Editorial

By S.G.D.

In Against All Odds, ABWE missionary Jay Walsh describes the role of sacrifice in the culture of the Murung people in Bangladesh and Myanmar : "The cow sacrifice ritual.started from a legend passed down by the Murung forefathers. According to legend, Torai, the Great Spirit, gave a written language and moral code to all people, but somehow the Murungs had been left out. In desperation, their forefathers sent a cow to ask for help. He responded by writing a code of rules for them on banana leaves. To their great horror and eternal loss, the cow ate the leaves on its return journey.The annual cow sacrifice is the Murung's way of getting even" (130).

A hunger for the Word of God is embedded in Murung culture. For Jay and fellow evangelist, Ancherai Tipperah, the symbolism and mythology of sacrifice rituals provided crucial parallels for communicating the sacrifice of Christ on Calvary. Don Richardson's concept of redemptive analogies as truths which God has embedded in culture is familiar to many. In many tribal cultures, sacrificial myths seem to be distorted reflections of Christ's ultimate sacrifice on the cross.

But are these analogies of sacrifice actually redemptive? Bruce Demarest and Richard Harpel suggest not: "[they] are not properly 'redemptive' analogies (concepts that embody fundamental truths of the gospel). Rather, they are examples from ordinary human existence that the evangelist can profitably use to establish contact with non-Christians and to illustrate important aspects of the gospel.What God reveals to all people by general revelation (which becomes embedded in human cultures to varying degrees) is a set of nonredemptive truths about God's existence, character, and moral demands" (337).

Symbols and myth communicate across cultural boundaries and illustrate the transcendent gospel. As Demarest and Harpel affirm, the Word of God, not cultural truths, is essential for salvation: "Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God" (Romans 10:17 ). But understanding the heart of people's culture is essential to communicating the message of salvation.

In this issue, we explore how missions relates to culture: Stephen Mann writes on discerning the heart of culture; Donna Duell, Chris Sadowitz, Vicki Ivester, and Tim Weeks negotiate cultural challenges by developing unique outreach methods; Dr. Rex Rogers writes on confronting cultural change; and Dr. Bill Commons describes "the incarnational missionary" as contextualizing the gospel in his adopted culture by following the example of Jesus' total identification and immersion in Jewish culture.

Message Magazine Online continues to offer additional articles unique to the online magazine. You can find a complete list of these "bonus" articles under Online Features, including MK Lani Duell's letters from Bangladesh, Donna Messenger on language, Bruce Steffes on Togo, Sara Ebert and Julie Sanders on culture stress, Jane Schmitz's "Philip and the Ethiopian" encounter in Benin, and much more.

Demarest, Bruce A. and Harpel, Richard J. "Don Richardson's 'Redemptive Analogies' and the Biblical Idea of
Revelation." Bibliotheca Sacra 146:583 (July-Sept. 1989): 330-340.

Walsh, Jay. Against All Odds . Harrisburg : ABWE Publishing, 1995.