I have no idea where this comes from, but I thought you’d like it. A Chinese friend told me this one. There was a Chinese, American, and European student sitting a class. Their teacher was giving them an essay to write. The teacher aid they had to answer the following question, “In your opinion, why is there a lack of food in other countries?” The American was a little confused so he raised his hand and said: “Teacher, I don’t... Read more
Without question, 1 Cor 15 is the most important passage concerning the resurrection in all of Scripture. Many people are familiar with the first section, verses 4–8, which is regarded as a summary of the gospel. The climax of the gospel proclamation is the resurrection. If we do not understand the resurrection, we little understand the significance of the gospel. I suggest then that Paul’s discussion of the gospel is not limited to vv. 4–8; rather, the entire chapter is... Read more
I think evangelicals in general tend to have a low view of the resurrection. That sounds like an overstatement, but this is what I mean. Typically, evangelicals see the resurrection mainly as having more to do with apologetics than theology. The resurrection acts as a “proof” that Jesus is divine. If they are more precise, they might even say it proves Jesus is King (cf. Acts 2:24–26; 13:30–39). While these conclusion are be true enough, this is not the primary... Read more
Biblically speaking, how should we understand “reproducibility?” Or, stated in another way, what is it we seek to reproduce in our training? In the previous posts, I considered possible reasons why missionaries so strongly emphasize “reproducibility.” I argued that there are serious problems with this trend. In this post, I propose an alternative way of thinking about reproducibility. At one level, I agree that we want to teach ideas and methods in a simple way, if possible. However, we do not... Read more
As I said in a previous post, a number of influences lie behind much of the modern missionary zeal for reproducible methods. For many, it is the idol of speed. Others struggle to believe they are doing God’s will unless it can be measured with a number. Highly simplified tools facilitate the use of categories than can have a number attached to it (i.e. # of cycles, days, etc.). A person once told me that using non-reproducible methods gives the... Read more
In the last post, I suggested that “reproducibility” can subtly disguise a common idol—time. The modern missionary zeal for reproducible methods may be more about speed than reproducing faithful Christ followers Perhaps there are other more subtle reasons why people treat reproducibility as the measuring stick for missionary methods. Frankly, it may simply be because the many missionaries themselves don’t understand so much of the Bible; they themselves need simple formulaic methods or else it would be over their heads.... Read more
Contemporary missions literature places a high value on reproducibility.The acceptability of a methodology is judged in large part by how reproducible it is. Even if a method is biblical, contemporary missionaries are increasing demanding that it be easily reproduced by local believers. The idea is that a new or uneducated believer could leave our training and reproduce what they were taught to others. Among recent books, Steve Smith’s T4T (WIGTake, 2011) may be the most forceful in emphasizing this point.... Read more
I teach Romans in Chinese. It’s painful sometimes. Don’t misunderstand me. I love Romans. Much of my PhD research focused on this book. Why then can it be hard to teach? The most prominent translation in China, the HeHeBen (和合本), literally deletes an overwhelmingly large number of the logical words Paul put in the original text. People are sensitive to interpretations and translations that add to the original text; however, I have heard little to no complaints by people about... Read more
David Brook’s latest NY Times editorial, called The Learning Virtues, explores how Asians and Westerners view education differently. Here is an excerpt— The simplest way to summarize her [the researcher’s] findings is that Westerners tend to define learning cognitively while Asians tend to define it morally. Westerners tend to see learning as something people do in order to understand and master the external world. Asians tend to see learning as an arduous process they undertake in order to cultivate virtues... Read more
Here is funny little something comparing how Chinese kids grow up versus how an Western, American child. You don’t have to know Chinese to get the contrast. The Chinese children are on the left. The Western kid is on the right. The ages are bolded in the middle of the graph. Oh, the blogs that could be written on this comic alone. Read more
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