VULNERABLE MISSION

MISSIO DEI 4.1 (FEBRUARY 2013): 163–172
rather than definitive, and in relation to the many other variables in Moreau’s dataset, the
models are a powerful tool for “locating” contextualization efforts on the evangelical map.
One question lingers, primarily regarding the Restorer model. Although “the restorer comes
to heal or deliver from bondage of any type,” most of Moreau’s examples have to do with
spiritual warfare. Curiously, the evidence suggests that “evangelicals consider demons qua
demons somehow immune to contextual or worldview considerations” (299). “A criticism
of initiators as restorers,” states Moreau, “is that practitioners rarely discuss their methods
as explicitly contextual” (307). The question, then, is why Moreau considers this a model
of contextualization, when its presuppositions are acontextual on average and nearly anticontextual
at worst. It seems that the Restorer is a model of mission work rather than a model
of contextualization. And this observation highlights a concern for the other models to a
lesser extent. Approaches to mission that deal with issues in their contexts (such as spiritual
bondage) are not thereby necessarily contextualized, as per Moreau’s own definition of contextualization
(36). One danger of being as impressively thorough as Moreau has done is to
be overly inclusive to the detriment of a limited notion of contextualization.
Because Moreau intends to systematize existing proposals rather than rehash them, the specific
processes of contextualization in his models are never in view. He stays at a bird’s eye
view of each exemplar, leaving the reader wishing for a more concrete understanding of each
one, which would help clarify why each one is in fact an example of contextualization rather
than just missions methodology. The book would be far more lengthy with that provision,
though, and the bibliography is available.
A couple of other peculiarities are noteworthy. One, Moreau’s definition of evangelical appears
to exclude Majority World evangelicals. There are a few exceptions, and he is aware of
the issue (320–21), but it is clear that American evangelicalism is in view. This is due primarily
to the use of published exemplars, of which there are far fewer from the Majority World. The
point here is not that Moreau would chose to exclude Majority World exemplars given an alternative
(although his definition of evangelicalism does have roots in American culture wars),
but the fact that he cannot represent them severely limits the representativeness of his map.
As with Europeans’ “discovery” of the Americas, once readers venture off the map, they may
find the second half of the world—or more, in this case. Two, large portions of the book read
as an extended exchange with Charles Kraft. Kraft is an influential and controversial missiologist
whom Moreau could not wisely marginalize in these discussions, but at times it seems
as though evangelical contextualization comes down to Kraft’s proposals and their dissenters.
One of the key successes of the book is that it makes evident the occasion of the contextualization
discussion. The urgency of talking about particularly evangelical contextualization,
and to a large extent the urgency of the dialogue with Charles Kraft, is a symptom of the
ongoing shift within conservative Christianity toward critical realism. The mapping of contextualization
models among evangelicals is fundamentally about establishing an epistemological
continuum on which to locate contextualization efforts. Though evangelicals will need
to move beyond Moreau’s descriptive contribution into critical and prescriptive proposals,
they can now do so with the profound yet accessible insight he has provided regarding what
is truly at stake.
Greg McKinzie
Missionary
Arequipa, Peru
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