EMQ » January–March 2020 » Volume 56 Issue 1
Edited by W. Jay Moon and Craig Ott
Littleton, CO: William Carey Publishing, 2019
228 pages
USD $16.99
Reviewed by Daniel Topf, regional mobilizer with World Team and PhD student at the School of Intercultural Studies at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California.
Comprised of ten chapters written by both emerging and established scholars, this edited volume is based on a selection of papers presented at the 2018 national conference of the Evangelical Missiological Society (EMS) wrestling with the question “How does the process of secularization impact the task of Christian Mission in the modern world?” (ix).
The book’s introduction and its first four chapters deal with this question through general frameworks, highlighting issues such as historical, political, and sociological aspects of secularization, the reality of “multiple modernities” (xxvii, 2, 173), religious pluralism, and the impact individualism, technology, and different worldviews have on people today.
Chapters five to ten discuss secularization in specific cultures and contexts, addressing missional challenges and opportunities in North America, France, Germany, Russia, Taiwan/China, and Liberia. These reflections on the theme through particular geographical lenses are presented by authors who are deeply familiar with the countries they write about – be it because of their upbringing and ethnicity (as is the case of Tony Huang who, born in Taiwan and raised in Malaysia, wrote the chapter on the Chinese context) or because of their ministry experience (e.g., Steve Thrall, who has served as an urban missionary in Paris, France, since 1988).
Throughout the book, the authors offer practical suggestions on how Christians and churches can be relevant in today’s world, while also engaging with academic voices describing the phenomenon of secularization. Prominent among these academics is Peter Berger who wrote influential works like The Sacred Canopy: The Social Construction of Reality (1976) and The Many Altars of Modernity: Toward a Paradigm for Religion in a Pluralist Age (2014). Like other scholars (such as Harvey Cox), Berger has come to the conclusion that “pluralism, not secularization, is the end result of modernization” (161, cf. 5, 61). Other important conversation partners include the British missiologist Lesslie Newbigin, who was one of the first to highlight the challenges of an increasingly secularized West, and the Canadian philosopher Charles Taylor, “one of the foremost scholars on secularization today” (99).
Against the Tide is a helpful read for lay Christians who desire to live out their personal faith in the public square in a spirit of “bold humility,” as David Bosch once famously put it. Similarly, pastors can turn to this volume in order to prepare their churches for a more impactful witness in the secularized environment they find themselves in. Additionally, this book is a great resource for scholars of religion and missiology, whether they desire to teach about secularism in general or choose one of the essays in order to present a case study for a specific geographical and cultural context.
For Further Reading:
Berger, Peter L. The Many Altars of Modernity: Toward a Paradigm for Religion in a Pluralist Age. Boston: Walter de Gruyter, 2014.
Newbigin, Lesslie. Honest Religion for Secular Man. London: SCM, 1966.
Taylor, Charles. A Secular Age. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2007.
