Christianity and Animism in Melanesia
Kenneth Nehrbass (PhD, Biola University) serves as the president of Evangelical Missiological Society. His missionary work took him to Vanuatu, where he translated the New Testament into the Southwest Tanna language. He is the director of assessment and assistant professor of social work at California Baptist University. He is the author of Advanced Missiology and God’s Image and Global Cultures.
In this book, Kenneth Nehrbass examines the interaction between traditional or animistic religion (called kastom) and Christianity in Vanuatu. First, he briefly outlines major anthropological theories of animism, then he examines eight aspects of animism on Tanna Island and shows how they present a challenge to Christianity. He traces the history of Christianity on Tanna from 1839 to the present, showing which missiological theories the various missionaries were implementing.
Nehrbass wanted to find out what experiences in the lives of the islanders distinguished those who left traditional religion behind from those who held on to it. In the end, he contends that there are twenty factors of gospel response and cultural integration that determine whether an animistic background believer will be a mixer, separator, transplanter, or contextualizer.
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Ever since Allan Tippett’s “Solomon Island’s Christianity”, modern missiological inquiry has richly benefited from case studies addressing the spread of Christianity into the South Pacific. “Christianity and Animism in Melanesia” continues that rich tradition by examining a variety of missiological practices and their outcomes in forming Christian communities in Vanuatu that has implications for missions around the globe.
— Doug Hayward
Foreword
Preface
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Note on Vernacular Orthography
Abbreviations
Part 1: Biblical and Anthropological Models of Animism
Chapter 1: Folk Religion for the Bible and Early Church Fathers
Chapter 2: Folk Religion and Modern Anthropology
Part 2: Kastom on Tanna
Chapter 3: Kastom and Knowledge
Chapter 4: Cosmology (Ghosts and Spirits)
Chapter 5: Magic and “Goodness”
Chapter 6: Healing “Badness”
Chapter 7: Ethics and Taboos
Chapter 8: Cargoism
Chapter 9: Ritual
Part 3: Kastom and Christianity on Tanna
Chapter 10: Mission History and the Integration of Kastom and Christianity
Chapter 11: The Gospel-response Axis
Chapter 12: The Cultural-integration Axis
Chapter 13: Mixers, Transplanters, Contextualizers, and Separators
References
Appendix A: Glossary of Frequently USED terms in the Southwest Tanna Language
Appendix B: History of Resident Missions on Tanna
Appendix C: Gospel/culture Assessment Tool
Appendix D: Gospel/culture Grid
Author
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Kenneth Nehrbass
Kenneth Nehrbass
Kenneth Nehrbass (PhD, Biola University) serves as the president of Evangelical Missiological Society. His missionary work took him to Vanuatu, where he translated the New Testament into the Southwest Tanna language. He is the director of assessment and assistant professor of social work at California Baptist University. He is the author of Advanced Missiology and God’s Image and Global Cultures.
- Pages: 246
- Publisher:
William Carey Publishing
William Carey Publishing
- Binding: Paperback
- Publish Year: 2018
- Vendor: William Carey Library
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