GloboChrist: The Great Commission Takes a Postmodern Turn (The Church and Postmodern Culture) (Paperback)

~ Carl Raschke (Author)
Key Phrases: utter holiness, wholly otherness, generous orthodoxy, New York, Great Commission, De-Signs of the Time (more...)

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Product Description

The information age has not only interconnected the world but has also shrunk it. This global dynamic impacts Christianity, especially the Great Commission. How do believers make disciples of all nations in this digital world of religious diversity? Carl Raschke, author of the acclaimed The Next Reformation, answers such questions in GloboChrist. He explores the impact of globalization, postmodernism, and information technology on missions and evangelism, as well as the role that Christianity plays in an increasingly pluralistic world. In short, he helps Christians respond to the tectonic shifts of the twenty-first century. This third volume in the well-received Church and Postmodern Culture series is relevant to students, pastors, and all who care about the future of the church.

From the Back Cover

The Great Commission Takes a Postmodern Turn

The rise of the Internet and the proliferation of digital technologies have profoundly affected the world; it is not only smaller but also more interconnected. What role does the church play in this multimedia-dominated globe?

In GloboChrist, Carl Raschke tackles the subjects of globalization, postmodernism, and information technology and their impact on missions and evangelism. In addition, he addresses the role that Christianity plays in an increasingly pluralistic world, providing concrete strategies for confronting the challenges. In short, GloboChrist helps Christians respond to the tectonic shifts of the twenty-first century.

"GloboChrist is the unconventional title of an intriguing inquiry into postmodern patterns and ideas and the challenge to mission. The book is a confident statement for these uncertain times, a troubling of the waters that will stir complacent Christians in their assumption."--Lamin Sanneh, Yale University

"For those who have tried to follow the intricacies (and vagaries) of postmodern thought to find out what it can tell us of the night, this vigorously discerning volume offers a glimpse of the global dawn. Drawing on many resources and a focused evangelical faith, Raschke lays out a case for a Christian perspective on globalization as a dynamic development that opens reconstructive (post-deconstructive) possibilities for pursuing the Great Commission. Globalization is not essentially an economic issue. The 'GloboChrist' is sweeping the world in a post-postmodern way in spite of militant Islamism, Christian fundamentalism, modernist liberalism, and secular economism. This is the best book on globalization I have read by an overtly Christian thinker. It complements and challenges my own efforts to discern theologically what is at stake in globalization."--Max L. Stackhouse, Princeton Theological Seminary; author, Globalization and Grace

"I'd hoped to give GloboChrist a quick read, but after picking it up I simply couldn't put it down; it is elegant, clear, and provocative. Raschke not only helps us see Christ and mission afresh in our hi-tech, pluralistic, postmodern, and global context but also equips us with engagement strategies."--Dwight J. Friesen, Mars Hill Graduate School, Seattle

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Product Details

• Paperback: 176 pages
• Publisher: Baker Academic (August 1, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 080103261X
• ISBN-13: 978-0801032615
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #131,804 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars For the Church, its Mission, and our Culture, October 26, 2008

By	Joshua R. Ramos "Reynaldo" (Boston, MA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

The central question to Raschke's missio-logical book is: "How is the task of the Great Commission, a missional task given by Christ to all his subsequent disciples, to be carried out in postmodern (=globalization) culture?" Raschke delineates the context of `globalization' that we are situated in, specifying several meanings to the slippery term, and ultimately identifies it as inherent to the definition of `postmodern', which is yet another term often disputed. He discusses the transformation of Christianity due to the effects of globalization, a transformation that is seen in the characteristics of decentralization, de-institutionalization, and indigenization. In discussing the structure, growth and manifestation of global-Christianity, Raschke draws the metaphor of `rhizomic growth', which in botanical terminology is that of a horizontal and subterranean structure and spread of a tuberic `mass of roots', and in the Deleuzian notion, of which Raschke makes important use of throughout his book, is how concepts are structured, birthed, manifested, understood and interpreted.

The challenges that Raschke believes are posed to Christianity in the globalization processes are consumerism, the mutation of Christianity into mass-market commodity, and radical Islamism. Rashcke believes that the clash between Christianity and radical Islamism should be not be seen as simply a battle between political libertarianism and totalitarianism, but is rather a clash of revelations, specifically on how the two interpret the promises to Abraham and how eschatology will play out, which will be either Mahdi or Messiah.

What Raschke offers as a responding strategy to the challenges for the global-Christian body, the `GloboChrist' as he calls it, is to emphasize radically the aspect of relation and incarnation in the ontology and development of the church-body and in its missional praxis. It is best to understand ourselves as primarily relational beings, in that the Trinity is primarily relation between Father, Son and Spirit, and we are made imago dei. In our interaction and missional experience with the Other in the era of the postmodern, we are to indigenize, contextualize, or `incarnate', as patterned after the incarnation of Jesus and his kingdom/mission toward us. Raschke gives working and personal examples of churches that exemplify his strategy, such as social justice undertakings in Uganda and contextual ministry in Vienna, Austria.

I recommend this book for those who want to understand what globalization spells out for the church, and particularly what it spell out for the church's mission. For those who know where I come from, I resound the blog comments of Andrew Jones, aka `Tall Skinny Kiwi', that "this book sums that this book sums up the postmodern European challenge and the church's response better than anything out there right now."

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Next 'Christ and Culture', November 2, 2008

By	Brian Fleming (Plano, TX) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Of all that could be said about this important book, I only wish to mention a few things. One, Raschke has written what could be seen as a contemporary 'Christ and Culture'. Though we will always be indebted to Niebuhr's influential work, such a categorically grounded, indeed structuralist approach in many ways no longer suffices. As I see it, Niebuhr's Christ and Culture can really be understood more as Christ and "Modernist Western" Culture. Raschke has no doubt anticipated the need for something more conversant with post modernism and globalization...and with that, of course, gloalizing theology, contemporary political ideologies, and the like.

Second, Raschke is daring and unrelenting in his pursuit basically to slap everybody upside the head at least once. That is, Raschke is in many ways post conservative, post liberal, constructively orthodox and unafraid to model a way of thinking and doing theology that is prophetic, refreshing, and challenging. For instance, while he is unapologetically Biblical, he does not lean on scripture naively. Likewise, he is not afraid to work within the parameters of orthodox Christology, yet not content simply rehashing the same old same old.

Let me also say that what makes this book so great is its brevity. Raschke has said in roughly 200 pages what it takes some scholars 500+ to say. So yes, definitely check out this book!

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Glocal Call to Rhizomic/Incarnational Life, October 7, 2008

By	C. Gable (Texas) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Dr. Carl Raschke (Harvard PhD) has written an outstanding book that reads like a personal manifesto of rhizomic encounters. Using the rhizomic philosophical concept of Gilles Deleuze, turning it on its head, and then applying it to Christian ministry, Raschke has challenged us all to think in a new way. His tracing of the global shift in Christian currents provide some of the most important work on this topic to date. This book is not as academic as "The Next Reformation," but makes up for it in readability and personalized narratives. I simply could not put it down, and read it in two sittings. This is the most important book on the Glocal (global/local) Christian movement written this year.