Living among the Breakage: Contextual Theology-Making and Ex-Muslim Christians

by Duane Alexander Miller

Pickwick Publications, 2011.

—Reviewed by Paul Martindale, adjunct assistant professor, Islamic Studies and Cross-Cultural Ministry, Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary; director, Summer Institute on Islam and Islamic Ministry Consultant for Pioneers.
 

Duane Miller began this book with the research question of whether ex-Muslim Christians (CMBs) engage in theology making. How do converts and their communities become makers of theology? Based upon his doctoral work and his travels in four continents to interview CMBs, Miller’s book ends up shedding light on more than this one central question. Particularly helpful are the case studies of the churches in “Kitma” and “Juduur”, which illustrate many of the principles that Miller engages.

Using the tools and concepts of Shoki Coe, Robert Schreiter, Lewis Rambo, and others, Miller sets out to discover not how missiologists do applied theology about and for ex-Muslims, but how ex-Muslims are themselves forming new communities of faith and in the process of inculturation are forming new identity, new ecclesiology, and new theology within their specific contexts.

 There is tremendous value in reading through this work as it shows how the life within developing communities intersects with new identity formation, the process of inculturating the gospel in a new context, new power structures within the Church, conversion, and the development of new ‘liberation’ and wisdom theologies. 

Drawing from specific case study interviews and a wealth of excellent missiological sources, Miller has helped to expand the field of ex-Muslim studies in constructive directions. Serious students of religious conversion and contextualization in former Muslim communities and church-planting in Islamic contexts will want to read and carefully consider this work. 

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EMQ, Vol. 53, No. 4. Copyright  © 2017 Billy Graham Center for Evangelism.  All rights reserved. Not to be reproduced or copied in any form without written permission from EMQ editors.