.O 1982. Colonial evangelism.
• Bevans, Stephen B. & Schroeder, Roger P 2004. Constants in context: a theology of mission for today.
• Bhebe, Ngwabi 1979. Christianity and traditional religion in western Zimbabwe 1859-1923.
• Bonk, Jonathan 1989. The theory and practice of missionary identification 1860-1920.
• Burridge, Kenelm 1991. In the Way: a study of Christian missionary endeavours.
• Carter, John 1963. Methods of mission in Southern Africa.
• Cnattingius, Hans 1952. Bishops and societies: a study of Anglican colonial and missionary expansion 1698-1850.
• Dvornik, Francis 1970. Byzantine missions among the Slavs.
• Ellanna, Linda J. & Balluta, Andrew 1992. Nuvendaltin Quht'ana: the people of Nondalton.
• Farmer, Edwin 1900. The Transvaal as a mission field.
• Fraser, Donald 1970 (1914). Winning a primitive people.
• Gerber, Vergil 1979 [1974]. God's way to keep a church going and growing.
• Hesselgrave, David J 1988. Today's choices for tomorrow's mission.
• Jarrett-Kerr, Martin 1961. African pulse: scenes from an African hospital window.
• Kraemer, Hendrik 1956. Religion and the Christian faith.
• Linney, Barry W. 2000. 21st Century Faith: Radical Living in a new Millennium.
• Luzbetak, Louis 1988. The church and cultures: new perspectives in missiological anthropology.
• McGavran, Donald A 1979. Ethnic realities and the church: lessons from India.
• Milner, Clyde A. & McNeil, Floyd A 1985. Churchmen and the Western Indians.
• Nemer, Lawrence 1981. Anglican and Roman Catholic attitudes on missions.
• Niles, D.T. 1963. Upon the Earth.
• Oleksa, Michael (ed.) 1987. Alaskan missionary spirituality.
• Oswalt, Wendell H 1990. Bashful no longer: an Alaskan Eskimo ethnohistory, 1778-1988.

I used quite a number of them for writing my doctoral thesis in missiology, but I seem to have missed the Dr Seusss one. Was my missiology thesis any the worse for that?

Actually one of my favourite missiology books doesn't seem to have made the list, so I'll give it a plug here -- it's Orthodox Alaska by Father Michael Oleksa, and you can read more about it here: Orthodox Alaska: A Theology of Mission by Michael Oleksa | Goodreads.

It too seems to have a rather strange list of "readers also liked" books -- only one of those in the top ten seemed to have anything to do with missiology, but some of them nevertheless seemed quite interesting.

So here;s a challenge to fellow missiologists on GoodReeds. Look at the books on your missiology shelf, and share what the top one is, and how many missiology books appear in your top ten. Perhaps it will show how widely-read missiologists are.

And perhaps it ought to show that, because missiology is an interdisciplinary  field of study, covering theology, history, sociology, anthropology and several other things as well. But fish?

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