Paradigms in Conflict: Ten Key Questions in Christian Missions Today
David Hesselgrave
2006 Kregel Publications
Reviewed by David Korb (Feb 2007)

Another great book! I’d consider Paradigms in Conflict a must read for those who want to grapple with the hard questions. Hesselgrave’s target is how the hard questions—and their answers—impact the way we go and the way we send others into global cross-cultural settings. The questions posed also impact the way we organize our own theological lives at home.

In this book, Hesselgrave wrestles with questions like, Where does God’s sovereignty and man’s free will begin and end? Are we free to say “No” to God? Did God limit His sovereignty by delegating certain authority to the moral beings He created? Is sickness the will of Satan and not the will of God? And what about Open Theism? Where does that fall in this mix? And the bottom line for missions: If God knows and has determined who will be saved, why go?

One topic Hesselgrave examines is “Restrictivism and Inclusivism.” Simply put, “If a man is stranded alone on an island from infancy until death and never hears the gospel of Jesus Christ, where will he spend eternity?”

And what about finding “common ground” with the lost person with whom we are seeking to share the gospel? Can “common ground” be found? Other discussions include “Incarnationalism and Representationalism” and “Power Encounter and Truth Encounter.”

If you pick up this book, be prepared to think. You will be challenged to add clarity to some of the positions you may not have thought through or have not revisited for a while. In recent years the church has been accused—and rightfully so—of “dumbing down” our faith and avoiding asking and answering the hard questions in a kind of “anti-intellectualism.” This book is a step in the right direction.