In my previous post I sketched out the significance of work from a Christian perspective:
In the last number of years, many books have been published about how to engage and do evangelism among Muslim peoples. But few books address the specifics of how to help new believers from Muslim contexts grow in their faith while remaining in their Muslim communities and families. Given that some claim that up to 90% of converts from Muslim backgrounds reconvert back to Islam, discipleship and support of these converts is clearly a critical need in mission work among Muslim peoples.
A few months ago, in this blog, I posted a review of Evelyn and Richard Hibberts’ “Walking Together on the Jesus Road: Intercultural Discipling.” Now, I would like to highlight another book in this same vein, speaking even more specifically to the challenges of disciple-making among Muslim peoples – Effective Discipling in Muslim Communities: Scripture, History and Seasoned Practices by Don Little. This book is one of those recommended on our SEND U pre-field reading list for those preparing to serve in Islamic contexts.
Last month a new book on contextualization was published by Baker Academic. It is by A. Scott Moreau, and is entitled Contextualizing the Faith: A Holistic Approach. ![Contextualizing the Faith: A Holistic Approach by [Moreau, A. Scott]](https://i0.wp.com/images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/519PdMWmPEL.jpg?resize=269%2C404&ssl=1)
Dr. Moreau is associate academic dean and professor of intercultural studies at Wheaton College Graduate School. He takes a ‘dimensional’ approach to contextualization, “an approach that deals with the whole life of the church and yet organized in a way that it could be taken in smaller chunks” (preface, ix). Moreau develops an approach to contextualization that goes beyond the intellectual or theological level.
In chapter 1, he sets the stage by briefly discussing “What is Contextualization?” He does not give a formal definition but the following quote characterizes his understanding:
Why review another book comparing Islam and Christianity? Two Stories of Everything: the Competing Metanarratives of Islam and Christianity by Duane Alexander Miller take a different approach than most. Rather than comparing Islam and Christianity as religions, Miller compares the metanarratives that Islam and Christianity tell. Metanarratives are the overarching story that includes and defines all the smaller stories of a people. It is the story that communicates the worldview of a group. I find it interesting that Miller never uses the term ‘worldview’ (if he did I missed it). I think he wanted to stay focused on the stories of everything rather than get bogged down in a philosophic analysis. He has lived in the Middle East and has personal experience interacting with Muslims for whom he shows great respect. He explains his approach in the introduction:
People often talk of Islam and Christianity as competing religions, and compare their doctrines and practices. When I moved to the Middle East ten years ago I shared this opinion. But over that time I found this approach to be deficient. Which is not to say it is wrong, but it fails to grasp the genius of either of these collections of doctrines and practices. … In this book I will outline the stories that Islam and Christianity tell. Furthermore, all these stories (or narratives) find themselves included in a great story of everything, which is to say a metanarrative. Islam and Christianity, whatever they may be, certainly do propose to tell a grand story of everything, from creation of the world and time all the way to the consummation of history and the eternal fate of human souls. – Duane Alexander Miller, Two Stories of Everything, xi.
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