• Vol. 22, No.3 nternattona July 1998 ettn• Dialogue in Mission: Stance or Compromise? t was a minor incident but not soon forgotten. Two priority of the Spirit's revelation to peoples of all faiths and I missionaries, each with a lifetime of Christian witness in cultures; Bruner champions the traditional priority of the Son in Muslim societies were in the room. One addressed a community Christian witness. of missionaries, the other sat in the audience. The speaker re­ Issues of inculturation, dialogue, and sensitive cultural en­ ferred to Islam and its societies in unrelentingly negative terms. gagement will also be observed in our ongoing "Legacy" and The listener squirmed silently in acute embarrassment and pro­ "Pilgrimage in Mission" series. The stories of AdoniramJudson, test, for his Christianwitness in Muslim societies hadbeen one of Harry and Susan Strachan, and our contemporary Robert V. dialogue and cooperation wherever possible. Not the kind of Finley of Christian Aid Mission help us put flesh on the issues confrontation described by the speaker. treated in these pages. Which missional approach is most effective and faithful to the Gospel? Is dialogue as a missionary stance hopelessly naive and prone to compromise? In this issue Archbishop Marcello Zago, G.M.!., with many On Page years of experience as a missionary in Asia, helps us see the place 98 Mission and Interreligious Dialogue and possibilitiesof interreligious dialogue as a responsible stance Marcello Zago, O.M.I for a faithful gospel witness. "Dialogue," says Zago, is "moti­ 102 God Inside Out: Toward a Missionary Theology vated by the understanding of the wayGod himselfdeals with us of the Holy Spirit and acts in ourmidst. God entersintodialoguewitheveryperson Stephen B. Bevans, S.V.D. in order to make his plan of salvation operative." Dialogue is 106 The Son.Is God Inside Out: Response to Stephen appropriate close to home as well as far away. Zago reminds us B. Bevans, S.V.D. that Paul VI envisioned dialogue moving from the center out­ F. Dale Bruner ward, "with the other members of one's own confession, with 108 Jesus, Face of the Spirit: Reply to F. Dale Bruner other Christians, with the followers of other religions, and even Stephen B. Bevans, S.V.D. with atheists." In other words, commitment to dialogue is a 110 The Doctrine of Christ and Vernacular commitment to love and respect others. Dialogue as practiced in Terminology some times and some places may indeed be naive, fainthearted, Kwame Bediako and compromised, but what Zago advocates is a stance, not a 111 Noteworthy compromise. 112 Conversion and Community: Revisiting Lesslie One of the long-term goals and benefits of dialogue, as Zago Newbigin's Debate with M. M. Thomas notes, is authentic inculturation of the GospeL Kwame Bediako, George R. Hunsberger in this issue of the INTERNATIONAL BULLETIN, presents a brief but 118 My Pilgrimage in Mission penetrating case study of the dynamics of inculturation. Western theologians maychokeon a GhanianChristian's prayerto "Nana Robert V. Finley Yesu" (Ancestor Jesus). But Bediako explores the biblical and 122 The Legacy of Adoniram Judson culturalfoundations thatwarrantsuchlocalizedexpressions and WilliamH. Brackney that signal the development of authentic inculturation of Chris­ 126 The Legacy of Harry and Susan Strachan tian faith. W. DaytonRoberts Stephen Bevans and Dale Bruner enter into dialogue on an 131 Book Reviews age-old debate as it applies to mission: the relationbetweenJesus 142 Dissertation Notices the Son and the Holy Spirit. Bevans wishes to emphasize the 144 Book Notes of issionaryResearch Mission and Interreligious Dialogue Marcello Zago/ a.M.I.

he concept and practice of dialogue is the great new together but a cultivation of interpersonal relations among indi­ T missionaryrealityof the postconciliarera. It has changed viduals and groups to gaina betterunderstanding and apprecia­ the method of mission and even the identity of the missionary. tion of one another, working together and enriching one another Before dealingwith dialogue in its interreligiousand ecumenical and thus promoting greater unity among peoples and religions.' expression,however,it is necessaryto appreciatefully its ecclesial The dialogue method must be manifested in the whole of mis­ value and the outlook and attitude it requires. sionary and pastoral activity. It is through dialogue that an Dialogue is in fact motivated by the understanding of the authentic church can emerge, one that promotes communion, way God himself deals with us and acts in our midst. God enters evangelization, and inculturation and that serves as a sacrament into dialogue with every person in order to make his plan of of salvation, the sign and the instrument of unity. It also has an salvation operative. God also works out a history of saving love influence on the waywe live together in this world, moving us to not only with regard to individuals but also with regard to make it a more fitting dwelling place for human beings.' This is peoplesandreligions. The churchas a wholeandeachindividual the global context into which dialogue fits. missionary must take their inspiration from this divine way of operating and dealing with us. Ecumenical Dialogue This is the outlook reflected by Paul VI in his encyclical Ecclesiam suam (1964). He envisions dialogue moving in circles There are three forms of dialogue: ecumenical dialogue, Chris­ with all human beings, according to both persons and groups: tian-Jewish dialogue, and interreligious dialogue. Their theo­ with the other members of one's own confession, with other logical foundations are distinct from one another. In the history Christians, with the followers of other religions, and even with of the missions we find that there has been tension and struggle atheists. Basically, dialogue flows from love and respect for among the missionaries of the various churches. They have others. It sees not only the values present in others but the competed with one another to be the first to arrive in certain working of the Spirit in others. The Spirit is always the principal places and to convert certain peoples to Christ. Non-Catholic agent of mission, as Pope John Paul II's missionary encyclical, Christians were first to address this situation. It was in order to Redemptoris missio (1990), states.' Dialogue not only respects remedy the spirit of competition that the ecumenical movement wasbornandthatthe missionaryconferencesbeganat the endof the nineteenthcentury. Fromthat, in turn,came the International Missionary Council (1921),theological movements such as Faith Dialogue is motivatedbythe andOrder (1927),ecumenical movements suchas LifeandWork understanding of the way (1937), and finally the World Council of Churches (1948). The God himself deals with us activities of this last-mentioned organization have been many andbeneficial. It has also hadits times ofcrisis, suchas in the mid­ and acts in our midst. 1970swhenthe conservative evangelical movement accused the WCC of being more interested in social action than in evangeli­ zation. what is good in persons and groups but also enriches the mis­ An early manifestation of ecumenism among Catholics can sionary and the church. As a result of dialogue the participants be seenin the Uniatechurchesbeginningin the sixteenthcentury. assume human values and the fruits of grace, thus fostering a In more recent times ecumenical attitudes and activity have process of ongoing inculturation. focused on the unity of churches and not only the integration of This outlook influences the whole of missionary activity, individuals. Although forerunners have not been lacking in the which must start from the concrete situation of the people not Catholic field, ecumenism reached full flower only in the estab­ only for methodological reasons but for theological reasons as lishment of the Secretariat (now Council) for Promoting Chris­ well. No person and no group can be regarded as uncultivated tian Unity (1960),and the decree Unitatis redintegratio (1964) of ground, deprived of culture and the action of God. The Spirit is VaticanCouncilII.Inhis letter Utunumsint (1995)on ecumenical already present. He was there before the missionary arrived and commitment, Pope John Paul II outlined the road that has been in one way or another has caused his gifts to be fruitful. The traveled so far and the distance that still must be covered. The missionary is destined to be the discoverer of this ancientstoryof most consistent successes have been made on the theological salvation so that he or she can cooperate with it by bringing the level bilaterally, that is, between the Catholic Church and other gospel message and causing it to grow. This does not reduce the traditional churches. There is also progress on the popular level, urgencyof mission. Rather, it qualifiesit by requiringrespectand as was evident in the ecumenical assembly at Gratz in 1997. discernment with regard to persons and groups. Getting the whole community involved is essential but difficult When we speak of dialogue, we do not mean merely talking because of nationalist and historical prejudices. The fundamen­ tal basic condition for ecumenism is faith in Christ the divine Savior and in the Trinity. Archbishop Marcello Zago, O.M.I, is Secretary of the Congregation for the Evangelization ofPeoples, formerly knownas thePropaganda Fide. Earlier he Inthe area ofmissions the ecclesialcommitmenttoecumenism served assecretary ofthethenSecretariatforNon-Christian Religions, nowthe has brought many changes. Relations with the churches of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, andwassuperior general ofthe Reformation have improved, leading to a lessening of tension Missionary Oblates ofMary Immaculate. and competition. Various forms of cooperation have developed

98 INTERNATIONAL BULLETIN OF MISSIONARY RESEARCH in the fields of social welfare, of human promotion, and the International Bulletin promotion of peace. There are also some initiatives in the reli­ gious field such as mutual visitation among ecclesial communi­ of Missionary Research ties. In Indonesia, for example, the priest or pastor visiting Established 1950 by R. Pierce Beaver as Occasional Bulletin from the scattered communities will often visit the communities of other Missionary Research Library. Named Occasional Bulletin of Missionary confessions. There have also been developments in ecumenical Research 1977. Renamed INTERNATIONAL BULLETIN OF MISSIONARY RESEARCH prayer and in the objective knowledge of other confessions. 1981.Published quarterly in January, April, July, and October by Simultaneously, a destabilizing movement of proselytism Overseas Ministries Study Center by the evangelical-charismatic groups and the sects has in­ 490Prospect Street, New Haven, Connecticut 06511, U.S.A. creased. The missionaryencyclicalsums up the situationin these Tel: (203) 624-6672 • Fax: (203) 865-2857 words: "Ecumenical activity and harmonious witness to Jesus E-mail: [email protected] • Web: http://www.OMSC.org Christby Christianswhobelongto differentchurchesandecclesial Editor: Associate Editor: Assistant Editor: communities has already borne abundant fruit. But it is ever Gerald H. Anderson Jonathan J. Bonk Robert T. Coote moreurgentthattheyworkandbearwitnesstogetherat this time when Christian and para-Christian sects are sowing confusion Contributing Editors: by their activity. The expansion of these sects represents a threat Catalino G. Arevalo, S.J. David A. Kerr Wilbert R. Shenk for the Catholic Church and for all ecclesial communities with David B. Barrett Graham Kings Charles R. Taber which she is engaged in dialogue. Wherever possible, and in the Stephen B.Bevans, S.V.D. Gary B.McGee Tite Tienou Samuel Escobar Mary Motte, F.M.M. Ruth A. Tucker light of local circumstances, the response of Christians can itself Barbara Hendricks, M.M. C. Rene Padilla Desmond Tutu be an ecumenicalone."! This concerned andsomewhatdefensive Paul G. Hiebert James M. Phillips Andrew F. Walls judgment of the situation reflects the experience of missionaries r. A. B.[ongeneel Dana L. Robert Anastasios Yannoulatos in the field. The very prevalence of proselytism, though, has Sebastian Karotemprel, S.D.B. Lamin Sanneh fostered a rethinking of the present pastoral approach, As a consequence, the new pastoral approach emphasizes a more Books for review and correspondence regarding editorial matters should be intense sense of ecclesial identity, the promotion of small com­ addressed to the editors. Manuscripts unaccompanied by a self-addressed, munities and of local leaders, and a giving of greater attention to stamped envelope (or international postal coupons) will not be returned. the needs of the people and to inculturation. This difficult situa­ Subscriptions: $21 for one year, $39 for two years, and $55 for three years, tion shows how close are the links between mission and postpaid worldwide. Airmail delivery is $16 per year extra. Foreign sub­ ecumenism. If the latter is missing, then the mission is hindered. scribers must pay in U.S. funds only. Use check drawn on a U.S. bank, Visa, MasterCard, or International Money Order in U.S. funds. 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Ancient Israel as a people and as a Articles appearing in this journal are abstracted and indexed in: religion was the custodian of the promise of a Messiah and Bibliografia Missionaria IBZ (International Bibliography of enjoyed specialdivineprotection. The nationreceived revelation Christian Periodical Index Periodical Literature) and the Scriptures; it began the privileged way of alliance with Guide to People in Periodical Literature Missionalia the God of Abraham. Consequentlythe CatholicCommissionfor Guide to Social Science andReligion in Religious andTheological Abstracts Periodical Literature Religion IndexOne: Periodicals Religious Relations withJews is part of the Pontifical Council for IBR(lntemaiional Bibliography of Promoting Christian Unity and not the Pontifical Council for Book Reviews) Interreligious Dialogue. Relations between Christianity and other religions can be lndex, abstracts, and full text of this journal are available on databases modeled on those between Christians and Jews. As a category, providedby EBSCO,H. W. WilsonCompany,InformationAccessCompany, the story of salvation can be applied to any people and, in a way, rod UniversityMicrofilms. Also consultInfoTracdatabaseat manyacademic to anyreligionbecause God is concerned notonlywithindividu­ rod public libraries. For more information, contact your online service. als but with groups and peoples. However, this comparison is not meant ·to suggest a universal equivalence, for God estab­ Dpinions expressed in the INTERNATIONAL BULLETIN are those of the authors lished a special covenant with Israel. The scriptures of other rod not necessarily of the Overseas Ministries Study Center. religions cannotbe placed on the same level as those of the Jews. Copyright© 1998byOverseasMinistriesStudyCenter.All rightsreserved. 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[SSN0272-6122 Dialoguewith members of other religions is the form of dialogue that has most influence on missionary activity. It influences the whole of mission methodology, which must take account of the religious experience of other peoples as its point of departure. It

[uly 1998 99 also gives a wider meaning to the concept and the purpose of of living dialogue is necessary in today's pluralism. It requires a mission, for mission not only must evangelize to convert and deeper understanding of one's own religious identity in order to build up the communitybut also must try to extend the values of avoid lapsing into relativism. During the 1970sI was a promoter the kingdom beyond the confines of the church and attract all of this form of dialogue in Laos, where I tried not only to create peoples toward the eschatological kingdom. Interreligious dia­ a greater theoretical awareness among the Christian community logue may therefore become a specific missionary activity, but also to promote meetings between groups of ordinary Chris­ complementary to proclamation and to the formation of the tians and Buddhists. community. In some instances it is the only form of activity Another form of dialogue is that of cooperation among people possible and justifies the missionary presence." of different faiths with a view to fostering common projects for This view of dialogue as a specific, autonomous activity, human promotion, mutual understanding, or peace. This can be justifying a real missionary presence, is new. The founder of my done between groups with a certain specialization, for example own order, Saint Eugene de Mazenod, in 1850, withdrew his in the area of education, agriculture, or health care. It can also be missionaries from Algeria because they were forbidden to do done among ordinary people who aim to solve a particular direct evangelization among the Muslims. The dialogue attitude problem. Cooperation of this sort is more effective if motivation allows us to have a new type of presence and opens up the and religious affiliations are freely acknowledged, notbypassed Christian community to the cultural and religious context. In or hidden. The role of dialogue by cooperation is to integrate the Asia, for example, the Christians used to live in a sort of ghetto, religious dimensionin all aspects of life and to make the religions withdrawn from their own culture. In Africa, the practice was to establish Christianvillages separate from the traditional centers, and the catechumenate in particular was organized in a separate location. Nowadays contact with other religions makes it pos­ Dialogue requires a deeper sible to give a more penetrating witness and fosters a progressive understanding of one's own inculturation. Therehavebeenforerunners of thisform of dialoguein Asia. religious identity to avoid It was, however; made official and promotedby Vatican Council lapsing into relativism. II in its document Nostra aetate (1965)andwas givenevengreater emphasis by some solemn gestures such as the day of prayer for peace held in Assisi in 1986.Popes Paul VI and John Paul II have open to the common good and mutual respect. For example, in proved to be convinced promoters of this form of dialogue Senegal I saw that cooperation in agricultural projects enabled through their travels, their meetings with delegations of other minority Christian communities to be recognized and respected religions, and their teaching. The magisterium constantly insists by the Muslim majority. It is the sort of dialogue that, generally on the twofold requirement of dialogue: openness to others and speaking, requires an initiator or animator, but lay participants a deepening of one's own Christian identity," in development can have a decisive role in promoting it. The Secretariat for Non-Christian Religions (1964), now The dialogue ofreligious experience is another area for mutual known as the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, has relations. It takes the form of exchange or participation with played an important part in the promotion of dialogue. During regard to religious experience. It maytake a very solemnform, as the first twenty years of its existence, it engaged in dialogue by on the occasion of the day of prayer for peace in Assisi, or in directly organizing meetings with various religious traditions, structuredmeditationor prayermeetings, as happensquite often promoting a knowledge of other religions among Catholics, and in India and Japan. It may also find expression in more simple generally laying the foundations for dialogue. During the past form, such as presence for the celebration of a birth, marriage, or fifteen years it has promoted dialogue at the local level, involving funeral, or showing signs of respect for what the other person local churches. The greatturningpointwasthe1986dayof prayer regards as sacred, or taking part in the festive celebrations of in Assisi. Onthatoccasionthelocal churcheswereinvolvedin the others. preparation and in accompanying the delegations of the various In particular, I recall two personal examples of the dialogue­ religions and churches. Documents such as Dialogue andMission of-experiencetype. WhenIwaslivingin SoutheastAsia, Iwanted (1984) and Dialogue and Proclamation (1990) have been prepared to acquire a better knowledge of Buddhism as it is really prac­ to clarify the issues. They have had a theological and pastoral ticed. Iwentto the schoolof a Buddhistteacherof meditationand influence,whichis reflected evenin the moresolemnmagisteriurn, took part in a period of contemplation in his center. At the end of such as the missionary encyclical Redemptoris missio? my week's retreat the monk asked me to tell what I had experi­ enced and how I understood it. I told himhow my experience of Forms of Interreligious Dialogue emptiness had brought me closer to God, who is the Absolute, completely different from everything that is limited or created. Experience shows that dialogue may be expressed in a wide He was impressed. He asked me to give witness to my religious variety of ways. Conversational dialogue and formal meetings experience in the presence of the hundreds of lay Buddhists who are not the only or even the most important ways. The most were going to meet on the following Sunday for a day of medi­ common form is that practiced by ordinary people in the situa­ tation. From then on, I was invited every month to take part in a tions of everyday life. It is called livingdialogue or dialogue oflife. day of meditative retreat for the lay Buddhists of the city, and I In practice it consists in respecting persons as believers on a always gave the Christian outlook on the theme propounded by neighborly basis and establishes constructive and positive rela­ the master himself. This went on for two years until the Commu­ tionships, not so much in spite of religious diversity as because nist government expelled all missionaries from the country and of it. In that way it is possible to acquire a deeper understanding some time later sent the master to a reeducation camp. of otherpeople's experience and consequently of their religion as In 1974 I organized a seminar for the study and practice of they live it. That approach also fosters mutual witness. This form meditation, both Buddhist and Christian. About fifty people of

100 INTERNATIONAL BULLETIN OF MISSIONARY RESEARCH both religions took part. The result was a greater appreciation of standing and living their own faith, especially if they are a the methods and aims of meditative prayer in both traditions. A minority group or have recently joined a new religion. As re­ number of Christians, including several missionaries, made a gards Christians, we must take into account that if they are more decisive choice of meditation as a form of prayer and Japanese, they are influenced by the religious environmental witness. outlook of Buddhism-Shintoism and the associated culture. If Sometimes dialogue of cooperation and dialogue of reli­ theycome from a traditional African religion, theyare influenced gious experience are integrated and foster the dialogue of life. In by its values and outlook. Therefore all believers must necessar­ the Diocese of Kaolak in Senegal, especially during the 1980s, ily have an interior dialogue with their religious cultural roots in agricultural development projects brought together Muslims orderto clarify one'sChristianidentityandconsciouslyinculturate and Christians. There wereinterreligious,mixed groupsof young one's faith. This is a personal exercise that can be more easily peoplewhotook theirinspirationfrom the CatholicYouthMove­ done by those who have the maturity and ability to evaluate and ment and became part of it. During the formation meetings there discern. Interior dialogue may also apply to the community, that were always moments of focus on faith and on the experience of is, to an entire group. This form of dialogue is necessary for a God. In the first part, all shared their common faith. Then in the deeper understanding of the faith and its inculturation in a second part Christians and Muslims separated to go more in specific context. We are still only beginning to break ground in depth into their own specific aspects of faith. this field. Theological dialogue is important for understanding certain Every form of dialogue has cultural implications. There is no aspects of religious faith and for gaining mutual knowledge. It religion that has not been influenced by culture, and there is no can be fostered by interpersonaldiscussion amongbelieverswho traditional culture that is not touched and animated by religion. have developed mutual trust. It is the most effective form be­ There is, in fact, a Laotian Buddhism, a Cambodian Buddhism, a cause it is more discreet and does not oblige the participants to Sri Lankan Buddhism, and so forth. Each one of these is a take any social precautions, which can sometimes be very incon­ synthesis and a cohabitation of the Buddhist way with the local venient, especially with Muslim counterparts. It is the way in culture. Islam, which tries to spread the message of Mohammed which to reveal a living faith at a deeper level. I have had some togetherwitha unifying Arab culture, also has cultural peculiari­ very in-depth experiences in this field not only with Buddhists ties. We need only mention AfricanIslamwithits confraternities. but even with Muslims who are normally very reluctant to This is all the more true of traditional African religions, which express certain truths and experiences in public. pervade the ethnic cultures. Throughout all of this area there can It mayalso take place in formal meetings thatare more or less be no worthwhile interreligious dialogue that is not simulta­ public, between experts and authorities. It has a social impor­ neously intercultural dialogue and that does not take account of tance and impact. Expressions of the faith content are in line with the cultural dimension. It can be seen, therefore, that interreli­ what is publicly professed and is "politically correct," especially gious dialogue must inevitably be conducted in a particular where there is tension. Muslims are more attentive to this form of cultural context. dialogue, which they consider to have a political and witness Dialogue has to overcome many challenges. One of them is value. This type of dialogue has been promoted by the Pontifical thatit mustchange according to the situation. There are two clear Council for Interreligious Dialogue and by the World Council of examples in recent years. In Algeria and in the southern Philip­ Churches, and also by universities andby spontaneous groupsof pines, Christian-Muslim relations were excellent until the mid­ specialists. There have been some negative experiences in the 1980s. At that point the situation changed completely, for a history of official dialogue as, for example, in the Christian­ number of reasons. This means that the evolution of dialogue Islamic conference held in Tripoli in 1974. However, even this does not always occur at the same pace and that changes mustbe form of formal dialogue can take a humanly positive tum. It expected, usually linked with the political or social situation. enables people to meet. It fosters more open decisions by the Dialogue can become ecumenical, that is, it can be promoted authorities, as happened in Libya and elsewhere following the in agreement with the other Christian churches. This happens at Tripoli meeting. an upper level between the authorities of the Catholic Church Official dialogue among religious authorities has a symbolic and the World Council of Churches, who meet once each year. value and normally promotes other forms of dialogue. It is the The leaders of these communities have produced documents type of dialogue that is promoted, for example, by the pope's that provide common guidelines on the subjects of prayer and journeys abroad. It can sometimes take spectacular forms as for interreligious marriages. They also have organized interreli­ instance in Morocco in 1985, when the pope spoke to 80,000 gious meetings on an ecumenical basis. At the base level, this is young Muslims. More often it takes place at a local level, when less common and more difficult. leaders and representatives of the different religions visit one Systems are not suitable interlocutors in dialogue. Dialogue another, especially on the occasion of special events in the is with real persons. It requires constant personal formation to community. clarify one's own identity and to find ways of respecting, listen­ The various forms of dialogue are better expressed when ing to, and cooperating with others. Dialogue presupposes a there is internal or interior dialogue. Persons and communities are progressive spiritualitynourishedbypersonalvalues andasceti­ immersed in their own milieu and are influenced by it in under­ cism. Only then can methods of dialogue in mission be fruitful. Notes------­ 1. See Redemptoris missio, para. 28-29. 6. F. Gioia, Interreligious Dialogue. The Official Teaching of the Catholic 2. See Gaudium et spes, para. 92. Church (1963-1995) (Rome: Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dia­ 3. M. Zago, Dialogo come stilee metodo della missione: Studi e saggi su La logue, 1997). VitaConsacrata, ed. P. Vanzan and F. Volpi (Rome: CISM, 1997), pp. 7. William R. Burrows, Redemption and Dialogue: Reading "Redemptoris 61-84. Missio" and "Dialogue and Proclamation" (Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis 4. Redemptoris missio, para. 50. Books, 1994), with commentaries by M. Zago and J. Dupuis. 5. See ibid., para. 57.

July 1998 101 God Inside Out: Toward a Missionary Theology of the Holy Spirit Stephen B. Bevans, S.V:D.

ost theology conceives of the Spirit in what we might mission). Furthermore, in the light of the insights of Johnson, M call Johannine terms: God (theos) sends Jesus, who Taylor, and Crowe recalled above, this movement is accom­ sends the Spirit. God's Holy Mystery is incarnate in Jesus and plished in the first place through the action of the Holy Spirit. continues to be present in creation through the Spirit. This, for God's deepest nature, in other words, is discerned by focusing example, is the perspective attributed to Aquinas and Barth, and not on God's inner Trinitarian, communal life but on God's "ec­ is evident in the first chapter of Ad gentes (para. 2-6) and chapter centric," "centrifugal" reaching out to the world in love. The first 3 of Redemptoris missio (RM). With Elizabeth Johnson, however, way that God reaches out, however-"limited neither by space I have come to see that it is indeed the Spirit that we know first, nor time"7-is through the active presence of what Christian who precedes Jesus not only in our own lives but in the history tradition has named the Holy Spirit. The Spirit is divine mystery of the world and in cultures that have not known him.' And it is sent from "inside" to be that mystery fully present and active the Spirit whom Jesus reveals to us as the Holy Mystery that is "outside"-in the world, in human history, in human experi­ only dimly intimated in the fabric of history, culture, and life. ence: the Spirit is God Inside Out. Johnson is not the only theologian to pointout the priority of The second part of my proposal corresponds to the second the Spirit's presence in our knowledge of God. In 1972, at the part of my title and relates specifically to the missionary implica- beginning of his book TheGo-Between God: TheHolySpiritandthe Christian Mission,British theologian John V. Taylor urged Chris-­ tians to recognize that the Spirit needs to become "so central to The Spirit precedes Jesus our thoughts about God and about man that when the name 'God' is used our minds go first to the Spirit, not last.'? To cite not only in our own lives another important expression of this insight, Jesuit theologian but in the history of the Frederick E. Crowe has proposed, as an interpretation of the thought of his mentor Bernard Lonergan, a thesis that, he says, world and in cultures that also finds some resonance in both Augustine and Aquinas: have not known him.

We have simplyto reverse the order in whichcommonlywe think of the Son and Spiritin the world. Commonlywe thinkof God first tions of the doctrine of the Holy Spirit as God Inside Out. I sending the Son, and of the Spirit being sent in that context, to propose that the church will live out its mission worthily only to bring to completion the work of the Son. The thesis says that, on the contrary, God first sent the Spirit, and then sent the Son in the the extentthatit allies itselfwithandis transformedby the Spirit. context of the Spirit's mission, to bring to completion-perhaps Onlyin this waycanit live in fidelity to its Lord, whohimselfwas not precisely the work of the Spirit, but the work that God allied to the Spirit in his mission and was transformed by the conceived as one work to be executed in two steps of the twofold Spirit's power. If the Spirit is the first way that God sends and is mission of first the Spirit and then the Son.' sent, the Spirit's activity becomes the foundation of the church's own missionary nature. If the church is to express its nature, Implications of the Change in Perspective therefore, it needs first to look to the Spirit's activity. Its task is, like that of Jesus, both to follow the Spirit's lead and to be the This change in perspective, emphasizing the Spirit's chronologi­ concrete "face" of the Spirit in the world," cal and experiential priority, has profound implications for the theology of Christian mission. To discover some of these impli­ The Activity of the Spirit cations I offer a two-fold proposal. The first part of my proposal corresponds to the first part of What is the Spirit'S activity in the world? From the Bible, Chris­ the title of these reflections: "God Inside Out." I intend this title tians associate the Spirit first of all with creation, where God's to be reminiscent of Johannes Hoekendijk's challenging ideas in Spirit sweeps like"a mighty wind ... over the waters" (Gen. 1:2, ecclesiology and in particular of the title of one of his books, The New American Bible), or, in Elizabeth's Johnson's description, Church Inside Out: Hoekendijk insisted that the essential nature "hovers like a great mother bird over her egg, to hatch the living of the church (its "inside," its ad intra nature) is not to be order of the world out of primordial chaos."? The Creator Spirit discoveredbyfocusing onthe churchbutonthe church's mission is also the Life-Giving Spirit (Gen. 2:7); as Elihu attests in his (its "outside" or ad extra character). The church is radically speech to Job, "the spirit of God has made me, the breath of the "eccentric" and "centrifugal.:" Almightykeepsme alive" (Job33:4).The Spirit endowsprophets In a way that I believe supplements Hoekendijk's insight, I with authority so that they can speakthe Word of God (Ezek. 2:2; wouldproposeto applythis samelogic to God. Echoing Rahner's Mic. 3:8),callingIsraelbackfrom unfaithfulness (e.g.,Hos.10:12) now-famous dictum about the immanentand economic Trinity," or announcing God's healing, forgiveness, and freedom (Isa. I propose thatGod's "inside" (i.e., God's mystery) canbe known 61:1-3). It is the Spirit that renews and restores life, giving flesh only from God's "outside" (i.e., God's movement to creation in and breath to dry bones (Ezek. 37:1-14) and turning hearts of stone into hearts that beat again (Ezek. 36:25-28). It is the Spirit Stephen B. Bevans, S.V.D., a contributing editor, is the Louis J. Luzebtak, by whose power Mary conceives Jesus (Luke 1:35), who is S.V.D. Professor ofMissionandCultureat theCatholic Theological Union in poured upon Jesus (Matt. 3:16), and who sets the agenda for his Chicago. He wasa missionary in the Philippines from 1972 to 1981. ministry (Luke 4:18-19). The same Spirit that guided Jesus is

102 INTERNATIONAL BULLETIN OF MISSIONARY RESEARCH promised to be given to the disciples, and in that Spirit they will history, Jesus is led by the Spirit to perform acts of life-giving understand all of God's purposes (John 14:26). The Acts of the healing, to say words of prophetic insightand renewing forgive­ Apostles, often called the Gospel of the Holy Spirit, is a theology ness, to live a life of freedom within the Mosaic law, to draw of history that reflects on the role of the Spirit in the coming-to­ peopletogetherin a table fellowship thatincludedthosewhohad be of the church. Acts is the amazing story of how the Spirit been excluded, and to show by his death the depth of God's love challenges and stretches the early community's prejudices and for humanity. The same creative, prophetic, life-giving and presuppositions and calls it beyond anything it dreamed pos­ death-negating power that characterized the Spiritin the history sible-or, as Donald Senior puts it, how the Spirit "drives" the of Israel is active in Jesus, who is raised from the dead by the communityto universal mission and to its identityas IIchurch."10 power of the Spiritand who lavishes that Spirit in a concrete and

Paul attests that the early communities are not only IIcreated and focused way on those who believe in his name. formed by the Spirit"; they are "a fellowship of the Spirit" as well." The Church and the Spirit In contemporary theological interpretation of the work of the Spirit, J. V. Taylor calls the Spirit the life-force of creation. The community of believers-women and men who share and "From within the depths of its being [the Spirit] urges every continue Jesus' mission in the world-are, in Paul's image, the creature again and again to take one more tiny step in the body of Christ. As such, they continue to be the "face" of God's direction of higher consciousness and personhood; again and Holy Mystery in history and to give concrete shape and focus to again he creates for every creature the occasion for spontaneity the creative, life-giving, challenging, renewing, unitingpowerof and the necessity for choice, and at every tum he opposes self­ the Spirit that has always been loose in the world." It is as the interest with a contrary principle of sacrifice, of existence for the body of Christ and the "face" of the Spirit that the church other."12 In his powerful article in Mysterium Liberationis, Jose discovers its mission in the world. Comblinsays that"LatinAmericanChristiansrecognizethe God In view of the priority of the Spirit's activity, however, the of liberation and feel the presence of such a God in their very word "mission" needs to be understood in a particular way. The midst, acting in their own actions and commitments. This Dios churchis not so much IIsent" as it is simplypartof God'sembrace Liberador is the Holy Spirit-whether known by name or not."13 of the world, an embrace made flesh in Jesus but accomplished Frederick Crowe argues that, since the Spirit is the way that God already in the past, present, and continuing presence of the Holy ispresentto humankindfrom the beginningof its emergence,we Spirit. As John PaulII has said forcefully, the Spiritis indeed "the Christians are already in relation to women and men of other principal agent of mission":" or, in the words of John V. Taylor: religious ways." Among many other references that could be "Our theology would improve if we thought more of the church being given to the Spirit than of the Spirit being given to the church."20 The church'staskis thereforenotso muchto"do it all" OnIy by allying itself with as it is to point, name, witness to, and cooperate with God's powerful and transforming presence. As Jesus made this visible the Spirit can the church in his life, death, and resurrection, so the church. makes this live in fidelity to its Lord, visible in its community and its commitment to God's creation. Proclaiming Jesus is proclaiming, as Taylor insists, not knowl­ who himself was allied to edge about Jesus but knowledge of Jesus; and the knowledge of the Spirit in his mission. Jesus is to be transformed, like him, by God's out-reaching love in the Holy Spirit. quoted, let me cite, finally, John Paul II's encyclical Redemptoris Mission and the Spirit missio: "The Spirit offers the human race 'the light and strength to respond to its highest calling': through the Spirit, 'humanity The Spirit's activity as God Inside Out in the world might be attains in faith to the contemplation and savoring of the mystery expressed by the notion of transcending immanence-imma­ of God's design' (Gaudium et spes, para. 10, 15).... The Spirit, nence because God is totally and thoroughly involved and inter­ therefore, is at the very source of humanity's existential and woven within cosmic and human history, transcendence because religious questioning, a questioning which is occasioned not only by contingent situations but by the very structure of humanity's bemg."" It TheSpirit'sactivity, to summarizethis quicktourof the Bible is as the body of Christ and contemporary theological reflection, is creating and life and the "face" of the Spirit giving, prophesying and renewing, empowering and uniting, that the church discovers its freeing and inspiring. mission in the world. Jesus and the Spirit

Jesus' mission, it would seem, is to align himselfwith the Spirit's God's presence and activity is beyond the capacity of human work, and thus make historically concrete and visible what God beings to predict, control, grasp, or express. The Spirit is God so had beendoing throughthe Spiritsince the creationof the world. involvedin the world (immanence) thatwe needconstantlyto be Jesusis the"face" ofGod's HolyMysteryin history,16 the mystery amazed and challenged by God's presence (transcendence). hitherto known through the Spirit's powerful yet IIanonymous" Transcending immanence. The transcending immanence of presence. 17 Ina concrete human nature, within the parameters of God InsideOutmeans that, in Johnson's words, "Spirit-Sophia is a concrete human culture at a very particular time in human the living God at her closest to the world, pervading the whole

July 1998 103 and each creature to awaken life and mutual kinship.'?' As the holy and need to be studied, appreciated, and critically evalu­ Spirit works, so must the church. Since nothing is foreign to the ated. The church'smission, as givento the Spirit, is as muchabout Spirit, nothing need be foreign to the church. Since the Spirit being evangelized by the cosmos, the earth, and other human pervades all things, so must the church. The task of the church is beings as it is about a commitment to their welfare and cultiva­ to be in the midst of history, to be partners in God's creation, to tion. My colleague Claude-Marie Barbour speaks of this as be a living sign in its community of creation's future. The mission-in-reverse." church's mission is world mission in the fullest sense; one might In this spirit of reverence of and obedience to the transcend­ even speak of cosmic mission. Nation building, earth keeping, ing immanence of the Spirit's holy creation, we can devote ecological action, education, preserving and transforming cul­ ourselves to inculturation and interreligious dialogue, and see ture, enhancing the quality of life, cultivation of the arts-all them as truly essential parts of mission. Through efforts of these are the fields of activityfor those whoare given to theSpirit. inculturation we come to the full meaning of God's embrace of The church's mission, like God's mission, arises out of passion the world, and by engagement in dialogue (at all levels) we for all that is and can be. It does not replace God's mission, of become aware of how thorough is the Spirit's presence and just course, but it points to and cooperates with God's activity with how wondrous are the magnalia Dei to which we witness and all its heart. which we proclaim. What Frederick Crowe says of the Christian God's transcending immanence means that God is genu­ attitude toward other religious ways can be said of our attitude inely involved in the world and its history-"not existence over toward the world's cultures as well: "We cannot shirk that task and against but with and for, not domination but mutual love [of evangelization]-woe to us if we do not preach the gospel (1 emerges as the highest value as the Spirit of God dwells within Cor. 9:16)-but our approach will be modified by our new and around the world with all its fragility, chaos, tragedy, understanding of the situation."27 Mission carried out in obedi­ fertility and beauty."22 Mission proceeds not through "strate- ence to the Spirit is the "mission in bold humility" that David Bosch wrote about so eloquently and lived so convincingly: "We know only in part, butwe do know."28 Jesus is indeed the face of the Spirit; in his concreteness we encounter mystery, but we In its mission the church is never fully grasp it. committed to combat the Transcending immanence. Consider also the transcending forces of death and enhance immanenceofGod InsideOutandits implicationsfor the church's mission. The mystery presentin the midstof creationandhuman the emergence of life. history is nonetheless mystery, and the church, like its Lord, must be obedient to the Spirit as it leads in directions that seem strange and uncomfortable. "Unless the missionary movement gies"-amilitaryterm-norby allianceswith"worldlypowers"; can be responsive to the unpredictability of the Holy Spirit," its procedure is that of the persuading, cajoling presence of the wrote Max Warren, "itwill cease to be a movement."29 Mission in Spirit, with the power that comes from vulnerability and open­ obedience to the transcending immanence of God's Spirit can ness. The passion for mission is the passion of relationship, and avoid the danger of what William R. Burrows calls the over­ relationship is defined not by being and doing "for," but being objectification of the Christ-event, that is, preaching the Gospel and doing "with." Reinhard Hiitter writes about the church's as if one controlled its message, or as if that message could be task as paraklesis, or "comforting appeal."23 exhaustively expressed in objective, rational categories. "Al­ "Comforting appeal," however, is neither feeble nor pas­ though," says Burrows, "theology in the West has generally sive. It is a challenging, disturbing presence, the presence of the confined the Holy Spirit to the status of mysterious energy prophet. "The Spirit is the Spirit of freedom, partial to freeing making for the efficacy of ecclesiastical activities, 'Spirit' func- captives rather thankeepingthembound,biased in favor of life's flourishing rather than its strangulation."24 To be church, there­ fore, "is to be agonizingly aware of the contrast between what is Mission in partnership and what should be,"'l5 and so to be committed to calling itself and the world in which it lives to constant renewal and reform, with the Spirit might reveal and to the development of systems and structures that combat depths to salvation that the forces of death and enhance the emergence of life. Aligning ourselves with the Spirit, therefore, is to oppose injustice, to be human minds could never involved in the political process, and to build communities of come to by themselves. solidarity and resistance. And to align ourselves with the Spirit is to take the risks involved in hope, in joy, and in fearlessness. The transcending immanence of God Inside Out bears wit­ tions biblically as a name that moves beyond and disrupts ness to creation's holiness. Grace is grace, and sin is sin precisely attempts to define Jesus or mission in straightforward language. because of this fact. Calling people from sin is always calling 'Spirit' injects an uncontrollable, effervescent element into the them to grace, and no call to repentance is worthy of the name structure of Christian existence-a dimension scarcely explored without it being done out of a conviction of the sinner's basic by theology."30 The transcending immanence of the Spirit can goodness and tragic "missing the mark" in his or her life. The help us realize thatJesus is the face of the Spirit and so is "not the universe, work of the Creator Spirit, can only be holy. Physical end of life's mysteries":" rather he lays us open to all of life's creation is holy and is to be reverenced, protected, and devel­ unfolding possibilities. oped; human life and human bodies are holy and are to be The Spirit'S unpredictable and unsettling lead will never respected; human cultures are holy and need to be celebrated in violate the "logic of salvation"-itwill never contradict the truth our expressions and activity of faith; even human religions are of Christ or suspend his law of love. But mission in partnership

104 INTERNATIONAL BULLETIN OF MISSIONARY RESEARCH withand obedience to God InsideOutmightreveal depths to that Taylor,is a bewildering,tearingexercise, for whateverhe touches "logic" that human minds could never come to by themselves. he turns inside out. "32 The Spiritis the Spirit as God turned inside Who in Jerusalem, through their own insight, would have con­ out; the Spirit given to Jesus turned him inside out and opened cluded that even Gentiles could be saved? What would have him up to the vision of God's reign among women and men; the happened if Rome had recognized the Spirit working through Spiritlavished throughJesusturnshis disciplesinside outas they Martin Luther or through Matteo Ricci?What might the African include unthinkable people and go to unthinkable places. Think­ church look like if we take more seriously the Spirit's work in the ing missiologically about the Holy Spirit can tum the church African Independent Churches or the Spirit's work in healing inside out, perhaps making it more responsive to where God is and exorcism? really leading it in today's world. "To think deeply about the Holy Spirit," writes John V.

Notes------­ 1. Elizabeth Johnson, She Who Is: TheMystery of Godin Feminist Dis­ 15. John Paul II, Encyclical Letter Dominumet vivificantem (Washington, course (New York: Crossroad, 1992),p. 127. D.C.: United States Catholic Conference), para. 54. 2. John V. Taylor, TheGo-Between God: TheHolySpiritandtheChristian 16. Breck, "TheFace"; RobertDotzel, "The Face of the Spirit: A Dialogue Mission (London: S.C.M. Press, 1972),pp. 5, 6. with John Breck." ProEcclesia 4 (Fall, 1995):5-10. 3. Frederick E. Crowe, "Son of God, Holy Spirit, and World Religions: 17. Crowe, "Son of God," p. 18. The Contribution of Bernard Lonergan to the Wider Ecumenism," 18. Dotzel, "The Face," p. 8 Chancellor's Address II (Toronto: Regis College, 1985), p. 8. The 19. John Paul II, Encyclical Letter Redemptoris missio, para. 30. connection with Augustine and Aquinas is asserted on p. 11. 20. Taylor, TheGo-Between God, p. 133. 4. Johannes C. Hoekendijk, The Church Inside Out (Philadelphia: 21. Johnson, SheWho Is, p. 147. Westminster Press, 1966). 22. Ibid. 5. Libertus Arend Hoedemaker, "Johannes Ch. Hoekendijk," in 23. Reinhard Hiitter, "Ecclesial Ethics, The Church's Vocation, and MysteriumSalutis, vol. 12(Italian Edition, Brescia: Quiriniana, 1978), Paraclesis," ProEcclesia 2 (Summer, 1993):441. p.658. 24. Johnson, SheWho Is, p. 147. 6. Karl Rahner, TheTrinity (New York: Herder & Herder, 1970),p. 22. .25. Taylor, TheGo-Between God, p. 96. 7. John Paul II, Encyclical Letter Redemptoris missio (1990),para. 28, in 26. Claude-Marie Barbour, Kathleen Billman, Peggy Des [arlait, and W. Burrows, ed., Redemption and Dialogue: Reading "Redemptoris Eleanor Doidge, "Ministry on the Boundaries: Cooperation without Missio" and "Dialogue and Proclamation" (Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis Exploitation," in Susan Thistlethwaite and George Cairns, eds., Books, 1994), pp. 5-55; John Paul II, Encyclical Letter Dominum et Beyond Theological Tourism (Maryknoll, N.Y.:Orbis Books, 1994),pp. vivificantem (Washington, D.C.: United States Catholic Conference, 72-91. 1986),para. 53. 27. Crowe, "Son of God," p. 21. 8. John Breck,"The Face of the Spirit." ProEcclesia 3 (Spring, 1994):165­ 28. David J. Bosch, Transforming Mission: Paradigm Shifts in Theology of 78. Mission (Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis Books, 1991), p. 489. 9. Johnson, SheWhoIs, p. 134. 29. Max Warren, "The Fusion of I.M.C. and W.C.C. at New Delhi: 10. Donald Senior and Carroll Stuhlmueller, TheBiblical Foundations for Retrospective Thoughts After a Decade and a Half," in Zending op Mission (Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis Books, 1983), p. 259. wegNaardeToekomst (Kampen, Netherlands: J. H. Kok, 1978),p. 194. 11. Gordon D. Fee, God's Empowering Presence: The Holy Spirit in the 30. William R. Burrows, "A Seventh Paradigm? Catholics and Radical Letters of Paul (Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson Publishers, 1994), p. Inculturation," in W. Saayman and K. Kritzinger, eds., Mission in 872. Bold Humility:DavidBosch's WorkConsidered (Maryknoll, N.Y.:Orbis 12. Taylor, TheGo-Between God, p. 36. Books, 1996), p. 128. 13. JoseComblin,"TheHolySpirit,"inIgnacioEllacuriaandJonSobrino, 31. JohnW. Oman,HonestReligion (Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press, eds., MysteriumLiberationis (Maryknoll, N.Y.:Orbis Books, 1993),p. 1941), p. 147. 464. 32. Taylor, TheGo-Between God, p. 179. 14. Crowe, "Son of God," pp. 17, 18.

July 1998 105 The Son Is God Inside Out: A Response to Stephen B. Bevans, S.V.D. F. Dale Bruner

ow can a Protestant not like a Roman Catholic's article truth that, in turn, teaches God, for, as Jesus concludes, when H on the Holy Spirit when the article ends so generously Jesus is talking about "what is mine," he is actually talking byasking, "Whatwouldhavehappenedif Rome had recognized about whatis God's: "Absolutely everything the Father has is the Spirit working through Martin Luther?" Father Bevans's mine, andthatis whyIcouldsay to youthatthe Spiritwill take celebrationof theSpirit's sovereignfreedom and world service is what is mine and explain it to you" (16:15). indeed appreciated by this Christian in the Reformation tradi­ Inaword,Jesus is theocentric, andthe Spirit isChristocentric. tion. However, I missed what I think is the New Testament's Together, in Trinitarian unity, the church is moved outin service major teaching on this important subject: the Holy Spirit'S prin­ to the world-but this service is always the precipitate of the cipal and ongoing work is a radical Christocentricity, which Father's and the Spirit's blazing Christocentricity first! I think it center in turn sends us into the cosmic circumference laid out so is fair to say that the Holy Spirit, according to the apostolic impressively in Bevans's essay. The Son, not the Spirit, is God witness, is almostmonomaniacally Christ-centered. Luther once Inside Out, and it is the Spirit'S good pleasure to make the Son, said of this focus of the Spirit, "The poor Holy Spirit doesn't not the Spirit, primary. know anything else!" We are in the presence of the Holy Spirit Is Bevans, like good Martha of old, distracted by much notwhenwehearmuchaboutthe HolySpirit (for the HolySpirit service and insufficiently focussed on the "one thing needful" does not bear witness to the Holy Spirit); we are in the presence (Luke 10:42)? I think it is the apostolic consensus that the Holy of the Holy Spiritwhen we hear much aboutJesus Christ and his Spirit's almost entire mission is, in the Lukan Jesus' program­ words and work. And the world service to which the Holy Spirit matic sentence, to empower those endued with the Spirit to be moves us is indeed as varied as the many laudable works of the witnesses to Jesus in the whole world: "When the Spirit comes Spirit that Bevans outlined; but first of all, as the motor that upon you ... you will be my witnesses" (Acts 1:8, with an moves us to all these services, the Spirit exalts Christ. The major emphatic moumartyres, "my witnesses"). Luke's Acts, then, is in service the church does for the world is the service of patiently fact a commentary on the Spirit's Christocentricity, where Christ and graciously bearing witness to Christ. is the theme of every sermon. (The Spirit is not the center of the Pope John Paul II, in Redemptoris missio, pinpointed the Acts' sermons.) problem of a church too stretched out and stressed out in a The FourthGospelgives us the mostcomprehensivecanoni­ rootless Martha-like"service" whenhe made his famous correc­ cal picture of the work of the Holy Spirit, particularly in the great tion against a one-sided, horizontalist liberation theology: Paracleteteachingin the upperroom.John'steaching,like Luke's, is distinguished by a searing Christocentricity: It is not right to give an incomplete picture of missionary activity, 1. It is Jesus who sends"another Paraclete" from the Father to be as ifit consistedprincipallyin helpingthe poor,contributionto the with the disciples forever in mission (14:16). liberationof the oppressed,promotingdevelopmentor defending 2. The Paraclete's special mission will be to teach the disciples human rights. The missionary Church is certainly involved on "everything" (panta), thatis-asJesus amplifies-to "remind these fronts but her primary task lies elsewhere: the poor are hungry for God, not just for bread and freedom. Missionary you of all that I have said to you" (14:26). activity must first of all bear witness to and proclaim salvation in 3. The Paraclete will, in summary, "bear witness to me," prom­ Christ, and establish local Churches which thenbecome means of ises Jesus (15:26). liberation in 'every sense" (para. 83). 4. Then in the most extended discussion of the Spirit in the four gospels, Jesus teaches the church that the Paraclete will con­ It is Christ-invigorated churches that are eager to do the cosmic vict the world of three great Christological errors related to mission of social justice that Bevans rightly wants; without this sin, righteousness, and judgment-failure to believe in Jesus Christocentricity,workin the worldbecomesalmostunbearable. is the great sin; failure to see that Jesus' career is the meaning Mission is exhausting work. of righteousness, is the great error; and failure to see that his I believe that Bevans makes a fundamental mistake in plac­ work defeated the evil one is the great oversight (16:8-11). ing the sending of the Spirit before the sending of the Son. He 5. The Paracletewill guidethe church"intoall the truth"-notiri admits that [ohannine teaching places the Son before the Spirit: independence, for, Jesus adds, the Spirit "will not speak on its It is the Son who, with the Father, sends the Spirit in John's own, but whatever it will hear [through the Son from the Gospel (and also in the Western church'sfilioque, where the Spirit Father] it will say" (16:13). proceeds from the Father and the Son). We recall the Johannine 6. The Paraclete, says Jesus in global summary, "will glorify me, explicit sequence: "The Spirit 'was' not yet, for Jesus had not yet because the Spirit will take whatis mine and explainit to you" been glorified" (john 7:39);and it is then Jesus who breathes the (16:14). Spirit on the disciples Easter evening (john 20:22). The Son 7. The HolySpirit, Jesus concludes, will teach the Christocentric precedes the Spirit; it is not the other way around. When the apostolic sequence is reversed, the church becomes F. Dale Bruner, theGeorge andLydaWasson Professor Emeritus ofReligion at pneumatocentric-the Montanist error, which has historically Whitworth College, Spokane, Washington, wasSenior MissionScholar at the Overseas Ministries Study Center and a Research Fellow at Yale Divinity meantthatthe churchwas drivendizzy in a thousand"spiritual" School the spring 1998 semester. He was a missionary of the Presbyterian directions at once. But when the Son is given the priority, as Church (U.S.A.), 1964-75, at UnionTheological Seminary, Philippines. Heis happens in Scripture and tradition, the apostolic Spirit unfail­ authorof A Theology of the Holy Spirit (Eerdmans,1970) and The Holy ingly points the church in its worship services to her uni-center, Spirit: Shy Member of the Trinity (Augsburg, 1983). True North, the Lord Jesus Christ, who in turn fortifies, ener­

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10... i.k., 0.-1.. e u ee~o./Il ' ~ teffe-n: 800.992.4652 School of I ntercultural StuditS Fax: 310.903.4851 E-Mail: tom_steffen@pe ter.biola.edu 13800Biola Avenue LaMirada, California 90639-000 1 gizes, and sends the church out, again and again into her thou­ world?" He then answers with a survey of scriptural and other sand-point world service. Thus I contest Bevans's "first the texts on the varied works of the Holy Spirit. But isn't the central Spirit, then the Son"; I believe that this orientation is exhausting and ongoing work of the Spirit-the work that moves Christians the church today. "Spirit-centeredness" is like the proverbial to all other works of the Spirit-the gift of faith in Jesus Christ? rubber nose that can be twisted into a hundred different shapes Isn't it true in the New Testament that the Spirit's main work is by the spirit of the age; "Christ-centeredness," the central work Christocentricity, a Christocentricity that sends us out into the of the Spirit, keeps the church constantly focused on and re­ world with the many-colored charisms of Christian mission? I freshed by the historical, canonical, justice-seeking Jesus of missed Christ in Bevans's description of the Spirit's "God-to­ Nazareth. creation" dynamic. "Whatever the Spirit brings about in human It is not the Spirit who is "God Inside Out," it is the Son. "No hearts and in the history of peoples ... can only be understood in one has ever seen God; butGod the onlySon, who is in the bosom reference to Christ" (john Paul II, Redemptoris missio, para. 29). of the Father, he has exegeted God" (john 1:18).It is the work of I felt, in other words, that Bevans's description of the Spirit the sovereign, free Holy Spirit to keep pointing us to this throughout the essay drew the circumference, and, while his Christocentric truth. Bevans would have been better advised to essay did not altogether omitJesus, it seemed rather consistently follow the John-Aquinas-Barth sequence of Son-Spirit, which he that it drew Jesus off to one side. But Jesus is Center-the Spirit's admitted he consciously replaced with what he felt was the Center, too. Perhaps Bevans assumed this Center in Christian superior Spirit-Son sequence of some modern teachers. readers. But the Center should never be assumed; it should be After his thesis of "First Spirit, then Son," Bevans's main asserted. The cosmic mission to which Bevans bears witness is a subtheses are three: First, "I propose that God's 'inside' (i.e., reality, and I can repeat his description of that mission with God's mystery), can be known only from God's 'outside' (Le., approval: "Nation building, earth keeping, ecological action, God's movement to creation in mission)." Yes! We know God's education, preserving and transforming culture, enhancing the "inside" only by God's "outside," but that outside is Jesus, not quality of life, cultivation of the arts-all these are the fields of creation. Meanwhile, God the Holy Spirit belongs to God's activity for those who are given to the Spirit." Yes,butthe world mysterious "inside." The one great Outside of the Holy Trinity is does many of these laudable services too, and sometimes does Jesus of Nazareth. them much better than the church. But there is one thing the Second, "If the Spirit is the first way that God sends and is world cannot do better than the church: tell the Gospel of Jesus sent, the Spirit's activity becomes the foundation of the church's Christ. The centripetal work of the Spirit (to point us to Christ) own missionary nature." No, I think Scripture and tradition moves us to the Spirit's centrifugal work (world service) and uniformly teach us that the Son is the first way that God sends. does so, I think history demonstrates, more effectively than any The Spirit is subsequently sent by the Son from the Father to other reality. The Spirit has been teaching us now for two make the Son's activity the foundation of the church's mission­ millennia,beginningwiththe apostolic record, thatJesus is "God ary nature. Inside Out." Let us hear what the Christocentric Spirit is saying Third, Bevans asks, "What is the Spirit's activity in the to the churches.

Jesus, Face of the Spirit: Reply to Dale Bruner

Stephen B. Bevans, S. ~D.

hat disappoints me in Dale Bruner's response to my presence in the world. God's Spirit has been present in the world W article is that I think he fails to see the Christocentric since the first nanosecond of creation (Gen. 1:2); that Spirit was dynamic running all the way through it. Perhaps this is my fault; upon Jesus (Luke 4:18) as he began his ministry; Jesus is the perhaps I should have been more explicit in expressing how human concretization of that Spirit in human history, the one central faith in Christ is in my own life, and in the perspective on who gave God's"anonymous" presence a human face.' Faith in mission that I presented in my article. But perhaps the miscom­ Jesus is to be, like him, a witness to God's mystery finally made munication is due not to lack of clarity on my partbut to the way manifest (Col. 1:26-27)-in himself, surely, but also in the warp I understand faith in Christ. For me, submission to the lordship and woof of history and the struggles and victories of humanity. of Christ is not primarily submission to a doctrinal formula. I would concede that Jesus, too, is "God inside out," but I Rather, it is submission withChrist to hisvision, the reign of God; think it is much more theologically rich to speak of him as the it is commitment to carryon his work, which is proclaiming, "face" of the Spirit, the "face" of God's mysterious presence serving, and witnessing to that reign. This is the point of my "inside out" in history and human experience. concluding paragraph, which sums up my article: "The Spirit is Bruner says my fundamental mistake is placing the sending the Spirit as God turned inside out; the Spirit given to Jesus of the Spirit before the sending of the Son. He is certainly correct turned him inside out and opened him up to the vision of God's in seeing this as the foundation of my approach, and I admit that reign among women and men; the Spirit lavished through Jesus my position ventures into some relatively unexplored territory. turns his disciples inside out as they include unthinkable people I certainly am open to be corrected here. and go to unthinkable places." My thesis is that mission is to do Several factors, however, give warrant to my position. First, what Jesus did: be totally committed to making manifest God's the scriptural witness is more multifaceted than Bruner alleges.

108 INTERNATIONAL BULLETIN OF MISSIONARY RESEARCH He shows clearly what I also acknowledge: the Johannine wit­ of the world, even before Christ and before he is explicitly ness speaks of the Son sending the Spirit, and of the Spirit "not proclaimed, God is present through the Holy Spirit. "It is the yet" (john 7:39). What are we to make, however, of Luke 4:18, Spirit," writes John Paul II, "who sows the 'seeds of the Word' whereJesus, quotingIsaiah61,clearlyappliesthetextto himself? present in various customs and cultures, preparing them for full Can't we see the text as the Spirit leading Jesus in his ministry? maturity in Christ" and "who 'was already at work in the world The sameseems to be the case in the Matthean (3:16)and Marean before Christ was glorified'" (Redemptoris missio, para. 28 and 29, (1:10)accounts of Jesus' baptism. Or consider Mark 1:12 (paral­ the latter quoting VaticanII's Adgentes, para. 4). If this is the case, leled in Matt. 4:1), where the Spirit is said to send Jesus out why can't we speak of the Spirit preceding the Son, and the Son toward the desert. Finally, in Acts 10:38, in his discourse to being the "face" of the Spirit, bestowing the Spirit in turn with Cornelius, Peter says God anointed Jesus "with the Holy Spirit greater focus? Perhaps rather than a rigid procession, weneed to and power," obviously at the beginning of his ministry. As understand the Trinity in interweaving patterns of "giving over Elizabeth Johnson judges, "when the totality of biblical witness and receiving back, being obedient and being glorified, witness­ is takeninto account, it becomes apparentthat theology hasbeen ing, filling, and actively glorifying."4 highly selective in its focus on the Father-Son-Spirit pattern, for Mission must proclaim Christ, but it must always be careful other options are also realizable.'? to proclaim Christ under the guidance-even challenge-of the Second, Crowe suggests in the exploratory lecture to which Spirit. This, I think, is what happened with Peter in Acts 10 and my article refers that the "reversal" in understanding the mis­ 11. The Christhe proclaimed was different from the Christhe felt sions of the Son and the Spirit is "notso much a new doctrine, as comfortable with as a practicingJew. This is also what happened a rearranging of doctrines already widely held.... not really a as those unnamed evangelists preached Christ in Antioch in novelty, but just another instance of a general pattern and prin­ Hellenistic terms (Acts 11:20). As Andrew Walls has pointed out ciple also widelyheld." The doctrineCrowe refers to is thatof the in his lectures and writings, we do not yet know the fullness of visible mission of the Son and the invisible mission of the Spirit; Christ; but as we follow the Spirit in mission, and as all peoples the pattern and principle is that "what is first in our eyes is last come to know the Gospel, we will know him more and more in itself, and what is last in our eyes is first in itself." Naturally, fully. It is this open-endedness of our understanding of Christ the visible mission of the Son is whatwe discover first (and what that my article attempts to promote. Trust in the Spirit will we proclaim in mission), and that leads to the recognition of the always lead us to Christ; this is the "logic of salvation" about invisible mission of the Spirit. "But is it altogether fantastic, is it which I speak in my article. But faith in Christ will always open not rather to be expected, that the real order is the exact oppo­ us to the Spirit, who will lead us to Christ in ways we may not site?" Love isn't love, Bernard Lonergan says, until it is de­ ever have imagined. I propose no "rubber nose" that can be clared-this is analogous to the incarnation of the Son. But the twisted to the spiritof the age; I proposeopenness to a missionary declaration is of something that is already there, the presence of God "inside out" in this world, whose face is Jesus, and whose God inside out through the presence of the Spirit.' mystery is encountered in the surprising movements of the Holy This leads me to a third consideration. In the actual history Spirit. Notes------­ 1. Frederick E. Crowe, "Son of God, Holy Spirit, and World Religions: course (New York: Crossroad, 1992), p. 195. The Contribution of Bernard Longeran to the Wider Ecumenism," 3. Crowe, "Son of God, Holy Spirit," pp. 9, 10, 12. Chancellor's Address II, Regis College,Toronto, 1985, p. 18. 4. Johnson, She Who Is, p. 195. 2. Elizabeth Johnson, She Who Is: The Mystery of God in Feminist Dis­

Cortection:The editors regret an errorin the large-print displayon page75of the Aprilissueof the INTERNATIONAL BULLETIN, in which the Chinese evangelist Liang Fa was identified as a convert of Robert Morrison. In the text itself author J. Barton Starr properly identifies Liang Fa as a co-worker of Morrison. Starr offers readers of the BULLETIN this further clarification of Liang Fa's relationship to Morrison: "Liang Fa was employed as one of Morrison's earliest co-workers, engaged in printingthe Bibleandotherreligiousmaterials. He went to MalaccawithWilliamMilnein1815andwasbaptized by Milne in 1816."

July 1998 109 The Doctrine of Christ and the Significance of Vernacular Terminology Kwame Bediako

nyone familiar with the writings of contemporary Afri­ and a personal name in early Christian usage. This means that in A can theologians will be aware of the preference for point of fact, "Nana" is a more satisfactory term for speaking of referring to Jesus Christ in terms derived from African tradition, the actuality of Christ than"Ancestor." It should therefore be termssuchas Ancestor, Healer,Chief, andMasterof Initiation. In clear from this that the real theological problem here has to do response,some theologians (mainlynon-Africans) haveexpressed with the English word "ancestor" and not with Nana. concernabout this prevalence of"African" images thatappear to Indeed, the matter should not be about words and their relegate to the background biblical terms for Christ. It has even equivalents at all. It is rather about discerning and recognizing been suggested, following surveys done at the grass roots, that what is happening creatively in the context as people encounter, African Christians in fact prefer biblical titles for Jesus, such as live out, and attempt to express theirexperience ofthe reality and "Savior" and "Messiah" to those derived from African tradition. actuality of Jesus Christ. The question may therefore be asked whether there is a contra­ This example from contemporary African Christianity re­ diction here, or whether other factors need to be considered in calls parallel developments within the New Testament itself, as order to arrive at a more accurate understandingof the dynamics I have hinted already in my reference to the use of "Logos" for of the perception of Jesus Christ in the African context. Jesus. Andrew Walls recently described the process in the pages One major factor to consider is the equivalents of biblical of this journal: As the early preachers"started to speak of Kyrios titles for Jesus in local languages and the resonances of those Jesus, parallel to Kyrios Sarapis," that "act of metaphysical equivalents. With regard to "Chief" and "Ancestor," for ex­ translation" was inevitably followed by "explanation, qualifica­ ample, my own experience in Ghana is that while hardly anyone tion, supplementation and definition as the identity ofJesus was will pray in English to "Ancestor Jesus" or "Chief Jesus," many explored in terms of Hellenistic language and thought." It is as will readily pray in Akan to "Nana Yesu." (Nana means"ances­ though, Walls continues, '''the full stature of Christ' becomes tor" and also serves as the title for ancestors.) attainable" as the Gentiles enter the community of faith, "as This simple illustration demonstrates how subtle and nu­ though Christ himself grows as he penetrates Gentile thought anced the discussion needs to be in this area, for it shows that the and society in the persons of his people.... The full stature of meanings of biblical concepts and biblical vocabulary are not Christ is revealed only as a fresh cultural entity is incorporated establishedsimplyby wordequivalents. For example, of the two into the church, which is his body" ("Old Athens and New titles "Word" (Logos) and "Son" applied to Jesus in the New Jerusalem ... ," International Bulletin ofMissionary Research 21,no. Testament, can we say that the second is more biblical in view of 4 [October 1997]:148-49.) the prehistoryof the first in Greek philosophy? Indeed, is that the I would therefore suggest that perhaps the exegesis of bibli­ important question? Is "Nana Yesu" less biblical as a way of cal words and texts is not to be taken as completed when one has established meanings in Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek; instead, the processneedsto continueinto all possiblelanguagesin which biblical faith is received, mediated, and expressed. If this makes Can Jesus inhabit the Akan the task infinitely more difficult than anyone person or group of world of lINana" in the same persons can achieve, then it shows all the more how tentative, way that he could inhabit provisional, and contextual all our theological efforts are. This becomes even more important in view of the increasing the Greek world of "Logos"? significance of non-Western Christianity and of the fact that it is posing all sorts of questions and producing a whole range of problems for which our theological knowledge, gained through addressing Jesus simply because Nana translates "ancestor" in the studyoftheologyas shapedby WesternChristianhistory and English? Is it not the question, rather, whether the experience of experience, has not prepared us. the reality andactualityofJesus as intendedin Christianaffirma­ This is not to say that non-Western Christianity has resolved tion can inhabit the Akan world of "Nana" in the same way that all the new problems. In many instances it is itself working at it could inhabit the Greek world of "Logos"? identifying the questions, and there is nothing to suggest that the In this specific case, even though Nana recalls the category of endeavor should be any less arduous than the parallel process "ancestor," and so, in that sense translates the term, in actual fact has been elsewhere. All this means that culture, and especially it is not adequate to leave it at that. For whereas"ancestor" is a the new cultural entities that are becoming incorporated into the generic term in English, "Nana" is both a title and a personal churchworldwide,will continueto havea decisiveimpacton the name, in the same way that "Christos" (Christ) was both a title shaping of Christian thought. Yet reflection about Christ that is carried on in the interface Kwame Bediako is Founder and Director of the Akrofi-Kristaller Memorial of the reading and hearing of the Scriptures and the experiencing Centre for Mission Research and Applied Theology, Akropong-Akuapem, of the actuality of Christ in the life situations of believers in the Ghana. He is theauthorof Theology and Identity: The Impact of Culture world will be subject to the necessary constraints of the tradition upon Christian Thought in the Second Century and Modem Africa of the communityoffaith, to ensurethatthe resultis recognizable (Oxford: Regnum Books, 1992). Thisessay first appeared in theJanuary-July and owned by the world Christian community. However, since 1998issueof Akrofi-Christaller Centre News. we are dealing witha translatable faith and translated Scriptures,

110 INTERNATIONAL BULLETIN OF MISSIONARY RESEARCH mother tongues, new languages, and the potential for new centrality of Scripture translation points to the significance of idioms become central and are crucial in opening up fresh local religions for providing the idiom for Christian apprehen­ insights into our common understanding of the doctrine of sion in the new languages and cultures in which Christian faith Christ. now finds a home. On this side of the modem missionary movement and its In this respect the second century and its similar (convert) intensecommitmentto Scripturetranslation, wemaybe tempted stageintheconversionprocessof theHellenisticworldof thought to take the subject for granted. We now recognize the critical can throw light on the processes involved in the shaping of impactthat the Scriptures in the mother tongues of converts have Christian affirmation in the new cultural contexts and cultural idioms of Africa in which biblical faith is now beginning to be expressed. In this task, the early Church Fathers of the second Mother tongues and new century are truly our masters. They made the Gospel their own to such an extent that it became for them a key to interpret the idioms are crucial for religious meanings inherent in their heritage, so that they could gaining fresh insights into decide what to accept and what to reject. The Gospel was for them also an all-encompassing reality and principle of integra­ the doctrine of Christ. tion that enabled them to understand themselves and their past and to face the future, because the Gospel of Jesus Christ became for them the heir to all that was worthy in the past, while it held had in the spread of the Christian faith. But it is important to all the potential of the future. realize that it is the modern expansion of the faith into the non­ The study of non-Western Christianity needs to show a Western worlds of Africa, Asia, the Pacific, and Latin America similar deepening awareness of the impact of culture upon that has alerted us to this phenomenon. Christian thought and to pay greater attention to the contribu­ Whatstill remains to happen, however, is therealization that tion that the new languages of Christian experience make to the this ma.jor event can have a significant impact. in the actual development of Christian thought. We thus anticipate the vision Christian idiom in which we articulate our experience of Jesus in Revelation 7 of what the church will look like at the end: the Christ. In relation to Africa, Lamin Sanneh has argued that multitude from every nation, tribe, people, and language stand­ Scripture translation "imbued local cultures with eternal signifi­ ing before the throne of God and singing, in their varied lan­ cance" and "endowed African languages with a transcendent guages, the one new song of praise and adoration to the one range." But this meant also that African pre-Christian religions Savior of all the redeemed, the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ the had a theological significance in the whole process, for the Lord. Noteworthy

Personalia Lawrence Nemer, S.V.D., an American who has been Jan A. B. Jongeneel has become a contributing editor of the teaching in Australia, has been appointed president of the INrERNATIONAL BULLETIN OF MISSIONARY RESEARCH. An ordained Missionary Institute London, effective December 1998. The minister in the Netherlands Reformed Church and a former Missionary Institute offers basic theology courses for missionary in Indonesia, he is Professor of Missiology at the ordination, andoffers a B.A.(Hons.) Theologyfor Ministry, an UniversityofUtrechtanda staff memberof the Interuniversity M.A. in Applied Theology, and a Diploma in Missiology, all InstituteforMissiological andEcumenicalResearch inUtrecht. validated by Middlesex University. In addition the institute He is the authorof the two-volumemissiologicalencyclopedia offers mission renewal courses for experienced missionaries. Philosophy, Science, andTheology ofMission in theNineteenth and Died. Josef Glazik, M.S.C., 84, German missiologist, on Twentieth Centuries (Peter Lang, 1995,1997).We welcome him October 17, 1997.Professor of Missiology and Director of the and look forward to his contribution in these pages. InstituteforMissiological Research at the UniversityofMiinster World Vision in Federal Way, Washington, has selected until retirement in 1970,he was also editor of the ZeitschriftfUr Richard E. Steams, 47, to be the new president of their U.S. Missionswissenschajt und Religionswissenschaft. He was the operations. Stearns has been president of Lenox, Inc., a New author of two published seminal dissertations, Die russich­ Jersey company that manufactures fine china. He succeeds orthodoxe Heidenmission seit Peter dem Crossen (Miinster 1953) Robert Seiple who is retiring after 11 years as head of the and Die Islammission der russisch-orthodoxen Kirche (Munster agency thatlast year raised $350million to supportits workin 1958).He was peritus (advisor) at the Second Vatican Council 100 countries worldwide. andplayeda decisive partin the draftingof the missiondecree On May 31, 1998,Catholic Theological Union in Chicago Ad Centes. inaugurated the Louis J. Luzbetak, S.V.D. Chair of Mission and Culture and installed Stephen B. Bevans, S.V.D. as the Announcing first professor in the new chair. A pioneer in the field of Thenext conference ofthe InternationalAssociationfor Mission missiological anthropology, Father Luzbetak will celebrate Studies will be held in South Africa, January 21-28,2000. The his 80th birthday in September at Techny, Illinois, where he theme of the conference will be "Reflecting Christ: Crucified resides. Father Bevans is Director of the Chicago Center for and Living in a Broken World." The e-mail address of Klaus Global Ministries, and is a contributing editor of the Schaefer, general secretary of lAMS in Hamburg, is: INTERNATIONAL BULLETIN OF MISSIONARY RESEARCH. [email protected]

July 1998 111 Conversion and Community: Revisiting the Lesslie Newbigin-M. M. Thomas Debate George R. Hunsberger

In India in thelate1960s andearly1970s, Bishop Lesslie views appeared that summer in the International Review ofMis­ Newbigin and M. M. Thomas debated the natureof conver­sionsin anarticleentitled "The Post-Colonial Crisis of Missions." sionandChristian community.Theimportance ofthesubject This article .drew out the lines along which Newbigin would wasunderlined bythefindingsofsociological research thatin engage the issue further.' major urbancenters suchasMadras there were thousands of Thomas entered the discussion while carrying forward the Indians whobelieved in "Jesus astheonly God"though they matter of salvation in the secular world with the publication of had no visible connection with the Christian church. The his book Salvation and Humanization? Because he took issue with Bangalore theologian KajBaago sharpened the issueby ask­Newbigin at several points in the book, Newbigin gave it an ing, "Must Buddhists, Hindus and Muslims become Chris­extensive review in Religion and Society, and the debate was on." tiansin order tobelong toChrist?"Baago wished toadvocate A published exchange of letters and other material that never thekindofChristian witnessthatmight lead to "thecreation made it to publication produced a vivid display of the pregnant of Hindu Christianityor BuddhistChristianity. " issues touching"conversion and community."?While the debate On theoccasion oftheMarch 1966 Nasrapur Consulta­propersoondissipated, the issues raised continued to receive the tiononmission Newbigin launched thedebate byresponding. attention of each," first toBaago. By1969 thedebate becamefocused in published The major theme of the debate-the nature of koinonia and discussions between Newbigin andhisfriendM. M. Thomas. the forms of the church-->maybestbe approached by beginning Thefollowing essay reacquaints uswiththeissues asNewbigin with Newbigin's response to the challenge of Baago concerning and Thomas saw them. As we approach the twenty-first whether "membership in the visible fellowship" is integral to century in Christian mission, the issues taken up in the conversion. If the purpose of God cannot be identified with the Newbigin-Thomas debate remain as relevant as ever.-Eds. "aggrandisementof thecommunity," as Newbigin'scase against a "church extension" model had shown, "in what sense, then, is he so-called Thomas-Newbigin debate between M. M. 'membership in the visible fellowship' integral to conversion?" T Thomas and Lesslie Newbigin grew out of long years of Is baptism, incorporation into a Christian organization, the ac­ appreciative association between the two men. Newbigin's as­ ceptance of the label "Christian," and the adoption of the tradi­ sisting role in the inauguration of the Christian Institute for the tions and customs of the "Christian community" required for Study of Religion and Society, with which Thomas was associ­ one to "belong to Christ"?" ated from its inception in 1955, the deep involvement each had Repeating Baago's question "Does a Hindu have to become had in various facets of the work of the World Council of a Christian in order to belong to Christ?"!' Newbigin recognized Churches, and their common efforts to stimulate the theological and missiological reflection of the Indian church made them frequent companions. Their mutual respect gave them freedom The New Testament knows for criticalandcreativeinteractiononthe mostpressingof issues. In the late 1960s and early 1970s they drew each other into nothing of a relationship dialogue on the issues of conversion and community.' The de­ with Christ unembodied in bate emerged from discussions that each had begun to have any of the structures of independently. At the Mexico City 1963 meeting of the Commis­ sion on World Mission and Evangelism (CWME) of the WCC, human relationship. Thomas had begun an exchange with Hendrikus Berkhof on the subject of "the form and content of the salvation which Christ offers men in the secular world." Paul Loffler urged that the in this question the challenge raised for Christiansby the biblical notion of election: "Can you really think that you, of all people, dialogue be carried forward in print, and under his editorial are entitled to invite the whole world into your fellowship?"12 guidance this was done.' Newbigin's contribution to the 1968 Newbigin did not hesitate to affirm,"This inward turning Festschrift for Bengt Sundkler offered an assessment of that dialogue.' immediately and intrinsically . . . involves membership in a community." "The New Testament knows nothing of a relation­ On the other side, Newbigin had given an address at the Nasrapur Consultation of the National Christian Council of shipwithChristwhichispurelymentalandspiritual,unembodied in any of the structures of human relationship." The essential India (NCCI) in March 1966. His contribution on the subject of confession of every new convert embraces belief not only "in the conversion stood over against the position of Kaj Baago, whose finality of the revelation of God in Jesus Christ, but also in the necessity of this community as part of the response to that George R. Hunsberger is Professor of Missiology at Western Theological revelation." If the biblical description of "conversion" as Jesus Seminary in Holland, Michigan, and Coordinator of the Gospel and Our Culture Network in North America. His missionary experience has been in introduced it early in his ministry is to be followed, it mustbe so. Florida, Mississippi, and Kenya. He is the past secretary-treasurer of the For it is a "visible community" that takes shape because of the American Society ofMissiology. This essay isexcerpted from chapter 5 in his deliberate, concrete, and sovereign call of Jesus that converted newlyreleased book Bearing the Witness of the Spirit: Lesslie Newbigin's the first disciples, and every disciple thus converted is placed in Theology of Cultural Plurality (Eerdmans). it.13

112 INTERNATIONAL BULLETIN OF MISSIONARY RESEARCH Turned another way, the question asks about mission strat­ Unfortunately the extent of the difference of meaning the two egy, "Does fidelity to Christ require us also to try to draw men attach to the phrase is never clarified. But it lurks in the back­ into the fellowship of the visible church?" What Newbigin says ground and obscures the discussion on many points. about refusing to adopt a church extensionmodelwould seem to It seems to be this issue that Paul Leffler picks up and asks lead to a negative answer and give preference to unselfishservice them to address. Arguing that different New Testament to those outside the church. But, for Newbigin, to say that Christologies are attached to different approaches to mission, he conversion must not be a mere extension of the church does not links a basileia orientation to Thomas's "Christ-centred secular meanthat it doesnotincludeincorporationintoa visiblecommu­ fellowship outside the Church" and a salvation orientation to nity. True conversion involves both a new creation from above, Newbigin's formulation of a companyof people"at thecentre of which is not merely the act of extension of an existing commu­ this saving purpose.'?" But this distinction of ecclesiologies-a nity, and also a relationship with the existing community of kingdom "team of messengers who spread the news of the believers. The real question is What is the relation between these beginningkingdom"as overagainsta salvation-oriented"clearly two?" recognizable community of the church"-neither clarifies nor This was the issuein the importantcase of the churchcouncil resolves. On onehand, it would seemjust as appropriate to relate in Acts 15. The outcome affirmed not only that the extension Thomas's "secular fellowship" to the salvation motif with its model was being refused but also that the Spirit's freedom concern for making whole the land and social structures, and for beyond the existing church was being acknowledged. The Gen­ securing justice and peace-in other words, its humanizing tiles were baptized and fully embraced. "While there was no dimension. On the otherhand,thekingdommotif,whichstresses question of making the gentile converts mere extensions of Judaism, they were certainly incorporated into a visible and definite community.?" It isin respectto Newbigin'saffirmationthattrueconversion Thomas sees much of the to Christ necessitates participation in a visible Christian fellow­ "new humanity" in the ship-and Baago's apparent denials that "the Church is essen­ tial"-thatThomas enters the debate. His concern is to raise the present, while Newbigin question that lies between these positions, the question concern­ looks to the future for ing "what form the Church should take." He criticizes both tangible realization of the Baago and Newbigin for "confusing and mixing" the two ques­ tions." He believes that Newbigin "misses narrowly" the most "new humanity." crucial issue, that of "the transcendence of the Church over religious communities, which makes possible the Church's tak­ ing form in all religious communities.?" yielding loyalty to God over all other rivals, would as easily tend The debate that ensues is a real one precisely because in the direction of Newbigin's explicit Christian community and Newbigin'streatmentof Baago'schallengehadincluded a strong the breaking of other solidarities. Newbigin himself denies the caution against the"domestication" of the form and structure of link Leffler suggests between his view and the salvation theme the church and affirmation of the "radical independence" of the by showing that his view of the church grows in direct relation­ new convert. Both he and Thomas wrestle with the limits, or ship with the kingdom orientation. The presence of the kingdom boundaries, of the new convert's independence. They jointly is attached to the call to follow Jesus. Therefore, "the creation of pose two questions: What lies within the legitimate range of concrete human community bound to Jesus is the immediate choices regarding the form of the churchin any cultural "place"? implicate of the announcement of the kingdom." Newbigin And whatnecessarycontinuitymusttherebe withformerchoices quotes Pandipeddi Chenchiah, an earlier Indian theologian, to made in other parts of the Christiancommunity? In other words, illustrate what he calls "the ultimate absurdity of attempting to is there more, or is there less, that must comprise the essential drive a wedge between Church and Kingdom." Chenchiah as­ givens of genuine "belonging to Christ"? serted thatthe Day of Pentecostwas"a fatal day to the Kingdom, The points taken up in the debate concern 1) the relation and a glorious day for the Church." But "if this is so," says between the "new humanity" and the "church"; 2) the relation Newbigin, we would obviously "have to push the fatal day between "freedom" and "transcendence"; and 3) the relation farther back and say that it was a disaster for the Kingdom when between "religion" and "culture." Jesus called men from their work and said 'Follow me."'20 If Leffler's paradigm is inadequate, at least his probing The "New Humanity" and the Church underscores the lack of sufficient common definition. For Newbigin, the new humanity is that to which God is moving the Thomas is rightwhenhe says thatthe relation of thechurchto the world of his creation as the consummation of his reconciling and new humanityis "thecrucialissueof differencebetween [himself saving purpose. It focuses upon the ultimate destiny of human­ and Newbigin] in our understanding of the Church." He insists kind in the final restoration and summing up of all things in that Newbigin does nottake seriously enoughhis admission that Christ. But for Thomas, the phrase appears rather to focus upon the church cannotbe identified with the new humanity in Christ the maturing (evolving?) nature of what it means to be humanin and thatthe newhumanityis the widerreality. Newbigin, to him, the current process of historical development. It is not a destiny "seems to think that Church is the 'substitute' for the New of which we have the firstfruits now so much as the reality that Humanity." Newbigin responds by pointing Thomas to a pas­ is nowin operationandmaturingtowardits ultimateexpression. sagein The Finality ofChrist (pp. 83-84, whichhe apparently feels A fundamental differencein eschatologyis at the foundation Thomas has overlooked), and concludes, "I think that much of of the disagreement. Although each shares some elements of the the difficulty of our debate arises from the fact that this phrase eschatology of the other, Thomas sees much more "new human­ [New Humanity] is being used in a number of different ways."18 ity" realized in the present than does Newbigin. For Newbigin,

July 1998 113 it is the future thatholdsthe moretangiblerealizationof the "new more concerned about its own self-aggrandisement than about humanity." the purposefor whichit exists). Ido believe thatthe Christianfaith The most problematic dimension of this ambiguity lies in is, in a sense, transcendent over other faiths.... But I also believe Thomas'sinsistencethatkoinonia,biblicallyspeaking, "doesnot thatthis Christianfaith has to be embodiedin an institutionwhich refer primarily to the Church or the quality of life within the is a human institution among other institutions and cannot claim a kind of "transcendence" which sets it free from the limitations Church, but that it is the manifestation of the new reality of the and temptations which beset all institutions." Kingdom at workin the world of menin world history.'?' But, as Newbigin points out, that hinges on an undefended identifica­ Newbiginconfesses, "I still feel thatyouare reallydocetic in your tion of New Testament language regarding re-creation and re­ thinking about the Church. You seem to envisage a form of newal in the image of God with the process of humanizationthat Christian corporate entity which never has existed and which Thomas observes in contemporary India. Herein lies the crux of never could exist.?" the matter. As he does in regard to many other Docetic ecclesiologies, Thomas writes that in India, "when the idea of religious Newbigin refuses any sense of "transcendence" for the church fellowship in Christ,of the Christiancongregation,led to the idea thatwould remove it from the necessities of actual historical life, of a secular fellowship in the total village or the total college and this cannot but mean that it will be an actual, recognizable community, humanisation was already at work. It soon had its fellowship. What becomes clarified during the debate is that impact on the larger Indian society."22 But he equivocates by Thomas's sharp reaction, which appears to work against that simply equating an observable manifestation of a process of notion, is due to the particular character of "religious commu­ humanization with the "new humanity," which is God's goal nity" in the Indian context. Thomas agrees with Newbigin that and the "final destiny of man."23 Why the current manifestation the ghettoizing communalism that Christianity inherited in In­ is to be taken as the goal and not merely a fruit of the outworking dia "was forced upon it by the religious communalismof Hindu­ of the goal through the identifiable Christian community is not ism." But he insists that an approach is needed that will not clarified or defended. reinforce but "break the traditional communal pattern of reli­ gious life."28 Freedom and Transcendence Thomas'ssuggestionthatNewbiginisnotas keen on achiev­ ing this does not mean that Thomas himself is immune from the The second major issue that arises in the debate is the relation problem. The rationale for his "secular fellowship within the between "freedom" and "transcendence." The latter is Thomas's Hindu religious community" argues from the acknowledgment word (used variously and therefore sometimes confusingly in that the Hindu as well as the Christian religious community is a the debate). He argues for "the transcendence of the Churchover "socio-political-religious" whole, and he seeks a fellowship that religiouscommunities."His first principleuponwhichhe founds canremainwithinthat"solidarity." Newbiginpointsoutthatthe nature of such a proposal makes it obvious that Thomas also supportsthe sustainingof a communallyknit "unityof religious, Can the church take form cultural and social bonds/?? as a Christ-centered fellowship of faith in a Religion and Culture Hindu community? Newbiginwouldnotobject to Thomas's desireto breakdownthe communalist pattern that segments off the Christian commu­ nity. His difficulty is more with the strategy by which that is this idea is that the new humanity, "the humanity which re­ proposed and withThomas's failure to accountin a clear way for spondsin faith and receives the liberationof Jesus Christas Lord the relation between "religion" and "culture." Thomas believes and Saviour," is transcendent over the church." "Once we ac­ that the transcendence of the church over religious communities knowledge that the Christ-centred fellowship of faith and ethics makes possible "the Church's taking form in all religious com­ transcends the Christian religious community, are we not virtu­ munities."30 The critical question Newbigin asks is about the ally saying that the Church can take form as a Christ-centred meaning Thomas attaches to the word "religion." Thomas gives fellowship of faith and ethics in the Hindu religious commu­ twoexamplesof a "Christ-centredSecularFellowship" ofpeople nity?"25 involved in "the struggles of societies for a secular human For Newbigin, to ask the question does not answer it, as it fellowship." Newbigin is not persuaded by either of the ex­ appears to do for Thomas. He answers from the perspective we amples. The first fails to convince Newbigin because merely have noted, that the form of the church is a matter that has being"open to transcendent forgiveness" does not demonstrate continual freedom and must of necessity be subject to the full "Christ-centredness"; furthermore, the people in the example rangeof culturaldynamicsin a particularsetting,includingprior cited by Thomas would certainly deny such a designation. The religious ones. It must be open to the surprises the Spirit brings. second example speaks of "adherents of other religions ... who The freedom of the church is rooted in its own nature as a social, have gone beyond the recognition of Christ as the Ideal to the historical, visible, actual community. Therefore, it is unclear to faith-response, however partial, to Himas Personas 'decisivefor Newbigin what could be meant by the transcendence of the their existence.'" In Newbigin's judgment this "Christ-centred church "over religious communities." Fellowship of Faith in Hinduism" cannot avoid the implications ofsucha"faith-response," whateverthe degree. Newbiginpoints There seems to be a kind of spiritualization of the church here out that this case is "totally different" from the first in that it is which I cannot accept. I think that the Church cannotescape from "religiously separating itself decisively from Hinduism.'?' the fact that it is an institutionwhich shares many of the charac­ Newbigin challenges Thomas's contention that the Christ­ teristics of other human institutions (including the tendency to be centered fellowship he envisions within Hinduism is "within" it

114 INrERNATIONAL BULLETIN OF MISSIONARY RESEARCH religiously as well as otherwise. He questions whether this is time must be stressed. In other words, to identify the Gospel as "sociologically realistic." A form of the church that breaks no humanization is to overparticularize and domesticate what can solidarities is impossible if there is genuinely an explicit link of never be so much in our control. It may do in a new form what faith in Jesus. If someone is religiously, culturally, and socially a Thomas critiques the communalized Indian church for doing in Hindu and"at the same time, his allegiance to Christ is accepted the past. as decisive, as-therefore--over-ridinghis obligationsas a Hindu, As the debate continues, Thomas seems increasingly un­ this allegiance must take visible-that is social-forms. He must comfortable with what Newbigin considers to be the essential have some way of expressing the fact that he shares this ultimate minimum of the Christian faith. Thomas wishes for the net to allegiance with others-and these ways will have to have reli­ gather a wider circle. From an earlier and fairly clear statement gious, social and cultural elements."32 that '''Christ-centredness' in the sense of acknowledgement of Thomas's own distinction between "religion" and "faith" the centralityof the Personof Jesus Christis the essence of Faith," includes the recognition that faith "always expresses itself in he moves on to speak of "partialbut real acknowledgement." He Religion. . . . Religion always changes its form to express the central Faith." If that is so, he should concur that a Christ­ centered faith within Hinduismwill express itself in that religion ofwhichit is a partandthe resultwill be disruptionin someform. To identify the Gospel as Newbiginmakes thatcase by pressingThomasontheexampleof humanization is to Roberto di Nobili. Di Nobiliemployedthe principlethathasbeen domesticate what can never typical in Christian movements across cultural and religious lines, namely that the"specifically religious elements in the total be so much in our control. socio-cultural-religious complex" were distinguished from the rest. In di Nobili's arguments with the Franciscans, he "distin­ guished between practices which were religiously neutral and addresses the question of the essential and minimal requirement those which implied a religious belief incompatible with the of faith and asks, "What is that minimum except faith-acknowl­ Christian faith."33 edgment of the centrality of the Person of Jesus Christ for the This would lead to an unspoken criticism of Thomas's view individual and social life of mankind?" The minimumappears to as quietistic. It becomes unrealistic, in the long run, to imagine or get even more frayed at the edges when he speaks about those support a form of the church within Hinduism that would notbe who"are acknowledgingJesus as the reality of the transcendent disruptiveon this point. Newbiginwarnsof this whenhe guesses criterion and resource for humanisation, but who cannot ac­ at the sectarianism that a proliferation of such movements, knowledge Him in the traditional religious terms as 'Lord and disconnectedwithone anotheror otherexpressionsof the church, Saviour.'" He ultimately calls for "a new definition of the 'sub­ might produce. In a hundred years, might there be "a litter of stance' of what it is to acknowledge Christ Jesus as Lord and small Indian sects embodying in a fossilized form the particular Saviour."38 He clearly wishes for Newbigin to acknowledge ideas about secularisation, dialogue, etc., which happen to be "Christian" faith as being present in many who cannot or do not fashionable just at the moment?'?' acknowledge Jesus in the ways by which the church has histori­ The critical problem lying behind these issues is the defini­ cally acknowledged him. tion of "religion." Thomas follows Paul Devanandan in his But Newbigin remains firm. An "acceptance of Jesus Christ, definition, which emphasizes the cultic practices and commu­ as we know him through the Bible, as the absolute Lord of all nalist expressions of religious faith," In that sense a new faith things" mustbe partof the minimaldepositof the Christianfaith. might conceivably not alter those external forms. Under that This leads to Newbigin's dominant concern throughout the definition, culture as well is less than holistically conceived but debate with Thomas: the church is and must be a visible and speaks of the veneer of behavior that expresses the religion recognizable fellowship. "The acceptance of Jesus Christ as formed by the faith. In Newbigin's definition, however, a holism central and decisive creates some kind of solidarity among those regarding culture as "thetotal wayof life of a people" informs his whohavethis acceptancein common." There is no determinative understanding of religion as well. It involves elements of the and universal answer-beyond "meeting together to celebrate culture that lie at its very heart. It connotes "those beliefs and with words, songs and formal actions"-tothe question how far practices which are concerned with what we believe to be ulti­ that must extend. But to Newbigin it appears 1/almost inevitable mate and decisive.?" His definition reflects more a cultural that some common cultural forms and some common social anthropology than a theological or philosophical one. bonds will develop among those who are unitedbya strong faith In his review of Thomas's Salvation and Humanisation in [esus.'?" There will be forms of the church, whatever those Newbigin made some important observations about the nature forms may look like. of evangelism, observations with which Thomas did not take It comes as no surprise, therefore, that in Newbigin's issue and that therefore were little discussed in their debate. missiology this fundamental necessity of the church's historical However, this passage of the review contains one of Newbigin's form plays a large role. He frequently asserts the priority of the most important critiques of Thomas's views. Newbigin's two life of the community of God's people as the basis for the other points, both integral to his understanding of conversion, are that aspects of its mission. "The Church, living in the power of the "(a) The Gospel is greater than our grasp of it; (b) the human Spirit, is the privileged place where the Spirit bears witness and situation is more varied and complex than any generalisation of draws men andwomen to Christ. The words and deeds thatflow ours can cover."37 Thomas'sview, says Newbigin, is in dangerof from this presence of the Spirit are-equally-occasions by missing these points by taking "humanisation" as a generaliza­ which the Spirit acts.?" tion of the need of our time, and making of it an absolutizing of Words and deeds are "held together in the life of a fellow­ the Gospel. In fact, it may not represent the particular need of ship.":" Here Newbigin finds the way to resolve the dilemma of thousands in our time, and it may not represent what in another choosinga prioritybetweenwordsand deeds, proclamationand

July 1998 115 service, witness and justice.f "The true relation between the But there is no hermeneutical circle between this community wordand the deed is thatbothmustbe visibly rootedin the same and communities that live outside of this faith. That boundary reality; namely in that new community which is created and must be defined by other models, "such as are suggested by the indwelt by the Holy Spirit.... [T]he word illuminates the deed, and the deed authenticates the word, and the Spirit takes them both to bear His own witness to the Resurrection.?" The acceptance of Jesus In this sense we are to understand the central role Newbigin assigned to the church in his later apologetic formulations. Christ as decisive creates a Addressing the question of authority, and especially what au­ solidarity among those who thority the Bible has in the encounter of the Gospel with modern Western culture, he affirms that "the Bible functions as have this acceptance in authorityonly withina communitythatis committedto faith and common. obedience." The hermeneutical circle operating within the com­ munity means that "tradition and Scripture are in a constantly developing reciprocal relationship." Therefore, "it is not the biblical image of death and birth."45Conversion as a boundary Bibleby itself but the church confessing the mystery of faith that marker, and the community as that which the boundary marks, is spoken of as the pillar and bulwark of the truth (1 Tim. 3:15­ are intimately tied to the witness that the Spirit continues to give 16)."44 to the Gospel.

Notes 1. For a full survey of the literature involved in the debate and the cradle of new life." See D. A. Thangasamy, TheTheology ofChenchiah, pattern of the responses back and forth, see below following the with Selections fromHis Writings,Confessing the Faith in India Series Notes. no. 1. (Bangalore: CISRS,1966), pp. 16,28. 2. Paul Loffler, ed., Secular Man and Christian Mission (Geneva: World 21. Thomas, Salvation, p. 19. Newbigin's exegetical challenge on this Council of Churches, 1968). pointis echoedby Alfred C. Krass, who joined the latter stages of the 3. Lesslie Newbigin, "The Call to Mission-a Call to Unity," in The debate. (Krass, undated and unpublished response to Newbigin's Church Crossing Frontiers,ed. PeterBeyerhausandCariF. Hallencreutz November 18, 1971, reply to Thomas's letter of October 21, 1971; (Lund: Gleerup, 1969), pp. 25~5. Krass, unpublished letter to M. M. Thomas, January 3, 1972.) 4. See Kaj Baago, "The Post-Colonial Crisis of Missions," International 22. Thomas, Salvation, p. 12. ReviewofMissions55 (Iuly 1966):322-32; Lesslie Newbigin, "Conver­ 23. Ibid., p. 18. sion," National Christian Council Review86 (August 1966):309-23. 24. "Baptism," p. 71; cf. Thomas, Salvation, p. 38. 5. M. M. Thomas, Salvation and Humanisation (Madras: CLS, 1971). 25. Thomas, Salvation, p. 40. 6. Lesslie Newbigin, Review of Salvation and Humanisation, in Religion 26. Newbigin, Review of Salvation, p. 75. and Society 18, no. 1 (1971):71-80. 27. "Baptism," p. 78. 7. "Baptism, the Church, and Koinonia: Three Letters and a Com­ 28. Ibid., pp. 78, 88. ment," Religion andSociety 19,no. 1 (March1972):69-90, an exchange 29. Ibid., pp. 73, 77-78. of lettersbetween Thomas and Newbigin, with commentsby Alfred 30. Thomas, Salvation, p. 38. C. Krass. 31. "Baptism," pp. 70-77. It is interesting, in light of this aspect of the 8. M. M. Thomas, "Christology and Pluralistic Consciousness," Inter­ debate, that in a more recent treatment of these issues Thomas national Bulletinof Missionary Research 10, no. 3 (1986):106-8. expands and clarifies his suggestion. The impact of the debate with 9. Lesslie Newbigin, The Finalityof Christ (London: SCM Press; Rich­ Newbigin is clearly visible when he speaks of "three levels of mond, Va: John Knox Press, 1969), pp. 102, 105f£.; and Thomas, koinonia in Christ: first, the koinonia of the eucharistic community Salvation, p. 38. of the church, itself a unity of diverse peoples acknowledging the 10. Newbigin, Finality,pp. 102f£.; cf. Baago, "Post-Colonial Crisis," p. Person of Jesus as the Messiah; second, a larger koinonia of dialogue 331. among people of different faiths inwardly being renewed by their 11. Newbigin, "Conversion," p. 316. acknowledgment of the ultimacy of the pattern of suffering 12. Lesslie Newbigin, Is Christ Divided? A Plea for Christian Unity in a servanthood as exemplified by the crucifiedJesus; third, a still larger Revolutionary Age (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 1961),pp. 21,12. koinonia of those involved in the power-political struggle for new 13. Newbigin, Finality, p. 96, 106, 91. societies and world community based on secular anthropologies 14. Ibid., pp. 100, 107. informed by the agape of the cross." See Thomas, "Christology," p. 15. Ibid., p. 104. 108. 16. "Baptism," p. 70. 32. "Baptism," p. 78. 17. Thomas, Salvation, p. 38. 33. Ibid., pp. 70, 79-80. 18. "Baptism," pp. 72, 75-76. 34. Ibid., p. 81. 19. Paul Leffler, unpublished letter to M. M. Thomas and Lesslie 35. Ibid., p. 70;cf. Paul D. Devanandan, Selections from theBooks ofP. D. Newbigin, January 30, 1973. Devanandan (Bangalore: CISRS1983), pp. 10-13. 20. Lesslie Newbigin, "The Church and the Kingdom," an unpublished 36. "Baptism," p. 80. paper written in response to a letter by Paul Loffler (dated January 37. Newbigin, Review of Salvation, pp. 78-79; cf. "Baptism," p. 74. 30, 1973), pp. 1-3. In the paper, Newbigin draws Chenchiah's com­ 38. Ibid., pp. 70, 72, 74, 90. ment from Christopher Duraisingh, "Some Dominant Motifs in the 39. Ibid., p. 78. New Testament Doctrine of Baptism" (Religion and Society 19, no. 1 40. Lesslie Newbigin, "The Biblical Vision: Deed and Word Insepa­ [1972]: 17). It may be further noted that Chenchiah's view of the rable." Concern 28, no. 8 (1986):2. Cf. Lesslie Newbigin, One Body, church places almost no stock in its historical character. His thesis OneGospel, OneWorld: TheChristian MissionToday (London: Interna­ that "the Children of God are the next step in evolution and the tional Missionary Council, 1958),p. 20. Kingdom of God the next step in cosmos" is matched with the 41. Lesslie Newbigin, "Reflections on an Indian Ministry," Frontier 18 assessment that"all through history, the Church has never been the (1975): 27; Lesslie Newbigin, "Cross-currents in Ecumenical and

116 INTERNATIONAL BULLETIN OF MISSIONARY RESEARCH Evangelical Understandings of Mission," International Bulletin of "ConversionandBaptism,"includingarticlesby ChristopherDuraisingh Missionary Research 6, no. 4 (1982): 148. ("Some Dominant Motifs in the New Testament Doctrine of Baptism," 42. Cf. Lesslie Newbigin, A Faith for This One World? (London: SCM pp. 5-17) and Richard W. Taylor ("On Acknowledging the Lordship of Press, 1961), pp. 87-92. JesusChristWithoutShiftingTents,"pp.59-68). The exchangeincluded: 43. Lesslie Newbigin, "Fromthe Editor," International ReviewofMissions a. A letter dated October 21, 1971, from Thomas to Newbigin (pp. 69­ 54 (1965):422. 74), including response to a manuscript of Newbigin's address in 44. Lesslie Newbigin, Foolishness to the Greeks: The Gospel and Western 1971 at a seminar of the Jesuit Educational Association of India, later Culture (Grand Rapids: Mich.: Eerdmans, 1986), p. 58. published as "The Secular-Apostolic Dilemma," in Not Without a 45. Ibid. Compass: JEASeminar onChristian Education intheIndia ofToday, ed. T. Mathias et a1. (New Delhi: Jesuit Educational Association of India, The Literature of Lesslie Newbigin's Debate 1972), pp. 61-71, with reactions by Pierre Fallon, G. Casimir, and G. Soares, pp. 72-78. with M. M. Thomas b. A letter dated November 17, 1971 (but compare the date of "18-11­ Published Portions of the Debate 71" at the conclusion of the letter, which is the correct one), from 1. The article by Kaj Baago entitled "The Post-Colonial Crisis of Mis­ Newbigin to Thomas (pp. 75-84). sions," International ReviewofMissions55 (july1966):322-32,uponwhich c. A comment by Alfred C. Krass on Thomas's book Salvation and both Newbigin and Thomas later commented. Humanisation, Newbigin's review of it, and Thomas's letter of Octo­ 2. Newbigin's article entitled "Conversion," National Christian Council ber 21, 1971 (pp. 69-74). Review 86 (August1966):309-23, containingthe substanceof his address d. A letter dated December 20, 1971, from Thomas to Newbigin (pp. at the Nasrapur Consultation on Mission (March 1966), in which he 87-90). responds to the view of Baago. His response to Baago was made even moreexplicitin the revised versionof the articlefound in chapter5 of The Unpublished Materials of the Debate Finality ofChrist(London: SCM Press; Richmond, Va.: John Knox Press, Severalunpublisheditems, includingthoselistedbelow,wereoriginally 1969). intended to be incorporated with some of the published materials and 3. The published dialogue between Thomas and Hendrikus Berkhof, published in a separate volume, a project that was ultimately aban­ Secular Man and Christian Mission, ed. Paul Loffler (Geneva: World doned. Council of Churches, 1968), which continued a discussion begun at 8. An undated responsebyAlfred Krass to Newbigin's reply on Novem­ Mexico City 1963. ber 18, 1971, to Thomas's letter of October 21, 1971 (2 pages). 4. Newbigin's article "The Call to Mission-a Call to Unity," in The 9. A letter dated January 3, 1972, from Alfred Krass to Thomas in Church Crossing Frontiers, ed. Peter Beyerhaus and Carl F. Hallencreutz response to Thomas's letter to Newbigin dated December 20, 1971 (2 (Lund: Gleerup, 1969), pp. 254-65, containing an assessment of the pages). dialogue between Thomas and Berkhof in Loffler, Secular Man. 10.A letterdatedJanuary,30, 1973,fromPaulLeffler to bothThomasand 5. In Salvation andHumanisation (Madras: CLS, 1971),Thomascomments Newbigin, complaining that they had come too quickly to "a near on the views of Baago ("The Post-Colonial Crisis") and Newbigin as agreement on all essential points" and raising questions to foster further expressed in the following: TheFinality ofChrist; "The Call to Mission"; debate (3 pages). "A Time for Decision," in Revolution inMissions, ed. Blaise Levai (Vellore: 11. A mimeographed manuscript by Newbigin entitled "The Church Popular Press, 1957); and "Which Way for 'Faith and Order'?" in What and the Kingdom" containing extensive comments by Newbigin in UnityImplies: Six Essays After Uppsala, World Council Studies No.7, ed. response to Leffler's letter (12 pages). In it Newbigin interacts further Reinhard Groscurth (Geneva: WCC, 1969), pp. 115-32. with Thomas (December 20, 1971) and Krass (undated and January 3, 6.Newbigin's extensive review of Salvation andHumanisation, published 1972) but especially engages the articles of Duraisingh and Taylor that in Religion andSociety 18, no. 1 (1971): 71-80. had appeared in the March 1972 issue of Religion and Society. (The last 7.The publication of "Baptism, the Church, and Koinonia: Three Letters page of the draft bears the date "July 1972," but that must surely be an and a Comment," in Religion andSociety 19, no. 1 (March 1972):69-90, an error for July 1973, since the letter of Loffler to which it responds was exchange of letters between Thomas and Newbigin with comments by dated January 30, 1973. Leffler's letter could not have been misdated for Alfred C. Krass. The exchange was included in an issuecontaining some an actual "30 January 1972" because it makes explicit reference to the of the material presented at the November 1971 Biennial Consultation of March 1972 issue of Religion and Society in which the original exchange the Christian Institute for the Studyof Religion and Societyonthe theme of letters between Thomas and Newbigin appeared.)

July 1998 117 My Pilgrimage in Mission Robert v Finley

orn in 1922 in Charlottesville, Virginia, I was called to University of Virginia. There I lived in a dormitory named B God's service evenbefore I knew the Gospel. At the age Randall Hall, better known as Scandal Hall. Out of forty resi­ of fourteen, because of my father being ill, I stayed out of school dents, thirty-nine claimed to be atheists, agnostics, or skeptics. for a year and worked on the farm to support my three younger As the lone believer, I set to work evangelizing the other thirty­ brothers and two sisters. During long hours alone I began, nine. God blessed, and one by one I began to see my classmates secretly, to read a pocket New Testament. It frightened me so come to Christ. Soon I had a regular Bible study going in my much that I purposed to devote my life to God in hope of room, and then I started them in other dorms as well. No longer escaping eternal death. the bashfulfarm boy, I was emboldenedby the Spiritto share the I was so shy, however, that I mentioned my soul's awaken­ Gospel with my family and saw my three younger brothers ing to no one. My family never guessed that I was praying accept Christ and devote their lives to his service. continually while alone. My parents led me to join their local During the two years I worked in Florida, I had saved Presbyterian church at age fifteen, butnothing was said by them enough money to get me through the first year of university. By or the church about personal salvation. Because we lived in poverty, my father insisted that I stay home and work on the farm after graduation from high school. At the University of But at age seventeen, being certain that God had revealed to me thatIshouldgo south,Iranawaythatsummer (August1939)and Virginia, I lived in a hitchhiked to Miami, Florida. Years later my father told me I had dormitory named Randall done the right thing. My personality changed when I got away from those who Hall, better known as knew me. I began to lose my shyness. Along the way to Miami I Scandal Hall. urged everyoneI metto save theirsoulsby doing good works. Of course I was trying to save my own soul by preaching to others. persistent study I was able to make the dean's list, which earned The Way Prepared me enough scholarship assistance to pay my tuition the second year. I earned my room and mealsby working three to five hours Our Savior said, "When he putteth forth his sheep, he goeth daily as assistant manager of the university dining hall. before them." It is clearly evident that God had prepared several The big wintersportat thattime wascollege boxing. Perhaps key people to shepherd me in Miami, just as Aquila and Priscilla 200 people might watch a basketball game, but up to 10,000 took an interest in Apollos and "expounded unto him the way of attended boxing matches. I had boxed for three years in high God more perfectly." school, and after much prayer I felt led of the Lord to join the A young Baptist preacher, talking with me one day in the UniversityofVirginiaboxingteam, whichwasregardedas being parkinglot whereIworked,mentioned IIassurance of salvation," one of the best in the country. By God's grace I remained a concept I had never heard before. Bernard Bowker, a recent undefeated and in 1944won the NCAA intercollegiate champi­ graduate of Practical Bible Institute in Binghamton, New York, onship in the middleweight division. arrived in Miami just when I did and rented a room across the street from the parking lot. He told me the difference between Introduction to Mass Evangelism churches thatwere knownas fundamentalist and those thatwere modernist. He steeredme to ShenandoahPresbyterianChurchin Just at that time huge evangelistic youth rallies were being held Miami, whose pastor, Daniel Iverson, was a graduate of Moody all over the country. Christian athletes were very few, so I began BibleInstitute in Chicago. There I metClifton L. Fowler, recently to receive invitations from far and wide to speak at these rallies. retired founder of Denver Bible Institute, who took me under his On the day after I received my degree from the university I was wing as Paul did Timothy. inChicagospeakingto 25,000people. TorreyJohnsoninvited me Through these and other believers I came into a joyous to join his team as a second field evangelist (the first was Billy understandingof salvationby grace throughfaith in the finished Graham) with the newly formed organization called Youth for work of Christ Jesus our Lord and was impelled by his Spirit to Christ (YFC). share this good news with everyone, everywhere. All the while For the next twoyears Itouredthe UnitedStates andCanada I continued to devour the Scriptures day and night, memorizing speaking in rallies, evangelistic meetings, church services, Bible hundreds of verses, many chapters, and some books of the New schools, seminaries, radio broadcasts, and other meetings. Most Testament. weekdays were spent on university campuses conducting spe­ As Christian friends observed my growth, they urged me to cialized evangelistic meetings for chapters of InterVarsity Chris­ attend a Bible institute or Christian college. But I felt that God tian Fellowship (IVCF). All the while I continued to immerse wanted me to begin Christian witness at once, and therefore in myself in the Scriptures, and I discerned that the top priority September 1941I returned to my home town and enrolled in the revealed in the New Testament was foreign missions. More and more I urged young people to volunteer for foreign missions. As Robert V. Finley isFounder andPresident ofChristian Aid Mission, headquar­ many as 10,000 of them responded to that call through my tered in Charlottesville, Virginia. ministry between 1944 and 1948.

118 INTERNATIONAL BULLETIN OF MIsSIONARY RESEARCH While visiting universities, I became increasingly aware of created Pakistan (East and West) lay starvingalong roadways, in the tremendous missionary potential represented by foreign railroad stations, and on streets, sidewalks, and vacant lots. The students, especially those from countries that were closed to poverty I had known as a child suddenlyseemed like the homof missionariesfrom America. At everyopportunityIsoughtto win plenty. Foreign missionaries appeared to be fabulously rich. All them to Christ, and I encouraged student leaders in NCF chap­ my perspectives were turned upside down. I traveled more than ters to concentrateon reachingstudents from unreached nations. 5,000 miles third-class on India's railways during the six weeks I was there, visiting mission stations, churches; schools, confer­ ences, and conventions. I couldn't help but notice that Indian I became aware of the missionaries appeared to be ten times more effective than those from America, even though the Indians had less than 10 percent missionary potential of of the financial support that the foreigners had. foreign students, especially One man of God who influenced me tremendously was Bakht Singh, a former Sikh who had found eternal life in Christ those from countries closed while a foreign student at the University of Manitoba. I had met to American missionaries. him at a student missionary conference sponsored by NCF in Toronto in 1946. Without the benefit of any Bible school or theological studies, Bakht Singh had been used of the Lord to For nine months beginning in September 1946, I enrolled as a plant hundreds of local assemblies of Christians all over India graduate student at the University of Chicago in order to live in and West Pakistan. His first supporters were friends in Canada the International House, a residence for 600 foreign students who received copies of his newsletters, which were mimeo­ from 100countries. The first one I met was Kao Shang-yen from graphedandmailedoutby JohnandEdithHaywardofWinnipeg, China, whoacceptedChristandjoinedwithme in startinga Bible in whose home he had found the Lord while a foreign student. class in International House. When he returned to China two After a few weeks of meetings with Greg Tingson in the years later, he declared his intention to be an ambassador for Philippines, I went on to China in December 1948 to minister at Christ. a student conference in Canton under the leadership of Calvin Chao. He also arranged meetings for me in Hong Kong, after Personal Influences At every opportunity I attended churches where I could hear Traveling third-class on outstanding preachers such as A. W. Tozer and Harry Ironside. But usually on weekends I wasbusy speaking at YFCrallies and India's railways, I covered IVCF chapters. In June 1947 I resumed full-time ministry with over 5,000 miles and had all these two organizations. While in California, Idevelopeda specialbondwithDawson my perspectives on mission Trotman of the Navigators and Hubert Mitchell, director of YFC turned upside down. in Los Angeles. Ten years earlier Mitchell had been the song leader for evangelist Paul Rader, who had sent him to Indonesia as a missionary. War with Japan had forced Mitchell's return to whichIwentto Shanghaito workwithDavidAdeneyandDavid America, but in 1947he went to Calcutta to start the first branch Morken. We often had 10,000 people at open-air evangelistic of YFC in India. His brother-in-law, David Morken, went to meetings in those days, even though Communist forces were Shanghai to start YFC in China. moving progressively southward toward Nanking. Two other influences in my life were David Adeney of Communist sympathizers were everywhere, especially in England, who had served in China with the China Inland Mis­ the universities. But whatimpressedme mostaboutthe Commu­ sion, and Calvin Chao, who worked with university students in nistmovementwas thatnineoutof ten of its top leadershadbeen China in association with what would later be known as the converted to Marxism while away from home as foreign stu­ Chinese Native Evangelistic Crusade. Knowing my zeal for dents. When they returned, they lived as simply as the poorest foreign missions, Adeney and Chao directed me toward China. peasantin order to gain followers. Communism flourished as an In the summer of 1948 I sailed for Europe along with other indigenous atheistic religion in those days, while Christianity Youth for Christ leaders to attend a World Congress on Evange­ was identified with (comparatively) rich foreigners who were lism, speak at YFCrallies, and attend IVCF studentconferences. thought to have been sent by the CIA. It is easy to see why God While crossing the Atlantic, Dawson Trotman and I spent many allowed all 5,000 foreign missionaries, myself included, to be hours discussing, among other things, the need for specialized swept out of China, along with our 300 foreign denominations ministry among foreign students in the United States. On a train and mission organizations. with me across France three weeks later, J. Christy Wilson, [r., outlined a written proposal for such a ministry. New Approach to Mission After two months of conferences and meetings in Europe, I teamedupwithGregorioTingsonof the Philippines,whomIhad Two powerful influences in China changed forever my thoughts known as a foreign studentin the United States, and togetherwe concerning missionary work and church growth. One influence conducted special meetings in Greece, Cyprus, and Lebanon was meeting the younger brother and other disciples of Dr. John before flying on to India. There we hadevangelisticmeetingsthat Sung, who had turned to Christ while a chemistry scholar in the had been arranged by Hubert Mitchell. UnitedStates. Without any theological educationSung returned India was a totally different world to me. Following inde­ to China as a powerful evangelist and became known as "the pendence and partition, millions of Hindu refugees from newly father of tenthousandchurches."The secondwaswhenIbecame

July 1998 119 involved with some of the house churches that were destined to Graham, who had supported me financially while I was over­ continue Christianwitness in China after all the foreign denomi­ seas, madethe top floor of his film ministrybuildingin Washing­ nations were gone. These groups were dispersed among hun­ ton, D.C., available to provide our first headquarters. He also dreds of diverse fellowships and movements, the best known of gave us our first $1,000 gift to launch the ministry. which were associated with Watchman Nee. He was to China Several returned missionaries joined the lSI staff. Irving what Bakht Singh was to India. I found these indigenous minis­ Sylvia came on board after having served in Pakistan and Tur­ tries to be many times more effective than foreign organizations. key. He had a consuming passion to penetrate closed lands with In early 1950I went to Korea, where, along with Bob Pierce, the Gospel. Howard MacFarland had served in Congo with the I shared in a huge "save the nation" campaign conducted coop­ Christian and Missionary Alliance. When the country gained eratively by most of the churches there. I spoke several times independence, church leaders asked the foreign missionaries to daily to entire student bodies of high schools, colleges, and please go home so the churches could be independent too. Bill Viekman had served in Japan and realized that it was much less difficult to winJapanese to Christ here than there. Robin Marvin I discovered that out of the came to us after serving in Thailand. All of these missionaries had raised their support before thousands who responded going overseas. But when they came back to work from this end, in Japan, few understood they lost that support. They were no longer considered to be missionaries. Some were urged to confess the sin that was what it meant to be a keeping them from "going back to the field." When we tried to Christian. promote lSI as a bona fide foreign mission board, we were deluged with criticism from traditional missions. It took forty years to gain a fair measure of acceptance as a strategic form of universities. We had crowds of about 20,000 daily in great foreign missions. From the very beginning days of lSI, our outdoor meetings in Seoul, Inchon, and other cities. Over 50,000 concern was to place native missionaries on the foreign fields of filled the stadium in Taegu for one meeting at which several the world. Three stepswere involved. First, winforeign students thousand came forward to confess faith in Christ. Apostolic to the Lord while they were studying in the United States. miracles occurred at some of the meetings, where dozens of Second, nurture them to spiritual maturity and knowledge of "incurables" were made well instantly by the power of God. God's Word. Third, send them back equipped to serve our (This preceded the arrival of Pentecostals in Korea.) Savior. Dr. Wei Sia went back to Taiwan in 1954and assisted in What impressed me most about the churches in Korea was setting up a hospital to treat tuberculosis victims. Oh I

120 INTERNATIONAL BULLETIN OF MISSIONARY RESEARCH E. STANLEY JONES SCHOOL OF WO RLD M ISS ION AND EVANGELISM

Is This Effective

GELISM?

We Don't Think So. After All, Sharing the Gospel Shouldn't Endanger Your Neighbor's Dental Work.

e live in an instant society. Microwaves, remote words, images and forms of "church" that make sense to controls and the Internet give us wha t we want in people. Whether it's overseas, overlooking Times Square or Wseconds. Soit's not surprising that many Christians over a picket fence, ESJ students are prepared to demonstrate long for instant conversions, too. But this instant mentality and communicate the life-changing power of Jesus Christ. can lead to insensitive encounters that may look more like Soif you are interested in Christ-centered, incarnational drive-by shootings than heavenly appointments. evangelism (and keeping your neighbor's teeth intact) call In our post-Christian, post-mo dem age, sharing the gospel the admissions office today at 1-800-2-ASBURY or e-mail us takes time, ingenuity and incarnational love. at "[email protected]". Asbury Seminary: This means living the way Jesus lived, forging authentic where sharing the gospel means sharing your life. relationships and speaking the lan­ Degree Programs: M.A. and guage of the culture. Students in the Th.M. in World Mission and E. Stanley Jones School of World Evangelis m; Doctor of Missiology, Mission and Evangelism are Doctor of Ministry and Doctor of equipped to do just that. They learn Philosophy in Intercultural Studies. to not only exegete the text, but exegete the context. Byunderstand­ ASBURY ing the original message and the THEOLOGICAL contemporary situation, ESJ students SEMINARY translate the unchanging gospel into 204 N . Lexingto n Ave. • Wilmore. KY 4039 0 web sire: htrp:llwww.ars.wilmore.ky.us

WHERE SHAR ING T HE GOS PEL MEANS S HARING YOUR LIFE was astounded by the phenomenal growth I discovered every­ work full time as soon as minimal support ($50 per month where I went. Conventions with 25,000 in attendance were average) becomes available. Tens of thousands are out serving commonplace in southern India. I found over 1,000indigenous our Savior right now with no support at all. If Christians in the missionary ministries based in the state of Andhra Pradesh United States and Canada would get behind these mighty works alone. Two of themhad more than 1,000missionarieson the field. of God with our tremendous financial resources, we could com­ InAfrica I discovered Nicholas Bhengu, who had returned from plete in our generation the unfinished task of planting a witness for the Lord among every tongue, tribe, and nation. With annual contributions exceeding $4 million, Christian I believe we should reach Aid is currently sending financial assistance to about 400 indig­ enous mission agencies that have a combined total of 30,000 people while they are away missionaries on the field. None are totally dependent upon this from home and support support. In many cases when political changes cut off our sup­ port, the work has continued, though at a slower pace. indigenous missions rather God has blessed us with an excellent team of field mission­ than traditional missions. aries whoevaluateeach ministrybeingsupported.SlavikRadchuk of Ukrainetravelsall overthe former USSR,preachingin Russian and visiting the ministries we support there. Our two Chinese studyin the UnitedStateswitha gift of $1,000from BenColeman, field surveyors are house churchveterans whowere imprisoned a railroad worker. He used it to conductsix months of evangelis­ by the Communists, one for ten years and the other for twenty. tic crusades with about 50,000 people in daily attendance. So They have approved thirty Bible institutes for support in China. manypeoplewereconvertedthatthe churchescould notbaptize Otherfield staff are responsiblefor SoutheastAsia, India,Eastern them all. More than 1,000new churcheswerebornoutof thatone Europe, Africa, Latin America, and the Middle East. series of meetings. I do not travel overseas much any more, so I am truly These experiences have made me bold in calling for change thankful that our Lord has brought together a consecrated team in the way missionary work is done by my fellow Americans. I of fourteen missionary scouts to search out and evaluate indig­ sincerely believe that we should phase out traditional forms of enous ministries in every "mission field" country of the world. missionaryworkanddo twonewthingsinstead: (1)reachpeople Most of my time now is devoted to finding additional contribu­ from closed lands while they are away from home, and (2) help tors, with the prayer that we may yet be able to send some indigenous missions financially without trying to influence or financial assistance to the 5,600 ministries, and their 220,000 control them. missionaries, that we haven't been able to help thus far---espe­ ChristianAid has openedlines of communicationwithmore cially those thousands ofbarefootapostles who, withno support than 6,000 indigenous missionary ministries that have a com­ at all, are winningsoulsandplantingchurchesamongunreached bined total of 250,000missionaries either on the field or ready to peoples.

The Legacy of Adoniram Judson William H. Brackney

ntelligent, vigorous, visionary, and dedicated to his call­ Adoniram, Jr., grew up in Wenham, Braintree, and Ply­ I ing, Adoniram Judson was for several generations of mouth, Massachusetts, the locations of his father's subsequent American Protestants the first among American overseas mis­ ministerial appointments. As a young person, he rejected the sionaries. His premierstandingwas earned by the chronology of faith of his parents and prided himself in being a skeptic. his appointment and service, as well as the quality of his work Adoniram went to the College of Rhode Island (later Brown and devotion to service; his heroic stature has been enhanced by University) at age sixteen. The school, under the denominational the literary interpretation of his life from the 1820s through the patronageof Baptists, wasthe preferredchoice ofhis father, since conclusion of the nineteenth century. HarvardwastheologicallyunacceptableandYalewassuspected Judson was the first child of Adoniram Judson, Sr., and of infidelism by many contemporary evangelicals. Adoniram Abigail Brown. Born August 9, 1788, in the parsonage of First entered the sophomore class and graduated three years later in Congregational Church of Malden, Massachusetts (his father's 1807with the highest honors in his class. His youthful religious first church), young Adoniram was the older brother of Abigail skepticismwasenhancedby a close friend at college. Later, when and Elnathan. His father was a graduate of Yale College and that friend died, Adoniram had a crisis experience and sought known for his evangelical views in accord with his mentors, the counsel of Moses Stuart (1780-1852), a theological professor Samuel Hopkins (1721-1803) and Joseph Bellamy (1719-90). His at Andover Seminary. mother was a homemaker and Christian activist in her local Adoniramcompleted his educationat Andover Theological congregation. Seminary,matriculatingon Stuart'srecommendationin Septem­ ber 1808. He graduated two years later, in 1810,in its first class. .William H. Brackney isPrincipal andProfessor ofHistorical Theology, McMaster During his seminary studies he became a believer and pursued Divinity College, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. an interest in overseas mission that soon became a passion.

122 INTERNATIONAL BULLETIN OF MIssIONARY RESEARCH During this time he met and married Ann Hasseltine, a school during the night. Within a year he reversed the direction of his teacher from Bradford, Massachusetts. On February 6, 1812, life, turned aside a teaching position at his alma mater, and Judson and five of his friends were commissioned missionaries committedhimselfto a life ofmissionaryservice. Two of the most by the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, influential books Judson read were Claudius Buchanan's Starin and they sailed for Indiaimmediately. Annand Adoniramsailed theEast (1809)and Michael Symes's AccountoftheEmbassy tothe with Samuel and Harriet Newell on the Caravan from Salem the Kingdom ofAva (1810). next week; Samuel and Roxanna Nott, along with Gordon Hall Health difficulties plagued the pilgrimage of Adoniram and Luther Rice, embarked from Philadelphia on the Harmony Judson. In 1815andagainin 1817hesufferedan eye infectionthat some two weeks later. En route,the Judsonsconvertedto Baptistic required him to sit still for hours, He used the opportunity to principles and sought the support of the Baptist community in dictate to a servant for the dictionary project. In 1838 he con­ tracted an irritated throat condition, which continually limited his primary activity to study and writing rather than public speaking and evangelism. He was continuously laid low by loss As a young man, Adoniram of voice, sore throat, andpainfulbreathing,whichhis biographer rejected the faith of his termed consumptive.' But most trying of all was the grueling parents and prided himself experiencein 1824-25duringhis imprisonmentandforced march. Turned into what Ann called a "haggard, unshaven scarecrow," in being a skeptic. he suffered a fever, was deprived of food, was subjected to cut and bruised feet through undergoing a long march, and was confined to a deathprisonin intense sunlight, filth, and degrada­ the United States. Originally intent on service in India, or more tion. During his darkest moments of incarceration, he devised a properlyMadagascar,the Judsonswentto Burma,andAdoniram planto continuehis translationwork and protect the manuscript served there for almost four decades as the first appointee of the by hiding it in a pillow on which he slept. Upon his release, he newlyformed BaptistBoard of ForeignMissions andthe General returned to his work of translation and actually served as an MissionaryConventionofthe Baptist Denominationin the United emissary of negotiation between the British and Burmese treaty States. agents. Adoniram and Ann settled first at Rangoon, where they Death was an important factor in spiritual maturity for lived from 1813to 1823.They moved next to Ava (the royal city), AdoniramJudson. Whenhis wife, Ann, died in 1826at Amherst, where in 1824Adoniram was taken prisoner as a suspected spy Adoniram was facilitating diplomatic negotiations in Rangoon. for the British government, then at war with Burma. Upon his He learned of her sufferings and death and her attitude of release in 1826, they returned to Rangoon and eventually to resignation from a "black-sealed letter" that bore the ill tidings Amherst. After Ann's death later that year, Adoniram moved that"Mrs. Judsonisno more."Followingintensegrief, he plunged between Moulmein, the new chief city of the Province of into new projects: writing astronomical and geographic cat­ Tenaserim, and Prome and Rangoon. In 1834Judsonmarried the echisms, translating the Psalms, and working on missionary widow Sarah Boardman and moved permanently to Moulmein. living quarters. Similarly in 1845 when Sarah died, he returned There they remained until 1845,whenSarahdied and Adoniram to the States and traveled ceaselessly in the interests of the board returned to the United States on furlough for 1845-46. Upon his and his work. The four children Judson lost in childbirth also returnto Burma withhis thirdwife, Emily, Judsonreturnedto his caused a good deal of sorrow for Adoniram, out of which grew home at Moulmein, and except for some time spent at Rangoon increaseddependence upon God's inscrutable purposes and a in 1847to finish his dictionaryproject, therehe remained untilhis final voyage. In November 1849 Judson contracted a fever that greatly In 1838 Judson contracted a diminished his strength. Upon the advice of his physician, he took a voyage down the Burman coast, and in April 1850 he throat condition that embarked for the Isle of France to continue his recuperation. On limited him to study and April 8, he succumbed to the illness and was buried at sea. Judsonwas marriedthreetimes. His first wife,AnnHasseltine writing rather than public (1789-1826),servedwithhimuntilherdeathfrom fever; theyhad speaking and evangelism. two children. In 1834he marriedthe thirty-three-year-oldwidow of fellow missionary George Dana Boardman, Sarah Hall Boardman(1803-45),whoborehimsevenchildren. Sarahdiedof resignation to do the work to which he was called. When Roger complications of childbirth. Finally after a furlough in upstate Williams Judson died in his crib in 1816,it caused the parents to New York, in 1846he married the fiction writer EmilyChubbock conclude that their attachment to their children had been too (1817-54),andtheyhadone child. Emily survivedAdoniramand great. In 1841 when one-year-old Henry died from convulsions helped to write his biography and create his heroic profile. andfever at Serampore,Adoniramassuagedhis griefby evange­ lizing the ship's company on the return from Calcutta to Port Spiritual Triumph Through Adversity Louis. Like most chronically sick persons, depression set in fre­ Like numerous young people who mature in the family of a quentlyfor Judson. Onone occasion in 1839he admitted, "I have minister, Adoniram rebelled and in his college years traveled lived long enough, I have lived to see accomplished the particu­ extensivelyandcaroused. He wasshockedintoreconsideringhis lar objects on which I set my heartwhen I commenced a mission­ moral condition in the summer of 1807when, in a New England ary life. And why should I wish to live longer?'? country inn, he happened upon a classmate who fell ill and died

July 1998 123 Legacy of Missionary Service Perhaps it surprised many of his own family in New En­ gland,butwhenJudson returned in 1845for his onlyfurlough, it The biographers of Adoniram Judson found in him a paradigm was spent largely visiting the Baptist community and recuperat­ of missionary service. First in Judson's persona was a lifelong ing from a throat ailment on the campus of Baptist-related commitment to missionary service. At the time of his acknowl­ Madison(later Colgate) University in upstate NewYork. Herehe edgedcall andinterviewsbythe Congregationalistboard,Judson became fast friends with many of the leading northern Baptist expressed his desire to devote himself to a "mission for life." The educators of the era, including Nathaniel Kendrick (1777-1848) tenor of his departure for India in 1812 was that of a permanent and William Colgate (1783-1857). commitment; when his wife, Ann, became ill in 1825, he sent her From an administrative point of view, Judson was an ideal backto the United States but remained on the field himself. Even appointment. UnlikeWilliamCarey,he didnotbecomeinvolved afterlosinghis secondwifein 1845andsufferingfromhis chronic in troubling employment outside the mission, and he seemed to throat ailment, Judson felt obligated to return to Burma to resume his duties. Upon reflection on his career, he wrote to potential missionary candidatesbackin the United States, "Letit Judson gave the Baptists in be a missionary life; that is, come out for life, and not for a limited term.:? The correspondence between the missionary and his the United States a Baptist board in his declining days in 1849-50 leaves the distinct missionary program and a impression that he had finished his life's major work but would remain in Asia. sense of national identity Second, Judson was a denominational missionary, and he and purpose. understood how polity and process worked in a churchly con­ text. His initialinclinationto becomea missionarywasexpressed to the Bradford Congregationalist Association. Having met with follow instructions respectfully. Rather, he pledged not to en­ a half dozen pastors and a layman, he and five others were the gage in secular employment and to relinquish all private rights catalysts for the formation of the American Board of Commis­ to remittances from America; all money and property were sioners for Foreign Missions. With little financial support for his placed in the mission fund. He corresponded regularly with the ideas, Adoniram went to Great Britain in early 1811 as an emis­ board, which in tum published his letters and journal. The sary of this board to negotiate with the London Missionary correspondence reveals much dependence of the board upon Society, an interdenominationalorganizationheavily supported Judson for advice and insights into foreign service. The board by Congregationalists, for a possible American appointment. could rightly take deep pride in Judson when their emissaries Following successful negotiations with the London connection, returned or wrote of observing his work firsthand and finding Adoniramreturnedto the UnitedStatesto securesupportamong that things were as they should be. He became the folk hero of fellow Congregationalists. American Baptist life in the nineteenth century? Judson's conversion to the Baptist persuasion could have While one could argue thatthere werefew ifany alternatives been a hurtful tum of events for both the young missionary and to denominational service in Judson's era, there was the real the New England base of support, not to speak of his parents in possibility, exhibited by William Carey, of support from other the Congregational ministry. Judson, however, followed an ethi­ sources of income, as well as the starting of a new society like the cal pathway and resigned from the service of the board with full Church Missionary Society, or among the Bible society enthusi­ disclosure. He then wrote of his new convictions to friends in the asts, a new organizationbased upon theological distinctiveness. UnitedStates,hopingfor a positiveresponse. Onlyafterwarddid He could have followed the example of his one-time friend J. he announce his readiness to accept an appointment from an Lewis Shuck, who transferred his allegiance from the Baptist "appropriate society." His friend Luther Rice (1789-1836), a board to the Southern Baptist Foreign Mission Board. Instead, consummatepublicist, actuallymaneuveredJudsoninto a favor­ Judson chose to remain in the mainstream. able lightin the AmericanBaptistcommunity,whichwasrapidly developing an interest in supporting overseas missions. Missionary Translator Committedto boththe field of Burma andBaptistprinciples, Judson waited patiently for support to materialize, and he wrote One of the most important facets of the Judson legacy was his tirelessly of his work to American Baptist editors and a board he identificationof translation as a primary task of pioneermission­ did not know. The Baptist community in the United States owed aries. The first indicationof his interestin language came in 1808, an incalculable debt to Judson, for he gave them not only an when he published an introductory textbook for use in acad­ overseas missionary program but also a sense of national de­ emies, Elements of English Grammar. This interest was enhanced nominational identity and purpose.' The Baptist family, origi­ when he met William Carey, Joshua Marshman, and William nally organized to support the Burman Mission, split asunder in Ward at Serampore, India, and viewed firsthand their long-term 1844-45. At thetimeJudsonwascaringfor, andlatergrieving,his efforts in translation of Scripture and other language tools in second wife, Sarah. His position on the divisive issue of slavery Indian languages and dialects. was mildly antislave, and his support for the Baptist board was Upon his arrival in Burma, Judson planned to conduct unwavering. The great catalytic figure who rallied denomina­ evangelistic and churchplanting ministriesbutsoonrealized the tionalforces in 1813cameto be associated withthe Baptists of the enormity of the language and cultural differences. This led him North after the schism. His deceased colleague Luther Rice to make the first priority of his work translation of Scripture and became the Southern Baptist ideal of missionary promotion for suitable tracts for evangelical purposes. He wrote to a friend in having spent the final years of his life itinerating in the South," the United States of his singular purpose: "My only object is to Few Southern Baptist histories gave more than passing attention prosecute in a still, quiet manner the study of the language, to the work of Judson for this reason," trusting that for all the future, God will provide.:" His own

124 INTERNATIONAL BULLETIN OF MISSIONARY RESEARCH contribution in this regard was very large. In 1826 he published days later on February 18, as he and his colleagues embarked for the first edition of his Burmese dictionary, followed in 1840 by a India, a greatcrowdattendedthe departureof his ship,as though translation of the entire Bible, which he considered his major they thought this was the beginning to a great American evan­ literary accomplishment. He either translated or assisted in gelical foreign mission. Even Judson's earlycolleagues-Gordon several other Bible projects, including Karen, Peguan, Pali, and Hall, Luther Rice, Samuel Nott, [r., and Samuel Newell-de­ Toungou. At the end of his life he was near completion on a ferred to his judgment: he was chosen to represent their interests Burmese-English dictionary, which his friend and protege both in Massachusetts and before the English Christian commu­ Jonathan Wade completed. Having most of his linguistic work nity. behind him in 1840, he reported to the board that he was return­ The American Baptist press made the most of Judson's ing to evangelistic preaching and itinerant work, which he missionary exploits. In May 1817 the Massachusetts Baptist Mis­ believed was then greatly facilitated by his lifelong efforts in sionary Magazine became the American Baptist Magazine, the offi­ language-tool preparation. cial organ of the General Missionary Convention. Not an issue But Judson's leadership in translation went beyond his own passed without notice of the Judsons; excerpts from Adoniram's work. He set forth rules in 1839 for translation by other mission­ or Ann's journals, edited letters to the board, and general articles aries under appointment by the Baptist board. He was the chief about the geography and politics of the Far East filled the issues. catalystin the appointmentof the first AmericanBaptistmission­ These accounts were quickly picked up by other denominational ary printer, George Hough (1788-1859), and the subsequent periodicals in the United States and abroad. Most riveting were setup of the American Baptist Missionary Press at Rangoon, for the accounts of Judson's torture and imprisonment in 1824-25 many years the premier Christian publisher of non-English­ and Ann's devoted attempts to secure his release. language materials in South Asia. When Judson returned to the United States on his first Judson's role model as a missionary dedicated to large furlough in 1845, he was hailed as a national hero. After almost linguisticprojectshad a greatimpact uponseveralgenerations of thirty-four uninterrupted years on the field, he returned to a American Baptist missionaries in Burma and elsewhere. In his public hungry for news. His tour took him through most of the image were George Dana Boardman (1801-31), Eugenio Kincaid eastern U.S. urban centers: Boston, Providence, New York, Al­ (1797-1883), Jonathan Wade (1798-1872), William Dean (1807­ bany, Utica, Philadelphia, and Washington, D.C. He met with 95), J. Lewis Shuck (1814-63), Josiah Goddard (1813-54), and churches, associations, schools, colleges, ministerial gatherings, Josiah Nelson Cushing (1840-1905). Aware of his influence and and the rich and famous. At a convocation at his alma mater, mindfulofthe greatopportunities,Judsonadvisedvisitingboard BrownUniversity, students gazed uponhim, "the storyof whose member Howard Malcolm (1799-1879) in 1836 that candidates for missionary service should first learn the language of their proposed field before setting upon the work. The faculty at Under judson's influence, Hamilton Literary and Theological Institution (later Madison, then Colgate University) in upstate New York took Judson's American Baptists were advice seriously and developed an entire curriculum for mis­ among the first to require sionary candidates, including tutorial instruction in Burmese. Judson's work, advice, and continual prodding caused the language training and Baptist board to develop strict criteria for missionary training. education of missionaries. American Baptists were among the first sending agencies to develop policies for language training and education of their missionary personnel. The fruits of their labors were seen in the labors and sorrow and sufferings had been familiar to them from unusuallyhighnumberofpublisheddictionaries,languagestudy childhood, and whose name they uttered with reverence and aids, and Scripture portions from their presses in the nineteenth affection as that of the pioneer and father of American missions century. to the heathen."? Everywhere people literally reached out to touch him. The mystique about his appearances was further The Hagiographic Judson enhanced by his inability to speak at most events, owing to his chronic throat condition. He usually just stood mute and offered During his own lifetime, Adoniram Judson became a mythic friendly gestures. figure, but even more so in his death. Tall and handsome, he had During his national tour, he was accorded the privileges of the profile of an American frontiersman. His struggles with a visiting statesman. Leading capitalists like soap manufacturer Burmese officials and exploits during the Anglo-Burmese War William Colgate received him and offered to help finance his marked him as a rugged religious individualist in the mold of work. Secretary of War William Marcy introduced him to Presi­ Davy Crockett (1786-1836) or Andrew Jackson (1767-1845), his dent James K. Polk. He narrowly missed being presented to the contemporaries back home in the United States. Woodcuts pre­ UnitedStatesSenateby luminaryDanielWebsterof NewHamp­ pared for the religious press depicted him as a survivor against shire. Ever the statesman, Judson did venture south of the impossible odds of political treachery and religious infidelism. Mason-Dixon Line to visit some of the older southern friends of Accounts ofhis trial andimprisonmentgeneratedpridein Ameri­ the BurmanMission, notably in Baltimore and Richmond, where can piety and indignation at the denial of his civil and human he washonoredby speechesof the newSouthernBaptistleaders. rights. Significant in the making of a mythic image was Judson's During his lifetime, Judson was recognized as a heroic reputation beyond his own denomination. People generally figure. He first appeared in the public consciousness of New interested in missions, members and clergy of various denomi­ England at the celebrated commissioning service at Salem, Mas­ nations, and many others acclaimed Judson as "a good man," sachusetts, on February 6, 1812. Throngs of people attended the according to Robert Middleditch, a contemporary biographer." service and noted the leadership of the young Mr. Judson. A few Perhapsthe greatestevidenceof his overall "livingimpact"came

July 1998 125 among his former brethrenin the Congregationalistfold. He was published in that year The Judson Offering, which included not officially received at a meeting of the American Board of Com­ only details of the mission and the sacrifices but also numerous missioners for Foreign Missions and described as a "brother poems created for the theme. Adoniram, recognizing the notori­ beloved." In an emotional 1845moment at a public gathering at ety that attended his first wife, Ann Hasseltine, worked dili­ Bowdoinham Square Baptist Church in Boston, he reunited with gently on his furlough to secure the services of an adequate his former colleagueSamuel Nott, Jr., who rejoiced at the sight of biographer for his second wife, Sarah Hall Boardman. Following his early missionary companion. Nott and Judson were the only his death in 1850,Judson biographies proliferated on an official surviving members of the original first five American foreign basis and in the general evangelical press as well. The authorita­ missionaries. tive work, edited by the eminent Francis Wayland, president of Judson's name became a useful fund-raiser and conscious­ Brown University, included well-selected letters 'and papers ness-raiser among American evangelicals in the late nineteenth relating to the late missionary's career. That, plus Robert century. His 1846visit to Philadelphia raised over$14,000,while Middleditch'sbiography,sold tens ofthousandsofcopies through other visits led to the formation of numerous new missionary the next three decades. The American Baptist Mission Press, societies in the Baptist family. Still another means of recognizing named the Judson Press in 1913,retained an ample supplyof the the accomplishments of America's greatmissionarywas to name literature. a child after him: this was seen in the case of Adoniram Judson The hagiographic image of Adoniram Judson is best illus­ Gordon (1836-95) and Adoniram Judson Joslin (1819-68), to trated in assessments like those of mission historian George name just two prominent examples. Judson's name was dis­ Smith, who said, "AdoniramJudson is surpassed by no mission­ played nationally on the centenary of his birth in Malden, Mas­ ary since the Apostle Paul in self-devotion and scholarship, in sachusetts, in 1888, and significantly on the anniversary of the labors and perils, in saintliness and humility, in the result of his establishment of the Baptist mission in Burma. In 1913 his son toils on the future of an empire and its multitudinous people.'?' Edward (1844-1913) made much of this event along with other Northern Baptists in the United States and Burma. Edward An Afterword launched a financial campaign to underwrite the construction of a church edifice in New York City to which John D. Rockefeller AmericanBaptistmissionhistorianRobertG. Torbetcommented contributed, known as the Judson Memorial Church. that Adoniram Judson provided a constant source of inspiration Even the accounts of Judson's final hours and death were for the denominational family of American Baptists, and Yale cause for veneration. Exhausted as his work on the Burmese UniversitySterlingProfessorofHistoryKennethScottLatourette dictionary project drew to a close, he continued his vast corre­ concurredthatJudsoncaused the Baptists of the UnitedStates to spondence to the end. Isolated from his wife and children, he unite inowning Burma as their first mission field." Colleges and diedin the companyof a fellow missionaryandwasburiedat sea, seminaries, as well as distinguished chairsin theological schools, as he had wished, without a service of committal. The picture were named for him." He is recalled on the campuses of Brown painted by his biographers, beginning with his wife, Emily, was University and in Malden, Massachusetts, the place of his birth. one of lifelong and final devotion to his work and its reception Judson himself avoided recognition of his accomplishments, into God's hands. declining, for example, the conferral of a doctor of divinity The creation of Judson's literary image began during his degree at Brown in 1823. He wanted to be remembered for his 1846 furlough. John Dowling, a well-known religious writer, observation, "The future is as bright as the promises of God."

Notes 1. Francis Wayland, A Memoir oftheLifeandLabors oftheRev.Adoniram Broadman & Holman, 1994),pp. 27ff. Judson D.D. (Boston: Phillips, Sampson, 1853),2:131. 7. Modern writers think that part of Adoniram's image as a folk hero 2. Quoted in Courtney Anderson, To The Golden Shore: The Life of was earned by and through his wives, Ann, Sarah, and Emily. For Adoniram Judson (Boston: Little, Brown, 1956),p. 424. this perspective, see [oan]. Bromberg,Mission forLife: The Storyofthe 3. AdoniramJudsonto the ForeignMissionaryAssociationofHamilton Family ofAdoniram Judson (New York: Free Press, 1980),pp. 79££. Literary and Theological Institution, June 25, 1832. 8. Adoniram Judson to Reverend Emerson, January 7, 1814. 4. Numerous Baptist historians have pointed out that it was missions 9. William Gammell, History of American Baptist Missions (Boston: that united a fragmented and localistic movement of churches in the 1845),p. 177. UnitedStates. See,for instance, RobertG. Torbet, VentureofFaith: The 10. Robert Middleditch, Burmah's Great Missionary: Records oftheLife of StoryoftheAmerican Baptist Foreign Mission Society andtheWoman's Adoniram Judson (New York: E. H. Fletcher, 1854),pp. 354-55. American Baptist Foreign Mission Society, 1814-1954 (Valley Forge, 11. Quoted in John Caldwell Thiessen, A Surveyof World Missions, rev. Pa.: Judson Press, 1955),pp. 90ff. ed. (Chicago: Moody Press, 1961),p. 57. 5. For an insight into the lifelong friendship that Judson and Rice 12. Kenneth S. Latourette, The Nineteenth Century Outside Europe: The maintained, consult Dispensations of Providence: TheJournal and Let­ Americas, thePacific, Asia,Africa (New York: Harper, 1961),p. 420. tersof Luther Rice, 1803-1830, ed. William H. Brackney (Rochester, 13. For instance, Judson College in Alabama, Judson College inillinois, N.Y.: American Baptist Historical Society, 1984),pp. 155-56. and the Judson Chair inWorld Missions at Andover Newton Theo­ 6. SeeWilliamR. Estep, Whole Gospel-WholeWorld: TheForeign Mission logical School in Massachusetts. Board of the Southern Baptist Convention, 1845-1995 (Nashville:

Bibliography Works by Adoniram Judson Adoniram Judson was the author of a series of tracts in Burmese (1816­ 1812 Christian Baptism: A Sermon Preached in the Lall Bazaar Chapel, 34), catechetical works (1817-27), and published letters (1816-32). Sev- Calcutta. Calcutta: Baptist Mission Press. eral other major works are listed below. 1826 Dictionary oftheBurman Language, with Explanations in English. 1808 Elements of English Grammar. Boston: Cushing & Lincoln. Calcutta: Baptist Mission Press.

126 INTERNATIONAL BULLETIN OF MIsSIONARY REsEARCH 1829 Memoir ofMeeShway-ee. Moulmein: American Baptist Mission Babcock,Rufus. A Discourse Commemorative oftheLifeandLabors oftheRev. Press. Adoniram Judson. New York: E. H. Fletcher, 1851. 1830 TheGolden Balance; or,The Christian and Buddhist System Con­ Bromberg, Joan J. Mission for Life: The Story of the Family of Adoniram trasted. Moulmein: American Baptist Mission Press. Judson, theDramatic EventsoftheFirstAmerican Foreign Mission, and 1839 A View of the Christian Religion. Madras: American Mission the Course of Evangelical Religion in the Nineteenth Century. New Press. York: Free Press, 1980. 1840 TheHolyBible [inBurmese]. Moulmein: American Baptist Mis­ Carver, w.o. "The Significance of AdoniramJudson," Baptist Reviewand sion Press. Expositor 10 (October 1913). 1840 Digest of Scripture in Peguan. Moulmein: American Baptist Dowling, John. The Judson Offering, Intended as a Token of Christian Mission Press. SympathywiththeLiving,andaMemento ofChristian Affectionforthe 1850 A Grammar oftheBurmese Language. Rangoon: American Mis­ Dead. New York: L. Colby, 1846. sion Press. Hague, William. TheLifeandCharacter ofAdoniram Judson: A Commemo­ 1852 Burman and English Dictionary. Serampore: G. H. Hough. Re­ rative Discourse Delivered Before the American Baptist Missionary vised and completed by Jonathan Wade. Union, Boston, May 15, 1851. Boston: Gould & Lincoln, 1851. Middleditch, Robert. Burmah's Great Missionary: Records of the Life of Works About Adoniram Judson Adoniram Judson. New York: E. H. Fletcher, 1854. Because Judson was such a large, heroic figure of nineteenth-century Torbet, RobertG. VentureofFaith: TheStoryoftheAmerican Baptist Foreign American religious literature, he is the subject of many biographies. The Mission Society and the Woman's American Baptist Foreign Mission most reliable and useful accounts are listed below. Society, 1814-1954. Valley Forge, Pa.: Judson Press, 1955. Anderson, Courtney. To the Golden Shore: The Lifeof Adoniram Judson. Wayland, Francis. A Memoir of the Lifeand Labors of the Rev. Adoniram Boston: Little, Brown, 1956. Judson, D.D. 2 vols. Boston: Phillips, Sampson, 1853.

The Legacy of Harry and Susan Strachan W Dayton Roberts

arry Strachan and Susan Beamish Strachan, his wife, At about the tum of the century, Harry and Susan met at H were the innovative missionary couple who founded Harley College in London, where they were both preparing for the Latin America Mission (LAM) on July 24, 1921. missionary service in the African Congo under the Regions Harry (1872-1945) was bornofScottish parents andraisedin Beyond Missionary Union (RBMU). Independently, by God's Aberdeen, though he was born in Canada while they were providence, they were rejected as missionary candidates for the temporarily resident there. His father, Joseph Strachan, was a Congo because of what turned out to be nonexistent or minor stemand God-fearing stonemason,andhis mother,Mary Murray, health reasons, and ultimately they found each other again in the was a pious Presbyterian. Harry dated his conversion from more salubrious climate of Argentina. Susan had been sent there experiences in Sunderland, England,wherehe hadsecuredwork in 1901 after completing her college and midwifery studies. after running away from home sometime in his late teens. After Harry followed a year later, in the spring of 1902. his conversion, he joined the YMCA and the Bethesda Free ChurchofSunderland, whichhelped to supporthim throughout Joined in Marriage and in Mission his subsequent missionary career and where he was ordained to the Christian ministry.' In Argentina they were married in June 1903 and, after further Susan (1874-1950) came from Cork, Ireland, where her fam­ orientation and probation in Buenos Aires, were assigned to ily was part of a nominally Protestant enclave in a Roman Tandil, where they served together for another fifteen years. Catholic community. The Beamishes hadbeengivena landgrant Followingthe 1910 Edinburghmissionaryconference,the RBMU in Cork by Sir Oliver Cromwell, over two hundred years before. was merged with other small agencies to form the Evangelical Susan and her siblings were baptized as infants and raised in the Union of South America (EUSA), of which the Strachans auto­ ChurchofIreland (Episcopal). Convertedas a teenagerin a small matically became charter members. Methodist chapel in Cork, early in her Christian experience she In Tandil the Strachans' three children were born: Robert felt called to be a foreign missionary. Later, as an adult in Kenneth (1910), who eventuallysucceededhis parents as general Argentina, she was baptized by immersion, just before she director of the LAM, Harry Wallace (1912), who died from married Harry Strachan. complications following an attack of malaria while a student at the University of Florida in Gainesville, and Grace Eileen (1913), W.Dayton Roberts wasborn inPyongyang, Korea, ofPresbyterian missionary who herself became a missionary under the LAM and married parents. Upon completion ofhisstudies at Princeton Theological Seminary, he W. Dayton Roberts, another LAM missionary. married Grace Strachan, the daughter of the directors of the Latin America Tandil for the Strachans was not only a valuable experience Mission, andin 1941theybegan missionary service together in Costa Rica and in missionary pastoring but also served as a laboratory of evan­ Colombia. Duringmore thanforty years with LAM,Roberts served in many gelistic method and a place where Harry, especially, became ministryandexecutive positions, includingassociategeneral director and,later, burdened for evangelistic outreach on a continental scale. vice president of the mission. In 1987 his wife Grace Strachan succumbed to While in the UnitedStates on a belated healthfurlough (their cancer. In1994,withhissecond wife, Hilda Jimenez, hereturned toCosta Rica, where hecontinues towrite. current term of service having been extended to ten years be­ cause of World War I travel restrictions) Harry and Susan de­

July 1998 127 cided they could wait no longer for their mission in Great Britain and settled in Costa Rica (October 1921),the patternof their lives to back them up in carrying out what they believed was God's was fairly consistent. Harry was away in evangelistic campaigns planfor them in continent-wideevangelism. Consequently, they up and downLatinAmerica for many months each year. The rest resigned from EUSA in 1919 to launch their own missionary of his time he divided between periods of rest, recuperation, and project, which eventually became the Latin America Mission. study in Costa Rica, their headquarters, and the deputation trips Missiologist Samuel Escobar ranks Harry Strachan, along and personnel recruitment he felt obliged to undertake in the with Bible colporteur James ("Diego") Thomson and educator United States and Canada to raise support for the work in Latin John A. Mackay, as one of three great Scottish missionaries who America. Whenever Harry got back to Costa Rica from his crossed the ocean to preach the Gospel in Latin America with a seemingly perpetual evangelistic and deputation trips, he and vision not for a particular country or region but for the whole Susan spent as much time as possible together, sometimes walk­ continent. "Of the three," adds Escobar, "Strachan is perhaps ing the streets, much as they had learned to do before their least known by missiological scholars, but his story is equally marriage in Coronel Juarez, Argentina. Harry would report his significantbecause of the continentalreach and enduringimpact evangelistic experiences and Susan would broach her ideas for of the evangelistic movements that he started." Wheaton Col­ development of the headquarters base. lege, Wheaton Illinois, in early recognition of Strachan's unique The initiative of development at the Costa Rican base be­ and extensive ministry, conferred on him the degree of doctor of came, inevitably, mostly Susan's. Almost immediately after set­ divinity in June 1937. tling in, she established a Bible institute for girls in her home, FullerSeminarymissiologistPaul Pierson, writing about the gifts of women in the modern missionary movement, has stated, "As they sought to be obedient to their Lord, women in mission have pushed out the boundaries of what was considered appro­ With Harry away much of priate for them and blazed new trails in ministry. SusanBeamish the time, development of Strachan was one of these. Few if any women-or men, for that the Costa Rican base fell matter-have exemplified this spirit of obedience more than Dona Susana." 2 mostly to his wife, Susan. The truth is that Harry and Susan Strachan made a remark­ able and innovative team, and the impact of their legacy goes far beyond the mission and the many institutions and movements enrolling at first three-then eight-faithful students. A few that followed in their train. They labored together in Argentina months later Harry sent her ten young men from Nicaragua, and from their marriage in 1903 until 1918, and then in Costa Rica, a coeducational institute was underway. Later it became the where from 1921until their deaths they directed the missionthey LatinAmerican BiblicalSeminary,withtrulycontinentalimpact. had founded.' Harry died on March 28, 1945, and Susan on Susan'sothermajor responsibilities during the earlyyearsin December 6, 1950.They wereburied in the General Cemetery of Costa Rica included the publication of a missionary news bulle­ San Jose, where their son Harry Wallace had been laid to rest in tin called TheEvangelist andlateran evangelisticpaperin Spanish 1933, and where later they were joined by Kenneth (1965) and called EI Mensajero biblico (The Biblical Messenger). In subse­ Grace (1987). quent years she also founded-always with the full backing of July 24, 1996, marked the seventy-fifth birthday of the her husband and while continuing at the same time to manage Strachans' mission. Called originally the Latin America Evange­ the mission and the Bible institute-a hospital and a home for lization Campaign and launched as an agency to conduct coop­ children and orphans. Susan usually superintended the con­ erative evangelistic efforts throughout the continent, the LAM struction of buildings related to these institutions. today maintains evangelistic outreach as its priority objective While often. the first dream and initial steps in these enter­ whileengaging also in other importantministries of supportand prises were Susan's, it would be inaccurate to say that they enhancement. It maybestbe describedas an internationalfellow­ competed in any way with Harry's evangelistic ministry. Their ship of committed Christian men and women who, by aligning mission priorities were shaped by a holistic vision and were their individual and collective vocations and ministries, seek to shared wholly by both. At the same time, while this relationship encourage, assist, and participate with the Christian church of evidencedno basic dichotomyin theirunderstandingofmission, Latin America in its efforts to evangelize the world. it is also true thatHarryandSusaneach broughtdistinctperspec­ The LAM counts about200missionariesin its ranks, manyof tives to bear on their work. This complementarity greatly en­ them on loan to some thirty agencies and programs, most of riched the movement and inevitably resulted in broader vision which were founded by the mission itself and subsequently and a stronger organization. given their independence. They include two major church de­ nominations (Colombia, 526congregations;andCostaRica, 115), The Strachan Legacy seminaries, a hospital, child welfare programs, camps, schools, radio stations, a publishing house, and Christian bookstores, to Their many accomplishments, properly speaking, do not consti­ mention a few. tute the legacy of HarryandSusanStrachan-rather,they are the fruit of that legacy, which can better be measured in the less Latin America Mission, 1921­ tangible terms of spirit, culture, and missiological orientation. By God's grace, I was privileged to work in the LAM for In their work, which sometimes involved the most difficult of almost a decade under the direction of Harry and Susan, as well circumstances, including frequent separation and long periods as thereafter under their son Kenneth and two of his successors. of contact only through correspondence, Harry and Susan were And since my retirement from the LAM, I have continued to essentially one in all they undertook. They shared, as best they serve on its board of trustees. This, plus the fact thatby marrying could, in all major decisions. Once they had established the LAM their daughter, Grace, I became a son-in-law of the senior

128 INTERNATIONAL BULLETIN OF MISSIONARY RESEARCH Strachans, has allowed me a unique opportunity to try to under­ These factors undoubtedly sharpened the Strachans' sense stand and communicate the true dimensions of their ministry. of the priority of evangelization, but it was something they were I believe that the legacy the Strachans left to me, to the other already committed to, and it brooked no discussion. Kenneth LAM missionaries, and to the rest of the evangelical mission emphasized the evangelistic campaignministry after his father's community can be summarized in five major points. They do not deathby initiating the Evangelism-in-Depth movement, thereby exhaust the wealth of our inheritance, but they.highlight the giving maximum expression to his parents' priorities. factors that have had the most impact. It always surprisedme a bitthatKenneth,whoresembledhis 1.Identification withthecultureandthepeople. HarryandSusan mother in so many ways, was the one who propounded and showed a deep sense of identification with the Latin American communicated so successfully his father's priority passion for people and culture. The local newspaper was as important to evangelism. And it was Grace, in whom so many of her father's them as their morning coffee, and they followed local politics genes were evident, who became the visionary of human devel­ avidly. They embraced local customs and concerns withgenuine opment, emulating her mother, working among marginalized involvement and appreciation. women but discovering that true and complete development At one point, early in his career, Harry came under the mustseekfirst of all to bringthose in need to the feet of the Savior. conviction that as a highland Scot, he was perceived by the 3. Compassionate response to human need. Nothing illustrates Argentines to be aloof and disinterested in them. He made it a this quality better than the reaction of the Strachans to the matter of earnest prayer, and the Lord gave him a warmth and miserable street urchins they encountered in San Jose. Ragged, empathy that changed the quality of his relationships. dirty,andsickly, thestreetchildrenbegged,occasionallyworked More important, this sense of Latin American identity re­ at selling newspapers or shining shoes, and more frequently quired them to know and understand thoroughly the local resorted to theft and violence to secure a living. situationbefore embarking on anyproject-evenan evangelistic Susan wanted to do something about it immediately. Harry campaign. Harry and Susan spent twelve full months, from reminded her-and she agreed with him-that God had led January 1920to January 1921 (leaving their children with Chris- them to Costa Rica to start a ministry of campaign evangelism, and until the Lord should lead themexplicitlyin otherdirections, they must not allow themselves to get diverted from this pur­ At first perceived to be pose. So they carried the burden in their hearts and frequently made it a matter of prayer until finally, after leading them aloof as a highland Scot, through the experience of starting a hospital and understanding Harry developed an better the needs of the Costa Rican waifs, God opened the way to establish a Bible home for children. This led to the present-day empathy that changed his Roblealto Program of Child Welfare, which has become a model relationships. ministry of wide and varied outreach and an important part of Costa Rica's social structure. It is not hard to find other illustrations of this readiness to tian friends in Kansas City), and traveledby ship, train, riverboat, respond to obvious needs. The bold inauguration of an urban bus, and frequently on horseback, getting to know intimately hospital when there were yet no evangelical doctors available most of the countries of the continent before they felt free to establish their new mission. This same characteristic caused them to place the headquar­ Susan's concern for street ters in San Jose, Costa Rica, rather than in some city like Philadel­ phia or New York (both major areas of their economic support). children led to the Roblealto In the campaigns he planned and conducted, Harry always Program of Child Welfare, insisted on securing an outstanding Latin American orator to be the crusadepreacher and evangelist. His ownrole, he felt, should today an imporant part of bebackstage. Inthe nextgenerationit wasKennethStrachanwho Costa Rica's social structure. carried this principle to its fullest development in LAM, but it was the incarnational identification of his parents with the Latin American people and their culture that inspired him. and the beginning of medical and evangelistic work in the 2. The priority ofevangelization. The mission was born in the unwholesome Department of Bolivarin Colombia, withan inno­ heyday of Protestant liberalism in America. The mainline thrust vative use of river launches and other means, are two other such of evangelistic mission had peaked at about the turn of the examples. The next generation initiated similar ventures: rural century, and the earlydecades of the 1900swerecharacterizedby "caravans" to minister in neglected areas of Costa Rica and the events such as the 1910 conference in Edinburgh, which de­ "FamilyWelfare" outreach to marginalized women in the ghetto scribed Latin America as already Christianized, a 1914consulta­ areas of San Jose. Both derived their inspiration from Harry and tion in Cincinnati that gave rise to a comity agreement that Susan Strachan. restricted evangelistic outreach in Latin America, and another 4. Willingness to break new ground. "Is there a better way of conference in Panama in 1916 that gave birth to the liberal doing it?" This is a question Harry must have asked himself Committee on Cooperation in Latin America. The climax of this frequently. He was certainly quick to experiment with different wave of Protestant liberalism came with the publication in 1932 methods and venues, traveling local trains back and forth to give of Re-thinking Missions: A Laymen's Inquiry, edited by W. E. outtracts and a word of witness, convertinga horse-drawncoach Hocking, criticizing evangelistic mission and seeking a more into a bookmobile, using tents and theaters instead of church tolerant, nonproselyting objective for the Christian church over­ auditoriums for campaigns, promoting them with marimba seas. concerts and musical bands.

July 1998 129 Before the Bible institute that Harry dreamed about could face for those wholove Himfor himselfalone. Andto whatprofit get started, Susan was already asking herself, "Where are the is it that we dwell in Jerusalem, if we do not see the face of the young men who come as students going to find missionary­ King?"4 minded wives to share their ministry?" And so she began a Harry was also moved by this passion. I once saw a list of simple training school for Christian girls that eventually became some of his sermons. There were literally dozens of them based the Bible institute of evangelists and pastors Harry had envi­ on the text following the withdrawal of Moses and Elijah from sioned. Their Christianpeers credited them withbeing"one step the Mount of Transfiguration. "And when they had lifted up ahead," and this is indeed apt for these missionary innovators. their eyes, they saw no man, save Jesus only" (Matt. 17:8).Those 5. Personal passion for Christ. The ultimate goal in life for final two words became for him an inexhaustible fountain of Harry and Susan was to love, obey, and exhibit the person and homiletical inspiration. Clearly, the fundamental motivation in gospel message of their Lord. In the long run, nothing else ministry of both Harry and Susan was a personal passion for mattered. Christ. Harry's early participation in and identification with the The Strachans today could be proud of their twelve adult American Keswick movement demonstrated this focus. The grandchildren- achievers, servers, significant world citizens. I Keswick movement was a summer-conference outgrowth in recently asked them what they considered to be Harry and Great Britain of the Moody-Sankey campaigns of 1875. It ap­ Susan's legacy to them. Although most were too young when pealed especially to evangelicals of Reformed theological per­ their grandparents died to recall them in such concrete terms, suasion and had come to be characterized by disciplined piety nevertheless I garnered some significant responses. One of the andmissionaryzeal. It quicklyspreadto Americaandotherparts granddaughters recalls a four-year-old's sense of the warmth of of the world. Dona Susana's presence, communicated in the comfortable feel Harry wholeheartedly expounded the Keswick conviction of the silk-covered buttons of her dress. Three claim their grand­ that a Christian believer can enjoy victory over sin through the mother as their model of womanhood, exemplifying a liberty to power of the indwelling Christ. "Greater is he that is in you than aspire and to achieve, grasping opportunities and making things he that is in the world" was axiomatic among those of Keswick happen. Two of them refer to Susan's writings as being a trea­ orientation, like his close colleague Robert McQuilkin of the sured inheritance. "When I first read her 'Personal Passion for Sunday School Times. Harry made it his own watchword. Christ,' said one, I recognized in myself the same longing that so It was Susan, however, who gave the most lucid expression dominated her life. I don't know if these things are inherited, as to this priority. Early in the San Jose years she wrote a tract such, butifso, Ithinkthis wouldbe the legacy thatImosttreasure entitled A Personal Passion for Christ, which has been reprinted and am grateful for." many times and incorporated into other publications. Her thesis I can think of no better way to summarize and close this was that in the Bible and in common Christian experience there account of the Strachan legacy than with a paragraph from are countless numbers of those who belong to Christ, but only a granddaughter Clare Strachan Frist: relativelyfew everlearnto exhibita personalpassionfor himthat sets them apart in the category of a Moses, a David, a Paul, or a Most important, and the basis for the fruitfulness and enduring John Bunyan. This became Susan's goal-to live out a personal quality of the work they did, was the nature of their commitment passion for Christ. to God. When a person gives his love and his life so totally to God, "In our zeal for the better, are we missing the best?" she there is a touching of things eternal that transcends any other wrote. "Thereis a reward for the obedientdisciple, there is power achievement. Those who have the privilege of seeing or hearing about such a person are blessed and stirred to make the same sort and authority for the faithful disciple, there is the glory of of commitment. A lifeso lived is the greatest gift a personcan give achievement for the zealous disciple, but there is the whisper of someone else, above and beyond any practical results that might His love, there is the joy of His presence, and the shining of His come from such a life.

Notes------­ 1. There is no biographical information in print about the childhood Rica, offices); (2) Billy Graham Center, Wheaton, Illinois, holding andpremissionarylives of HarryandSusanBeamishStrachan. Most correspondence and other documents from the LAM archives; and of the data in this essay was taken from conversations and corre­ (3) personal letters and documents in the custody of Mrs. Clare spondence with them and with their children. Strachan Frist, of Greenville, S.C. Mrs. Frist is a granddaughter of 2. In September 1996,in connection with its Seventy-fifth Anniversary Harry and Susan Strachan. celebration, LAM published a book by the author of this essay, One 4. A Personal Passion for Christ was written by Susan Strachan in the StepAhead, theInnovative Strachans and the Birthof the LatinAmerica early days of her Costa Rican ministry (no. 11 in a series of leaflets Mission(Miami: Latin America Mission, 1996).The quotations from published by the Latin America EvangelizationCampaign, before it Escobar and Pierson are taken from One Step Ahead. became the Latin America Mission). It was later published as a 3. Information related to the Latin America Mission, as well as to the chapter in a devotional book issued by InterVarsity Press. The full Strachans themselves, of which I made extensive use, is found today text can be found in chapter 11, "Centerpiece," of Roberts, OneStep in three places: (1)bound copies of TheEvangelist, volumes covering Ahead. 1921 to the present (available in LAM's Miami and San Jose, Costa

Bibliography The Evangelist is the regular publication of the Latin America Mission, Harry Strachan's letters and reports. These portions constitute virtually P.O. Box 52-7900,Miami, FL 33152-7900. During her time of service in the only published writings of the senior Strachans. Costa Rica, from 1921until her death in 1950,SusanStrachan edited the magazine, and large parts of it wereeitherwrittenby her or quoted from Cabezas Badilla, Franklin. Nuestraclinica: Sanidad y santidad alestilo del

130 INTERNATIONAL BULLETIN OF MISSIONARY RESEARCH Hospital Clinica Biblica (private publication of the Hospital Clinica __. HistoryofProtestantism in Costa Rica. Lucknow, India: Lucknow Bfblica). San Jose, Costa Rica, 1996. Publishing House, 1963. Elliot,Elizabeth. WhoShall Ascend? TheLifeofR. Kenneth Strachan ofCosta Restart Padilla, Ubaldo. Cincuenta aiios dehistoria y mision(private pub­ Rica. New York: Harper & Row, 1968. lication of the Asociaci6n de Iglesias Evangelicas del Caribe "HarryStrachan," "Susanade Strachan,"and "Misi6nLatinoamericana." [AlEC]). Sincelejo, Colombia, 1995. In Diccionario dehistoria delaiglesia. Edited by Wilton M. Nelson. Roberts, W. Dayton. OneStepAhead: TheInnovative Strachans andtheBirth Miami: Editorial Caribe, 1989. oftheLatinAmerica Mission. Miami: Latin America Mission, 1996. Nelson, Wilton M., EI protestantismo en Centro america. Miami: Editorial __. Strachan of Costa Rica: Missionary Insights and Strategies. Grand Caribe,1982. Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 1971.

Book Reviews

Count It All Joy: Testimonies from a Persecuted Church.

By John Cumbers. Kearney, Nebr.: Morris Publishing, 1995. Pp.vii, 257. Paperback. No price given. By Their Blood: Christian Martyrs of the Twentieth Century. to Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, with it (Le., to find some sort of rational and ends in the Caribbean and Latin explanation for it and to respond to it) is By James Hefley and Marti Hefley. Second America. It is a collectionofmovingstories something with which most people have edition. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Books, that deserve to be remembered. A difficulty. Responding with meaningful 1996. Pp. 672. Paperback $24.99. comprehensive bibliography and index interventionandinvolvementisthe crucial add to the book. challenge. Sometimes justpraying is half­ Their Blood Cries Out: The Untold Marshall's book seeks to understand hearted obedience. Overt political action Story of Persecution Against the source of the persecution (Islam, pp. is almost always counterproductive. In Christians in the Modern World. 15-70; Communism,pp. 71-96; Hinduism Ethiopiathe churcheswiselymarginalized and Buddhism, pp. 97-118; and then the involvement of expatriates during the By Paul Marshall with Lela Gilbert. Dallas: Orthodoxy and Roman Catholicism, pp. Cultural Revolution. The flipside of the Word Publishing, 1997. Pp. xxiv, 335. 118-48) and asks why there has been a issue is, How can I personally respond? Paperback $12.99. Western conspiracy of silence (pp. 149­ rather than, How can I stop it? The idea 210).The final chapter (pp. 211-34) makes that with all the political power of the In the Lion's Den: A Shocking suggestions for creating a win-win West we can't prevent religious Account of Persecution and environment with the persecutors. Seven persecution is unacceptable to us. Martyrdom of Christians Today appendixes follow (pp. 235-66). Inan age Hagiography is a venerable but and How We Should Respond. of cultural relativism the anti-Christian grossly overlooked element of modem natureofmanyreligionsandphilosophies churchhistory. The churchuniversalneeds By Nina Shea. Nashville: Broadman & needs to be understood. History shows the inspiration of martyrs. The stories of Holman, 1997. Pp.xii, 126. Paperback $9. that there is a positive side to persecution, those who could have avoided death but which could have been developed much accepted it rather than freedom because Havinglived in Ethiopiathroughthe worst more fully. they viewed it as a compromise belong in years (1977--84) ofthe CulturalRevolution, Shea'sbookreversesMarshall'sorder a distinct category. This is the group of I have been personally involved with the of contents. The Western conspiracy of people who choose to die; they did not persecuted church. What praying! What silence (pp. 13-26) is followed by reports want to be rescued! singing! Whatenthusiasm! Whatcourage! on Islam (pp. 27-56) and Communism We need more of the Cumbers-type I enjoyed reading these four books. (pp. 57-84). The book strongly case studies presenting the viewpoint of Cumbers covers Eritrea and eleven areas recommends applying political pressure the persecuted church. The voice of the of Ethiopia between 1974 and 1991 (pp. on the eleven countries listed as the main persecutedchurch,andthe martyrswithin 38-246). In chapters 1-6 he gives a offenders. Fourinformationalappendixes it, is the only voice worth considering. In thumbnail sketch of Christianity in (pp. 95-118) conclude the book. most cases these stories must be written Ethiopia and mission-church relation­ For a quick summary, choose Shea; by outsiders. It has been my experience ships. The body of the book (chaps. 7-18) for a deeper understanding of why that the ones who suffer the most, glory in comes from recordings of interviews with persecution is inevitable, get Marshall's it the least. The church of which these believers who suffered at the hands of book; for a walk through twentieth­ witnesses are members need the stories. those who hated them. Enough historical century Hebrews II, choose Hefley and But who has the greatest spiritual needs? material is added to stitch the interviews Hefley; and to hear tape recordings from Which church needs help the most? The into an attractive patchwork quilt. It has the persecuted church, read Cumbers. Gulf States or North America? Where is the ring of truth about it that all first­ The persecuted church falls within the Christian faith the most vibrant? Who person reporting carries. the orbit of the mystery of suffering. has lost the vision? North America may The Hefleys claim hagiology status Cruelty and violence are repulsive, have the silver and gold, but does it have for theirbook. Their storybeginsin China, especially when perpetrated against the the power to mock the opposition? flows through Asia to the Pacific and then innocentanddefenseless. Tocome to terms Two challenging questions need to

July 1998 131 be answered: Where does 'God 's The vas t array of sources and the lack Wantto sovereignty fit in? What is faith in Christ of institutional and local studies account costing me? Nothing? Why? Has the for Robert's decision not to attempt a brushup opposition been too successful? Do 'we general narrative of women and the have the shoe on the wrong foot? Should missionary movement. Herchoices about onaforeign we perhaps be sending videocassettes to organization give the narrativeadecidedly the persecuted churches and asking them northern flavor, and one wonders about language? to pray for us? the nuances that attention to Southern So hagiographers, read these four Bap tists, Southern Methodists, and With Audio-Forum's books carefully and start applying for SouthernPresbyterians or, for that matter, intermediate andadvanced materials, it's easy research grants. Many countries have to missions-minded pietis t groups like to maintain and sharpen your foreign­ language skills. stories tha t need to be writ ten up Moravians and others might introduce. Besides intermediate and advanced accurately. The decision to use the lens of mission audio-cassette courses - most developed for - Brian L. Fargher theory also limits the story . American the U.S. State Department-weoffer foreign­ scholars have not generally shown much language mystery dramas, dialogs recorded interest in mission theory; the handful of Brian L. Fargher is Executive Director of the inParis,games,music,andmanyotherhelpful recent studies of women in mission tend materials. And if you want to learn a new Leadership Training Centre (Campus Crusadefor rathertoexploreculturaland socialissues. Christ), Edmonton, Alberta. He spent twenty-nine language, we have beginning courses for While Robert's primary interest is in adults and for children. years with SIM in Ethiopia. women's gender-based contributions to We offer introductory and advanced mission theory, the sources she uses offer materials in most of the world's languages: French, German, Spanish, Italian, Japanese, much more. They are richly suggestive Mandarin, Greek, Russian, Arabic, Korean, about women' s experiences and American Czech, and others. Christianity more genera lly. Our 52-page Whole World Language American Women in Mission: This is a groundbreaking study, and Catalog offers courses in 98 languages. A Social History of Their Thought Robert's capable use of neglected primary Call 1-888-773-2548, fax (203) 453-9774, and Practice. sourcesboth offers newinsightsand opens e-mail: [email protected]. or new areas for examination. write for your free copy. Our 27th year. ByDana 1. Robert.Macon, Ga. :Mercer Univ. - Edith L. Blumhofer aUDIC·l='caum" Press, 1996. Pp. xxii, 444. Paperback $30. Edith L. Blumhofer is Associate Director of the Room C70 1, 96 Broad Street , Women have played central roles in the Guilford, CT 06437 (203) 453-9794 Public Religion Project, University of Chicago Americanforeign missionmovementfrom Divinity School. its inception, yet scholars have paid little attention to the principles and strategies that guided women's mission work at LI~e home and abroad. Dana Rober t offers a and Learn first attempt to examine women's part in at the the creationofAmericanmission theories. Drawing on a wide variety of published Philosophy, Science, and Theology and unpublished sources, Rober t offers a of Mission in the Nineteenth and Overseas Ministries richly suggestive study of women's Twentieth Centuries. A contributions to the mi ssionary Missiological Encyclopedia. Part 2: Study center movement. Her book is part of a series Missionary Theology. appraising modern missions edited by Wilbert Shenk. By Jan A. B. Jongeneel. Frankfurt and New Robert chose to organize her work York: Peter Lang, 1997. Pp. Xxii, 428. DM aroundcase studies detailing the approach 118. of groups of women in a particular time period.She focuses on groups that seemed This is the second volume of the author 's in their day to be on the cutting edge of massive Missiological Encyclopedia, first mission theory-the American Board of published in Dutch in 1991. It is not a Commissioners for Foreign Missions, general encyclopedia of missions but -and find renewal for Baptists, Methodists, faith missions, the rather a handbook of missiology, or the MaryknollSisters.The book is full ofstories study of mission(s). Volume 1 (reviewed world mission drawn from journals, diaries, letters, and here in October 1995, pp . 182-83), dealt mission publications that offer insights with the philosophy of mission and the Fully furnished apartments in to women's feelings, motives, and science of mission. Volume 2 deals with and Continuing Education relationshipswith institutionalstructures. the theology of mission, which, the author program of weekly seminars These sources are widely scattered and maintains, "in recent decades, has been often rare, and one of the book's major transformed into missionarytheology" (p. Write for Study Program and contributions is in demo nstrating their 1). He defines "missionary theology" as Application for Residence richness.The footnotes and bibliography "that form or type of Christian theology Overseas Ministries offer an invaluable introduction to the which .. . reflects up on the relations of literature of American womenin mission. Christiansandchurches with .. .adherents Study Center (In the first printing, the book 's usefulness andcommunitiesofother religions,world­ 49 0 Prospect Street was unfortunately hampered by the lack view s, and ideologies in all spheres of New Haven, Connecticut 06511 ofan index;thepublisherhas subsequently private and public life" (p. 10). added an index.) After an introductory chap ter that

132 I NTERNATIONAL B ULLETIN OF MISSIONARY R ESEARCH deals with the definitions, history, context, ther information added much to the pic­ without any wa ter, waiting for the people and structure of missionary theology, the ture . The introduction that Davidson has to let him come ashore. It is clear tha t he bulk of the book is devoted to discussion provided runs to twice the length of the loved the people and did not try to domi­ of wha t the author describes as "the ten autobiography. nate themas didsomeIslandermissionar­ branches of missionary theology," which Nau lived from about 1866 to 1927 ies and the Australian who followed him include missionary ascetics, missionary and worked asa missionaryin the Solomon at Ontong Java. dogmatics, missionary ethics, missionary Islands from 1905 to 1919. His great An important value of Nau's writing catechetics, missionary liturgics, and achievement was his opening, with the is that it enables us to see into his inner missionary homiletics. His concluding help of a Samoan colleague, of the great religio us life, something that is not found chapter offers a retrospective summary atoll of Ontong Java to Christian work. in the usual writings about Islander mis­ view of missiology as a discipline, and a This was accomplished through much sionaries, which deal only with their ac­ look ahead at the main tasks for mission suffering, including sitting patiently in an tivities. The autobiography is filled with studies in the twenty-first century. openboatfor three months, the final week expressions of deep faith and joy in God, The author, who is professor of missiology at the University of Utrecht, has provided an exhaustive resourceabout the study of mission througho ut the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Its bibliographies in many languages are invaluable, and the indexes of names and subjects facilitate its usefulness. It should New in the Christian Mission and Modern Culture Series be on the shelf of every mission scholar, right next to Myklebust's two-volume INTO THE VACUUM work The Study of Missions in Theological Being the Church in an Age of Barbarism Education. by Gordo n Scoville -Gerald H. Anderson Offers the thesis that the world has entered an age of barbarism, disintegrating into a moral vacuum from w hich the only exit is to beco me the church of com­ Gerald H. Anderson is Editor of this journal and mitted disc ip les. Director of theOverseas Ministries Study Center, $11.00 paper 1-56338-238-5 New Haven, Connecticut. SPEAKING THE TRUTH IN LOVE New Testament Resources for a Missional Hermeneutic by James v. Brownson Semisi Nau: The Story of My Life. Explores some of the hermeneutical questions that arise as A Tongan Miss ionary at Ontong the church enters into its missional calli ng. Looks at the Java in the Solomon Islands. way in w hich the New Testament writers functioned hermeneutically and concludes with a discussion of con­ By Semisi Nau. Edited with an introduction temporary use of a missional hermeneutic. byAllanK. Davidson. Suva,Fiji: Univ.ofthe $9.00 paper 1-56338-239-3 South Pacific, Institute of Pacific Studies, 1996. Pp. xii, 152. Paperback. No price given. LIVING FAITHFULLY IN A FRAGMENTED WORLD lessons for the Church from The largest amount of missionary work in Macintyre's After Virtue the Pacific Islands has been done by Is­ by Jonathan R. W ilson landers rather than by Europeans. Yet Descri bes several aspects of co ntemporary culture that nearly all of the writing about the mis­ create bot h opportunities and threats to Christian mis­ sions has been by and about the Europe­ sion. Offers understandings and practices that the ans. It is hard to learn about the Islanders church today must embrace in order to live fait hfu lly because they provided little of the written and w itness effectively. record . Only here and there can written $9.00 paper 1-56338-240-7 traces of their activity be discovered. One such discovery is the basis for this book. Also available in the series New Zea lander Allan Davidson, The Missionary Con17regation, Secularization and Mission when teaching in a seminary near Rabaul Leadership, and Limmality by Bert Hoedemaker in Papua New Guinea, found an old note­ by Alan J. Roxburgh 1-56338-224-5 $8.00 paper book in the seminary library that proved 1-56338-190-7 $7.00 paper to be the handwritten autobiography of The Mission of Theology and Theology an important Islander missionary, Semisi A Spacious Heart by Judith M. as Mission by}. Andrew Kirk Nau. This discovery led to years of pains­ Gundry-volt'and Miroslav vol! 1-56338-189-3 $7.00 paper 1-56338-201-6 $8.00 paper taking researchas Davidson tracked down Truth and Authority in Modernity every possible source of further informa­ The Secular Experience of God by Lesslie Newbigin tion on Nau and checked the accuracy, by Kenneth Cragg 1-56338-168-0 $8.00 paper where possible, of wha t Nau had written. 1-56338-233-7 $8.00 paper The writing proved generally accurate (whereas a report by the Australian mis­ To order: 800-877-0012 • fax: 717-541-8128 sionary superintendentwas found to con­ H , lI l l ~I ) lI l g . tain some pure fabrication), and the fur- l'pll ll wlv,lIl ia

July 1998 133 no matter wha t the circumstances, and it The Kingdom of God in Africa: A continually speaks of the reception of Short History of African God's streng th and comfort. These inn er Christianity. springsof missions are the core that West­ ern schola rs need to be sensitive to if they By Mark Shaw. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker are to understand Christian missions, at Books, 1996. Pp. 328. Paperback $20. least as carried on by non-Westerners. -Charle s W. Forman There was a lull in the effort to produce a Isichei, and now by Mark Shaw. Baur and comprehensive history of Christianity in Isichei provided survey guides, while Africa after Peter Falk's work in 1979. Hastings used a shorter time frame to Cha rles W. Fonnan is Emeritus Professor of Mis­ Suddenly a surge' of books appeared in focus on a mission-to-culture interpreta­ sions, Yale University Divinity School. He has the 1990s: in 1994 by John Baur and by tion. His Africanized periodization and workedasa missionaryin India, Fiji, and Samoa. Adrian Hastin gs, in 1995 by Elizabeth fulsometreatment of the Ethiopian church were significant. Shaw's work is notable for its theological conceptual scheme, us­ ing the understanding of the meaning of the kingdo m of God in each phase of African church history as a means ofinter­ pr etation. His concern is about the "Afri­ can Church's long struggle to be an effec­ tive witness to the One they worship as risen from the dead " (p. 11).The struggle to establish the kingdom has three facets: one is an emphasis on the providential and theocratic rule of God among the Berbers, Egyptian Copts, and Ethiopians, whose monarchs were resourceful pa­ 'ill.~~i~~~iS trons. A second is the nineteenth-century missionary movement, which focused on · tiye; durabltharopegiusJq ; ) the escha tological mandate to promote justice and transform all things through ···"'Ruth ••·Rouse, W illla.m·•• Carey, Francis "• the power of the Holy Spirit. The careers ~.Ford,Roland Allen,Hendrik of Tertullian, Augustin e, and Desmond Tutu are examples.Thisscheme, informed Ki-aemer, Stepppn Neill,K.Stanlfy by Shaw's evangelical background and Jones, joseph-Schmidlin.Wilhelm experience from teaching in Africa, is Schmidt, AlanR. Tippett, Max applied consistently within a pleasant narrative. Warren, HdenBarnett The book is designed as a text for Montgomery,EJlcY'V\'l,lterbuly theological schools and is well illustrated with maps and biblio graphy. Those with Pel,lpody,John philip; Daviq > sociological interests, however, may look lXvingstdne;chades·.·Simeol1/and elsewhere. There is so much unsaid or many more. Authors ofthe~ebiO.,. said so cryptically that the depth of the memo ry of the people of God and their graphical sketches area veritable encounter with Christ have not been fully "who's who" ofchurch historians, plumbed. There is still a need for a com­ ISBN0';:88344-964-1 prehensive history, wri tten by a number ' S36;50 Cloth including Dana.Roberr, John C . of scholars, each covering an area of ex­ Bennett.Karl'Muller, SVD,.Lesslie pertise. Newbigin,A . ChristopherShiifh, -Dgbu U. Kalu Eric]..SharPe, and]eall"'~aulWiest. \Vithbiogi-aphicalarid §i§liC>gr a.p!ii~ Ogbu U. Ka lu teaches history at the University of .. .. Nigeria, Nsukka. mrormanonsavar'r." .•..••• . ••·• .• ··.·.···. · l···a b·l······enow ...... ··h ·············eree.• ··.· l·· se,...•... Mission L egacies belongs .if. every theological.library and on the book­ ...... i MaryknolVNY: ,·.··· At .b06kSiores.· o r dlrect ., slle1f of every stup¢nt .6fWodd '" Me/VISA: l.:abo~25a.:5838 ..... Christianity and mission. '.'

134 INTERNATIONAl , Buu ETIN OF M ISSIONARY R ESEARCH FACULTY POSITION Mangoes or Bananas? The Quest Evangelism and Global Mission for an Authentic Asian Christian Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary is seeking a faculty member to teach in the areas Theology. of evangelism and global mission. This person will occupy the William A. Benfield Professor­ ByHwa Yung.Oxford: RegnumBooks, 1997. ship of Evangelism and Global Mission. Pp. xi, 273. Paperback £20. Applicants should have a Ph.D. or compa­ rable degree in missiology or another appropri­ ate field of theological study. Applications will In eight chapters the author, who is signifies IIgolden yellow on both the also be considered from degree-candidates who currently principal ofthe SeminariTheoloji outside and the inside" (authentically are in the final stages of their work. Applications Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, thoughtfully Asian), while "bananas" are a deception, from women and from minority racial-ethnic searches for the form and contents of an since the outside is yellow butthe inside is candidates are especially encouraged. authentic Asian Christian theology. white (p. 240). "What we need," he says, This person will be expected to teach M.Div., M.A., M.A.C.E., M.A.M.F.T., Th.M., and D.Min. The book seeks lito assess Asian "are more theological/mangoes' and not students. This faculty member should be able to theological writings on the basis of their 'bananas" (p. 241). relate the history and theology of evangelism adequacy as theologies of mission" (p. There are problems here. First, in this and global mission to contemporary issues 26). Writings of Asian theologians book the people of Malaysia, their life and confronting the church's witness in the United examined include those of D. T. Niles, M. stories, are strangelyabsent. Second, there States and other parts of the world. Parish is depth and variety within IIWestern experience in this country and/or in other M. Thomas, Kosuke Koyama, C. S. Song, countries is strongly desirable. Vinay Samuel, Cho Yong-gi,and Minjung theology" that does not appear here. Do This person should have a strong interest in theologians. The author maintains that Western biblical studies such as the New preparing candidates for the Christian ministry. IIATA [Asia Theological Association] Jerome Biblical Commentary and the Anchor This person should be committed to helping theology is strong on evangelism and Bible Commentary find no place in the students understand the church's evangelical pastoral concern. Theologically, it is discourse? Third, the Enlightenment is and ecumenical calling and to relating evangelism and global mission with other areas basically orthodox" (p. 195).He draws a evaluated here mainly in Western terms, of theological curriculum. sharp contrast between the ecumenical not in 1998Kuala Lumpur terms. Finally, Rank is negotiable on the basis of experience; Christian Conference of Asia and the Illiberal theology" receives a fossilized appointment will begin in the fall of 1999. evangelical ATA.The passion thatguides characterization that betrays a Western Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary this book is to make conservative origin (p. 15).Ingeneral, the book gives a follows EEO guidelines and affirmative action procedures. Send dossiers and a list of references orthodoxy stand out in contradistinction negative impression because it is a contra to President John M. Mulder, 1044Alta VISta to ecumenical liberal theologies, which in book. Road, Louisville, ICY 40205. his view are "domesticated by the -Kosuke Koyama Deadline: October 1, 1998. Enlightenment and dualistic categories" LOUISVILLE SEMIN ARY (p.216). Kosuke Koyama is Professor Emeritus, Union (if! The author's image of mangoes Theological Seminary, New York.

The Friends Too Valuable to Lose: Exploring of the the Causes and Cures of Overseas Ministries Missionary Attrition. Study Center

Edited byWilliam D.Taylor. Pasadena, Calif.: Financial contributions from the William Carey Library, 1997. Pp. xviii, 380. Paperback $23.95. Friends of OMSC support the work of the Center through its Scholar­ This helpful volume does far more than service (p. 92). Some, like "medical ship Fund for Third World Scholars report information gathered from the complications or a legitimate call to and Missionaries. Gifts designated comprehensive ReMAP (Reducing another ministry," are considered for the Center's general purposes Missionary Attrition Project), a fourteen­ unpreventable. Others are deemed are also gratefully received. For nation study launched by the World preventable, such as "marriage/family more information contact Evangelical Fellowship Missions conflict or problems with peers." Robert F. Ford Commission. Too Valuable toLose provides Primary causes for attrition in old Director of Development helpful articles from over twenty authors sending countries were reported to be Overseas Ministries Study Center to help analyze missionary attrition and "normal retirement, needs of children, 490 Prospect Street suggest workable solutions to prevent change of job, and health problems" (p. New Haven, CT 06511-2196 USA avoidable loss of valuable missionary 98). Top causes listed by new sending Contributions by U.S. taxpayers are personnel. countries were "lack of home support, fully tax deductible. Please include While missionary attrition is a lack of call, inadequate commitment, and an indication of how you wish to problem, with the ReMAP study disagreement with the sending agency" indicating that 29 percent of all (p.94). designate yourgift. Information on missionaries sent out returned early (p. This comprehensivevolumeincludes making a bequestis available upon 86), this rate is strikingly close to the 30 six sections: Foundational Papers, request. percent attrition rate reported in a 1995 Research Analysis, NationalCase Studies, Tel: (203) 624-6672 secular study of military, diplomatic, and Thematic Chapters, Final Observations Fax: (203) 865-2857 business endeavors (p. 6). andOutcomes, and Additional Resources. E-mail: [email protected] ReMAP reveals twenty-six specific Among the foundational papers is an Web: http://www.OMSC.org reasonsforwhich missionaries leave active intriguing article on generational factors

July 1998 135 DISCIPLESHIP FOR MISSION: Follow Me...Sigueme... outlining divergent interests and This volume is must reading for Crossing Borders for Mission influences of boosters (over age 50), anyone concerned about missions and the boomers (30-50), and busters (under 30). stewardshipofmen and womenwho serve u.S. CATHOLIC MISSION ASSOCIATION Every person interested in the future of in world outreach. ANNUAL CONFERENCE missions should read this chapter. -J. Ronald Blue October 23 - 25, 1998 The chapterwith"final observations" EIPaso,TX mightbe helpful to read first. Taylor gives practical advice for each stakeholder in ]. Ronald Blue, President of CAM International, Come...Listen...Experience...Reflect the missionsenterprise. Bornin Costa Rica wasamissionarywithCAM International inCentral America and Spain (1965-75), and chairman, Using a process designed for maximum ofmissionaryparents,Taylor lived in Latin America thirty years and served for Department ofWorldMissions, Dallas Theological participation and integration, a facilitator, Seminary (1975-92). speakers, and site guides will help seventeen years as a career missionary participants encounter and process the with CAM International. He speaks from ongoing concerns of discipleship as related experience. to rnission. Immersion experiences at multiple sites in EI Paso, TX and Juarez, Mexico will bring participants in direct contact with critical border issues. Identify the borders in your mission and ministry. The parish community of S1. Pius X along with theologian and pastor Msgr. Arturo Perspectives on Christianity in Bariuelas will host part of the conference. Korea and Japan: The Gospel and Culture in East Asia. The Annual Conference of the Africa Faith and Justice Network will be held in conjunction with the USCMA Conference. AFJN will begin Edited byMark R. Mullins and Richard Fox Thursday at 7: 00 PM. For AFJN information, Young.Lewiston, N.Y.: EdwinMellen Press, contact 202-832-3412. 1995. Pp. xxiii, 230. $89.95.

the book exhibits the unevenness of con­ USCMA This volume presents papers from Chris­ 3029 Fourth St., NE tianity in East Asia, a project with meet­ ference reports, the essays are challeng­ Washington, DC 20017 ings in 1991 and 1993sponsored by Meiji ing, and the book merits the attention of Ph: 202-832-3112 University in Japan and the Presbyterian its intended audience of scholars, teach­ Fax: 202-832-3688 Church (USA).The authors include Japa­ ers, and mission administrators. nese, Korean, and Western scholars, -Edward W. Poitras mostly Presbyterian, all of whom share an ecumenical Protestant perspective. Missiologists often cite the contrasts Edward W.Poitras is Professor Emeritus of World " Christianity, Perkins School ofTheology, Southern between South Korea's large, rapidly Check out growingChristianpopulationandJapan's Methodist University, Dallas, Texas. From 1953 to tiny Christian minority, but this study 1989, hewasa missionary oftheUnitedMethodist ~ attempts the more difficult analysis of the Church in Korea, where heserved mainlyasprofes­ complex tapestry of differences within a sorofhistorical theology at theMethodist Theologi­ on the World Wide Web! shared cultural context. Its three sections calSeminary in Seoul. address the development of Christianity, http://www.OMSC.org its encounters with local religions and societies, and reflections on the future of mission. While each chapter focuses on a t/ Register for 1998-99 particular issue, together they cohere in Study Program covering a wide spectrum. Despite the African Proverbs CD: Collections, t/ Preview the next issue of Presbyterian orientation of the writers, Studies, Bibliographies. INTERNATIONAL BULLETIN they refer to other Christian groups and wider issues, avoiding the parochialism CD-ROMedited byStanNussbaum. Colorado t/ Browse through Special of many denominational studies. Of spe­ Springs, Colo.: Global Mapping International, Book Features cial interest are the analysis of Christian­ 1996. $99.95 in the United States, discounts ity and nationalism, the comments on the available from Africandistributors. t/ Learn about scholarships variety of factors in church growth, the exploration of ancestor veneration, and The African Proverbs Project (APP), an t/ Meet Senior Mission the references to self-criticaldevelopments impressive effort to map the proverbs of Scholars in Korean Minjung theology. the whole continent of Africa, produced a There is a healthy balance here be­ CD-ROM. This compact disk is a tween nationalistic, revisionist criticism multifaceted electronic research tool that Overseas Ministries of missionaries and an appreciation of the containsthe equivalentof140floppy disks. Study Center historic missionary contributions. Some It cites over 28,000 proverbs in dozens of 490 Prospect Street record of the encounter of the varied per­ African languages. The three "electronic New Haven) CT 06511 spectives at the two conferences would volumes" include Studies, Reference Tel (203) 624-6672 have been enlightening. A few egregious Books, and Maps; Proverb Collections typographical errors and inconsistent (African Proverbs Series and Proverbs for Fax (203) 865-2857 romanization of names mar the volume, Preaching and TeachingSeries);and three E-mail [email protected] and its expensive imprint will force most bibliographies. readers to consultlibrarycopies. Although It contains a gold mine of useful

136 INTERNATIONAL BULLETIN OF MISSIONARY RESEARCH information .Bychecking the Ethnologue, Employing methodolog y in pa rt ciaIreforms. Yet, "after an initial period of I found there are 213,000 Kuria language based on Antonio Gramsci's "cultural wholehea rted acceptance, the social gos­ speakers in northwestern Tanzania . By hegemony" theory,Xing reviews the back­ pel lost gro und to its secu lar alternative usingthe "Template1" button,Ifound ten gro und of the social gospel and the YMCA communism," and "the Ylost its mandate African proverbson the themeofviolence, in America, as well as the successful ef­ in the ongo ing Chinese social reconstruc­ with their sources.Whatcollectionhas the forts of the Y to establish an ind igenous tion" ofthe 1930s (pp .172, 168). Although largest number of African proverbs? First association movementin China in theeariy Xing gives several reasons for this rever­ is 6,813 Malga ch e proverbs from twentiethcentury.There the YMCA-spon­ sal, the most consistently identified fail­ Madagascar, and second is Hausa in sored programs such as literacy cam­ ure was that "the liberal Christian social Nigeria with 6,407 proverbs. Any part of paigns, health education, and citizenship gospel the Ysubscribed to was not a revo­ this CD can be cut and pasted into a training classes made it popular with lutionary ideology" (p. 173). document or sent instantly to the printer. young urban Chinese who supported so- This work provid es an interesting Such an ambitious project is bound to have some gaps or weaknesses. Many of the proverbs use a sexist translation or "exclusive language" in English. The proverbs of English-speaking Africa are more thoroughly researched thanthose of French-speaking Africa. Overall, this CD-ROM is a very importantcontribution to African proverb scholarship and Christian mission and pastoral ministry today. The format is especially valua ble for librari es and cultural research centers. Itis an extremely MulhoUand West helpful research tool for scholars and Gilliland writers worldwide. In -the-field practi tioners (preachers, teacher s, 1998-1999 Senior Mission Scholars catechists) can get specific material for homilies, sermons, lessons, and talk s OMSC welcomes into residence for the fall 1998 semester Senior (applied inculturation and practical Mission Scholars Dean S. Gilliland and Paul E. Pierson. Dr. Gilliland is evangelization). It is extraordinary that for the tra veling missionary this one Director of Cross-Cultural Studies and Professor of Contextualized compact disk takes the place of carryi ng Theology and African Studies , Fuller Theological Seminary, Pasadena, around over seventy-five books. California. Before joining the Fuller faculty in 1977, he served as a - Joseph G. Healey, M.M. Methodist missionary in Nigeria for more than twenty years. Dr. Pierson is Dean Emeritus and Professor Emeritus of History of Missions and Latin Joseph G. Healey, M.M. is the Social Communi­ American Studies, Fuller Theological Seminary, School of World Mission. cations Coordinator of the Maryknoll Society in His mission experience was with the Presbyterian church in Brazil , Tan zania,basedin DaresSalaam,andisChairperson oftheMissionAwareness CommitteeoftheReligious 1956-1970, and in Portugal, 1971-1973. Superiors' Association ofTanzania. Heis coauthor In the spring semester of 1999, OMSC's Senior Mission Scholars will of Towards an African Narrative Theology be Kenneth B. Mulholland and Charles C. West. Dr. Mulholland is (Pauiines Publications Africa, 1996, and Orbis Dean and Professor of Missions and Ministry Studies, Columbia Biblical Books,1 997). Seminary and Graduate School ofMissions, Columbia, South Carolina. He served nearly fifteen years as a missionary with the United Church Board for World Ministries in Central America, followed by service in theological Baptized in the Fire of Revolution: education in Honduras and Costa Rica. Dr. West is Professor Emeritus of The American Social Gospel and Christian Ethics, Princeton Theological Seminary. He served as a the YMCA in China, 1919-1937. Presbyterian missionary in China, 1947-1950, and then worked for several years with the Evangelical Church in Germany. His service in Europe By fun Xing. Bethlehem, Pa.: Lehigh Univ. concluded with five years on the staff of the Ecumenical Institute, Bossey, Press, 1996. Pp. 238. $39.50. Switzerland. From 1971 to 1991 he was professor of Christian Ethics at This thin volume presents a cross-cultu ral Princeton Theological Seminary, New Jersey. study of how the social gospel, through In addition to providing leadership in OMSC's Study Program, the the American YMCA, was first accepted Senior Mission Scholars are available to OMSC residents for counsel in China,only to be rejected for a Commu­ regarding their own mission research interests . nist revolution. Xing, a nati ve of China and assistant professor of history at Colo­ radoState University, has revised here his Overseas Ministries Study Center doctoral dissertation, completed at the 490 Prospect St., New Haven, CT 06511 University ofMinnesota in American stud­ Tel (203 ) 624--6672 Fax (203) 865-2857 ies. Utilizing a wealth of archival sources, this book is a laudable first attempt by the E-mail [email protected] Web http://www.OMSC.org author to explore the issue of cultural relations between Americans and Chinese.

July 1998 137 introduction to Sino-American intercul­ available Chinese periodicals like Xiaoxi Enchiridion della Chiesa tural relations and is worth reading for (News) and Weiyin (Whisper), which are Missionaria. this purpose. In several passages, how­ essential sources for the Chinese YMCA ever, there is a distracting lack of clarity, Student Division and the Chinese Chris­ Edited by Pontificie Opere Missionarie and and the important differences between tian Student Movement. Direzione Nazionale Italiana. Bologna: the AmericanYMCA,the ChineseYMCA, -Charles A. Keller Edizioni Dehoniane Bologna, 1997. 2 Vois. and social gospel ideology are sometimes Pp. xxxi, 1787, and xv, 719. L 130,000. lost. Also, the preponderance of English­ language citations undermines the alleg­ Charles A. Keller isAssistantProfessor ofHistoryat This two-volume multilingual "Enchi­ edly cross-cultural approach of the study. Marietta College, Marietta, Ohio. ridion" (handbook) is a wonderful This is highlighted by the omission of collection of the most significant Roman Catholicmaterials on mission issued from the Vatican and the Italian Bishops' Conference from the eighteenth century up until our own day. In a very attractive format, the texts in their original language Presbyterian Reformers in Central (mainly Latin and Italian, but also French, Africa: A Documentary Account of English and Spanish) are flanked by the the American Presbyterian Congo Italian translation on the opposite page. Mission and the Human Rights Volume 1 contains fifty-one Struggle in the Congo, 1890-1918. missionary documents (almost 1,800 pages). Itbegins withAllataesunt,the 1755 Edited byRobert Benedetto. Leiden: E./. Brill, encyclical of Pope Benedict XIV on the 1996. Pp. xxii, 580.$77. Oriental rites, and concludes with Ecclesia in Africa, the 1995apostolic letter of Pope The Congo reform movement at the tum relationsbetween the sexes, which expose John Paul II issued after the Synod on of this century was an international tensions between missionary principles Africa.Thesecond volumedraws together, campaign,bringingtogethermissionaries, and practices. In other respects, however, first of all, almosteightyofficialaddresses merchants, and abolitionists from Great the introduction does not provide an for World Mission Sunday for the period Britain, the United States, Germany, adequatecontext for the documentswhich 1926-96 and, second, twenty documents Belgium, France, Switzerland, and British follow. Benedetto's discussions of the over the past thirty years by the Italian West Africa. Over the past forty years, Berlinconference andthe Congo FreeState Bishops' Conference on missionary however, historians have given this are superficial and occasionally flawed. activity. campaign a distinct, national character, On a conceptual level, Benedetto does not The "Denzinger" style of sequential focusing upon British Protestant missions demonstrate that the Presbyterian numberingofparagraphsthroughthe two and the Congo Reform Association, missionarieswere motivatedby acoherent volumes allows for easy referencing in established in Liverpool in 1904, as the ideology of "human rights," as three excellent indexes (exceeding a primary critics of the Congo Free State distinguished,for instance,from Christian hundred pages), which are arranged and its founding sovereign, King Leopold principles of duty. Apart from these respectively according to biblical II of Belgium. This documentary account, shortcomings, Benedetto's well-chosen references, source material, and themes. Presbyterian Reformers in Central Africa,is documents offer an intriguing account of Following in the rich tradition of thematic an important addition to the historiog­ the AmericanPresbyterianCongo Mission enchiridia, these pages contain a precious raphy of the Congo reform campaign, and should be read by all students of the tool for tracing, understanding, and illuminating the complex role of the Congo reform campaign and the broader appreciating the history and evolution of American Presbyterian Congo Mission role of missions in the humanitarian the Roman Catholic Church's mission in and providing insight into the broader politics of European imperialism. the modem period and in the twentieth issues of Anglo-American, humanitarian -Kevin Grant century. cooperation. The value of this collection is Robert Benedetto presents 123 enhanced by the beautiful hard-copy documentsfrom ten archives in the United KevinGrantisaVisitingAssistantProfessor inthe binding, the excellent quality of the paper States, Great Britain, and Belgium. These HistoryDepartmentatHamilton College inClinton, and printing format, and an attractivebox documents range from personal New York. that contains the compact (5"x7")volumes. correspondence to missionary committee Such a unique publication will be very reports,addressingdailylifein the Congo, useful forany scholar or studentofmission encounters with brutal exploitation and studieswithreadingproficiency in Italian. atrocities, and the strategies of -Roger Schroeder, S.V.D. humanitarian protest against the imperialist regime. The collection is Roger Schroeder, S.V.D.,worked asamissionary in organized around the activities of the Papua New Guinea for six years and currently is missionary William Morrison, a critic of AssistantProfessor intheCross-Cultural Ministries the Congo State, who proves to be an Department at Catholic Theological Union in articulate and engaging protagonist in Chicago. Benedetto's account. It is especially noteworthy that the documents in this volume are accompanied by extensive annotations, which will be ofgreat interest to specialists. The introduction to this book raises important issues, such as profiteeringand

138 INTERNATIONAL BULLETIN OF MISSIONARY REsEARCH Taking Christianity to China: The Japanese Emperor System: The Alabama Missionaries in the Inescapable Missiological Issue. Middle Kingdom, 1850-1950. Edited by Robert Lee. Tokyo: Tokyo Mission By Wayne Flynt and Gerald W. Berkley. Research Institute, 1995. Pp. 147. Paperback Tuscaloosa: Univ. of Alabama Press, 1997. ¥1,200. Pp. xiv, 424. $34.95. Between September 1988, when the seri­ nies of the new Heisei emperor (Akihito) How did Protestant missionaries from ous illness of the Japanese Showa em­ in November 1990, there were serious Alabama impact China, and how did peror (Hirohito) was announced, through debates amongJapanese Christians about China impact them? This is the story told the time of his death in January 1989,and their country's emperor system. by Wayne Flynt, professorat AuburnUni­ continuing through the old emperor's fu­ The world outside Japan has heard versity, and Gerald W. Berkley, director of neral and the various investiture ceremo­ and understood very little about this de- East Asian Studies, University of Guam. The life and work of forty-seven mis­ sionaries are examined. Of these, five are Methodists, six are Presbyterians, and a dominant thirty-six are Baptists. The ac­ count is arranged around the following subjects: preparation, travel to China, un­ World Mission derstanding Chinese culture, reporting home, missionary life, missionary work, Rethink your understanding of mission. Prepare to work in other "womanconsciousness," conflictbetween missionaries and with their boards, and cultures or at the very edges of your own. Earn a degree or spend participationin political issues. One of the a productive sabbatical. Study with the imaginative and resourceful book's values is its extensive use of manu­ missionaries and missiologists on Catholic Theological Union's faculty. script collections, interviews, oral histo­ ries, and letters. The authors deal critically, but fairly, Claude-Marie Barbour John Kaserow, MM with all the faults, failures, and foibles of Stephen Bevans, SVD James Okoye, CSSp these Alabama natives far from home. Eleanor Doidge, LoB Jamie Phelps, OP And yet the remarkable growth of the Gary Riebe-Estrella, SVD Ana Maria Pineda, RSM church in China in recent years is proof of Archimedes Fornasari, MCCJ Robert Schreiter, CPpS the positive legacy they left. The mission­ Anthony Gittins, CSSp Roger Schroeder, SVD aries "planted the seed well and now it flourishes" (p.333).Thejudgmentofsome historians that the missionary enterprise ended in failure has been "much too pes­ CONTACT: Eleanor Doidge, LoB simistic" (p. 332). 5401 South Cornell Avenue, Chicago, Illinois 60615 USA Was there anything unique about the 312.753.5332 or FAX 312.324.4360 Alabama connectionas distinctfrom other areas of the rural South? Probably not. In any case, "China changed them more than they changed China" (p. 346). For many, Catholic Theological Union but not all, racial prejudices tended to weaken, the longer they stayed. And for Presbyterians, Methodists, and evensome Member ofthe Chicago Center for Global Ministries SouthernBaptists, "anecumenicalvision" took the place of"Alabama sectarianism" (p. 344). Missionaries "shaped American attitudes" toward China, and because Alabama had few international contacts, the role its missionaries played was cen­ tral (p. 343). Invest in Worldwide Ministry --G. Thompson Brown OMSC invests in Christian leaders from all parts of the world. Your Bequests and Planned Giving make it happen: G.Thompson Brown isProfessor Emeritus, Colum­ bia Theological Seminary, Decatur, Georgia. He • ResidentialScholarships for Third World Church and MissionLeaders formerly was director of the Division of Interna­ • Furlough and StudyLeave Accommodations tional Mission andChina Liaison for thePresbyte­ • Mission StudiesResearchand Writing rian Church intheU.S.andwasactiveintheological Consider remembering OMSC and its service to the worldwide church in your education in Korea (1952-73). will or through life-income gifts. For information or suggested language, contact Robert F. Ford, Director of Development Overseas Ministries Study Center 490 Prospect Street New Haven, CT 06511-2196 USA (203) 624-6672

July 1998 139 bate, and even Christians in other coun­ For those with some knowledge of and experienced the forces that radically tries are scarcely aware that the Japanese Japanese history, Chiyozaki Hideo's sur­ altered theirlivingconditions. At the same emperor system poses severe problems. vey of the six historical periods of transi­ time, relations between the two groups In order to increase the general awareness tion for the Japanese emperor system has were riddled with the ambiguities and of some of the issues, a group of Japanese many revealing surprises. One must re­ misunderstandings that are the hallmarks Christian scholars has written essays that memberthatwhile neighboringChina has of cultural interaction. Dedering argues examine their country's imperial system had approximately twenty-eight dynas­ that the missionaries were not inspired by from historical,sociological,religious, and ties throughout its history and Korea has national chauvinism or ideas of theological perspectives. For peoplein the had four dynasties, Japan has had but one imperialismbutby the contradictoryways West in particular, who have been condi­ dynasty from Bronze Age times to the in which social relations developed on the tioned to think of the Japanese emperor present. What makes Japan's emperor periphery of colonial expansion. One system as somehow comparable to the system "an inescapable missiological is­ cannot merely explain societal change in role of the British monarchy in a demo­ sue" is the way in which the system has terms of "capitalism" or "colonialism"; cratic parliamentary system, it has been been manipulated in religious ways in the situation is much more complex. hard to understand why Japanese Chris­ times past, and even today, in order to Africans reinterpreted their worldviews tians-and other Asian peoples as well­ justify the policies of powers behind the in conversation with Christianity, even as have been so worried aboutJapan's impe­ throne. Hence, "for many Christians the the missionaries were losing their rial system. For such people, this book emperor system is and has been a false hegemonic position in the Cape and edited by Robert Lee, a Mennonite mis­ religion" (p. 129). Namibia. sionary who is the director of the Tokyo This readable and well-edited book -Richard V. Pierard Mission Research Institute, can provide should be of great interest not only to some eye-opening insights. those interested in the Japanese Christian Furuya Yasuo gives a Japanese communitybutalso for Christiansin many Richard V. Pierard isProfessor ofHistoryatIndiana insider's analysis of the events of 1989-90 countries who are concerned with how State University,Terre Haute. that aroused the concerns of Japanese ethnic identities, political loyalties, and Christians,andevenbroughtdeaththreats Christianfaith intersectamid the perplexi­ to those who spoke outabout problematic ties of the modern world. issues during that time. Chiyozaki Hideo -James M. Phillips examines how patterns of social controlin A History of Japanese Theology. early Japan were often related to the con­ trol of water rights. Fujimaki Mitsuru de­ James M. Phillips, acontributingeditor, served asa Edited byYasuoFuruya. Grand Rapids, Mich.: scribes traditional Japanese beliefs in Presbyterian missionary in Korea (1949-52) andin Eerdmans, 1997. Pp. v, 161. Paperback $17. "functional gods," who were valued not Japan (1959-75) and as associate director of the for their morality or their holiness but for Overseas Ministries Study Center(1983-97). Theology in Japan is taken very seriously, their utilitarian value. andfora countrywhereless than1percent of the population is Christian, the number of able Japanese theologians and biblical scholars is impressive. But this is the first time a historyofChristianthoughtinJapan Hate the Old and Follow the New: by Japanesescholars isavailable inEnglish. Khoekhoe and Missionaries in It consists of four chapters, each Early Nineteenth-Century Namibia. writtenby a differentauthor, dealing with four generations of Japanese Christian ByTilmanDedering. Stuttgart:FranzSteiner scholarship. The first generation of Verlag, 1997. Pp. 205. DM 76. Protestant scholars, who began writing in the latter part of the nineteenth century, A neglected area in South African history In this thoughtful book, a revision of alreadyshowsomeindependence,despite has been the northwestern frontier of the his University of Cape Town dissertation, the predominantly American influence Cape of Good Hope. This comprises the Dedering seeks to close the gap in our during this period. region of the Lower Orange River called knowledge of the area. He utilizes the The second generationof theologians Little Namaqualand and the adjacent letters and journals produced by (1907-45) was more influenced by liberal territory of Great Namaqualand lying in missionaries (several of whom were German theology. However, toward the present-dayNamibia. The reports of early Germans) who served there under the end of this period the theology of Karl European travelers and missionaries LondonMissionarySociety andWesleyan Barth increasingly dominated the reveal that a complex network of social Methodist Missionary Society, mission theological scene. relations existed among the indigenous materials in the National Archives of In the last chapter, "Theology After Khoikhoi peoples-the Nama, Griqua, Namibia, governmental records in the 1970," there are accounts of attempts by Oorlams (an acculturated group who had Cape Archives, and other collections in several theologians to go beyond acquired guns, horses, and wagons and South Africa. What he finds is that the Christian-Buddhistdialogueto an ecclectic spoke rudimentary Dutch), and Bastards missionaries and indigenous Africans in approach that seeks an integration of the (mixed offspring of Khoikhoi and the precolonial frontier zone of Namibia two religions. Sichi Yagi, a radical New Europeans). They were primarily a were drawn into a complex web of Testament scholar and the author of the pastoral folk, but many of them engaged relations, one that defies definition by the third chapter, is a representative of this in commerce as well when Europeans simplistic formulas used by many writers approach. began penetrating the area. However, in on European expansion. This volume is seriously flawed comparison to the eastern frontier, the The missionaries played a crucialrole because of the nature of the last two Cape regime during,the decades between in creating the environment where the chapters. Both are written by radical 1780 and 1840 saw little significance in Khoikhoi entered new avenues of social theologians who are fascinated by the this arid and inhospitable place. mobility, reconstructed their worldviews, offbeat and esoteric theologies of the

140 INTERNATIONAL BULLETIN OF MISSIONARY RESEARCH modern period. Neither pays much American fundamentalism, but that and remind us of the continuing hold tha t attention to the majority of able and involves the knotty problem of the fundamentalism ha s in modern or productive Japanese theologians ,who d efin it ion of fundamentalism and postmodern America. represent mainstream Christian thought Pentecostalism. A further conceptual - John M. Mulder in Japan. The last chapter by M. Odagaki problem is th e difference between is an especially skewed and unreliable fundamentalism and evangelicalism . portrayal of theology in Japan since 1970. But these are small complaints about John M. Mulder is President and Professor of This is unfortunate because there is a abook thatwillreshapeourunderstanding Historical Theology at Louisville Presbyterian significant portion of recent theological of Protestantism in the twentieth century Seminary, Louisville, Kentucky. scholarship in Japan that remains to be described. - I. John Hesselink

1. John Hesse/ink, AlbertusC. VanRaalteProfessor ofSystematicTheology,WesternSeminary,Holland, Michigan,was professoroftheology atTokyoUnion Seminary from 1961 to 1973.

Revive Us Again: The Reawakening of American Fundamentalism.

ByJoel A. Carpenter.NewYork: OxfordUniv. Press, 1997. Pp. xiu, 335. $30. I NTERNATIONAL B ULLETIN OF MISSIONARY REsEARCH. 1993-96 This is a splendid account of funda­ 274 Contributors mentalism from the 1930s to the 1950s. It 299 Book Reviews builds on the work of George Marsden 175 Doctoral Dissertations and Ernest Sandeen, who chronicled the origins of the fundamentalist movement in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.Contrarytosome interpretations ere is more gold for every theolog­ that argued for the demise of fun­ Hical library and exploring scholar of damentalism, Joel Carpenter shows how mission studies-with all 16 issues of 1993-1996-bound in red buckram, with vibrant the movement was during these vellum finish and embossed in gold lettering. It matches the earlier bound volumes of the Occasional Bulletin of Missionary Research. 1977-1980 (sold decades. out). and the International Bulletin of Missionary Research. 1981-1984 (sold Carpenter, who is provost of Calvin out). 1985-1988 (sold out), and 1989-1992 (sold out). At your fingertips. in College, Grand Rapids, Michigan, stages one volume: David Barrett's Annual Statistical Table of Global Mission, the a lover 's quarrel with his subject. Raised Editors' annual selection of Fifteen Outstanding Books, and the four-year asa fundamentalistbutno longeradhering cumulative index. to its tenets, he documents in detail the highly contentious environment of Special Price: $64.95 fundamentalism and its combative leaders. Send me bound volume(s) of the International Bulletin of Missionary Three crucial themes stand out. First, Research, 1993- 96 at $64.95. Orders outside the U.S.A. add $7.00 per volume the fundamentalists of this era were for postage and handling. Payment must accompany all orders. Pay in U.S. institutionbuilders.Drivenfrom the ranks dollars only by check drawn on a U.S. bank, International Money Order, or of mainline Protestantism and even VISA/MasterCard. Allow 5 weeks for delivery within the U.S.A. separating from each other, they created • Enclo sed is my check in the amount of $ made out to "International an array of institutions and organizations Bulletin of Missionary Research ." that now compose a vast network to • Charge $ to my VISA or MasterCard: nurture the fundamentalist faith .Second, Card # Expires _ during these decades they gradually Signature _ became the dominant force in American missionary activity. Third, despite their • Name overwhelmingly premillennialist per­ Address spective, they pra yed and worked for the revival of American Protestantism. Carpenter concludes, "Briefly put, Mail to: Publications Office. Overseas Ministries Study Center . 490 Prospect Street. fundamentalism was by far the most New Haven . CT 06511 U.S.A . influential evangelical movement in the Visit our website at http://www.OMSC.org United States during the second quarter of the twentieth century" (p. 237). I have only a few quibbles with Carpenter's analysis. I think he slights the role of the Pentecostal movement in

July 1998 141 Dissertation Notices

Adams, William Eugene. Religions: On the Theological "Personality and Adjustment among Interpretation of Sacred Scripture in Mormon Missionaries." Christian Attitudes toward World Ph.D. Lubbock,Texas: TexasTechUniv.,1995. Religions:' Ph.D.Pittsburgh, Pa.:DuquesneUniv.,1992. Alaichamy, Christeena. "Communicative Translation: Theory Schutt, Amy C. and Principles for Application to Cross "Forging Identities: Native American Cultural Translation in India:' and Moravian Missionaries in Ph.D. Pasadena, Calif.: Fuller Theological Pennsylvania and Ohio, 1765-1782:' Seminary, 1997. Ph.D.Bloomington.Ind.:Indiana Univ. , 1995.

Ferris, Yeoun Sook. Strauss, Stephen J. "An Examination of Some Themes in "Perspectives on the Nature of Christ the Confucian Classics with Respect to in the Ethiopian Orthodox Church: A Missiological Implications for the Case Studyin ContextualizedTheology:' Issue of Ancestral Rites:' Ph.D. Deerfield, Ill.: Trinity International Ph.D. Deerfield, Ill.: Trinity International Uniu., 1997. Univ., 1998. Pederson, David John. Hunsicker, David B. "Choosing Three Worlds: A Biblical "The Rise of the Parachurch Movement Paradigm of Expatriate Ministry with in American Protestant Christianity Practical Applications for the English­ During the 1930s and 1940s: A Detailed speaking International Congregation:' This publication is Study of the Beginnings of the Ph.D. Heoerlee/l.euuen, Belgium: available from UMI in Navigators, Young Life, and Youth for Evangelische Theologische Faculteii, 1997. one or mo re of the following formats: Christ Intenational." Ph.D. Deerfield, Ill.: Trinity International Shihab, Alwi. • In Microform --from our collection of over Univ., 1998. "The Muhammadiyah Movement and 18,000 period icals and 7,000 newspapers Its Controversy with Christian Mission • In Paper--by the art icle or full issues Kibor, Jacob Z. in Indonesia:' through UM I Article Clearinghouse "Persistence of Female Circumcision Ph.D. Philadelphia, Pa. :Temple Univ., 1995. among the Marakwet of Kenya: A • Electronically, on CD-ROM, online, andlor Biblical Response to a Rite of Passage:' Ta'ase, Elia Titiimaea. magnetic tape-a broad range of ProQuest databasesavailable, including abstract-and­ Ph.D. Deerfield, tu.; Trinity International "The Congregational Christian Church index,ASCII full-text, and innovat ive full­ Univ., 1998. in Samoa: Origin and Development of image format an Indigenous Church:' Laing, Annette Susan. Ph.D. Pasadena, Calif.: FullerTheological Call toll -free 800 -521-0600, ext 2888, "'All things to all men': Popular Seminary, 1995. for more informat ion, or fill out the coupon below: Religious Culture and the Anglican Missionin ColonialAmerica,1701-1750:' Wahba, Wafik Waheeb. Name _ Ph.D. Riverside, Calif.: Univ. of California, "Dialectical Hermeneutic: Interpreting Title _ Riverside, 1995. Christian Theology in the Companyll nstitution _ Contemporary Egyptian Context." G. Address _ Scheid, Edward Ph.D. Evanston, Ill.: Garrett-Evangelical "Scripture and Theology of the Theological Seminary, 1998. City/StatelZip, _

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142 I NTERNATIONAL B ULLETIN OF MISSIONARY R ESEARCH OMSC celebrates 75 years in service to Christian missionaries and the worldwide church.

Paul E. Pierson Oct. 26-30 Evangelical Awakenings: Consequences for Mission. OMSC Senior Mission Scholar, from Fuller School of World Mission, explores the relationship between church renewal and missionary vitality . Cosponsored by Christ for the City . Eight sessions. $95 Leander Keck Nov. 2-6 Portraits of Jesus' Mission in the Gospels. Dr. for these Keck, Professor Emeritus, Yale Divinity School, grounds the Christian mission in the person and teaching of Jesus. Cospon­ 1998 Fall Seminars and sored by Presbyterian Church (USA). Eight sessions. $95 Workshops Paul Marshall Nov. 9-13 "Remember Those in Prison." Learn how to respond to the problem of the persecution of Christians, from a major Martha Lund Smalley Sept. 14-16 researcher in the field. Cosponsored by Samford University How to Develop Church and Mission Archives. Yale Beeson Global Center and World Evangelical Fellowship. Eight Divinity School archivist helps missionaries and national church sessions . $95 leaders identify, organize, and preserve essential records. Mon. 2:00 p.m.- Wed. 4:00 p.m. $75 Peter Kuzmic Nov. 16-20 Christian Mission and the Renewal of Eastern Europe. Dr . Jean-Paul Wiest & Cathy McDonald Sept. 17-19 Kuzmic, Evangelical Seminary , Osijek, Croati a, and Gordon­ Doing Oral History: Helping Christians Tell Their Own Conwell Seminary , offers guidelines for culturally sensitive Story. Learn how to document church and mission history. Christian ministry. Cosponsored by American Baptist Thurs. 9:30 a.m. - Sat. noon. $75 International Ministries. Eight sessions. $95 Both workshops, Sept. 14-19, $110 combined fee. Scott Moreau Nov. 30-Dec. 4 Advancing Mission on the Electronic Information Super­ Shirley Torstrick & David Pollock Sept. 21-25 highway. Dr. Moreau , Wheaton College , expands mission Nurturing and Educating Transcultural Kids. Focusing on communication horizons in this hands-on , hi-tech workshop . the special needs of MKs and other transcultural children. Cosponsored by Billy Graham Center and Mission Aviation Cosponsored by Christian and Missionary Alliance and Family Fellowship . Eight sessions . $95 Systems Ministries International. Eight sessions. $95 Christopher Wright Dec. 7-11 Gerald H. Anderson Sept. 29-0ct. 2 Jesus' Mission in Light of His Scriptures. Dr. Wright, Toward the 21st Century in Christian Mission. OMSC 's Principal, All Nations Christian College, England, explores the Director surveys major issues in mission on the eve of the third Old Testament basis of the Christian mission. Cosponsored by millennium. Cosponsored by General Board of Global St. John 's Episcopal Church (New Haven ,Conn .) Eight Ministries, United Methodist Church, InterVarsity Missions , sessions . $95 Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, Mission Society for United ~------Methodists, and Reformed Church in America Mission r- Services. Four morning sessions. $65 Send me more information about these seminar s: Dean S. Gilliland Oct. 12-16 Incarnational Theologies of Mission. OMSC Senior Mission Scholar, from Fuller School of World Mission, outlines principles of authentic contextualization. Cosponsored by Maryknoll Mission Institute. Eight sessions. $95

Andrew F. Walls Oct. 19-23 NAME The Cultural Dynamics of Christian Conversion. Prof. Walls, from Edinburgh University, examines the outworking of ADDRESS Christian conversion in multiple cultural and historical settings. Overseas Ministries Study Center Eight sessions. $95 490 Prospect SI., New Haven, CT 06511 Tel (203) 624-6672 Fax (203) 865-2 857 E-mail [email protected] Web hnp://www.OMSC.org Publishers of the L _ INTERNATIONAL B ULLETIN OF MISSIONARY R ESEARCH Book Notes In Ooming Barr, William R., ed. Constructive Christian Theology in the Worldwide Church. Issues Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 1997. Pp.xvii, 553. Paperback $39. Berneburg, Erhard. The Impatience of Local Churches Das Verhaltnis von Verkiindigung und sozialer Aktion in der evangelikalen with Traditional Mission Agencies Missionstheorie unter besonderer Beriicksichtigung der Lausanner Bewegung PaulE. Pierson £iir Weltevangelisation (1974-1989). Wuppertal, Germany: Brockhaus Verlag, 1997. Pp. 413. Paperback. No price given. American Missionary Influence on the Peoples Republic of China: A Bridgman, Elijah C. Survey of Chinese Scholarly Glimpses of Canton: The Diary of Elijah C. Bridgman, 1834-1838. Opinion from 1980 to 1990 New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Divinity School Library, 1998. Paperback. No price Shen Dingpingand Zhu Weifang given. Does Your Church Have a Dlugosz, Maria. Responsibility to the Persecuted Mae Enga Myths and Christ's Message: Fullness of Life in Mae Enga Church? Mythology and Christ the Life (In. 10:10). Vernon J. Sterk Nettetal, Germany: SteylerVerlag, 1998. Pp. xii, 302. Paperback DM 40/SFr 37. Fisher, Robert B. The Northern Outreach Program of West African Religious Traditions. the Presbyterian Church of Ghana Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis Books, 1998. Pp. xv, 198. Paperback $20. Elorn Dovlo and Solomon S. Sule-Saa Heim, S. Mark, ed. What's Behind the 10/40 Window? Grounds for Understanding: Ecumenical Resources for Responses to Religious A Historical Perspective Pluralism. Robert T. Coote Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 1998. Pp. vi, 227. Paperback $30. In our Series on the Legacy of Hood, George. Outstanding Missionary Figures of Pilgrims in Mission: Celebrating 150 Years of the English Presbyterian Mission. the Nineteenth and Twentieth London: UnitedReformed Church, 1998. Pp. 174. Paperback £4.95. Centuries, articles about Norman Anderson Langford, Mary Jones. Robert Arthington The Fairest Isle: History of Jamaica Friends. Thomas Barclay Richmond, Indiana: Friends UnitedPress, 1997. Pp. 210. Paperback. No price given. Johannes Beckmann, S.M.B. Lehtonen, Risto. Rowland V. Bingham Story of a Storm: The Ecumenical Student Movement in the Turmoil of David J. Bosch Revolution, 1968 to 1973. Thomas Chalmers Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 1998. Pp.xxiv, 360. Paperback $20. Helene de Chappotin Francois E. Daubanton Lievens, Sara. G. Sherwood Eddy The China Archives of the Belgian Franciscans: Inventory. Jeremiah Evarts Leuven, Belgium: Ferdinand Verbiest Foundation, 1998. Pp. 411. No price given. Hannah Kilham Johann Ludwig Krapf Madappattu, Jose. Vincent Lebbe Evangelization in a Marginalizing World: With Special Reference to the George Leslie Mackay Marginalised Satnamis in the Diocese of Raipur. William Milne Nettetal, Germany: SteylerVerlag, 1997. Pp. 288. Paperback DM 85/SFr77. Lesslie Newbigin Perry, Cindy L. I. Ludwig Nommensen Nepali Around the World: Emphasizing Nepali Christians of the Himalayas. Constance E. Padwick Kathmandu, Nepal: Ekta Books-(G.P.O. BoxNo.6445),1997. Pp.463. Paperback US$25. Timothy Richard Julius Richter Roser, Hansand RudolfKeller, eds. John Ross Ich bin bereit: Lutherische Pfarrer in Brasilien, 1897-1997. C. F. Schwartz Erlangen, Germany: Martin-Luther-Verlag, 1997. Pp. 366. Paperback DM 34. James Stephen Eugene Stock Wetzel, Klaus. Bengt Sundkler Wo die Kirchen wachsen: der geistliche Aufbruch in der Zwei-Drittel-Welt William Cameron Townsend und die folgen fur das Christentum. William Ward Wuppertal, Germany: Brockhaus Verlag, 1998. Pp. 117. Paperback. No price given.