Every cross-cultural worker WILL minister from a particular view of anthropoloty/history/current events. The question is to what degree it will be limited by the person’s on cultural background–perhaps limited to an American mindset–our even a particular regional American mindset (Southern or Midwestern for example).

Strategically studying the best of what these fields offer can, for example, help us recognize what parts of our thinking and methodology are biblical and which are rooted in our own culture (the negative, the positive and the neutral)–so that we can in turn more accurately evaluate another cultural context and more clearly communicate the gospel within it.

Andrew, thank you for taking the time to read and comment. I’ve kept up with you for years now through friends of mine. Hope to meet you sometime.

“The Gospel of Buddha” Paul Carus. This is a book of excerpts from some of the Buddha’s teachings.

“Siddhartha” Hermann Hesse. This is a biography of Prince Siddhartha who became the Buddha.

“What the Buddha Taught” Walpola Sri Rahula. This is a well written explanation of Buddhism.

“Numerical Discourses of the Buddha: An Anthology of Suttas from the Anguttara Nikaya” Bhikkhu Bodhi. This is a book of excerpts from some of the Buddha’s more well known teachings.

“Ten Lives of Buddha” M.L. Manich Jumsai. The Buddha had many lives before he became the Buddha. This is a book telling the stories of his ten lives before his enlightenment.

“Golden Peninsula: Culture and Adaptation in Mainland Southeast Asia” Charles F. Keyes. This is a look at culture and life of Southeast Asia mainland.

“Water Buffalo Theology” Kosuke Koyama. This is a series of essays written by a former Japanese missionary to northern Thailand.

“A History of Christianity in Asia: Beginnings to 1500” and “History of Christianity in Asia: 1500 To 1900” Samuel Hugh Moffett. These two works are a good reference books for getting an overview of missions history in Asia.

“A Dictionary of Asian Christianity” Scott W. Sunquist & David Wu Chu Sing & John Chew Hiang Chea. This is a less detailed reference but more comprehensive.

“Poles Apart: Contextualizing the Gospel in Asia” John Davis. This is a close look at contextualization written by a seasoned missionary.

“Communicating Christ in the Buddhist World” Paul De Neui and David Lim. This is one book in a series of five sold at William Carey Library.

“Communicating Christ in Animistic Contexts” Gailyn Van Rheenen. Western Christians do not always give much thought to the world of spirits, but many of the people to whom they go do. This is a good book for helping missionaries work through this issue.

“Thailand: Spirits Among Us” Marlane Guelden. This is one of the only anthropological studies of animism in Thailand.

“Demon Possession and Allied Themes” John L. Nevius. A close look at demon possession in Asia, written by the author of the famous work “The Planting and Development of Missionary Churches.”

U.S. context:
“Roaring Lambs: A Gentle Plan to Radically Change Your World” by Bob Briner, though very reactionary, shows the great need for an evangelistic lifestyle involving all realms of life rather than “professional Christians” doing the ministry work and rather than having compartmentalized lives of work & ministry. Weed through to the nuggets.

Tibetan context:
“Cultivating a Daily Meditation” by the Dalai Lama is written lectures that show the essence of Tibetan Buddhism (as well as a lot of other stuff): “.”
Also, the Dalai Lama has a podcast on different things that with just one listen give a taste of the esoteric and philosophical aspects of the unique religion (in other words, stuff of the lamas/monks rather than the common people).
“Civilized Shamans” by Geoffrey Samuel is a major work of history, religion, culture, etc. that is deep and academic, but it gives a good understanding of the duality of the people and their religion: that of the religious leaders and that of the lay person (also a great help for any research project).
“Sharing Christ in the Tibetan Buddhist World” by Marku Tsering is perhaps the most purported book on Christian work among a Tibetan context, and it has good background info for history, culture, and religion. It also shows the majority method of working among Tibetans: slowness, which is not recommended but does clearly show the majority method one would be encountering among most other workers in this context as well as many if not most of the national believers as well (it has spread around quickly, which is ironic).
“Genesis in Space & Time” by Francis [Schaeffer] is a great work for this context because of the needs of understanding that Tibetans need: there is a Creator, the truth of creation, who & what is man, what is sin.
“And Jesus Said” by Barclay gives, as he does so well, excellent ways of understanding and teaching on various parables of Jesus, which lends itself to the didactic methods and oral context of Tibetans.
“Communicating Christ in Animistic Contexts” by Gailyn Van Rheenen is an indispensable work for arguably every context, but certainly it is for one of a religion that is syncretistic, inherrently animistic, shamanistic, and veiled in Buddhist esoteric philosophy.
Even works such as “The Problem of Pain” by Lewis and “Creation Order Theodicy” by Bruce [Proverbs ] Little are great for developing a biblical understanding in order to respond to the prevalence of suffering in Buddhism.
“Dear Lhamo” by the Harthcocks is an excellent work for practicing English with Tibetans as well as having a great method of conversing with them about God.

Buddhist context:
“Into the Buddhist Mind” by Gary and Evelyn Harthcock shows the experience and knowledge and study of the great couple, and it is written in very understandable brevity without sacrificing content.

Life on the Field context:
“Christian Manifesto” by Schaeffer lends itself to some of the government issues faced by workers and nationals.
“When You Get to the End of Yourself” by Purkiser, an oldie of awesomeness (mostly), is great for dealing difficulty in life and the subsequent questions.
“Lies Women Believe: And the Truth that Sets Them Free” by Nancy Leigh DeMoss lends itself to helping women in the work of balancing family responsibilities and apostolic/”sent-out-one” calling and general personal responsibility for the Great Commission as a believer.
For the issues and demands of parenting in foreign contexts, I recommend “What to Expect When You’re Expecting” by Murkoff & Mazel, and “Babywise” by Ezzo & Buckman is also excellent.
Perhaps an aspect of life and work on the field that is not taken advantage of enough is the rapid growth and prevalence of the internet. Of course, many place still don’t have that as an option, but if you are unable to access what’s available on the internet yourself undoubtedly, you could obtain CDs of [your home church]’s podcasts or sermon downloads or even another such as Dr. Akin, SEBTS chapel, another pastor or church. This allows for you to keep up with your home church, as well as to have wonderful family worship time together. [Something that would make Paul and the early sent-out-ones amazed I'm sure; whereas, they spent years with little to no contact with their home body.]

Methodology [some authors I'm ignorant of]:
“Acts Twenty-Nine” by Bruce Carlton.
“7 Commands of Christ” http://mentorandmultiply.homestead.com/files/Jesus_Commands_beginners_pages_18_23.htm .
“T4T.”
“ST4T” http://www.go2southasia.org/st4t.html .
“Universal Disciple” by the T. Wolf himself http://www.geocities.com/g_westlake/UnivDiscTW.html .
“A New Believer’s First Seven Days with Jesus” being a little different from “7 Commands” [and flowing into the "Handy Guide to Church"] is another.