Charles

D. A. Carson has done it again. He has written another masterpiece; a book that causes us to think about what it means to be in the world but not of the world. Knowing what culture is, how to relate to the culture, and how to think about it as it relates to the church and kingdom are crucial questions. So much of contemporary Christianity has gone to the opposite extremes, some in partial reaction to a fundamentalist withdrawal attitude about the church. This is happening to such an extent that we must ask who is determining the church’s agenda or who is driving the ship, culture or Scripture?

Today, we find Christians attempting to divorce themselves from culture, though it is actually impossible; simply going with the flow of culture and not questioning it; or caught in the middle wanting to know how to understand, interact, and live within culture.

Carson approaches this topic by using the classic typology of H, Richard Niebuhr’s Christ and Culture, which poses five different approaches to the question of Christ, Christians, and culture and how they are related or interact. (Some of us studied Niebuhr’s book in seminary and have found it to be a reference point for discussions on culture.) Carson’s theology enables him to take the five options of Niebuhr and suggest that they are actually not separate approaches but should be parts of the whole. He does this in a manner that helps us to see how we can live in the world and relate to the culture in a way that helps us focus on a biblical worldview that enables us to know our role and calling.

If there is one thing that we can be certain of, especially in this age of communications and a shrinking global village. it is that we do not live in a monolithic culture. Actually it is quite diverse, not only globally but right in our own backyards. We need to know how to relate to the culture in a Christ honoring and serving way. Withdrawing is certainly not an option, even if it were impossible, and allowing the culture to determine our worldview and lifestyle is also not the answer. While there is some validity to seeing the culture as relative because of its diversity, there are some things that transcend the diversity that should unite Christians globally and help us to better understand what it means to be a part of a kingdom that is not of this world. As Carson says, some want to by-pass this discussion for various reasons in a way that allows them to focus on evangelism and church planting. Others living by a dualistic philosophy simply do not try, or know how, to connect their Sunday church life with the rest of the week.

The truth is that if we are to be kingdom disciples and live with a kingdom world and life view perspective. we cannot afford not to think seriously about culture, even if the tension requires us to do some serious thinking or rethinking. It is all connected to what God would have us to do, and we cannot afford to neglect that.

While the entire book is a valuable resource to help us think and live more consistently with God’s will, chapters one and five are well worth the price of the book. Chapter one is an analysis of the Niebuhr five models and subsequent chapters deal with defining and relining those concepts. Chapter five is the best text I have read on church and state relations. Religion and politics are frequently the topics of conversation but much understanding is often missing in those discussions, especially in using terms like church, religion, spirituality, etc., as though they were synonymous. Defining terms in our postmodern day is extremely important, as Carson demonstrates. I think Carson’s case could be made even clearer and stronger by being more specific about the relationship between the church and the kingdom; nevertheless, you will find much food for thought and application.

When we look at both of God’s commissions, the first in Genesis I :28 and the second in Matthew 28: 18-19, Carson’s challenge is clear. He says, “To pursue with a passion the robust and nourishing wholeness of biblical theology as the controlling matrix for our reflection on the relations between Christ and culture will, ironically, help us to be far more flexible than the inflexible grids that are often made to stand in the Bible’s place. Scripture will mandate that we think holistically and subtly, wisely, and penetratingly, under the Lordship of Christ-utterly dissatisfied with the anesthetic of culture.” His last statement is right on, “Instead, we will live in the tension of claiming every square inch for King Jesus, even while we know full well that the consummation is not yet. that we walk by faith and not by sight, and that the weapons with which we fight are not the weapons of the world (2 Corinthians I0:4).”

This is an interesting book that will be a good text to encourage people to spend more time in the Old Testament. Christians have a tendency to spend more time in the New at the expense of reading and studying the Old. Bob Beasley has written a book that will draw readers to the Old Testament not only for the history but to see how Christ is revealed throughout it.

Beasley is a graduate of Westminster Theological Seminary. a ruling elder in the PCA, and former member of the CEP Committee. In the same clear manner as earlier works by this author, he has given us 101 different portraits of Christ from Genesis to Malachi. Being appreciative of earlier books, the late Edmund P. Clowney’s The Unfolding Mystery and Dennis Johnson’s Him We Proclaim, Beasley’s book will help us grow in our appreciation for the Old Testament as we see our Lord revealed there in prophesies, types, foreshadowing, and mighty works, as well as His pre-incarnate appearances.

Each portrait is only two pages. It could be used as a personal or family devotional. It could be used in teen or adult Bible studies by combining the portraits. Don’t pass this by.

Here is a book written for anyone who has, is, or will experience suffering. It is a true story written by Jim Andrews, pastor of Lake Bible Church. Andrews taught for a number of years at Western Bible College in Denver, Colorado and later at Western Seminary in Portland, Oregon. He and his wife Olsie have been married for 50 years and have two married daughters. The book is a story of their family. It is an unbelievable story of their daughter Juli and her husband Paul ” who face it all (and then some) as a baffling, mind-boggling illness hijacks their youth and shatters their dreams. It blends straightforward theology with the account of this young couple’s afflictions.”

This is a story of how this young couple, along with Jim and Olsie, have traveled through some of the stormiest seas and fieriest trials imaginable. Rather than being driven away from God, they have experienced being drawn closer to Him, which has given them incredible strength to face each day. Can you imagine having to live in a home where due to illness you could not take a bath, paint a room, talk on the telephone, or see your mother? Can you imagine when you did see your dad, you had violent reactions due to the chemicals in his clothing? Can you imagine being an accomplished musician and not able to use your talents and gifts? The only thing that keeps them from totally lining up with Job is that they are still alive.

They have had to struggle with questions such as, “If God is all powerful and all wise, why isn’t He stopping this trouble?” Andrews writes, “Moments occur when our theology blushes or bristles at the realities of our experience. We don’t know how to reconcile the two.” But he continues, “The ways and works of God never deviate from his revealed character and promises. Never.”

“Monuments are a testimony of what God will do in the present, regardless of the difficult things that are happening… A monumental faith,” writes Andrews, “is able to look forward with confidence because it looks backward to the past.” What God has done in the past serves as a monument of what he will do in the future. “Monumental faith is a faith trained to look away from the confusion of the moment to find security and confidence in the past evidences of God’s character and faithfulness.”

Juli was able to write to her parents on one occasion, “Somehow just knowing Satan’s strategy strengthened my resolve to fight the good fight, but I still needed to know that God cared about what I was going through…He cares for you! At this point the Holy Spirit turned back on my spiritual light and gave me the extra measure of grace that has lasted me until now.” On another occasion she wrote to her mother,” Paul told me a verse you were hanging onto was, ‘My grace is sufficient for you.’ It is! But we also need to remember that, ‘My power is made manifest in weakness.’ It takes little perception to conclude that God wants our whole family, between my illness, Dad’s surgery, and your depression, to be in a perpetual state of weakness.” Juli also draws great comfort and hope from the Old Testament Hannah and her family’s experience.

All through the book you will find personal counsel from Andrews that will challenge you and remind you of the great blessings God has in store even for those who suffer. For example, “In the gap between God’s promise and God’s performance, always expect unforeseen difficulties and disappointments that will challenge your faith to the bone.” Or another, “As long as faith has that well-trained reflex that takes all its troubles and doubts back to the throne of grace, we will be safe.”

In order to live in God’s now, we need those monuments of faith and promise to keep us going. To suffer without those monuments of faith is sad and tragic. Andrews closes the book with the story of Admiral James Stockdale, the highest ranking American POW during the Vietnam War. It is quite a story in itself but Andrews uses Stockdale as a reminder and challenge to remember that along with building monuments of faith we also need to never lose faith in the end of the story. Whether God fixes our sufferings now or not, we know that down the road, one day, He will. Therefore, Andrews encourages us to never lose hope under the worst circumstances and never lose faith and hope in the end of the story.

As you read this book, be prepared not to put it down. It is heart and mind gripping. What a book to read personally or give to a friend experiencing suffering or hard times. Andrews writes in conclusion that he has shared this book, along with the flesh-and-blood example of the ongoing pain and testing in his family, with the hope that it will strengthen and inspire you. And I say, “Well it will.”

While this book has been available for sometime, published in 2000, we have been waiting for the right moment to bring it to our readers’ attention. Having known of Van Gelder during his days at Reformed Theological Seminary and having followed his career since graduation, I find him to be creative, stimulating, thought provoking, and a strategic thinker. He has written and edited a number of books revolving around the concept of the missional church. I appreciate his interest in the church, especially in a day when too many are ignoring, negatively criticizing, and demeaning the importance of the church.

As indicated in the first quarter Equip review of The Dictionary of Mission Theology, the time has arrived to do some rethinking about the church. We have expressed our concern that far too many Christians fail to understand the church. While we believe it is not synonymous with the kingdom, the church is the heart of the kingdom and plays the most crucial role in equipping Christians to live with a kingdom perspective.

This book, as the title indicates, deals with the essence of the church. Richard Mouw states in the foreword that at a time when pluralism and new paganism dominate the scene, we need to think more holistically and intentionally about missiology. He highlights, and we concur, that Van Gelder’s handling of the church, its nature, its ministry, and its structures challenges us to come to a better and clearer perspective on the church and its place in God’s kingdom.

Van Gelder sets out with four goals in mind:

1. To translate available scholarship and research into applied perspective for ministry, especially for pastors who will think deeply and practically about the church.

2. To integrate diverse perspectives from a variety of disciplines, including mission theology and the doctrine of church.

3. To focus on the church within the context of North America.

4. To work from an understanding of the triune God as being central to our understanding of the church.

These are good goals that the book seems to fulfill. I do wish that Van Gelder, as well as others writing in this area, would place more attention on the kingdom, its relation to the church, and how the church is God’s key training ground for kingdom living. Nevertheless, this is an important book.

Van Gelder indicates that we often do not know how to think about the church, which causes us at best to think of the church only from a structural and denominational paradigm. Often how we think about the church in North America, as the book indicates, causes us to focus on secondary issues. For example, while we believe the concept of denomination is still a vital and strategic paradigm, it can often keep us from thinking theologically about the church. This applies to our missiology as well. Hence we are in need of some course corrections in order to see the church as God would have us see it.

Van Gelder highlights how we tend to think of the church in functional terms, often hearing things like seeker-sensitive church, purpose-driven church, user-friendly church, or the church for the 21st century. This causes us to think of the church in terms of what the church does without addressing the more important issue of the nature of the church. This further leads to referring to the church with a set of “ministry functions such as worship, education, service, and witness, important as those elements are.” Therefore, the book reminds us of the importance of rethinking or reconsidering the nature of the church before proceeding to define its ministry and organization. I would say that while form follows function, Van Gelder would also encourage us to see that the nature of the church precedes its form and function and that process is vital to the understanding and study of the church, and missions as well.

This book seeks to correct several misunderstandings, such as the failure to relate missions and evangelism to the larger framework of God’s mission and the failure to relate the life and ministry of the church to God’s mission in the world. These kinds of misunderstandings tend to impact several areas. How do we set priorities? Do we focus on members or reaching out in evangelism? How much do we budget for overseas missions and how much to do we keep at home?

What is the solution? Learning to think about the missional nature of the church based on the missional triune God will keep us from thinking narrowly about missions, as well as the church’s role. This type of thinking will help us produce a “missiological ecclesiology.” It will keep us from the dilemma created by the modern western missiology where the church is thought of in a mere functional manner. It will help us see the church not as an institution started by missionaries. “We in North America need to thoroughly work this perspective into our understanding of the church’s nature, ministry, and organizational life. This view of the church, best described as missiological ecclesiology, is the focus of this book.”

I found this book to do what the author intended; to help us engage the complexity of the situation we now encounter in North America and to help us think about the very missional essence of the church in a way that will mobilize church people to see their own missional role in the world, both in the church and the kingdom. In other words, how Christians can be in but not of the world. While the church is called to represent the redemptive power of God on earth, its members need to know how to “discern how the power of God’s reign can best relate to the specific contexts.”

This book could help us avoid becoming so contextual in our understanding of missiology that we allow the context to determine the message. On the other hand, the book will help us see more clearly how the very nature of the church requires us to think contextually regarding the church’s mission and bring it to our doorstep. I would say, do not read this book if you are not willing to think. Don’t read this book if you are satisfied with the status quo regarding the church and missions. By all means, do not read this book if you are not willing to be challenged to live and think differently. But if you are….by all means read and study it.

Having re-read two books by Charles Malik this past fall, The Two Tasks and A Christian Critique of the University, I was pleased to be sent a copy of The Two Tasks of the Christian Scholar. It is a book containing eight chapters in honor of the late Charles Malik, commemorating his 100th birthday. Each chapter was as challenging as reading Malik’s originals. Actually, chapter two is Malik’s address and booklet written in 1980 in connection with the dedication of the Billy Graham School of Communication at Wheaton College. The message that he sounded at that 1980 dedication has continued to challenge us to this day and will until the Lord returns. His point was that we cannot be satisfied with simply saving people’s souls or focusing on that theme. We have to see the need to save a person’s mind, just like the apostle Paul taught. Doing one without the other will result in a failure to accomplish either one.

Many of his words encouraged me in writing Making Kingdom Disciples: A New Framework. As a matter of fact, I quote him in that book. Malik was a Lebanese Christian statesman, having served as the Secretary of the United Nations, a Christian businessman, father, a diplomat, and a philosopher. His son Habid Malik, who is a professor at the Lebanese University in Lebanon, wrote one of the chapters in this book. His testimony is a great tribute to his father.

Malik’s great concern was what he saw in the West’s embrace of dualistic thinking, where faith and fact, faith and science, education and religion were all separate things. Not only was this true in academia, but it was and continues to be true in the teachings of many churches and Christian schools today. Paul Gould says in his chapter, reflecting Malik’s sentiments, “Christianity hovers dangerously close to this irrelevance if the life of the mind is neglected inside the church and the truth of Christianity is not defended winsomely and vigorously outside the church.”

Quoting Malik again, “All the preaching in the world, and all the loving care of even the best parents, between whom there are no problems whatever, will amount to little, if not to nothing, so long as what the children are exposed to day in and day out for fifteen to twenty years in the school and university virtually cancels out, morally and spiritually, what they hear and see and learn at home and in the church. Therefore the problem of the school and university is the most critical problem afflicting Western civilization.” Obviously, Malik was critiquing his concern over the dichotomy established between faith, religion, and spirituality on the one hand and secular thinking on the other.

We readily concur with his analysis, realizing that Christianity is not simply a mindless, emotional, totally mystical religion. It is a mind religion. We are to love the Lord with our mind, heart, body, and soul; and in the Scriptures, mind and heart are referring to the same general thing. We are to be transformed by changing the way we think, as Paul wrote in Romans 12.

Since Malik’s critique, others such as Mark Noll’s The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind, George Marsden’s The Outrageous Idea of Christian Scholarship, and Alvin Plantinga’s God and Other Minds have challenged such a duality. The challenge is placed before us to integrate into a wholeness our faith and good Christian scholarship. One example cited by Gould is that while 80% of the general population believes the Bible is the actual word of God or the inspired Word, only 48% of professors hold this view. Therefore according to Malik we have both a spiritual problem and an intellectual one as well.

This is not only a book that critiques, it contains suggestions on how to go about fixing the problem. For example, Walter Bradley suggests nine things that could and should be done to unify and integrate faith and learning. We must help students see that Christianity is more than simply going to church but that our Christian faith is the basis or foundation for all that we are and do.

Not only will you experience the challenge that is set before us in the area, and not only will you appreciate learning about available resources, you will delight in reading Habid Malik’s chapter testifying to the influence that his father has had in his life. Redeeming the soul and redeeming the mind requires sensitivity to the people we try to reach, and Malik’s life testified to his commitment to doing just that.

I found the discussion questions at the end of each chapter to be unusually good. While I appreciated each chapter and writer, I especially commend the first and last chapters by Gould and William Lane Craig. Craig reminds us using a quote from Alvin Plantinga, the most outstanding Christian philosopher today, that what is happening in our contemporary Western intellectual world actually boils down to “a battle for men’s souls. “Of course this sounds the call for Christian scholars to prepare themselves and be willing to step up to the plate. The book agrees with a statement made by J. Gresham Machen that “false ideas are the greatest obstacles to the reception of the Gospel.”

Gould not only stated that Christianity is dangerously close to irrelevance, Craig says that evangelicals are living on the periphery of responsible intellectual existence. As Noll has reminded us, the scandal of the evangelical mind is that there is not one. Craig likewise says that he has been “scandalized by the lack of integrative thinking on the part of Christian colleagues.”

Craig states, “Many Christian academics seemcontent to possess a profound knowledge of their area of specialization and yet have little better than a Sunday school education when it comes to their Christian faith, on which they have staked their lives and eternal destiny.”

If you are challenged to become a kingdom disciple by changing the way you think and developing a Christian mind, this would be a good book to read and discuss with other Christians, especially using some of the discussion questions at the end of each chapter.