An eye-opening look at a hidden reality of Evangelical missions.
An account of the fervent desire to promote Christianity across the world.
Brazilian journalist Carranca offers a penetrating report on the clandestine world of Evangelical missionaries, many from Latin America, who come to the Middle East to convert people. Her primary guide to this dedicated community is S.P. Luiz. In 2003, he and his family left their native Brazil—the second-largest sender of missionaries—to save souls in Afghanistan. Luiz’s journey, Carranca writes, “took me to underground house churches in Afghanistan, among persecuted Christian converts in Pakistan, to a close-mouthed summit on global Evangelism in Indonesia, the world’s largest Muslim country, and to mission fields in Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Syria, and Turkey.” She came to understand that the missionaries’ work, as they saw it, was not to liberate inhabitants from poverty and oppression, but to free them from being “‘enslaved’ by Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism.” Missionaries, she writes, believe “they are fighting spiritual battles, and they see poverty, wars, and disasters as caused by evil forces to which the only solution is Evangelism.” Their missions are dangerous, to be sure: They are subject to constant surveillance, death threats, and arrests. To protect themselves, they use encrypted messages and email to communicate, never talk about religion on the phone, and use fake names. They keep religious materials and images hidden; sometimes, they are forced to flee for their lives when terrorists rampage through their communities. Yet their work has been successful, with large numbers of converts, and Evangelicals’ experiences throughout the Global South have changed the sect. No longer homogeneously white and socially conservative, they have become a diverse group whose leaders, rather than support isolationist policies, see themselves as part of a global community—all “God’s Kingdom, conceived by Evangelicals as universal and borderless.”
An eye-opening look at a hidden reality of Evangelical missions.Pub Date: April 30, 2024
ISBN: 9798987053522
Page Count: 192
Publisher: Columbia Global Reports
Review Posted Online: Feb. 29, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2024
An important dialogue at a fraught time, emphasizing mutual candor, curiosity, and respect.
Two bestselling authors engage in an enlightening back-and-forth about Jewishness and antisemitism.
Acho, author of Uncomfortable Conversations With a Black Man, and Tishby, author of Israel: A Simple Guide to the Most Misunderstood Country on Earth, discuss many of the searing issues for Jews today, delving into whether Jewishness is a religion, culture, ethnicity, or community—or all of the above. As Tishby points out, unlike in Christianity, one can be comfortably atheist and still be considered a Jew. She defines Judaism as a “big tent” religion with four main elements: religion, peoplehood, nationhood, and the idea of tikkun olam (“repairing the world through our actions”). She addresses candidly the hurtful stereotypes about Jews (that they are rich and powerful) that Acho grew up with in Dallas and how Jews internalize these antisemitic judgments. Moreover, Tishby notes, “it is literally impossible to be Jewish and not have any connection with Israel, and I’m not talking about borders or a dot on the map. Judaism…is an indigenous religion.” Acho wonders if one can legitimately criticize “Jewish people and their ideologies” without being antisemitic, and Tishby offers ways to check whether one’s criticism of Jews or Zionism is antisemitic or factually straightforward. The authors also touch on the deteriorating relationship between Black and Jewish Americans, despite their historically close alliance during the civil rights era. “As long as Jewish people get to benefit from appearing white while Black people have to suffer for being Black, there will always be resentment,” notes Acho. “Because the same thing that grants you all access—your skin color—is what grants us pain and punishment in perpetuity.” Finally, the authors underscore the importance of being mutual allies, and they conclude with helpful indexes on vernacular terms and customs.
An important dialogue at a fraught time, emphasizing mutual candor, curiosity, and respect.Pub Date: April 30, 2024
ISBN: 9781668057858
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Simon Element
Review Posted Online: March 13, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A fierce, penetrating, and empowering call for change.
Artist and activist Vaid-Menon demonstrates how the normativity of the gender binary represses creativity and inflicts physical and emotional violence.
The author, whose parents emigrated from India, writes about how enforcement of the gender binary begins before birth and affects people in all stages of life, with people of color being especially vulnerable due to Western conceptions of gender as binary. Gender assignments create a narrative for how a person should behave, what they are allowed to like or wear, and how they express themself. Punishment of nonconformity leads to an inseparable link between gender and shame. Vaid-Menon challenges familiar arguments against gender nonconformity, breaking them down into four categories—dismissal, inconvenience, biology, and the slippery slope (fear of the consequences of acceptance). Headers in bold font create an accessible navigation experience from one analysis to the next. The prose maintains a conversational tone that feels as intimate and vulnerable as talking with a best friend. At the same time, the author's turns of phrase in moments of deep insight ring with precision and poetry. In one reflection, they write, “the most lethal part of the human body is not the fist; it is the eye. What people see and how people see it has everything to do with power.” While this short essay speaks honestly of pain and injustice, it concludes with encouragement and an invitation into a future that celebrates transformation.
A fierce, penetrating, and empowering call for change. (writing prompt) (Nonfiction. 14-adult)Pub Date: June 2, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-593-09465-5
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Penguin Workshop
Review Posted Online: March 14, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2020
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