The global church is in a state of transformation: the impetus has shifted in missions from Western bases to a whole-world mobilization. Theology is bound to do the same.
Among emerging scholars are voices that have rarely been heard - from Asia, Africa, and elsewhere. How will this transform the Church or the understanding and study of God-with-us within existing theological groups? Will the West continue to shape theology even as its domination of scholarship is expanded by other ways of thinking and knowing? The brief history of theology (Appendix) is a bonus.
Dyrness and Garcia-Johnson explore intercultural trends that influence who is thinking about God - and what they are thinking. The global community of faith has the right and obligation to interact with the West; it is part of our communal duty and joy together. In our teaching context of SE Asia, my husband and I find that the wisdom of cultures informs and enlarges our own ideas in reading scriptures.
This is a thoughtful companion to Soong-Chan Rah's The Next Evangelicalism and Charles Kraft's classic Christianity in Culture: A study in dynamic biblical theologizing in cross-cultural perspective.
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