VULNERABLE MISSION

BOOK REVIEWS
A. SCOTT MOREAU. Contextualization in World Missions: Mapping and
Assessing Evangelical Models. Grand Rapids: Kregel, 2012. 432pp.
$22.03.
Certain subjects linger in a state of cumulative chaos, waiting for the right scholar to create
a sense of order. The discussion of contextualization among evangelical Christians is such a
subject, and Scott Moreau has proven equal to the task of systematizing its diverse parts into
a balanced presentation. The undertaking requires both a comprehensive understanding of
a multifaceted debate and the methodological rigor necessary to avoid reductionism. In Contextualization
in World Missions: Mapping and Assessing Evangelical Models, Moreau combines these
qualities in an orderly, economical rendition of the issues.
A. Scott Moreau has taught missions at Wheaton College for more than two decades. In
addition to authoring or editing a variety of missiological works, he has been the editor of
Evangelical Missions Quarterly since 2001. A prominent evangelical missiologist, Moreau aims
to “map” evangelical models of contextualization. Some prominent treatments of contextualization
have lumped evangelical contextualization into a single category among a more
theologically liberal array of options. Thus, the impetus behind his endeavor is the need for a
truly representative analysis of evangelical perspectives. Moreau hopes his cartography will
help readers explore the diverse regions of the evangelical “continent” of contextualization in
order to make informed judgments about particular proposals.
The book bears a popular academic style that does not shy from technical content but consciously
avoids scholarly wordiness. The real key to the book’s success, though, is its systematic
and restrained exposition. The body comprises two sections of nearly equal length. The first
section illuminates Moreau’s methodological concerns, and the second section is the substance
of the proposal itself. Though Moreau’s descriptive endeavor is potentially fraught
with subjectivity, in the first section he so thoroughly explicates the assumptions and criteria
at work in his map that there is hardly any cause for uncertainty. Moreover, he manages to
introduce working assumptions, such as the meaning of “evangelical” or the place of holism
in contextualization, convincingly, without bogging down in topics that could be books unto
themselves.
The proposal trades on Moreau’s credibility rather directly. He classified 249 examples of
evangelical contextualization from published sources, according to seventy-nine criteria. In
this process, he “discovered” six initiator roles (195). Moreau utilizes these six roles as his
models of contextualization, cross-referencing them with other criteria to define exemplars
of each model and their respective tendencies. The selection of these models, as well as the
definition of the various criteria, is completely Moreau’s prerogative despite the clinical feel of
his data analysis. By section two, though, the reader is convinced that Moreau is anything but
arbitrary in his procedure, and his credentials certainly merit the benefit of the doubt. The
skeptical reader may wonder, nonetheless, whether the source material could be organized
into different categories, as Moreau cannot defend his choices in a work this size.
Moreau’s map seems to represent the major regions of evangelical contextualization. His
models are Facilitator, Guide, Herald, Pathfinder, Prophet, and Restorer. One problem with
these categories is that some examples fit equally into multiple models. Anticipating such objections,
Moreau clarifies that his intention is not to communicate “that the individual never
takes on other roles or that the method is constrained by that role” (175). Taken as typical
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