Customer Reviews

Missiological Implications of Epistemological Shifts: Affirming Truth in a Modern/Postmodern World (Christian Mission & Modern Culture)

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I enjoyed Hiebert's willingness to examine the epistemological underpinnings of Cultural Anthropology, and in turn reflect on how this might help mission work. It is rather refreshing to see a missionary, and anthropologist examine this subject.

The book is a great introduction to the study of Epistemology.
Hiebert shows himself to be well read in the area, recognizing the strengths and weaknesses of many different epistemological approaches. His understanding and embrace of critical realism
shows his willingness to engage culture as a missionary with truth, and to ask questions as an anthropologist that many are not willing to ask today.

Hiebert has renewed my interest in anthropology.

As a crash course in epistemology, this book functions very well for those with little familiarity with the subject.

But the book fails to ask any provocative questions or give any useful answers.

Hiebert masquerades as a 'progressive'; he presents critical realism as the great epistemological synthesis--accepting, rejecting, and finally transcending both modernism and postmodernism.

But he deals rather harshly with postmodernism. By dressing up his arguments in vocabulary of the subjective, he feels that he has adequately 'dealt with' the postmodern problem.

But he misses the point. Epistemological progress in theology and missiology will not occur until postmodernism is accepted and validated as an emerging world-view and not merely 'dealt with.'

Critical realism may in fact be a viable epistemological alternative. But Hiebert is not fundamentally a critical realist; rather, he is yet another modern too afraid of doing irreparable damage to the Absolute to engage the issues at hand with much more than half-hearted sincerity.