Thomas John Hastings

Beyond the Academy

Theology

“David Moe is a leader of a new generation of S.E. Asian theologians seeking to move beyond their N.E. Asian and S. Asian predecessors who offered helpful local correctives to long-dominant Western presumptions. Focusing on his native Myanmar, Moe employs a ‘synthetic methodology’ that values previous contributions while expanding the field to include the hitherto neglected voices of grassroots Christian communities. This book is uniquely situated at the interface of world Christianity and public theology.”

Cradling Abundance

History & Biography

“Based on careful research, interviews, and personal engagement, this beautiful, poignant, and unique book narrates the life and witness of Maman Monique, a remarkable Congolese woman and world Christian leader. We hear Maman Monique's story of suffering, struggle, perseverance, and triumph in her own voice and the voices of her coworkers, thanks to the unobtrusive and illuminating editorial accompaniment of her friend, Elsie Tshimunyi McKee, Princeton Seminary professor, scholar, and teacher of the church who spent her first eighteen years in the Congo as the daughter and granddaughter of missionaries. The solidarity in God's mission shared by Monique and Elsie has generated a compelling 'grounded' account of the peoples of the Democratic Republic of the Congo as they moved out of colonial subjugation and through civil war, ethnic conflict, and poverty, then—thanks to courageous women like Maman Monique and her collaborators—toward a more just society where all children, women, and men are honored as equal recipients and agents of the 'cradling abundance' of God in Jesus Christ.”

Crossing Cultures with the Gospel

Evangelism & Missions

“Every Christian who responds to God’s invitation to proclaim the gospel—with one’s words and one’s life—within an unfamiliar culture will benefit greatly from the practical wisdom distilled in this book. A seasoned teacher and one of America’s leading missiological anthropologists, Whiteman proposes an incarnational model of ministry that will challenge and inspire teachers, students, and practitioners of mission to be more attentive to their own cultures and the cultures of their hosts.”

Evangelical Zen, Second Edition

World Religions

Foreword

“With rare honesty and humility, evangelical theologian Paul Louis Metzger journeys with his dear friend, the late Abbot Kyogen Carlson, in offering Christian and Buddhist reflections on some of the most daunting challenges facing humanity, i.e., religious intolerance, nationalism, xenophobia, and climate change. This book will delight all pilgrims seeking light for the path.”

Explorations in Asian Christianity

History & Biography

“In these wide-ranging essays on the history, theory, and practice of Christian mission in Asia, Scott Sunquist challenges historians to take more seriously the normative theological commitments of the individuals, institutions, and movements they seek to represent. Attending to the cruciform shape of the apostolic witness, Sunquist combines a close reading of sources with careful reflection and insightful commentary. A must-read for all students of mission and world Christianity.”

Galloway of Buraan

Fiction

“This well-researched, nuanced, and convincing novel . . . touches on politics, economics, morality, cultural prejudice, interreligious understanding, and Christian piety through the stories of the vibrant characters surrounding the likable missionary educator David Galloway. Truly a delight to read!”

God’s Good Earth in Crisis

Preaching & Worship

“Weaving together rich voices from sacred texts, prayers, litanies, poetry, and hymns, Anne and Jeffery Rowthorn have gathered a global chorus of lament around friends who bear personal witness to the many threats shared by all of earth’s peoples, animals, plants, and habitats. Addressing God directly and facing head-on our own complicity in suffering, these timely liturgies offer a prophetic invitation to our communities of faith to weep, to worship, and to rise up in faithful response to the groaning of God’s good creation.”

Home in India

History & Biography

“Andrew Mills has produced a wonderful memoir. . . . With a love for India culture and his coworkers, dedication to the hard work of learning Tamil, and tireless commitment to his work in irrigation and well building, Mills retells and reflects on a range of experiences common to those who make the audacious decision of becoming a cross-cultural church worker. . . . Mills is honest about failed program initiatives, the economic and social privilege of the missionary, the blessings and tensions in expat family life, inevitable health issues, friendships with friends of other religious traditions, the difficulty of leaving for home, etc. This is a very valuable contribution to the genre of first-person missionary narrative.”

Intercultural Theology, Volume Three

Theology

“Böhmer's reader-friendly translation of Wrogemann's third and final volume of Intercultural Theology, A Theology of Interreligious Relations, does not fail to deliver. The first half presents a comprehensive review and assessment of prominent Christian approaches to other religions and an impressive sampling of Muslim and Buddhist approaches to other religions. The second half is a constructive project that moves from a theory to a theology of interreligious relations and offers much-needed methodological clarity to the ongoing debate about the proper relations between intercultural theology, mission studies, and religious studies. Wrogemann's massive contribution is theologically nuanced and should be on the syllabus of every seminary and divinity school seminar that takes seriously the mission of the Christian churches in an increasingly intercultural and interreligious world.”

Intercultural Theology, Volume Two

Evangelism & Missions

“Following the acclaimed first volume of Intercultural Theology, the English translation of this second volume, Theologies of Mission, breaks new ground in mission studies and intercultural theology. While never losing sight of his context in Germany, Wrogemann begins with an overview of developments in mission theology over the past century and then spotlights how major church traditions have handled the subject. Next, he offers an illuminating comparison of approaches to contemporary controversies in mission and concludes with a constructive approach he calls 'mission as oikoumenical doxology.' The scope of this volume is grounded and global, empirical and theoretical, and the methodology Wrogemann presents is highly instructive for those trying to make sense of the myriad theologies of mission in the context of world Christianity today.”

Living for Jesus and Japan

History & Biography

“In these essays on Uchimura Kanzo, readers will discover fresh perspectives on the United States, love of God and nation, pacifism, missionary movement, Bible, church, and Christian doctrine from one of the most extraordinary Christians of late Meiji and Taisho Japan. Written mainly by scholars working in Japan, this collection represents an outstanding contribution to Uchimura scholarship in English.”

Megachurch Christianity Reconsidered

Church Leadership & Ministry

“This is a compelling narrative, analysis, and interpretation of the genesis and development of Nairobi's Mavuno Church, founded in 2005. Based on her first-hand experience in the congregation, case-study research, and postcolonial-missional analysis, Wanjiru Gitau offers a nuanced apologia for a young megachurch whose mission is to turn educated millennials into fearless influencers of Kenya, Africa, and the world. If Gitau is right, Mavuno's integration of dynamic contemporary worship, intensive catechesis and discipleship, and practical social engagement may prove to be a compelling vision for urban millennials beyond Kenya.”

Silence and Beauty

Arts & Literature

“Fujimura's Silence and Beauty is a truly remarkable spiritual, theological and intellectual autobiography for our time. It will be of interest to a broad readership, not least of all those who still hear the disorienting and potentially transformational call to intercultural mission in the way of Jesus. Fujimura's musings on the Christ-hidden culture of Japan, his own story and contemporary culture are revelatory, and his layering of the Ground Zero theme functions like a Rembrandtprimer out of which a sublime beauty and grace emerges.”

The Invitation

Evangelism & Missions

“With biblical and theological depth, pastoral sensitivity, and attentiveness to real contexts where Christian faith is lived out, Osmer takes on the hallowed American tradition of ‘evangelism as conversionism.’ Bringing his students’ case studies into nuanced conversation with Scripture and the theology of Karl Barth, Osmer exposes the many weaknesses attending approaches to evangelism centered in human agency, i.e., ‘making a decision for Christ.’ As one of the leading practical theologians of our time, Osmer reconstructs evangelism around Barth’s theme of ‘Christ in our place,’ encouraging a recentering of the church’s evangelical calling in divine agency and the startling invitation of God, who, in Jesus Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit, accomplishes for us what we can never accomplish for ourselves.”

The State of Missiology Today

Evangelism & Missions

“Beginning with several assessments of the pioneering work and contribution of Donald McGavran and his successors at Fuller's SWM/SIS, the contributors to this volume touch critically on historical developments, contemporary issues, and future possibilities for Christian communities who hear the Spirit's enduring invitation to intercultural missional engagement. Practitioners, students, and scholars will find much to ponder, discuss, and act on by attending to these thoughtful voices from around the world.”

Understanding Korean Christianity

Evangelism & Missions

“Building on the work of Walls, Sanneh, and other pioneers in World Christianity who have drawn our attention to the complex processes of faith reception, translation, and transformation, Yu's theory of 'terraculturalism' sheds fresh light on ethical, religious, and gender dynamics that helped to shape the unique character of Korean Christianity.”

World Christianity and Interfaith Relations

World Religions

“Volume 4 of this ground-breaking series delivers a rich selection of multi-layered narratives and interpretations of interfaith realities within and beyond indigenous Christian communities in Myanmar, India, Canada, Brazil, Uganda, Nigeria, and Southern Africa. Interrogating the entanglements of religion and nationalism, race, gender, ecology, privilege, decolonization, violence, caste, spatiality, and theological normativity, this volume uniquely offers emic and etic perspectives of Christians and religious others. A nuanced, thought-provoking, and vital contribution to the field of World Christianity!”