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Journal of Global Christianity JOURNAL OF GLOBAL CHRISTIANITY VOLUME I / ISSUE II / 2015 EDITORIAL The Priority of Scripture in the Pursuit of Gospel Relevance for the African Traditional Religious Context ............................................... 4 Philemon Yong ARTICLES The Challenge of the Brain Drain Within Global Theological Education ..................................................................... 11 Christopher Wright Moravian Missionary Piety and the Influence of Count Zinzendorf ....19 Evan Burns “To the Joy of the Church, and the Honour of Christ”: A Case Study of Personal Evangelism in Early Chinese Mission .........35 Baiyu Andrew Song The Promise & Peril of Globalization: How Local Churches Should Respond to Globalization .....................................................56 Zachary Howard REPORT FROM THE FIELD Educational Missions in Eastern Europe ..........................................72 Dwayne Baldwin CLOSING EDITORIAL ........................................................................ 77 David Deuel BOOK REVIEWS ................................................................................ 82 ABSTRACTS ....................................................................................122 JOURNAL of GLOBAL CHRISTIANITY 1.2 / 2015 ABOUT THE JOURNAL OF GLOBAL CHRISTIANITY The Journal of Global Christianity seeks to promote international scholarship and discussion on topics related to global Christianity. The journal addresses key issues related to the mission of the Church in hope of helping those who labor for the gospel wrestle with and apply the biblical teaching on various challenging mission topics. Understanding that there is a lack of trained and theologically educated leaders around the world to lead the Church and prepare future leaders, JGC targets an audience of pastors, missionaries, and Christian workers. The educational level of our audience ranges from those who have completed a bachelor level degree to those who have completed a master level and the second, those in school preparing for ministry; seminary students and professors. We realize that there are theology students, professors, and other scholars who will read and take interest in the content of this journal, but our main focus is on those working with the global church or those who are consider- ing work with the global church. The journal assumes a high level of education among its audience but is not strictly academic. The Journal of Global Christianity is published two times a year on- line at: www.TrainingLeadersInternational.org and presented in PDF and HTML format. It is also made available in multiple languages. The Journal of Global Christianity is copyrighted by Training Leaders International. Readers are free to circulate it in digital form without further permission (any print use requires further permission), but they must acknowledge the source and not change the format. 2 JOURNAL of GLOBAL CHRISTIANITY 1.2 / 2015 EDITORS Dave Deuel General Editor Darren Carlson Managing Editor Academic Dean of The Master’s Academy International President of Training Leaders International Senior Research Fellow for the Christian Institute on Disability Philemon Yong Contributing Editor H.H. Drake Williams, III Contributing Editor Director of School Planting and Curriculum Development Professor of NT Language and Literature at Training Leaders International at Tyndale Theological Seminary Howard Foreman Book Review Editor VP of Ministry Expansion at Training Leaders International EDITORIAL BOARD Evan Burns Keri Folmar Professor at Asia Biblical Theological Seminary United Christian Church of Dubai Vijay Meesala Jeff Morton President of Reach All Nations Pastor at Hillside Baptist Church Travis L. Myers Christine Palmer Instructor in Missions and Church History Hebrew Union at Bethlehem College and Seminary Tat Stewart Bob Yarbrough President of TALIM Ministries Professor of New Testament at Covenant Seminary ARTICLES Articles should generally be about 4,000 to 7,000 words (including footnotes) and should be submit- ted to the Managing Editor of The Journal of Global Christianity, which is peer-reviewed. Articles should use clear, concise English, following The SBL Handbook of Style (esp. for abbreviations), supplemented by The Chicago Manual of Style. They should consistently use either UK or USA spelling and punctuation, and they should be submitted electronically as an email attachment using Microsoft Word (.doc or .docx extensions) or Rich Text Format (.rtf extension). Special characters should use a Unicode font. REVIEWS The book review editors generally select individuals for book reviews, but potential reviewers may contact them about reviewing specific books. As part of arranging book reviews, the book review editors will supply book review guidelines to reviewers. 3 JOURNAL of GLOBAL CHRISTIANITY 1.2 / 2015 The Priority of Scripture in the Pursuit of Gospel Relevance for the African Traditional Religious Context Philemon Yong ver the past 60 years African theologians have questioned the impact of the gospel within the African Traditional Religious (ATR here after) context. In their pursuit of gospel rel- O evance within ATR context, most African theologians give priority to ATR belief system over Scripture. My goal here is to briefly describe some of their approaches to the question of gospel applicability in the ATR context and then make an alternative proposal for the way forward. At the heart of African theology is the belief that “in order for the gospel to have real encounter with the African man, [we must] translate Christianity into genuine African categories. For without [these cultural categories], Christianity will never really be integrated into African society.”1 It is therefore “The concern of African theology . to attempt to use African concepts and African ethos as vehicles for the communication of the gospel in an African context.”2 Behind this emphasis of authentic African Christianity is the desire to maintain African culture because, Culture as a way of life must be maintained. It is God’s will that Africans, on accepting Christ as their Savior, become Christian Africans. Africans who become Christians should therefore remain Africans wherever their culture does not conflict with the Bible.3 Even as western scholars claim that Africa will soon be the center of Christianity and that Africa will become the next “representative of Christianity for the twenty-first century” and the western church will do well to learn from their African brothers and sisters,4 African theologians continue to herald the need for authentic African Christianity, one in which the gospel is relevant in the ATR context. In other words, African theologians are more concerned with the relevance of the African church in its indigenous context than establishing a conversation about contextualization with the West. 1 John S. Pobee, Toward an African Theology (Nashville, TN: Abingdon, 1979), 17-18. 2 Pobee, 18, 39. For a description of the task of African Christian theology by various authors, see Issues in Afri- can Christian Theology, editors, Samuel Ngewa, Mark Shaw, and Tite Tienou (Nairobi, Kenya: East African Educational Publishers, 1998), 3-72 3 Byang H. Kato, “Theological Issues in Africa,” Bibliotheca Sacra, 133 (April, 1976):146. 4 See Andrew Walls, Africa in Christian History: Restrospect and Prospect,” Journal of African Christian Thought, no 1 (June 1998): 2; Timothy Tennent, Theology in the Context of World Christianity (Grand Rapids: Zonder- van2007), 105; Philip Jenkins, The Next Christendom: The Coming of Global Chirstianity (London: Oxford University Press, 2002), 4. 4 JOURNAL of GLOBAL CHRISTIANITY 1.2 / 2015 There are two common trends that give rise to the call for gospel impact among African theo- logians: the foreign nature of Christianity for Africans, and their emphasis on the ATR context in which the gospel must make sense. My goal here is to highlight the call of our African brothers for gospel relevance; but also, to point out the challenges this call creates for the church. These theologians are in agreement in their pursuit of relevance but they are divided regarding the contextual expression of this African relevance. I believe that we must engage this topic with great caution otherwise the African church may experience more harm than good in its pursuit of gospel effectiveness. 1. The Foreign Nature of Christianity In one-way or another, African theologians contend Christianity is a western or “white man’s” religion, and they believe that the history of missions in Africa was anything but effective due to the foreign nature of the gospel to the people of Africa. This claim flows from the fact that early missionaries contributed to the destruction of the African traditional religious way of life by re- quiring that Africans abandon their traditions before becoming Christians. Furthermore for some, Christianity reached Africa via Europe and came with a “European stamp” on it. Therefore, they believe if the gospel is to be relevant in the African context, the “African stamp” must replace the “European stamp.”5 2. Emphasis on the African Traditional Religion Context Among African theologians, there are two key things to note about ATR: it is a way of life for those practicing it and they believe it prepared the way for Christianity. First, the problem African theo- logians find with the church is that the European gospel emphasized the salvation of the soul and promised eternal life after death, but excluded other aspects
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