REVIEW: THE GOSPEL IN HUMAN CONTEXTS

Abstract

Paul G. Hiebert, widely recognized as one of the finest missionary anthropologists in the mid-20th to the early 21st centuries, focused the bulk of his writing labors on how to effectively communicate the gospel of Jesus Christ to all ethnic groups. Hiebert’s experience as a missionary and pastor in India, along with his vast teaching experience at Fuller Theological Seminary and Trinity Evangelical Divinity School serve as solid qualifications for writing this book.  In this review of his posthumous The Gospel in Human Contexts, my aspiration is to restate and recapitulate his legacy of biblical missiology and discerning use of the social sciences. Proclamation of the Gospel in human contexts is effectively one of the most difficult tasks facing every follower of Christ, especially pastors and missionaries. In this great ministry, there is always a danger of over-contextualization as well as non-contextualization. It is in this context that Hiebert argues for his well-received work on “Critical-Contextualization” in this book.