Perspectives on the World Christian Movement : A Reader (Paperback)

~ Ralph D. Winter (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Perspectives on the World Christian Movement (Third Edition) is a collection of readings exploring the biblical, historical, cultural, and strategic dimensions of world evangelization. Writings from more than 90 mission scholars and practitioners introduce lay people and students to the astounding potential of the global Christian movement. Each of the 125 articles offers practical wisdom enabling Christians to labor together in bold, biblical hope to finish the task of seeing Christ named and followed among all the peoples of the earth.

From the Publisher

"1999- 3rd edition"

Product Details

• Paperback: 782 pages
• Publisher: William Carey Library Publishers; 3rd edition (January 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0878082891
• ISBN-13: 978-0878082896
• Product Dimensions: 10 x 7 x 1.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #284,472 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

35 of 37 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Want your life completely changed by a book?!, January 21, 1999

By	Brian Hogan "author of "There's a Sheep i... (McKinleyville, California, USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This book completely blew my world view apart! It ended up propelling my family to the wilds of Outer Mongolia for three years during which time we planted a church movement among the Mongols - all by using principles learned thru Perspectives! A MUST READ FOR EVERY ONE WHO PROFESSES TO LOVE CHRIST!

29 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Worldview Stretcher!, April 29, 2004

By	Gregory Gilbert (Brooklyn, NY) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I first bought this book as a required text for my seminary class "Intro to Global Missions," and I can honestly say that out of the many many books I've had to buy for my seminary career, this book remains as one of the single most important.

The book is broken into four major sections, labeled:

The Biblical Perspective
The Historical Perspective
The Cultural Perspective
The Strategic Perspective

Each of these then has dozens of articles written by authors such as Brother Andrew, Walter C. Kaiser Jr., Greg Boyd, John Piper, John R. W. Stott, Hudson Taylor, and many other excellent authors.

Not to use a cliche, but you'll both laugh and cry as you read through this volume and read incredibly diverse accounts of the Christian experience around the world like you can in no other book I know of. This book definitly helped me break out of my very limited frame of reference, and really opened my eyes up to the state of the world...

26 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Jack needs a response...., July 7, 2005

By	Alethia (Brooklyn, NY) - See all my reviews

Jack Eller, "Anthropologist, Author, Rationalist," seems to have forgotten some major points in his argument about this book. First, although he correctly points out that the book does an excellent job about doing what it's designed to do - that is sharing about what's going on in the Christian missional realm - he argues that Christianity ought not to be spread at all, and that the whole book is just wrong. He says that "[from] a cross-cultural and anthropological point of view ... [i]t is arrogant, ethnocentric, and culturally destructive to spread a culturally-relative and almost certainly false ideology and belief system where it is not needed or wanted." That's all well and good, but since the book isn't about SHOULD people be missionaries or not, his review is instantly irrelevant. Any review of a book that rants about what the subject matter of the book is not is really not even a true book review - Jack should realize this if he's truly a writer.

Second, being a self proclaimed Rationalist, Jack ought to realize that his own "rational" worldview is also a religion, religion defined as 'a set of beliefs.' This book is most assuredly about the Christian Missionary Experiences of many people across the globe - not an exhaustive apologetic of the Christian faith. If Jack really believes that no one ought to push their beliefs, he should have never published his review in the first place.

Third, people like Jack who tend to think of "Christianity" in terms of "people who do things that I don't like or agree with, and they're always pushing pushing pushing their beliefs on me and others" should take the time to check out some of the many positive things that Christians have done throughout the world. One example is hospitals: both in the US and abroad. Ever notice how many, if not most hospitals involve Christian denominations in the name? For example, here in New York City we have New York Presbyterian and New York Methodist Hospitals which are some of the most sophisticated hosptials in the world. Why do they have Christian denominations in the titles? Because they were founded by Christians who believed that sick people can be helped through medical means. But we never hear about this - it's always "Christians pushing their ways." This book shows how missionaries have helped many across the globe both spiritually AND physically. Jack says that people don't want or need what missionaries have, but nothing could be further from the truth. Christianity properly understood is the most love and human care centered belief system in the world, and this book highlights that well.