Description: Exploring how faith, culture, and power shape the global church
Power and Identity in the Global Church: Six Contemporary Cases applies contemporary sociological, theological, and New Testament insights to better understand how God's people can, do, and should interact in the field, thereby laying the groundwork for better multicultural approaches to mission partnership.
The authors--six evangelical anthropologists and theologians--also show that faithfulness in mission requires increased attention to local identities, cultural themes, and concerns, including the desire to grow spiritually through direct engagement with God's word. In this context, failure to attend to power imbalances can stunt spiritual and leadership growth. Attending to those imbalances should make Christian churches more truly brothers and sisters in Christ, equal members of the one global body of which Christ alone is the head.
Brief description: Edwin Zehner holds a Ph.D. in Anthropology from Cornell University, where he is currently a Visiting Fellow in the Southeast Asia Program. He has published on missiological topics in Missiology, Anthropological Quarterly, Social Compass, and the forthcoming Evangelical Missiological Society book, Effective Engagement in Short-term Missions: Doing it Right! (William Carey Library, 2008).
Review Quotes:
I found these essays to provide an excellent introduction to issues of ethnicity and identity in mission settings around the world. Any missiologist wishing to understand social realities formerly treated under crude categories (like "people group," homogeneous unit principle, indigeneity) will find excellent tools for developing sophisticated analyses of the contemporary world, analyses that are needed for wise anthropologically informed mission practice.
-Robert J. Priest, director of the doctor of philosophy in intercultural studies program, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School