Paul G. Hiebert – författare

This book explores the question of epistemology, or theory of knowledge, and its impact upon how we view and do missions in today''s world.What must a new convert know or believe? How do they know? How can we translate and communicate Christian teachings interculturally without distorting the message? How should we do missions in an anti-colonial, postmodern era characterized by religious relativism and accusations of Christian imperialism?In struggling with these questions, Paul Hiebert focuses on the epistemological foundations that underlay them. He examines three specific theories of knowledge--positivism, instrumentalism/idealism, and critical realism. In the end he sides with the latter because it avoids the arrogance and colonialism implicit in positivism and the relativism of instrumentalism/idealism. Critical realism, Hiebert argues, strikes a kind of middle ground between the emphasis upon objective truth and the subjective nature of human knowledge. It allows for a real world that exists independently from human perceptions and opinions of it, restores emotions and moral judgments as essential parts of knowing, and creates the conditions for knowing persons intimately and as fully human--all of the which have important implications for Christian mission in the modern world. Paul G. Hiebert is Professor of Anthropology and Mission, chair of the Department of Mission and Evangelism, and Associate Dean of Academic Doctorates at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. He is the author of seven books, including Incarnational Ministries: Church Planting in Tribal, Peasant, and Urban Societies.

In the past, changes in behavior and in belief have been leading indicators for missionaries that Christian conversion had occurred. But these alone--or even together--are insufficient for a gospel understanding of conversion. For effective biblical mission, Paul G. Hiebert argues, we must add a third element: a change in worldview. Here he offers a comprehensive study of worldview--its philosophy, its history, its characteristics, and the means for understanding it. He then provides a detailed analysis of several worldviews that missionaries must engage today, addressing the impact of each on Christianity and mission. A biblical worldview is outlined for comparison. Finally, Hiebert argues for gospel ministry that seeks to transform people's worldviews and offers suggestions for how to do so.

While the gospel is timeless truth, it enters into ever-changing and widely varied human contexts. In order to meaningfully communicate the gospel to particular humans, those involved in cross-cultural ministry need to understand people and the particular influences--social, cultural, psychological, and ecological--that shape them. Further, we must understand ourselves and the influences that have shaped us, since our own contexts influence how we understand and transmit the gospel message. Therefore, we must master not only the skill of biblical interpretation but also the skill of human interpretation. That task is the topic of this book, the summation of a lifetime of experience and thinking by a world-renowned missiologist and anthropologist, the late Paul Hiebert.

This introduction to the field of cultural anthropology from a Christian perspective exposes students to the excitement and significance of human history and culture.

One source to help missionaries understand the people they serve and their historical and cultural settings is in the field of study called anthropology. The author, an expert in his field, taps its insights for missionaries in a way that few others do.

Anthropology's contributions explored for cross-cultural understanding of epistemology, globalism, urbanization, church planting, and spiritual warfare.

While the gospel is timeless truth, it enters into ever-changing and widely varied human contexts. In order to meaningfully communicate the gospel to particular humans, those involved in cross-cultural ministry need to understand people and the particular influences--social, cultural, psychological, and ecological--that shape them. Further, we must understand ourselves and the influences that have shaped us, since our own contexts influence how we understand and transmit the gospel message. Therefore, we must master not only the skill of biblical interpretation but also the skill of human interpretation. That task is the topic of this book, the summation of a lifetime of experience and thinking by a world-renowned missiologist and anthropologist, the late Paul Hiebert.