Monday, November 13, 2017

Readings in Mission and World Christianity

Alastair Wilson has produced an excellent reading list on missions and world Christianity. I have read many of these myself. Eddie Arthur has chipped in with some additional books himself.

Do please read both blog posts.

With so much there to read it may seem superfluous to add anything else but I thought of a few more that would deserve to be on such a list:

A really good one-volume introductory reader on a range of missiological topics is this one:


Winter, Ralph D. and Steven C. Hawthorne, eds. Perspectives on the World Christian Movement, A Reader. 4th ed. Pasadena: William Carey Library, 2009.


There is nothing by Paul Hiebert on either list.
Here are a few of his writings that I have found very helpful:

  • Cultural Anthropology. 2d ed. Grand Rapids: Baker, 1983.
  • Anthropological Insights for Missionaries. Grand Rapids: Baker, 1985.
  • Anthropological Reflections on Missiological Issues. Grand Rapids: Baker, 1994.
  • Transforming Worldviews: An Anthropological Understanding of How People Change. Grand Rapids: Baker, 2008.
  • The Gospel in Human Contexts: Anthropological Explorations for Contemporary Missions. Grand Rapids: Baker, 2009.
  • with Frances F. Hiebert. Case Studies in Missions. Grand Rapids: Baker, 1987. (Now available on a pdf here.)
  • with Eloise Hiebert Meneses. Incarnational Ministry: Planting Churches in Band, Tribal, Peasant and Urban Societies. Grand Rapids: Baker, 1995.
Although Charles Kraft is also a very competent anthropologist (as Wilson recognises), Hiebert is more reliable in his missiological writings.




Another book that deserves to be read is this one: 
  • DeYoung, Kevin, and Greg Gilbert. What is the Mission of the Church: Making Sense of Social Justice, Shalom, and the Great Commission. Wheaton: Crossway, 2011.


It would be great to see regionally-focussed books as well but I guess that would make such a list unwieldy.