464 - Cross Cultural Theology: Western Reflections in Asia

Cross Cultural Theology: Western Reflections in Asia
By Daniel J. Adams
Atlanta, John Knox Press, 1987. 124 pp. $9.95.

The ten essays that make up this small volume are an American Presbyterian missionary's attempt to clarify the theological task within the concrete context of East Asia. In times past, Western missionaries made important contributions to the study of Asian theology, religion, culture, and church history. More recently, however, many have been content to serve as facilitators and cross-cultural communicators. Adams, by contrast , has used his teaching and research responsibilities as a theological educator in Taiwan and Korea to probe several Asian cultural situations, to assess recent Asian efforts at developing contextual theology, and to bring his Western theological training to bear on the Asian scene. The result is not an American synthesis of Asian theology, but one American's reflection on theology in Asia, with special regard to developing a theological methodology. While some of the essays, written up to fifteen years ago, now appear dated, Adams' efforts are commendable and of interest to the general reader in issues of Asian and ecumenical theology.

James A. Scherer
Lutheran School of Theology
Chicago, Ill.