With the release of the film, The DaVinci Code, suddenly people all over the world are wanting to know the truth about Christianity. But do we know? Americans actually have a distorted understanding of the Gospel, says missiologist Darrell Whiteman. Here, he explains.

In the West, we might think we have a full understanding of Christianity. But are there are specific aspects of American culture that, in fact, hinder us from a biblical perspective of the Christian message?
There are big chunks of our culture that keep us from seeing the whole picture. Our Western culture has been influenced by the Enlightenment; that means we are taught to bifurcate the world between sacred and secular, and to believe that science reigns supreme. So, as Americans, we are not quite sure what to do with the non-empirical part of the world—the things that we cannot see, touch, feel, smell. The way we live every day is informed by our secular, scientific understanding of the world, not by an understanding that God is in control of all of nature. So our Western Enlightenment worldview limits tremendously our understanding of the Gospel.

Also people of other cultures see aspects of the Gospel that we don’t. Consider people in the caste system reading the scripture that says, “There is no longer Jew or Greek, slave or free, male or female.” Here in the West, that scripture is not nearly the offense and threat that it is to those in the caste system.

What might we be surprised to know about the Gospel by exposing ourselves to other cultures? 
I have always reminded my students of the image of Revelation 7:9. Around the throne of God, worshipping God in heaven, is a huge throng of people representing every language, every culture, every race, every worldview in the history of the world. That, to me, is amazing. When we have all those views of God around the throne, then we will have a more complete picture of who God is.

Because we can understand the Gospel only through culture (since God chose to demonstrate Himself through culture), how can we hope to ever fully understand the Gospel?
We have an understanding of the Gospel that is adequate for our own salvation, but we don’t have a full understanding. I want to make that distinction. And we will not have a full understanding until we receive the insights of people from all other cultures. We have roughly 8,000 different languages and cultures around the world. That means there are at least 8,000 different ways of understanding God as He relates to people in that culture. And until we start to see more than just our one view of the Gospel, our understanding will be rather impoverished. And it will continue to be impoverished until we see how God is at work in the lives of people in cultures different from our own.

Do you believe the Holy Spirit is active in other world religions?
I do. My basis for this is John Wesley’s concept of prevenient grace. Wesley spoke of prevenient grace in the context of individual persons. He taught that God works in the lives of individuals to convict us of sin and to bring us to repentance and saving grace. Well, I believe that prevenient grace is also at work within cultures. Truth is found in other cultures and religions (and all truth is God’s truth). And there is evidence that God has provided “a witness” in all other cultures and all periods of human history. (See Romans 1:20.) However, I believe this witness is seldom adequate for salvation, and this is where I would differ from a universalist who would say, “Christ is everywhere. Christ is in Hinduism or Buddhism. Since Christ is there, why bother with Christianity?” To that, I would say, “Yes, the Holy Spirit is at work in those religions. And our job is to find where the Holy Spirit is already at work and then, with the direction of the Holy Spirit, lead people to the message of Jesus Christ, which is the completion of all other truths.”

Given that the Gospel must be communicated in so many cultures, is it possible to define what it means to be a Christian? And, if so, what do you believe it means to be a Christian?
I get asked this question a lot, because when I teach, I try to peel away at the onion skins (so to speak), which are all of our cultural definitions of what a Christian is. After much peeling, people begin to see what they thought was Christianity is not Christianity at all. For example, growing up in a holiness tradition, many of us were taught that being a Christian means not smoking, drinking, dancing, playing cards, or going to movies.

For me, I like the definition of a Christian that was the early church’s first creed. Three words: Jesus is Lord. I think that definition works cross-culturally. (In fact, I learned it was a favorite definition of E. Stanley Jones.) “Jesus is Lord” means that those parts of my culture that “want to be Lord” will be condemned. And so, as an American, “Jesus is Lord” means that my individualism will be critiqued. My materialism, my life insurance, my bank account, all those things that give me financial security—and any other thing that clamors to be Lord in my life—must become absolutely secondary. From one culture to another, this definition applies, but “what is wanting to be Lord” is different. For example, in a caste society, what wants to be “Lord” is the desire to be at the top of the caste system. In other words, that which wants to be Lord is the false idols of our lives.

Is there anything that you are particularly excited about right now?
I am excited that there are places all over the world where people are following Jesus as Lord while remaining true to their own culture (most recently in the Muslim world and in China). This is exciting because if Christianity is true, then people from all cultures must be able to recognize Jesus as Lord within their own cultural context. But if Christianity is not true—and anthropologists tell us it is not—then Christianity is only a cultural by-product. So to me, the people of the underground church in China who claim “Jesus is Lord” while remaining culturally Chinese are empirical proof of the truthfulness of Christianity.

Darrell Whiteman, Ph.D. serves as vice president and resident missiologist of The Misison Society. A member of the Asbury Theological Seminary faculty from 1984-2004, Whiteman served as dean of its E. Stanley Jones School of World Mission and Evangelism for three years. He is president-elect of The American Society of Missiology; president of the International Association for Mission Studies; and chair of the Network of Christian Anthropologists. A missionary for nine years, Whiteman has researched and studied extensively in the Solomon Islands, Australia, Papua New Guinea, and Zaire. The 2005 hire of Whiteman represents an intentional effort by The Mission Society to even better serve nationals worldwide.