Cultural Integration and the Gospel in Vietnamese Mission Theology: A Paradigm Shift

Postcolonial Vietnam has an urgent need for contextualized theology of mission, God, Christ, and the church that is rooted in indigenous cultural traditions and the dual Vietnamese spirit of resistance and assimilation. Dr KimSon Nguyen navigates the religio-cultural dimensions of Vietnamese spirituality and Daoism that have hindered the assimilation of the Christian faith in the Vietnamese context and explores a fresh approach to missiology in Vietnam. Dr Nguyen draws upon his deep knowledge of Vietnamese evangelical history to analyze contextualization and mission theology in Vietnam. He proposes an evangelical theology of God as Ðạo (way / 道), the centrality of the Vietnamese home as the “house of the Lord,” and ancestor veneration as a theological framework for an indigenous theology of the family. Narrowing the gap between culturally removed evangelical missionary practice and widespread syncretistic spirituality in Vietnam, Nguyen calls for a paradigm shift in Vietnamese mission theology that is both robustly evangelical and authentically Vietnamese. “KimSon Nguyen has done all Vietnamese, not just Vietnamese Christians, a great service in explaining how the history of early Protestantism shows the struggles that took place as Christianity sought for a home in Vietnamese soil. Much of this history is difficult to read. However, this fascinating study goes further in suggesting ways forward as Christianity develops more and more as a Vietnamese religion, encompassing all of life and culture. It is a great story—it is a Vietnamese story.” —Scott W. Sunquist.