BOOK NOTES of the MISSIONARY RESEARCH LIBRARY 3041 Broadway, New York, New York 10027

May/June 1976 Compiled by M.a. Williams and P.A. Byrnes Vol. XXVI No.4

I. THEOLOGY AND ACTION: CHRISTIANITY IN RELATION TO SOCIAL MOVEMENTS AND TO OTHER FAITHS

ASIAN VOICES IN CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY. Edited by Gerald H. Anderson, Maryknoll, N. Y. Orbis Bouks. 1976. 321 pp. $15.00 paper $7.95. An important work with chapters by prominent Protestant theologians from India, Sri Lanka, Burma, Thailand, Indonesia, Philippines, Taiwan, Korea and Japan. Taken together these statements document Dr. Anderson's assertation from the Introduction: "The great new fact of our time is the break from Teutonic captivity by Christian theologians in the Third World as they seek to conceptualize the God of biblical revelation within the context of their different cultures." In addition, there are twelve statements, covering forty pages of "Selected Creeds, Confessions and Theological Statements of Churches of Asia," plus sixty pages of bibliography in Western languages on this subject. Here is important material both for what it shows about the Christian outreach in the world, and even more basically for the fresh light it throws on the meaning of Christian faith in today's world. Introductory and explanatory statements by the editor contribute to the reader's understanding. (MOW)

CHRISTIANITY AND THE NEW CHINA. VOL. I THEOLOGICAL IMPLICATIONS; VOL. II CHRISTIAN FAITH AND THE CHINESE EXPERIENCE. South Pasadena, Calif: Ecclesia Publications of William Carey Library. 1976. 432 pp. Paper. $7.95. This report of the Bastad and Louvain Conferences was reviewed in Book Notes, May-June 1975. Available now in book form, it deserves wide distribution and study as one of the most important documents of our period. (MOW)

CHRISTIANS AND SOCIALISM: DOCUMENTATION OF THE CHRISTIANS FOR SOCIALISM MOVEMENT IN LATIN AMERICA. Edited by John Eagleson. Maryknoll, N. Y. Orbis Books. 1975 x/246 pp. $7.95; paper $4.95. A careful selection of papers, letters and manifestoes which appeared in Roman Catholic circles in Chile from April 1971 through 1973, most of them clustering around the Christians for Socialism Convention held in Santiago, April 1972. More than 400 lay and clerical delegates took part; the hierarchy had reservations and did not participate. The draft agenda proposed that the convention "exchange, analyze, explore" the experience in each country, then try to "detect and analyze a Christian contribution that can enrich the revolutionary process." Included are letters between the Coordinating Com- mittee and Cardinal Silva of Santiago around his declining to become a patron; reports on the role of Christianity in the life of Chile, Peru, Puerto Rico and Cuba prepared by delegates from those countries; selected addresses and the final document of the Convention, which after analysis, affirms, "Christians should opt definitely for the revolution." Fifty pages is given to the response of the Chilean Bishops, worked on over a period of months, but not released until October 16, 1973, five weeks after Allende's overthrow. There are sections and passages in this book that might well become classic; it deserves careful study. (MOW)

CHRISTOPAGANISM OR INDIGENOUS CHRISTIANITY? Edited by Tetsunao Yamamori and Charles R. Taber. South Pasadena: William Carey Library. 1975. 262 pp. paper. $5.95. A report of a symposium at Milligan College, April 1974 that involved Peter Beyerhaus, Johannes Hoekendijk, Donald McGavran and Alan Tippett in individual papers and in interaction. The question: Aware that we are all culturally conditioned, "How is it possible to carry out the Great Commission in a multi-cultural world with a Gospel that is both truly Christian and culturally significant?" Further: When a community develops a doctrine or practice they consider Christian, how is it possible to validate? By What criteria, and by whom? All writers.show excellent grasp of cross-cultural communication and accommodations in faith and ex- pression they consider valid, and agree that such communicators must be empathetic and very well prepared. Differences emerge when they discuss the degree of certainty with which this Gospel can be formulated, communicated and indigenous expressions tested with Hoekendijk insisting we must be more humble in our assertions and that the best mission method is "to sit where people sit and let God happen." This reader wishes there could have been more extended discussion of open dialogue and the possibility of Christ being present in other religions; both positions were mentioned and opposed by two participants and not picked up by others. Taber provides a very penetrating summary with the closing statement that the practical and programmatic question is: "How can I in my missionary endeavors lead people, from wherever they are at present, towards Truth?" (MOW)

CIRCLE OF HARMONY: A CASE STUDY IN POPULAR JAPANESE BUDDHISM WITH IMPLICATIONS FOR CHRISTIAN MISSION. Kenneth J. Dale. South Pasadena: William Carey Library. 1975. xviii/211 pp. Illus. $4.95. A study of Rissho Koseikai, one of the "new religions" of Japan that gives important place to the hoza groups, "informal discussions and dialogue circles for sharing of burdens and problems." Dr. Dale, who teaches in Lutheran Theological College, Tokyo, has special skills in group dynamics and observes and interprets from this vantage point. He attended forty hoza sessions and systematically reports findings; he then compares (1) RK's hoza with the practices and attitudes of the Christian Church in Japan and (2) Japanese with western religiousity. There is an additional chapter by Dr. Susumu Akahoshi, a Christian psychiatrist, who shows how these groups which provide both authoritarian leadership and group support, help many people move from "morbid overdependency" to the more stimulating dependency on the leader ana the group; this process, he shows, is in line with Japanese character and is essentially the outcome desired by many Japanese psychotherapists. Dr. Dale in this study finds much that is of significance for the Christian Church. In the foreword, Dr. Maseo Takenaka speaks of this study as "an outstanding contribution to the examination of the new religions in Japan." (MOW)

THEOLOGY FOR A NOMAD CHURCH. Hugo Assmann. Maryknoll, N. Y. Orbis Books. 1976. 146 pp. $7.95; paper $4.95. Also published London: Search Press, entitled, PRACTICAL THEOLOGY OF LIBERATION. A carefully reasoned attempt to call Christians and the Church to the "one thing that counts-our effective commitment to the liberation of the oppressed." The starting point is analysis that sees underdevelopment as a result of economic domination and rejects all models of development as ways leading to "dependent capitalism" within a world-wide framework of imperialism then recognizes there might be varied options for the way out of such dependence; each has to be specific for the given country. He points to growing commitment on the part of avant garde individuals and groups in Latin America, but top level groups and the masses of people have not grasped "the more prickly implications" of the process, nor is the "theology of the afflue-nt world sensitive to the urgent demands of history." (MOW) Those committed to liberation must move into new territory, without adequate Christian guidelines and with most finding Marxism providing the best tools for analysis; they must accept the ambiguity and pain of introducing class struggle into the Church itself; they must empty themselves by identifying "their way of life with that of the exploited." He is modest in indicating the Christian contribution to liberation, but can see no other course since the Church's "vocation is one of radical service to the world." A stimulating introduction by Frederick Herzog of Duke University explores "where we are in U.S. Protestant thought" in relation to the issues raised in this book. Fr. Assmann is a Brazilian theologian whose com- mitment to the liberation struggle has forced him out of Brazil, Uruguay, Bolivia and Chile. The original was published in Spain in 1973. (MOW)

II. PEOPLE IN MISSION AND MINISTRY

ALBERT SCHWEITZER: A BIOGRAPHY. James Brabazon. New York: C.P. Putnam's Sons. 1975. 509 pp. Illus. $12.95. A carefully researched and well written biography, described approvingly by Martin Marty in his N.Y. Times Review of July 20,1975 as "a rescue operation." The writer shows Schweitzer in his various careers, and in revealing his life and thinking provides details which could only have come from careful interviewing with relatives, friends, co-workers. Brabazon attempts to respond to some reactions against Schweitzer such as the outdated technology of the hospital and his sense of superiority, including racial attitudes, and in so doing, helps answer much of this criticism. The final evaluation points to Schweitzer as a "genius in living" as one who "put into the service of kindness a personality that could have dominated governments." One Schweitzer expert describes this as an "exceptionally good biography, written after exten- sive research. It sticks to truth while revealing imagination." Clearly recommended. (MOW)

THE BIRTH OF MISSIONS IN AMERICA. Charles L. Chaney, South Pasadena, Calif William Carey Library. 1976. xiv/337 pp. paper. $7.95. A careful and well documented study that traces the beginnings of American missions from the early 17th century, 150 years before William Carey and the Haystack Prayer Meeting, with the English Reformation, as expressed in Puritan thought, providing the framework for colonial missionary theology. The purpose of the book, is to "uncover the theological matrix" from which mission developed, to describe the development of structures for mission, and to delineate the missionary theology through the 1820's. Pierce Beaver in the Foreword states, "Charles Chaney makes an important contribution to the understanding of the development of the American missionary movement from its beginning to the firm establishment of the overseas mission ... He demonstrates the unity and interaction of the Indian mission, the home mission and the overseas mission in a single worldwide enterprise. Americans recognized a single world mission a century and a half before the concept was rediscovered in the middle of the twentieth century. He traces the continuing development of the underlying and motivating theology, and relates this to organization and action. Here is a wealth of knowledge, organized and interpreted for our illumination, which will give almost every reader an entirely new understanding of the mission of the American churches." Has excellent bibliography. (MOW)

THE CRISIS OF DEPENDENCY IN THIRD WORLD MINISTRIES. James A. Bergquist and P. Kambar Manickam. Mardras. Christian Literature Society. 1974. x/144 pp. The authors of this study were involved earlier in field research for the report Patterns of Theological Education in India (1969). At the time they felt that a more intensive study of ministerial patterns was needed. The result, based on interviews with many laymen of Lutheran and other Churches in India is this "critique of inherited missionary forms in India." Their analysis is relevant also to pertinent questions of ministry in other third world countries. In attempting to build a theology of ministry in a contextual understanding of mission they plead for a functional understanding of a ministry that is not static. Taking note also of ministry in the contexts of Hinduism and Islam, the authors propose several lines of change, such as: a ministry that is non-elitist in character; in which priority is given to grass-roots training of church workers; in which new forms of voluntary lay ministry can be developed and strong emphasis given to teaching for trained clergy. A selected bibliography is appended. (PAB) THE MESSENGERS: A CONCISE HISTORY OF THE UNITED SOCIETY FOR THE PROPAGATION OF THE GOSPEL. Margaret Dewey. London & Oxford. Mowbrays. 1975. 158 pp. E 3.25. A decade ago the USPG was formed by a merger of the SPG, founded in 1701, the Universities Mission to Central Africa (UMCA) and the Cambridge Mission to Delhi (CDM), both founded in the fifties of the last century. This first history of the USPG offers in concise form a highly infor- mative and insightful study of what is now the largest missionary society in the Anglican Communion. Drawing on the resources of extensive archives of the USPG, dating back to 1701, the author unfolds the story of the missionary work and growth of the Anglican Communion in countries in three continents and stretching over a period of two and three quarter centuries. The narrative registers also the shift in emphasis "from mission as a function of God's Church to the Church as a function of God's mission." The book concludes with footnotes and an index. (PAB)

PEOPLE MOVEMENTS IN THE PUNJAB WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO THE UNITED PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. Frederick and Margaret Stock. South Pasadena, Calif Wm. Carey Library. 1975. xxii/364 pp. Illus. Charts. Maps. Paper $8.95. This is a "Church Growth" study, which describes primarily the growth and development of the United Presbyterian Church in Pakistan from its beginnings in 1855 through the early 1970s. The research centers around questions concerning causes of church growth in past history, effectiveness/ineffectiveness of methods empolyed, responsiveness from what segment of society, and the relevance of the answers gained for the present day situation. The great movements into the Church of depressed classes such as the Megs and particularly the Chuhra people, which occurred in the late 19th and early 20th centuries in the Punjab are carefully analyzed. The vast majority of present Church members consists of those who are descendants of these depressed groups, whereas a small percentage are descended from individual converts from Islam and caste Hindu. The study is documented with many charts and statistics. The total Christian population for the early 1970s is given as nearly 900,000. In an appendix the authors present brief comparative studies of other Christian Churches and groups in the country, from Seventh Day Adventists to the Roman Catholic Church, showing similar features in general. The book concludes with bibliography and index. (PAB)

A VISIONARY OF THE AFRICAN CHURCH: MOJOlA AGBEBI (1860-1917). E.A. Ayandele. Nairobi. East African Publishing House. 1971. 32 pp. sh. 3.80. The author of this brief study teaches at the University of Ibadan and is a member of the Executive Committee of the Society of African Church History. In this scholarly essay he treats the life and times of Mojola Agbebi, a Nigerian pastor and evangelist, who dedicated his life to the spreading of the Christian faith. In his hopes and dreams this pioneer envisaged and struggled with issues that are central in the life of the Christian Churches in Africa today. He stressed the positive role of Christianity in the social and political aspirations of Africans, while always distinguishing between Christianity as a human institution and the faith itself. Positive in his response to African religion, he called for an African theology and hoped for an ideal African church that would be relevant to the African environment. He felt that the problem of African evangelization would be solved only by the planting and nurturing of an independent church. Having worked earlier with the CMS, Methodist and Southern Baptist Missions respectively, he was instrumental in the formation of the Native Baptist Church in 1888, and a few years later was involved in efforts to establish a non-sectarian African Church. He encouraged cooperation and unity among African Churches in Nigeria. (PAB)

III. NEW UNDERSTANDING OF ETHIOPIA

THE DYING LION: FEUDALISM AND MODERNIZATION IN ETHIOPIA. Patrick Gilkes. New York. St. Martin's Press. 1975. xix/307 pp. Tables, Maps. This is a timely book that provides a thorough analysis of and valuable insight into the causes of recent turmoil that led to changes in the social and political life of Ethiopia. Complex are the issues in the developments that ended in the seizure of power by the military. After a brief historical survey, covering the last three centuries, the author examines in detail the following topics: 1) the political power structures of both traditional elites and modern government; 2) The base of economic power, i.e. feudalism and land tenure as well as industry and imperialism; 3) national movements and militant opposition. He concludes with a chapter on the realities oflarge-scale and fundamental change that will be needed in the economic, social and political fields in order to solve the conflict. Throughout the work the function and role of "Altar and Throne" receive due attention. This study is well documented, including many tables. Mr. Gilkes taught and did research in Ethiopia from 1964 until his deportation from the country in 1972 for political involvement. (PAB)

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