Transforming Worldviews: An Anthropological Understanding of How People Change

This is an excellent read for all Christians who want to share the gospel in our diverse communities. Dr. Hiebert dives deeply in to analyzing the ideas and contexts that affect us. His review of how people morphed from the village to the current multi-cultural, social media of today brought clarity and insight of how we can serve and love others well. Although it is interesting, it was not easy for me. I had to really focus and re-read sections. It was not a light read, but it’s solid content makes for a great resource.

Paul Hiebert was distinguished professor of missions and anthropology at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. Before his tenure at Trinity he served at the School of World Mission at Fuller Theological Seminary. Hiebert was a born in India and had done missions work there for several years. His Ph.D in anthropology positioned him at the center of developing missiology as a serious discipline among American seminaries. The thesis of Transforming Worldviews is that when new people groups are converted to Christianity, Christ must encompass all three levels of culture through behaviors, beliefs, and worldviews.In order for true, biblical transformations to take place, a person's conversion to Christ, Hiebert argues, should result with a point of decision and a process for developing into Christlikeness. Conversion, both individual and corporate, calls for repentance which leads to commitment to Jesus and the sanctification of that person with the community of believers. The authentic renovation of how a Christian convert interprets their context, or how they view and respond to their world, is essential to avoid the mixed practices of religious pluralism. While behaviors can be modified at a surface level and beliefs expressed through confession, without the total transforming process of replacing the former cultural worldviews with that of a biblical worldview, Hiebert states that "in the long run the gospel is subverted and the result is a syncretistic Christo-paganism, which has the form of Christianity but not the essence. Christianity becomes a new magic and a new, subtler form of idolatry" (p. 11). Hiebert declares that when we seek evangelize people of different cultures, we should look for some specific physical evidence of their decision to accept the gift of salvation. Though behavioral changes, like the abstaining of ancestral rituals might be more easily observed, they are not rooted deep enough to determine a genuine understanding of the person's relationship with Christ. At the middle level of culture, Hiebert affirms beliefs influence life's actions. He goes on to warn against the preference of simply imparting information for transformation, as was done by previous Protestant missionaries. Instead, Hiebert advocates a complete overhaul of how people groups interpret their reality and how they respond to it accordingly by the life of Jesus Christ.To strengthen his approach, Hiebert traces the concept of worldviews throughout the history of anthropology and discusses the characteristics of worldviews in terms of implicit, explicit, and sensory societal structures. He then goes on to describe the differences between synchronic and diachronic understandings of time and what missiologist can learn by analyzing worldviews in specific contexts. Three methods for doing such include reductionism, stratification, and integration, which all study the different perspectives of how humans compartmentalize their cultural, knowledge, and belief systems. Hieberts includes chapters devoted to understanding worldviews in small-scale oral societies known as "bands" or "tribes", the peasant villages of antiquity and commonalities in the time periods of modernity and postmodernity.Finally, Hiebert admits that spiritual transformation is the work of God through those proselytized but also in conjunction with the Spirit's presence and power within the faith community. Hiebert writes that "because transformation involves sinners, it also has a human dimension. People are called to respond to God's invitation, and when they do, they are transformed in their lives" (p. 307). Hiebert concludes with several suggestions on ways the church can work to transform cultures such as examining and exposing worldviews and creating living rituals among personal and group contacts.Considering the current post-postmodern philosophical state of Western society and the situation among the American church, the first major strength to be acknowledged is Hiebert's discourse on themes and counter-themes that emerge in the Old Testament and are fleshed out in the New. Such representation is essential for forming a holistic biblical worldview and a complete Scriptural theology of mission. Similarly, the second major strength is how Hiebert draws the correlation between divine revelation and human knowledge in order to convey the objective Truth of Jesus, among a culture that accepts diversity and embraces relativity.While Transforming Worldviews is a great introduction to the challenges and opportunities for conversion in cross-cultural contexts, it would have been more beneficial if the author included additional examples of missionary tales for reflection. That way the reader could really get an idea for the type of extreme differences in cultural worldviews that exist. Perhaps by substituting the lengthy chapter on the anthropological history of worldviews with supplemental material from his earlier book "Case Studies in Missions" (1987), a more cultural aware book could have been written. A second critical observation lies in Hieberts neglect to address the conversion of people groups in North America. His writing throughout the book tends to favor expressions of missionaries to other countries, without adequately recognizing the United States as a potential field for Christian mass movements.Overall, I agree with Hiebert's teaching that when a biblical worldview of conversion is grasped in terms of repentance, as in stopping and then proceeding in a new direction back towards God, the church can work in partnership with the Spirit to bring cultural transformation. To encompass change at every level of culture, missionaries can strive to reach the cognitive desires of knowledge for the head, the affective emotion of the heart in worship, and the evaluative transformation observed in the hands of morality, holiness, and decision making.

Out of the 30 books I've read so far this year and the 6 or 7 of a theological/missiological nature, this is the meatiest of all (It's probably also one of the fattest at 333 pages). I would highly recommend it not just for Christian international workers, but especially for North American pastors and Christian workers as well, as all too often we are completely blind to the assumptions that lie behind our worldviews as they persist unchallenged in our host cultures.Beginning with the concept and characteristics of worldviews, the late Dr. Hiebert then moves on to discuss worldviews of small-scale oral societies, peasant societies, modern and postmodern worldviews, and finally, the "glocal" worldview. He then sums up by discussing what a biblical worldview is and how worldviews are transformed.I found Hiebert's treatment of what he calls "critical realism" (as opposed to positivism and instrumentalism) to be one of many nuggets in the book. Simply put, there must be a great measure of correspondence between the world outside and the worlds we construct inside for us to survive in the world. Human knowledge does not consist of photographs of reality (as positivism suggests) or of collages (as instrumentalism affirms) but of montages and maps that can be tested to determine their truthfulness.The pictures on pages 318-319 vividly illustrate how different configurations can be imposed on the raw data of our experiences and how people grow in their perception of worldview. The short discussion in the last chapter on people movements and "muliti-individual" conversions was also something I can continue to keep in my mind in my ministry context here.I am reminded that our role as agents of change is "neither that of the conservative nor that of the anarchist" but that of a subversive agent - to seek to transform worldview gradually from within and to bring people back under the allegiance of the true Lord (p. 322). One way to transform worldviews in the resistant rural society where I am presently living (which reflects aspects of all of the worldviews listed above) might be in focusing to bring change to the families of foreign brides, to help them find stability as entire families are discipled in Jesus Christ.Certain parts of this book were a little tedious to wade through, and large sections dealing with modernity and postmodernity were expanded treatments of what I learned before from other books and from Hiebert's fellow Trinity professor Tite Tienou 20 years ago when he was at Alliance Theological Seminary. Nevertheless, as I fan through the pages of the book again now I see I underlined multiple sentences on almost every page. Although it will take some time for you to get through, this book will definitely challenge you to think!Once curiosity that caught my attention is that apparently neither in the chapter about the biblical worldview, nor anywhere else, does Hiebert seem to address the topic of hell. This may be because he prefers to talk in relational and fuzzy categories rather than intrinsic and digital sets (read the book if you do not understand what these terms mean) and in turning away from idols and turning always each day toward the Lord (e.g. "does Jesus remain the ultimate reference point in our understanding of the kingdom? p. 279). Nevertheless, I found the apparent absence of any reference to hell a bit curious.My only other complaint is that this book does not really talk about how to transform worldviews, as the topic suggested. This is not a how-to book. Wouldn't it be wonderful if the process was that easy?

Paul Hiebert was an anthropologist whose Christianity more or less touched on every aspect of his field studies and research. Hiebert's research was in the culture of India and tribal studies, but his interest expanded in many directions. On the positive side, none of his analyses are amateur or sophmoric, but negatively, many of his discussions would have been better had he resourced more scholars who worked in those fields. His models of worldview are interesting and useful--to a point. Perhaps the book would have more diminutive had he lived to edit it, but he died two years before the publishing of the current edition. It is a book well worth examining.

An excellent, robust tool for modern/postmodern readers, first to understand their own worldview more clearly, then to discover ways to relate more effectively with others coming from different views and backgrounds.

The analysis of the book is very good. But the title is very misleading. There is very little about TRANSFORMING worldviews. Had the title been analysing worldviews, it would have been five stars. But a thorough analysis does not equate a roadmap to change. For that, the author only offers a few generalities.

Good price. Good book

Classic text for Christian mission - it's objective, audience, and obstacles