EMQ » January – April 2024 » Volume 60 Issue 1
Supracultural Gospel: Bridging East and West
By Mary Lou Codman-Wilson with Alex (Qin) Zhou
William Carey Publishing, 2022
208 pages
US$15.99
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Reviewed by Brent H. Burdick, DMin, adjunct professor of missions, Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, Charlotte, North Carolina, and director of the Lausanne Movement’s Global Classroom.
Because cross-cultural servants may be ethnocentric as they share the gospel, there is a need to be more supracultural as they evangelize and disciple. Mary Lou Codman-Wilson and Alex Zhou, in their book Supracultural Gospel: Bridging East and West define supracultural as “above all cultures.” They note that “the content of the supracultural gospel must be embraced if Christians are to live successfully as Christ’s disciples and be disciplers of all people groups throughout the world” (4). The author’s major concern is how Westerners disciple Eastern converts, but much of the book applies to any cultural context. All cross-cultural servants must be supracultural.
The desire that the gospel be supracultural stems from the observation that Westerners sharing the gospel with Eastern peoples has often resulted in Christianity being perceived as an outsider religion, in cultural resistance against the gospel, and in persecution. Westerners must therefore be aware of the Eastern cultural mindset boxes that often prohibit full acceptance and understanding of the gospel by Asians.
These boxes also can inhibit effective discipleship of Asian Christians. Eastern cultural values like wa or harmony, jyoushiki or common sense, gimu or obligation are Eastern mindsets that a Western discipler cannot ignore. If this happens, then Asians discipled by Westerners may not be able to stand up to the many challenges to the Christian faith they will face when they return to their home country because of the prevalence of these values and the roadblocks they present.
The book is helpful for people who minister both in Asia and in the West, but it will probably be most helpful for people living in the West who work with Asian international students. Many of the illustrations point out the challenges Asian students face when they return home, but missionaries living in Asia will find the book helpful so that they do not copy and paste the Western gospel into Asian settings, leading to ineffective rooting of the gospel.
The book also suggests some Asian perspectives on theological and spiritual principles to guide new believers and their disciplers. These are very helpful and would be encouraging for Asian believers and disciplers alike. However, some of the illustrations and quotes in these sections come from Western contexts. Though the overall message comes across well, this helpful book would have been even more effective if more Asian quotes and explanations had been used.
Supracultural Gospel is a book to add to your library for more effective and contextually relevant communication of the gospel in Asian settings and to Asian people.
For Further Reading:
Contextualization or Syncretism? The Use of Other-Faith Worship Forms in the Bible and in Insider Movements by Derek Brotherson and A. Scott Moreau (Pickwick Publications, 2021).
Contextualization and the Old Testament: Between Asian and Western Perspectives by Jerry Hwang (Langham Global Library, 2022).
EMQ, Volume 60, Issue 1. Copyright © 2024 by Missio Nexus. All rights reserved. Not to be reproduced or copied in any form without written permission from Missio Nexus. Email: EMQ@MissioNexus.org.
