• Directories
    • Business Directory
    • Church Directory
    • Organization Directory
  • Advertise
  • Donate
  • Help
  • Log In

MENUMENU
  • Learning
        • Leader’s Edge
          • Author Interviews
          • Book Summaries
        • Book Reviews
          • Book Look
          • EMQ Book Reviews
        • Publications
          • Anthology
          • Evangelical Missions Quarterly (EMQ)
          • Missiographics
        • Podcasts
          • The Mission Matters
          • Members Only Feed
          • Missions Podcast DirectoryNew
        • Topics
          • COVID-19 Resources
          • Diaspora Missions
          • Global Issues Updates
          • Member Highlights
          • Mobilization
          • Muslim Missions
          • Support Raising
          • UkraineNew
        • Media Library
          • Conferences
          • Global Issue Updates
          • On Mission
          • Thought Leader Briefings
          • Webinars
          • Workshop
          • View All
  • Programs
    • Accreditation
    • Bible Certificate
    • Church Missions Coaching
    • Cohorts
    • Cybersecurity
    • ImproveNew
    • Mission Jobs
    • Missions DataNew
    • Publish
    • RightNow Media
    • The Mission App
    • Women’s Development
  • Events
          • Calendar
          • In-Person Events
          • Virtual Events
          • Event Recordings
          • Awards
        • Premier Events
          • Mission Leaders Conference
          • On Mission
        • Upcoming Events

          • Pocket Guide to Being a Missions Pastor: 5 Things Every Missions Pastor Needs to Know
            Wed Jun 1 2022, 01:00pm EDT
          • From Harlem to the World - the Local Church Mobilized for Global Missions
            Wed Aug 3 2022, 01:00pm EDT
          • Innovation Leaders Discussion
            Mon Aug 8 2022, 01:00pm EDT
        • View All Events
  • Research
          • Missions DataNew
          • Missiographics
          • Research Reports
        • Popular Research
          • Compensation Reports
          • COVID-19 Resources
          • Field Attrition Report
          • View All Reports
        • Contribute
          • Current Research Projects
          • Volunteer
  • About Us
        • Who We Are
          • Our Contribution
          • Meet the Team
          • Board Members
          • History (1917–present)
        • Our Beliefs
          • Statement of Faith
          • Community Standards
        • Awards
        • Partner with Us
          • Advertise
          • Donate
          • Sponsorships
          • Volunteer
        • Help
          • Contact Us
          • Advertising Specs
          • Branding Guidelines
  • Join
        • Learn
        • Learn what you cannot learn anywhere else.

        • Meet
        • Meet people you otherwise won’t meet.

        • Engage
        • Engage in a community like none other.

          • Benefits
          • Benefits for Churches
          • Pricing

Sponsored Content

Upcoming Events

  • Pocket Guide to Being a Missions Pastor: 5 Things Every Missions Pastor Needs to Know
    Wed Jun 1 2022, 01:00pm EDT
  • From Harlem to the World - the Local Church Mobilized for Global Missions
    Wed Aug 3 2022, 01:00pm EDT
  • Innovation Leaders Discussion
    Mon Aug 8 2022, 01:00pm EDT
  • Peer 2 Peer for Communications and Marketing Staff: Communications and the Mission of God: Aligning organizational communications with God's purposes
    Thu Aug 18 2022, 01:00pm EDT
  • Women's Development Weeks
    Thu Sep 8 2022

View all events »

Topics

author interview CEO Church Church Missions Church Mission Team Church Planting COVID-19 Cross Cultural Skills Diaspora Disciple Making Discipleship Focus Future Innovation Islam Justin Long Leadership Management Member Care Missiology Missionaries Mission Finance and Administration MLC2019 MLC2020 MLC2021 Mobilization muslim Muslim Diaspora Networks Partnership Podcast Presenter Pursuing Partnerships Series Research Risk Short-Term Missions Spirituality support raising Training Trends Unengaged Unreached Weekly Roundup Women Women in Leadership

Meta

  • Log in
  • Entries feed
  • Comments feed
  • WordPress.org

Missiological Hermeneutics: Biblical Interpretation for the Global Church

Posted on October 1, 2013 by Ted EslerOctober 1, 2013

by Shawn B. Redford.

Pickwick Publications, 199 W. 8th Ave., Suite 3, Eugene, OR 9740, 363 pages, 2012, $42.00.

—Reviewed by George F. Pickens, professor of theology and missions at Messiah College.

Conventional missiology argues that the missionary movement in Christian history has saved the faith from extinction. If the first Jewish Christians had failed to take the gospel to the Gentiles, then the way of Jesus might well have disappeared after the destruction of the temple in the first century. Likewise, had Christianity not spread among the barbarian peoples of Western Europe, it could have become extinct after the loss of Christian cradle lands to Islam in the Middle Ages. The cross-cultural transmission of the gospel has thus been the very means of Christianity’s survival.

Even so, according to Shawn Redford, cross-cultural missions have the ability to impact the Church more deeply than her mere preservation. Indeed, he argues that intercultural interactions have the potential to enrich and revitalize biblical interpretation. Redford examines the accounts of several biblical characters to demonstrate how greater clarity about the purposes of God resulted from cross-cultural experiences: “(M)issionary experience in the midst (sic) of other cultures provides one of the strongest hermeneutical lenses for biblical interpretation, because this type of missionary activity so closely matches the practice and setting of many biblical writers” (p. 232). Specifically, the opportunity to identify and limit biases, the ability to draw upon the insight of local Christian communities, and the working of the Holy Spirit through the spiritual disciplines are identified as possible hermeneutical tools that emerge from missionary contexts.

Redford organizes his presentation into six chapters, moving from a valuable review of the recent literature of missiological hermeneutics, to a missiological critique of biblical hermeneutics, and finally to the presentation of two case studies in which he illustrates his methods and their products for greater faithfulness in biblical interpretation.

At a time when the Church is becoming more anxious about her global differences, Redford’s work is a rare and much-needed example of how global Christian diversity can actually enrich and revitalize the Church. His presentation is also a necessary reminder of the essential missiological nature of the Christian scriptures. Even though Redford underestimates the lingering power of his own biases, he is to be commended for his thorough and fresh presentation. Unfortunately, the volume suffers from poor editing. Perhaps the most valuable part is the first case study, which examines polygamy in its biblical and cultural contexts. This is the most comprehensive, biblical, and objective study of polygamy I know. I wish it had been available when I served in Africa, and it deserves to be published as a separate volume.

….

EMQ, Vol. 49, No. 4, pp. 504-505. Copyright  © 2013 Billy Graham Center.  All rights reserved. Not to be reproduced or copied in any form without written permission from EMIS.

 

GoToOlder PostNewer PostAll PostsBook ReviewsEMQSectionVolume 49 - Issue 4

Comments are closed.

Subscribe to Our Mailing List

Keep up to date with our community.

Menu

  • Home
  • Directories
  • Advertise
  • Donate
  • Contact Us

Join

  • Join
  • Benefits
  • Learn
  • Meet
  • Engage

Help

  • Contact Us
  • Terms
  • Cookies Policy

About Us

  • Who We Are
  • Statement of Faith
  • Awards
  • Resources
Missio Nexus Logo

© Missio Nexus. All rights reserved.
As an Amazon Associate Missio Nexus earns from qualifying purchases.


PO Box 398
Wheaton, IL 60187-0398

Phone: 770.457.6677
678.392.4577

Annual Sponsors

ECFA Logo Brotherhood Mutual Logo

Subscribe to our Mailing List

Membership website powered by MembershipWorks