By Vinoth Ramachandra IVP. 179 pages
Well worth reading, Vinoth Ramachandra's third book is another erudite and scholarly work aimed at challenging the assumptions of the opinion-makers in the Christian world. The book examines the contemporary religious world culture to reveal the opportunities and challenges for gospel witness.
Ramachandra's location, as a Christian in Asia familiar with Western Christianity, gives him an excellent vantage point to raise issues of East-West tension. Chapters on Islamic and Hindu cultural self-understanding offer a helpful insight into the global religio-political situation and help the reader to understand the underlying issues behind the headlines. My favourite chapter was the Jesus Enigma (a reworking of the best material from the Recovery of Mission) where, drawing on contemporary New Testament scholarship, Ramachandra presents an apologetic for Jesus in a multi-cultural world that is fresh and makes sense of the Jewish context in which Jesus lived.
This book is based on the talks that Ramachandra gave at the School of Oriental and African Studies under the auspices of the Institute for Contemporary Christianity, and as such is aimed at the thinking reader who is willing to put work in to understand these complex issues. Any effort put in is rewarded with helpful suggestions for an informed response to a multi-cultural pluralistic society.
