Papers by J Stephen Jester
Missiology, 2019
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Missiology: An International Review
(6). Edith Turner’s “There Are No Peripheries to Humanity” illustrates this approach; she could d... more (6). Edith Turner’s “There Are No Peripheries to Humanity” illustrates this approach; she could do no less than get involved when she discovered past nuclear dumping on lands of the Iñupiat in Alaska. “When one is acting in the field,” she observes, “one is acting as a real person” (26). I appreciate Guest’s emphasis on the interconnectedness of global communities, illustrated in several readings. “[No] local community can be viewed as isolated,” he says. “Instead, anthropologists must consider each local fieldwork site in light of the myriad ways in which local dynamics link to the world beyond” (32). The thirty-seven selections range from descriptions of the impact of the global secondhand clothing market to valuing deaf worlds in India; from anthropological insights regarding pre-2008 bankers at JP Morgan in New York City to Christian conversion among undocumented Chinese immigrants just across town. Treating #Ferguson as a “space” for fieldwork involved an intriguing, new methodology. My favorite was minor leaguer-turned anthropologist George Gmelch’s “Baseball Magic,” a comparison of ritual, fetish, magic, and taboo among Trobriand Islanders and Major League Baseball players. I enjoyed reading this book, updating my understanding of current anthropological theory and practice through well-written, engaging ethnographies. Those teaching introductory anthropology courses may find this a very helpful supplement to a core textbook, whether Guest’s books mentioned above or another work. If teaching anthropology for future missiologists and missionaries, I would consider combining this reader with other resources, such as Alan Tippett’s The Ways of the People (ed. Doug Priest, William Carey Library, 2013).
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Missiology: An International Review
The rapid growth of Christianity in Africa in the last three decades is attributed to the aggress... more The rapid growth of Christianity in Africa in the last three decades is attributed to the aggressive activity of local church planters in their efforts to evangelize and missionize their contexts. Key factors represent important leadership influences serving as catalysts for the rapid increase in the number of new faith communities. Research data in the contexts of Anglophone Nigeria and Francophone Togo demonstrate that leaders serve a vital function in motivating church planters through mentoring, modeling, and mandating church-planting activity.
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Missiology: An International Review
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Missiology: An International Review
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Missiology: An International Review, 2019
The rapid growth of Christianity in Africa since in the last three decades is attributed to the a... more The rapid growth of Christianity in Africa since in the last three decades is attributed to the aggressive activity of local church planters in their efforts to evangelize and missionize their contexts. Key factors represent important leadership influences serving as catalysts for the rapid increase of in the number of new faith communities. Research data in the contexts of Anglophone Nigeria and Francophone Togo demonstrate that leaders serve a vital function in motivating church planters through mentoring, modeling, and mandating church planting activity.
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The largely Western Church, and its academy, has had two distinct approaches to insider movements... more The largely Western Church, and its academy, has had two distinct approaches to insider movements: either outright rejection; or treated them as transitional. Dyrness argues for a third approach: one of " dual belonging ". This line of argument allows for embracing the new faith without giving up the cultural practices of the old religion. Needless to state, the crux of the matter lies in the negotiation that is done to accommodate both. Insider Jesus: Theological Reflections on New Christian Movements will intentionally stretch the rather narrow confines of some evangelical missiologists and reflective practitioners, but it would be a good stretch such as an exercise does for the body. For some of us, it may not be what we would prefer to hear, but undoubtedly what we need to hear that, indeed, God is at work in unique ways within other cultures, that if not recognized and appreciated, may actually blind us to fresh illumination of the renewing work of God in Christ in our day and time. Insider Jesus: Theological Reflections on New Christian Movements is highly recommended for all who are serious about missions to places where Christ is not yet known (Acts 15:20).
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This book is a compilation of Yong's essay as a dialogic approach to the relationship between a P... more This book is a compilation of Yong's essay as a dialogic approach to the relationship between a Pentecostal theology of mission and a Christian theology of religions. His central thesis is that the "missiological compulsion of the present twenty-first-century global and pluralistic context can be invigorated by a pneumatological imagination derived from the Day of Pentecost narrative (p. 2). There are twelve chapters that emphasize the intersection of pneumatology and missiology within a pluralistic milieu of religious others.
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Book Reviews by J Stephen Jester
Missiology: An International Review, 2019
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Papers by J Stephen Jester
Book Reviews by J Stephen Jester