Book Reviewed: Darrell L. Whiteman, Crossing Cultures with the Gospel: Anthropological Wisdom for Effective Christian Witness (Baker Academic, 2024) (View on Amazon, Associates Link)
Journal of Christian Teaching Practice, Volum 12, 2025 (January – December)
Reviewed By: Kim Okesson, PhD
Reviewer Affiliation: Asbury University
Total Pages: 255
ISBN-13: 978-1540960467
Darrell Whiteman is a leading American missionary anthropologist who taught at Asbury Theological Seminary for twenty-one years and served as a missionary in Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, and Central Africa. In addition to his academic teaching, research, and writing, he is the founding director of Global Development, a cross-cultural ministry training organization that has trained several thousand missionaries. His role as both a cross-cultural worker and an anthropologist developed in him a passion to help “missionaries connect the gospel to the deepest part of people’s worldview and culture” (p. 4). That is the motivation for his new book, Crossing Cultures with the Gospel: Anthropological Wisdom for Effective Christian Witness.
Adopting a tone of personal mentorship, Dr. Whiteman invites the reader to “journey with me through this fascinating field and apply the ideas, concepts, and examples in your own life and ministry” (p. 2). Because it draws on his rich field experience as a missionary anthropologist for over forty years, this text is both a scholarly and an autobiographical work. The author shares important illustrative stories from his personal experience and interacts with the contributions of other leading missiologists and anthropologists including Heibert, Rynkiewich, Nida, Kraft, Tippett, Luzbetak, Mayers, and others.
The overarching purpose of this book is to share anthropological wisdom gained over a lifetime with the goal of “encouraging and empowering missionaries . . . from every region of the globe and from every theological perspective to become more effective, to serve longer, and to thrive, not just survive, in their cross-cultural ministry” (p. 6). If taken to heart, this anthropological wisdom results in the reader cleansing himself or herself of ethnocentrism. Whiteman posits that the largest obstacle to effective witness is the continual confusion of one’s own culture with the gospel. He describes this phenomenon as a “rampant problem” in all the places he has observed cross-cultural ministry (p. xvi). As a result, he argues that every missionary must undergo two conversions. The first conversion is to Christ. The second conversion is from ethnocentrism.
In the preface, the author articulates five goals he has for the reader. First, to confront ethnocentrism. Second, to reveal how much of the reader’s understanding of the gospel is culturally informed. Third, to lead the reader to make appropriate lifestyle and cultural adjustments for his or her context. Fourth, to encourage the reader that we join God’s mission, not our own. Finally, for the reader to grow in his or her understanding of culture shock resulting in greater longevity in cross-cultural contexts. In addition to stating five goals, Whiteman divides this text into five parts: (1) The Concept of Culture (2) Incarnational Ministry (3) Common Communication Problems (4) Overcoming Culture Shock and (5) Growing into Effective Communicators.
Part One defines culture, presents anthropological insights about the nature of culture, and challenges the reader to identify his or her own culture through the process of removing cultural blinders. Anthropology offers key insights into how cross-cultural workers learn culture. These skills are most effectively utilized when studying one’s own culture in addition to a new cultural context. Whiteman emphasizes that the cross-cultural worker’s ministry is severely hindered when culture is only seen and understood as something “they” have.
Part Two focuses on incarnational ministry and the value of following Jesus’ example in downward mobility. The author argues that entering a new cultural context as a learner, instead of an expert (as Jesus did, being raised in Jewish culture from boyhood), is critical for cross-cultural understanding. Whiteman explains that understanding cultural contexts is the vital key to effective communication of the gospel: “To learn to relate to people where they are in their culture, we need to use the tools of anthropology and other behavioral sciences to exegete the context” (p. 77). With this in mind, the author contrasts a transmission model of communication with a constitutive model, positing that the incarnational model of ministry necessitates the latter. The constitutive model of communication is grounded in the idea that “communication has the power to shape reality itself” (p. 85) as meaning is jointly created between two or more people. Therefore, incarnational ministry, a model in which one ‘empties’ oneself of their own cultural status and enters into another’s culture as a learner, fosters effective, appropriate cross-cultural communication as each person is contributing to and creating meaning, resulting in mutual understanding.
In Part Three, Whiteman tackles the difficulty of nonverbal communication and the substantial effect this has on cross-cultural communication. He identifies worldview differences, nonverbal communication, cultural forms, and the use of space as particular challenges and opportunities for the cross-cultural communication of the gospel. In chapter seven, the author identifies ‘paramessages’—largely unconscious, contextual messages accompanying the intended message—as an important component of non-verbal communication. Paramessages contribute to miscommunication as the cross-cultural worker inadvertently conveys unintended messages. The sources of paramessages, according to Whiteman, include attitudes we hold about self, others, the gospel, and life in general. Whiteman asserts that the antidote for negative paramessages, particularly in communicating the gospel, is to enter a new culture as a learner, instead of as an expert.
Chapter eight discusses other potential non-verbal communication obstacles, including cultural forms and the use of space. Cultural forms “are the things we see, touch, hear, taste, smell” that carry cultural significance “as vehicles for conveying meaning” (p. 118). To communicate effectively, the cross-cultural worker must develop skills to discern the meaning of objects and artifacts in a culture. The inappropriate use of an artifact or cultural form results in unintended non-verbal communication messages. The author provides numerous examples from his own life and from the lives of those he has trained to help the reader understand the practical implications of these misunderstandings. These case studies are also valuable tools for instructors.
Part Four, concerning culture shock, is the longest portion of the book due to the overwhelming proof of culture shock being the primary driver of cultural stress, negative attitudes, depression, and spiritual difficulty for cross-cultural workers. This often results in cross-cultural workers returning to their home country earlier than expected—a matter of particular concern for this book since Whiteman is focused on preparing people to be successful cross-cultural workers. In addition to explaining the stages of culture shock, he offers four cures for culture shock: recognizing anxieties, learning the new culture, building trust with local people, and dealing with or managing stress as opposed to covering it up. As found throughout the text, this section also includes numerous helpful examples and case studies.
Lastly, Part Five stresses that the only way to become an effective cross-cultural communicator is through forming authentic cross-cultural friendships, developing participant observation skills, and maintaining a level of cultural relativism by continually dealing with one’s own cultural baggage. These efforts will result in the cross-cultural worker becoming bicultural. Whiteman argues that biculturalism allows the cross-cultural worker to “move freely between worlds, with a sense of belonging and being at home in more than just one of them” (p. 25). The author closes the book with “Meditations of a Missionary,” a prayer which reflects the heart posture of learning, loving, and serving in cross-cultural ministry through the power of the Holy Spirit and not the power of the individual person, organization, or church.
As this summary shows, Crossing Cultures with the Gospel provides the reader with rich cross-cultural wisdom gained from both personal experience and anthropology. This book is widely relatable for a broad audience as Whiteman freely shares stories of failure and success from around the globe and explains in each case how anthropological skill, or the lack thereof, contributed to the result. These stories are framed by anthropological theory and method as well as theological insights. While a large portion of the book is focused on communication (chapters 5, 7, and 8), the reader or instructor should note that this text is not focused on intercultural communication theory; instead, Whiteman is applying valuable anthropological insights into cross-cultural communication and relationships. Throughout the book, deeper understanding of self, others, theology, and culture is continually reinforced as a solution to miscommunication in cross-cultural settings. The reader encounters the author teaching from the perspective of one who has vast cross-cultural experience, who is deeply motivated to train and encourage others to thrive in cross-cultural ministry. In other words, Whiteman is an MVP coach, cheering on the next generation(s) of cross-cultural workers with an enthusiastic, “You can do it! I believe in you!” even though the view from the starting line is vast and can appear overwhelming.
This book is recommended for use in anthropology for Christian mission courses and contextualization courses. It would also be valuable as an introductory text in intercultural studies programs as it frames the work of building cross-cultural relationships through the posture of humility and learning, while reinforcing the reality that success requires the development of vital skill sets. These lessons, heart postures, and skills, if learned at the beginning of an intercultural degree program, will set the student up for future success. This text could also be utilized as a supplemental text in an intercultural communication course for students who are preparing for cross-cultural ministry. Regardless of the learning context, the anthropological wisdom offered in Crossing Cultures with the Gospel provides clear, proven, and effective cross-cultural strategies for successfully building relationships and communicating the gospel.