A good missiologist (whether North American or International) is first and foremost a theologian, but also a student of other disciplines such as world religions, cultural anthropology, history, current affairs, and anything else he can get his hands on in order to understand his context. By studying world religions, the missiologist learns to understand the core beliefs and religious practices of those to whom he will minister. From cultural anthropology, he learns to pay careful … [Read More]
Global Context Series (Central Asia): Ghost Wars
Ghost Wars
A wise man would refuse to lug even the paperback version of Steve Coll’s Ghost Wars to bed, for fear of being crushed to death if he dozes off in mid-sentence. However, despite being 712 pages long Coll’s volume is well worth the read for anyone interested in U. S. involvement in Afghanistan beginning in 1979 and spanning more than two decades.
Coll’s book is not a history of Afghanistan, per se, but rather a … [Read More]
Hot, Flat, and Crowded?
Is Al Gore right that climate change might really bring about the end of the species as we know it? Or is Rush Limbaugh right that climate change is a hoax devised by pony-tailed tree-huggers, seeking to lead our country toward a utopia of yoga mats, Birkenstocks, and tofu wraps? Who can adjudicate the conflicting claims? On climate change issues these days, it seems that the fringe positions are as crowded as the exit doors … [Read More]
How Conflicts within Islam Will Shape the Future of the Globe
I sit corrected. In years past, I have viewed the conflicts in the Middle East as centering primarily on Muslim frustration with economic matters, globalization and modernity, and Christianity. But now Vali Nasr has come along and reminded us of the significance of the historic Sunni-Shia divide.
Nasr is a keen observer of the Muslim world. Any reader interested in Islam in general, and the Middle East in particular, would be well served to read Nasr’s … [Read More]
An Obsession with Power and Control
Mugabe: Power, Plunder, and the Struggle for Zimbabwe
Reviewed By: Bruce Riley Ashford
Martin Meredith’s Mugabe: Power, Plunder, and the Struggle for Zimbabwe is not a book for the faint of heart. It is an account of Zimbabwe’s struggle for independence, the (culturally Christian) Mugabe’s rise to power, and his metamorphosis from responsible revolutionary into brutal dictator willing to slaughter his own people, including friends and associates.
Mugabe was born the son of a village carpenter. He was … [Read More]
Global Context: Europe, Islam, and Christianity
God’s Continent: Christianity, Islam and Europe’s Religious Crisis
Reviewed By: Bruce Riley Ashford
Entire forests have been chopped down in order to promulgate the literature that has been written on the religious crisis in Europe, including especially the secularization of Europeans and influx of Islamic immigrants. Bat Y’eor, in Eurabia (2005), argued that Europe is being subverted by Islamic hostility toward the very virtues, values, and vision of Europe herself. Bruce Bawer, in While Europe Slept (2007) … [Read More]
The Ayatollah Begs to Differ
The Ayatollah Begs to Differ
Reviewed by: Bruce Riley Ashford
The Ayatollah Begs to Differ is a lively little romp through the recent history of Iran and a peek into the Persian soul. The author, Hooman Majd, is an Iranian-American who wields an incisive, eloquent, and witty pen. Although he was educated in the West, he was born in Tehran, is the son of an Iranian diplomat, the grandson of an ayatollah, and has served as a … [Read More]
Global Context: A New Christendom with New Faces
Global Context Series: A New Christendom with New Faces
By: Bruce Riley Ashford
Philip Jenkins believes that we are living in the midst of a monumental moment in religious history, and he has written two books to make his case. The first, The Next Christendom, contains the meat of his argument while the second, The New Faces of Christianity, follows up on certain strands of the argument. The following is a brief review of both books.
Jenkins was … [Read More]
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The Post-American World
The Post-American World
Reviewed by: Bruce Riley Ashford
Of the commentary on America’s decline, there seems to be no end. The Post-American World is Fareed Zakariah’s contribution to the subject. He chimes in with a more cheery voice than most, focusing more on the “rise of the rest” than the “decline of the West” and arguing that America’s future need not be so gloomy as some predict.
Zakariah builds his case by referring to three great shifts of … [Read More]
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