This collection of essays by ten members of the International Fellowship of Evangelical Mission Theologians shows all the strengths and some of the weaknesses of writings by scholars who have not detached themselves from the real world of Christian mission. Each has what one writer calls a conviction of ‘the immense potential of the Bible to be locally appropriate’. The missiological issues they tackle are urgent ones from the area of their ministry.
Michael Nazir-Ali addresses the key question of whether people receive saving truth other than through the biblical revelation. He dismisses the belief of Micah and early Isaiah that the nations would come to Zion as a form of cultural imperialism akin to replacing grass skirts with trousers. It might be fairer to suggest that these prophets saw the need for the nations to come to Israel as the place where saving truth was to be found. Instead he focuses on Isaiah 19:24–25, Malachi 1:11–12 and Amos 9:7, which are seen to teach that God is at work among all peoples in revelation and in salvation history and that ‘all civilisations are at an equal distance from God’. I doubt whether his interpretations do justice to either the immediate or to the overall scriptural context. His relative optimism about unevangelized people groups is rooted in belief that both the Logos and the Spirit are at work in non-Christian humanity. While clearly affirming the need to call people to repentance and a new life, he sees evangelism primarily as education that brings out what is already implicit in people.
On a related theme, Chris Wright submits a significant OT study of the uniqueness of Christ. He stresses the need for clarity on the key elements of the gospel: sin and the human condition, salvation in its eschatological fullness—in the light of vague claims that non-Christians experience ‘salvation’. OT teaching on the uniqueness of Israel and of Yahweh finds its completion in the unique person of Jesus Christ. He stresses the importance of holding exclusivist and universalist elements of OT teaching together in tension.
In his essay, Vinay Samuel explores these issues in the context of current thinking on world religions. His emphasis on the universal concern of God is balanced by the affirmation that revelation in and through Israel is the norm by which every other truth claim is to be evaluated. Israel’s election (as with Newbigin) is an election to mission for the world where the Spirit (as well as the evil one) is at work amongst the religions, but only where there is a sign of openness to the person of Jesus. His call to on-going mission recognizes that the testimony ‘Jesus is Lord’ will cause religious offence.
Two essays reassess elements of our theology of the poor. Chris Sugden’s essay, based on the work of Vinay Samuel, analyses how the gospel of grace brings the poor identity, self-worth and real community. He also applies this same gospel to problems confronting the middle-class and rich in a way that counters the simplistic analysis that divides the world into a wicked, rich West and an idealized, Two-Thirds World poor. He questions the value of international aid that fails to encourage self-worth. He has tested out his theological theories in the painful realities of India’s destitute.
Jesudasan B. Jeyaraj has specialized in the problems of people made landless. His OT work concludes that ‘Yahweh designed human life in such a way that the land is humanity’s source of life and should not be lost’. Those living in post-agrarian societies may question the absolutism of his conclusions about land ownership or of the divine commitment to egalitarianism. But his appeal to stand up for the exploited and dispossessed is biblically grounded, practical and realistic.
World mission today is still dominated by Westernism: rational thought patterns, quiet individualistic spirituality, and models of ministry where the strong go to the weak. Valdir R. Steuernagel writes from Bolivia from the standpoint of strong Latin churches. What are the models for mission for southern hemisphere missionaries with a noisier, experiential, communal spirituality, little money and no wordly power? Different theological questions are asked when the West stops dictating the agenda and answers are needed soon.
Michael Nai-Chiu Poon writes from Hong Kong with its tense political questions. How far should the church be tied to pro-democracy movements? It can too easily conform to all the local culture, criticize the status quo and put idealistic hope in political solutions. He calls for repentance from ‘ideological idolatry’ and commitment to a prophetic ministry of biblical exposition, education and social care. Robert Aboagye Mensah explores church/state relations from the context of the political uncertainties of modern Ghana. He warns of the dangers there of the church becoming an organ of a particular régime.
Two articles challenge traditional interpretations of Scripture in the light of the teaching of non-Christian cultures. John Chew Hiang Chea considers Chinese filial piety (annoyingly abbreviated to FP), while Joachim Wietzke examines Mulsim questions of Christology. Both write with an evangelist’s concern to remove unnecessary barriers to belief.
Dr Chew argues that Chinese-style filial piety is integral to God’s design for his people. In practice, he bases this on biblical texts that assume that both parents and children are within the community of believers. Christ’s warnings of the family tension that discipleship brings are claimed to be for a Jewish readership only, ‘as it would be culturally and morally offensive or misunderstood in a non-Jewish context’. All of us too easily affirm only those parts of Scripture that fit most comfortably with our own culture.
Dr Wietzke rightly seeks to understand Islam as a serious criticism of Christianity. He shows that Christians are not guilty of the blasphemy of ‘shirk’ by contrasting NT teaching on Jesus with later triumphalist views. However, when he argues that the title ‘Son’ means ‘servant’ but not ‘ruler and God’, and that ‘Lord’ (Phil. 2) means only that ‘through Jesus Christ God rules’, he seems to be saying that Jesus was only divine insofar as he was perfectly human and indwelt by God. His argument that Sera 4:157 ‘can be interpreted differently’ from the traditional denial of the crucifixion shows a man determined to evangelize Moslems on their terms with all the risks involved.
The commitment to apply Scripture appropriately to the questions and problems of different people groups carries with it the possibility of making mistakes. But it is a better option than marketing a standard Western gospel that neither answers the questions nor solves the problems of the unevangelized.
