Reviews

A desire to bring a spiritual influence does not cancel the impacts of economic forces on one's activities. A simple default response to diverse extant economic dynamics is inadequate. The wide-ranging contributions from multiple authors alert us to this basic truth, but also encourage us to understand and respond intelligently to dominant Western economic systems. Christian Mission and Economic Systems is vital reading for those concerned with mission who want to see beyond the blinkers of their cultural presuppositions on economic issues. Jim Harries

An important contribution by gifted scholars and practitioners to our understanding of how economics intersects with every aspect of Christian mission. A better grasp of the crucial issues raised in this book will greatly strengthen and improve contemporary missions. Ronald J. Sider

Christian Mission and Economic Systems is a grand world tour of the fiscal and relational realities of the world's amazing diversity in how transactions are made, how enterprise is financed, and how communities thrive. This book is an indispensable research volume for people undertaking cross-cultural mission. R. Paul Stevens

The present book is an amazing combination of profound scholarship interacting with authentic, longtime cross-cultural experience of its authors. The diversity of nationalities, cultural and scholarly backgrounds of the writers, and the variety of themes investigated by them opens the eyes and the mind for realities that lie well beyond the classic and simplistic capitalism versus socialism and/or communism debates of the last century. Martin Hartwig Eitzen

This book is a treasure chest filled with information providing invaluable help for understanding the laws, folkways, and morals governing economic practices cross-culturally. It also enables us to gain perspectives on our own capitalistic systems and to judge them according to Scripture. Those who believe that missionaries are obligated to contextualize the essential gospel message, while avoiding the tendency to impose Western socioeconomic values on those in other cultures, will find this book extremely helpful. I read these essays twice and still did not distill all the gems they hold. Tony Campolo

This collection is pointing to a missing link--that transitional form that should be found between the enterprise of mission as we know it and the primordial jungle of economic realities, where life and ministry began in simplicity before climbing out of the dark waters and onto the shores of ministerial reality. Herein is an evolutionary call to do partnership better, do patronage better, and even bribe "better." Furthermore, we are called to have evolved vision to see the ministry world through economic eyes and to see economics through kingdom eyes. A part of this new vision includes seeing the realities of Majority World friends who are not really experiencing "life more abundantly." In this regard Christian NGOs are called upon to continue becoming what they are, i.e., Christian. This is an important volume, especially in terms of asking hard questions as mission continues integrating kingdom values with life as it is. Frampton F. Fox

The book makes a significant contribution in rethinking the relationship between Christian mission and economics. The studies introduce fresh approaches like reciprocity in economic understanding, learning from Islam's approach to free-market capitalism, the moral logic explaining "bribes" in some cultures, and the economic struggles of pastors in the developing world. The studies set a benchmark for empirically grounded, theoretically informed research about the contexts of Christian mission. Its innovative research approaches are a good model for those researching Christian mission. Vinay Samuel