Missions Resources - Bibliography
The Cross & the Prodigal: Luke 15 Through the Eyes of Middle Eastern Peasants
Authors: Kenneth Bailey
ISBN: 0830832815
Publisher: InterVarsity Press
Number of pages: 151
Type of cover: Soft Cover
Summary: One of the most surprising, and beautiful qualities of Christian life is the stubborn cultural authenticity contained in the Bible. God has always operated in space and time, speaking in a local context.
In Jesus he put on the limitations of human life out in the villages, died on the cross for our sin, and was restored to his unlimited place in the sky. Jesus’ suffering showed us God’s character every bit as much as the words of the prophets.
The church established by Jesus is incredible: simultaneously global and local, we are an international and cross-cultural body. We are not culture-less or colorblind; we are local believers around the world, with local insights and shortcomings alike.
When we come together as believers, and share in the telling of the gospel, we learn more about God. Ray Aldred, the First-Nation Canadian theologian, put it like this at Urbana 03:
As you begin to reach out beyond your own boundaries, as you choose to love the other people, as you chose to make yourself vulnerable, as you begin to try and communicate the gospel in the heart language of other people, you realize that your world, your construct of reality is too small. You begin to understand that you are out there trying to convert the lost but you are still in need of conversion and re-creation. And you begin to hear the gospel story again.
Hearing the gospel told back by the receptor culture, one's own understanding is contradicted, and the ongoing call for conversion or recreation is heard again. You see, when we do missions and we reach out past our own cultural boundaries, we hear the gospel told back to us. As we listen to new Christians tell us the gospel back, we hear the call to conversion because we can see our own shortcomings.
One of Jesus’ most astonishing stories, a story that has resonated down through the ages, is commonly known in English as The Prodigal Son. In this book, Kenneth Bailey retells this familiar story through the eyes of Middle Eastern peasants.
Bailey is a longtime missionary, a man who has spent his life among the peasants of the Middle East. Bailey really knows village life. And that makes all the difference in understanding Jesus’ story.
But this book is much more than another commentary. Bailey (along with IVP) has made a beautiful book. There are several plates decorated with Arab calligraphy, and half the book is a four-scene drama – a retelling of the story in a small village, complete with the score to one of the characters’ songs. This is an exemplary work, engaging heart and mind at once.
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