Transforming Culture: A Challenge for Christian Mission

"Transforming Culture" is a useful tool for understanding the social games we play. Lingenfelter points out how we unconsciously follow different social orders at home, at work, at church and in various other situations. He uses plenty of examples from mission experience in a number of cultures to apply this to church work. As a missionary in Brazil, South America I found this book helpful in understanding and interpreting the culture in which I find myself. HOWEVER, I do NOT recommend Lingenfelter's follow-up to this text, entitled "Agents of Transformation." This latter work is thickly technical and impractical, an example of how modern missiology is too often losing sight of reality. Instead, I would heartily recommend "Cross-Cultural Conflict" by Duane Elmer as a good read after "Transforming Culture."

This book is a must for any Christian who aspires to expand the Kingdom of God to other nations. A book to have at one bedside, near our Bible, as a manual as we live the Great Commission.

Good book on cross-cultural witness. Certainly a must have for someone looking to enter missions as a Christian, and a good book for anyone that is looking to do ministry of any sort in our pluralistic society.Lots of personal anecdotes, and well-thought theology. Certainly a valuable perspective.

One of the most fascinating areas of life is interacting with different cultures. The Lingenfelters lived for a time on the island of Yap and he very open shares out of his successes and failures there. The book is well organized to introduce to the reader the idea of grid and group, an axis on which cultures can be mapped. Each quadrant has both its strengths and weaknesses, and most importantly, none one of them is more 'holy' than any other. Using quizzes, the reader can assess where they "map" on the grid as well as where their host culture is. It will help them assess how to function in such a way that respects their host culture while still being able to pursue their calling there.

This is an excellent book on transforming culture. There are no other comments to be made. The book is excellent

Sherwood Lingenfelter is a well known author in the field of Church and culture. In his book Transforming Culture, he writes about "social and cultural systems" which exert "powerful pressure" both on the Church and on unredeemed society. These are "prisons of disobedience" of which Christians may often be largely unaware. Therefore we are called upon to "see clearly", so that we may "unlock the chains of our cultural habits and the gates to our cultural walls". The book contains several illuminating examples of Christians who do run into such cultural "walls".For the purpose of identifying and recognising "prisons of disobedience", Lingenfelter employs a simple sociological model which originated in secular form with social anthropologist Mary Douglas. He uses this to "decipher the unique features of a social game and understand its social order". This draws out any one of five basic social games, which in turn should enable the Christian to submit to an existing social order "for the sake of the gospel and the glory of God". He sees the Christian as a "pilgrim", who "engages society through any and all of the five social games", thus becoming "a player" in the social games of culture, in the interests of his or her witness within that culture.Lingenfelter's touchstone for interpreting and transforming culture is the sociological model described. This has a number of implications, not all of which I am able to comment on without reserve. Most importantly, instead of viewing Church and culture primarily in terms of one's relationship with Christ, he analyses these primarily in terms of his model. He describes how a missionary badly lost his sense of priority due to his "social values". In another example, a man displays serious cultural bias, "perhaps motivated by [...] values". We are "motivated by" social values, and "the issue is [...] the values that lie behind our attitudes". The question for Lingenfelter is, "What values compel us?"I would offer by way of contrast that many Bible characters were compelled by a vision of the glory of the Lord. We serve a God of glory, power, and majesty, and as we give Him pre-eminence in our lives, all other things lose their primary value - including our culturally conditioned priorities. Therefore while Lingenfelter's model serves to make his subject matter interesting, uncomplicated, and accessible to the reader, and highlights some important issues of which the Christian should be aware, it really is too much fixated with culture and values, and lacks a "grander" Christian vision.