The Church between Gospel and Culture: The Emerging Mission in North America / Edition 1

by George R. Hunsberger, Craig Van Gelder

Overview

This is a print on demand book and is therefore non- returnable.

This excellent collection of essays, written by a diverse group of Christian leaders working on the frontier of mission within the present North American context, lays the groundwork for the newly emerging missionary encounter of the gospel with North American culture.

Demonstrating that the missionary identity of the church is to be found at the intersection of culture-gospel-church, these essays outline the missionary agenda now before the church as it confronts North American assumptions, perspectives, preferences, and practices.

Contributors:
James V. Brownson
Inagrace Dietterich
William A. Dyrness
Douglas John Hall
John R. Hendrick
Paul G. Hiebert
George R. Hunsberger
E. Dixon Junkin
Christopher B. Kaiser
Alan J. Rozburgh
Paul Russ Satari
David Scotchmer
Wilbert R. Shenk
Craig Van Gelder
David Lowes Watson
Charles C. West

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780802841094
Publisher:	Eerdmans, William B. Publishing Company
Publication date:	03/01/1996
Series:	The Gospel and Our Culture Series (GOCS)
Pages:	388
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.86(d)

About the Author

George R. Hunsberger is professor emeritus of missiology at Western Theological Seminary in Holland, Michigan, and founding coordinator of the Gospel and Our Culture Network.


Craig Van Gelder is professor emeritus of congregationalmission at Luther Seminary, St. Paul, Minnesota. His otherbooks include The Missional Church inPerspective and The Ministry of the MissionalChurch.,

Table of Contents

Introduction: The Church between Gospel and Culture

I. FOCUSING THE MISSION QUESTION

The Newbigin Gauntlet: Developing a Domestic Missiology for North America
George R. Hunsberger

Defining the Center—Finding the Boundaries: The Challenge of Re-Visioning the Church in North America for the Twenty-First Century
Craig Van Gelder

II. ASSESSING OUR CULTURE

A Great New Fact of Our Day: America as Mission Field
Craig Van Gelder

The Culture of Modernity as a Missionary Challenge
Wilbert R. Shenk

From Biblical Secularity to Modern Secularism: Historical Aspects and Stages
Christopher B. Kaiser

Mission in the Emerging Postmodern Condition
Craig Van Gelder

The Gospel in Our Culture: Methods of Social and Cultural Analysis
Paul G. Hiebert

Symbols Become Us: Toward a Missional Encounter with Our Culture through Symbolic Analysis
David Scotchmer

III. DISCERNING THE GOSPEL

Christ All in All: The Recovery of the Gospel for Evangelism in the United States
David Lowes Watson

Ecclesia Crucis: The Theologic of Christian Awkwardness
Douglas John Hall

Gospel for American Culture: Variations on a Theme by Newbigin
Charles C. West

Speaking the Truth in Love: Elements of a Missional Hermeneutic
James V. Brownson

Vernacular Theology
William A. Dyrness

"Translatability" in the Missional Approach of Lamin Sanneh
Paul Russ Satari

IV. DEFINING THE CHURCH

Acquiring the Posture of a Missionary Church
George R. Hunsberger

Congregations with Missions vs. Missionary Congregations
John R. "Pete" Hendrick

Up from the Grassroots: The Church in Transition
E. Dixon Junkin

Pastoral Role in the Missionary Congregation
Alan J. Roxburgh

Sizing Up the Shape of the Church
George R. Hunsberger

A Particular People: Toward a Faithful and Effective Ecclesiology
Inagrace T. Dietterich

Editorial Reviews

Stephan Bevans
—Catholic Theological Union
"The authors of these essays point to the importance of culture in shaping church ministry and interpreting the gospel; more significantly, however, they point to the danger of culture for the church if it is not constantly critiqued by the gospel. This book is a significant contribution to the construction of a contextual theology in North America. Its message needs to be taken seriously by our churches, for its message may very well be the vision that can guide us as we enter a new century and a new millennium."

From the Publisher

"Some of the best essays I have read on just what it means to be a "missionary congregation" in North America. This book is required reading in seminaries and among parish leaders. More North American pastors must come to view themselves as missionaries in an essentially pagan culture where the Gospel competes with a variety of other modes of salvation. Congregations must grow toward a vision of themselves as the embodiment of Christ's radical challenge to this culture. Here is the book to help us to just that."

International Bulletin of William H. Willimon in Missionary Research

This is a groundbreaking volume, challenging the old Western paradigm of mission and calling us to see mission as the gospel through the church to the world. Seeing the west as a mission field—and a difficult one at that—can help us in the West to discover anew what it means to be the church and what it means to be in mission.

Missiology

The book provides a smorgasbord of ideas and approaches helpful to us who are seeking a new paradigm for mission and evangelism in North America.

Theology Today

If anyone can get the mission and evangelism conversation renewed, it will be the likes of these authors.

Christian Century