As the author says in the introduction to the book, ‘All the essays have been written in the last decade … and reflect the international theological dialogue that has taken place in Evangelical circles since the 1974 Lausanne Conference.’ The papers were originally delivered as lectures at several different conferences, and this inevitably means that sometimes the same ground is covered more than once.

Mr Padilla addresses topical issues of the church today including Evangelism and Social Concern, Contextualization of the Gospel and New Testament perspectives on Christian Lifestyle. He urges us to ask ourselves big questions, i.e. ‘The big question we Christians always have to ask ourselves with regard to our culture is which elements of it should be retained and utilized and which ones should go for the sake of the gospel?’ He later on highlights the problem of the ‘contextualization of the gospel with a view to demonstrating the need for theological reflection in the Third World’. I would go along with Mr Padill’s problems and questions, and with his plea for more ‘biblical gospel and faithful church’. I wish, however, that there was more attempt to answer the questions and the problems. For example, how can we in the West know what elements of our Christianity are primarily cultural? I felt too that the book lacked sparkle, and there could have been much more positive contribution stating some of the areas where cultural liberation has occurred, and where poor and rich are together sharing the ‘triumphs of his grace’. Having said that, the book is helpful, and gives a lot of biblical material for further study.

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