COMMUNICATING

CHRIST

S E C O N D EDI I IO N
An Introduction to
M issionary
C om m unication
 TRORERTy
Of
BUENO
LI'B'RA'Ry O f
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Communicating Christ
Cross-CultiM y
-------- 2 ndEdition ----------
Communicating Christ
CrossCiMally
------------ 2 nd E d itio n -------------

AnIntroduction to
Missionary
Communication

DavidJHesselgrave

ZondervanPubHshingHouse
A ca d em ic a n d P ro fessio n a l B o o k s
Grand Rapids, Michigan
A Division ofH&rperCoMinsPublisbers
 Communicating Christ Cross-Culturally, 2nd ed.
Copyright © 1991 by David J. Hesselgrave

Requests for information should be addressed to:

Zondervan Publishing House
Academic and Professional Books
1415 Lake Drive S.E.
Grand Rapids, Michigan 49506

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Hesselgrave, David J.
Communicating Christ cross-culturally / David J. Hesselgrave. - 2nd ed.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and indexes.
ISBN 0-310-36811-1
1. Communication-Religious aspects-Christianity.
2. Communication. 3. Missions. I. Title.
BV4319.H47 1991
2 6 1 -d c2 0 90-47323
CIP

All Scripture quotations are from the New American Standard Bible unless other­
wise indicated and are used by permission, © The Lockman Foundation 1960,
1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a

retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means— electronic, mechan­
ical, photocopy, recording, or any other— except for brief quotations in printed
reviews, without the prior permission of the publisher.

Edited by Gerard Terpstra

Designed by fan M. Ortiz
Figures by Louise* Bauer

Printed in the United States o f America

91 92 93 94 95 96 / A K / 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
 T o the m em ory of m y
Father and M other
A lbertus Roy and Selm a Johnson Hesselgrave
w hose highest joy was to com m end th eir
children to C hristian faith and service
 CONTENTS
Figures 13
Forew ord to FirstE dition 15
Forew ord to R ev ised E dition 17
P reface 19
Part I Communication and Mission
1. Communication, the Missionary Problem
Par Excellence 23
2. Man, the Communicating Creature 27
3. The Legacy of Rhetoric to Christian
Communication 33
Rhetoric and H om iletics
Rhetoric and Communication Theory in
Its Larger Dimensions
4. Perspectives From the Science of
Communication 39
A Basic M odel o f the Communication Process
Primary, Secondary, and Tertiary Sources
Respondents and Their Responses
The Encoding and Decoding Processes
Verbal and Nonverbal Codes
Communication Channels and Media
Feedback
Noise
Communication and Context
 5. The Problem of Meaning 55
A Thumbnail Sketch o f Some Discussions on
Meaning
What Happens When Symbols “Mean”}
Where Is Meaning to Be Found}
The Meaning o f Rehgious Symbols
How Can We Determine What Verbal Symbols
Mean}
6. Why Do Missionaries Communicate? 79
The New Testament Case for Persuasion
Insights From Communication Theory
Conclusion to Part I
Part II Communication and Culture
7. The Role of Culture in Communication 95
The Cultural Barrier to Missionary
Communication
“Multiple Rhetorics” and Intercultural
Communication
Understanding Culture
Understanding Cultures
A Three-Culture M odel o f Missionary
Communication
8. Christ and His Communicators Confront
Culture 115
The Tension Between Christ and Culture
Culture—the High View
Cultural Relativism
Analyzing the Respondent Culture
Transforming Culture
9. Contextualization— Its Theological Roots 131
What Word Shall We Choose}
The Genesis o f a New Word
So What Does “Contextualization” Mean}
Contextualization—a Brief Theological Analysis
10. Cross-Cultural Communication— Classic
Categories and Paradigms 145
The Speaker or Source o f the Missionary Message
The Content o f the Missionary Message
The Style o f the Missionary Message
11. Cross-Cultural Communication— Contemporary
Categories and Paradigms 161
The “Seven Dimensions” o f Cross-cultural
Communication
Cultural Distance
12. Respondents of Other Cultures 175
Cross-Cultural Identification
Respondent Activities
Respondent Response
Conclusion to Part II
Part HI Worldviews— Ways of Perceiving the
World
13. Worldviews and Cross-Cultural Communication 193
Culture and Worldview
Defining “Worldview”
Categorizing Worldviews
Characterizing Worldviews
Biblical Theology and the Christian Worldview
Communicating Christ in the Contexts o f Non-
Christian Worldviews
14. Communicating Christ Into the Naturalist
Worldview 213
Characterizing the Naturalist Worldview
Communicating Into a Naturalist Worldview
15. Communicating Christ Into the Tribal
Worldview 221
Defining the Tribal Worldview
Characterizing the Worldview o f Sub-Saharan
Africa
Communicating Christ to People With a Tribal
Worldview
16. Communicating Christ Into the Hindu-
Buddhistic Worldview 237
The Ideas and Development o f Hinduism
The Ideas and Development o f Buddhism
Communicating Christ to Hindus and Buddhists
17. Communicating Christ Into a Chinese
Worldview 255
The Worldview o f Ancient China
The Contributions o f Lao-tzu and Confucius
The Indian and Chinese Worldviews Compared
The Chinese Worldview and the Communication
o f Christ
 18. Communicating Christ Into Other Monotheistic
Worldviews 271
The Challenges o f Judaism and Islam
Communicating Christ to Muslims and Jews
19. Communicating Christ Into the Worldviews of
Syncretism and Multireligion 281
Syncretism
Multirehgion
Conclusion to Part III
Part IV Cognitive Processes— Ways of Thinking
20. The Importance of How We Know What We
Know 289
"Thinking About Thinking”
Cognitive Process
Cognitive Maps
The "Mind o f a People”
21. Cultural Differences and the CognitiveProcess 297
The Bisystemic Approaches o f S. L. Gulick and
F. S. C. Northrop
The Trisystemic Approach o f F. H. Smith
22. Conceptual Thinking and the Western
Missionary 305
23. Communicating Christ in Cultural Areas Where
Intuitional Thinking Predominates 311
M ystical Thought
Understanding Intuitional Thinking
Communicating Christ to Intuitionahsts
24. Communicating Christ in Cultural Areas Where
Concrete Relational Thinking Predominates 325
Tribal Peoples as Concrete Relational Thinkers
Chinese People as Concrete Relational Thinkers
Understanding Concrete Relational Thinking
Suggestions for Communicating Christ to
Concrete Relationahsts
Conclusion to Part IV
Part V Linguistic Forms— Ways of Expressing
Ideas
25. The Importance of Language 343
26. Why Bother to Leam the Language? 349
Language as a Vehicle for Gospel
Communication
Enghsh as a Lingua Franca for Missionary
Communication
The Importance o f Learning the Language o f the
Receptor Culture
27. Learning About Language Learning 357
Understanding Language and Languages
Approaches to Language Learning
Learning a Language by “Cultural Submersion”
28. What Can We Leam From Language? 367
The Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis
Linguistic Mirrors o f Culture
The Relationship Between Language and
Receptivity
Conclusion to Part V
Part VI Behavioral Patterns— Ways of Acting
29. From Plato and Aristotle to Edward T. Hall 389
The Traditional Approach to Communication
Behavior
The Approach o f Edward T. Hall
Types o f “Silent Language” Behavior
30. The Missionary and Behavioral Norms 403
O bedience to the Will o f God
Accomm odation to Cultural Norms
When in Rome and in Doubt
31. Seven Aspects of the ''Behavioral Dimension" 413
Physical Characteristics
“Body Language”
“Touching Behavior”
Space Speaks
Time Talks
Paralanguage
Artifacts and Environment
32. Where the Action Is 445
Conclusion to Part VI
Part VII Social Structures— Ways of Interacting
33. Communication and Societal Orientations 453
34. Status and Role 459
The Status and Role o f the Missionary
Communicator
Who Are My Respondents in Relation to Other
Members o f Their Societyi
35. Kinship: Kindred and Lineage 475
36. Nonkinship Groupings 483
Class in the Philippines
N eighborhood Associations in Japan
37. Urban and Rural Societies 507
City Societies
Peasant and Tribal Societies
38. Free and Totalitarian Societies 517
Conclusion to Part VII
Part Vin Media Influence— Ways of
Channeling the Message
39. Media Have Their Own "Messages" 527
“M edia” and “M essage” According to McLuhan
Types o f “M edia” and Their “M essages”
Learning From McLuhan
40. Using Simple Media 537
The Potential o f Aural Media
Talk and Chalk
Drama, Ritual, Music, and Dance
41. Using Syndetic Media 553
Separating Fact From Fiction
The Print Media
The Electronic M edia
Platform Media
Other Media
Mixing and Matching Media
The Importance o f Interpersonal Communication
Conclusion to Part VIII
Part IX Motivational Resources— Ways of
Deciding
42. From Persuasion to Elenctics 573
Have We the Right!
Have We the Resources!
 43. Psychology, Ethnopsychology, and Mission 587
Motivation and Cultural Patterns
Points o f Contact
Missionary Appeals
44. Motivation, Decision Making, and Conversion 613
Decision and Nondecision Orientations
Group Conversion and Consensus Decision
Making
Conversion and Decision Making as Point and
Process
Profit Equals Reward Minus Cost
The Correlation Between Motivation for
Conversion and Christian Attainment
45. Receptivity and Missionary Response 631
Timing
Sequence
Relevance
Conclusion to Part IX
B ibliography 639
In dex o f Persons 657
In dex o f P laces an d P eoples 663
In dex o f S u bjects 666
In dex o f Scripture R eferen ces 671
 FIGURES
1. Communication 41
2. The Process o f Communication 51
3. Complementary Statements o f the Great Commission 82
4. Layers o f Culture 103
5. A Three-Culture M odel o f Missionary
Communication 108
6. Christ and Culture 118
7. The Contextualization Continuum 143
8. Dimensions o f Cross-Cultural Communication 164
9. Cultural Distance 171
10. Cultural Distance (France and the Philippines
Compared) 172
11. Dimensions o f Cross-Cultural Communication
(Worldviews) 192
12. The N aturalist W orldview 214
13. The Tribal W orldview 230
14. The M onistic W orldview 245
15. The Chinese W orldview 264
16. The M onotheistic W orldview 274
17. Dimensions o f Cross-Cultural Communication
(Cognitive Processes) 288
18. Three Basic Cognitive Approaches to Reality 303
19. The Theologian's Craft 308
20. Dimensions o f Cross-Cultural Communication
(Linguistic Forms) 342
21. The Semantic D ifferential 361
22. Dimensions o f Cross-Cultural Communication
(Behavioral Patterns) 388
23. Zone o f Participation 429
24. Dimensions o f Cross-Cultural Communication
(Social Structures) 452
25. The Kindred Kinship System 478
26. The Lineage Kinship System 479
27. Open and Closed Class Societies 487

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 Communicating Christ Cross-Culturally

28. M issionary and Class Identification In United States

and Philippine Societies 491
29. H orizontal and V ertical Communication Com pared 492
30. Educating Out o f Class 497
31. Potential Class Identification o f a Filipino Pastor o f
Lower-Class Origin 499
32. Potential Class Indentification o f a Filipino Pastor o f
Upper-Class Origin 500
33. The City-Peasant-Tribal Continuum 513
34. Dimensions o f Cross-Cultural Communication
(Media Influence) 526
35. Weber's “History o f the People o f Israel" 544
36. “Divine Drama99 Illustration 546
37. Steiner's “Talk 6* Draw" 547
38. Selective Filtering Process 567
39. Dimensions o f Cross-Cultural Communication
(Motivational Resources) 572
40. Gem einschaft and G esellschaft Cultural Patterns 593
41. Dionysian and Apollonian Cultural Patterns 594
42. The Guilt-Shame D ifferentiation in Cultural Patterns 596
43. The Repression-Suppression D ifferentiation in
Cultural Patterns 597
44. David Riesman's Orientations o f Societies
Toward Life 599
45. CoUectivistic-Dependency Cultures and
Individualistic-Independency Cultures 603
46. Stages in the Conversion Process 618
47. D ecision as Point and Process 619
48. Motives for Conversion According to a
Study in India 629

14
 FOREWORD TO THE
FIRST EDITION
This volume is no offer of "three snappy sessions on
instant communication." It is the serious work of a gifted
scholar. Not only the professional missiologist in his class­
room and study but also the student eagerly preparing for
mission service, the troubled missionary facing daily pressures
of communicating the gospel in alien cultures, and the
overworked executive plotting strategies for his denomina­
tional task force or mission society will all profit immensely
from the treasury of wisdom amassed in this book. On every
page the author reflects, though quite unobtrusively, a mas­
tery of the vast literature that has grown up around the
intersection of the new science of communication skills,
cross-cultural communication, and missiology. For the sake of
the professional missionary, practicing the art of cross-cul­
tural communication and crying for help, Dr. Hesselgrave also
draws richly from his own years as a practicing chinch planter
seeking to communicate the Christian gospel across a cultural
barrier. Best of all, he practices what he preaches; and, in spite
of a studied determination never to be superficial or frothy, he
manages to communicate beautifully as he unfolds the
complex problems of communication theory and works
toward practical solutions.
This volume displays many excellences, not the least of
which is a broad empirical approach to the issues raised by the
interface of communication and mission. Seldom does Dr.
Hesselgrave ride personal hobbies. He presents alternative
viewpoints fairly and draws widely from all related disciplines
to secure the light that each in turn throws upon the issue at
hand. His conclusions, therefore, are broadly informed and
usually reliable and very convincing.

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 Communicating Christ Gross-Gulturally

In a way almost unique among recent writers on this

subject, Dr. Hesselgrave combines both theological wisdom
and scientific knowledge. On the one hand, he evidences a
complete fidelity to the full authority of Scripture; on the
other, he also displays a keen sensitivity to the insights of
science. He is no less rigorously loyal to the one than to the
other and seeks to mold the result into a coherent and
comprehensive whole that is eminently practical. In one
sense, this may be the unique contribution of the volume. Its
readers are getting the best of both worlds— solid theological
substance without trimmings and the latest and richest fruits
of scholarly research without adulteration. Moreover, the
whole is set rather firmly within historical and philosophical
frameworks.
In this volume, then, Dr. Hesselgrave provides church and
classroom with a rich treasury of wisdom— the ripe fruit of
many years as a working missionary and now a decade and a
half as a scholar in the study and in the classroom. I predict
that C om m unicating C hrist C ross-C ulturally will prove a
trustworthy guide for those seeking the best way to translate
the gospel meaningfully from one culture to another. It will
also stimulate missiologists to a new and higher level of
research in communication theory. And it will provide a data­
bank of great value for the working missionary and the
mission strategist.
K e n n e t h S. K a n t z e r
Editor, C hristian ity T oday

16
 FOREWORD TO THE
REVISED EDITION
This revised edition of Dr. David Hesselgrave's great work
C om m u nicating C hrist C ross-C ulturally updates the original
edition and interacts with the most recent literature on this
increasingly important topic. The original edition went
through fifteen printings and, very deservedly, has come to be
one of the most widely used textbooks on Christian cross-
cultural communication. The revisions in this new edition are
extensive and carry on the high level of discussion maintained
throughout the original edition, taking into account, for
example, the current discussion on the relationship between
form and function and the enormous body of literature that
has sprung up recently on contextualization. To enhance the
volume's usefulness for students, Dr. Hesselgrave has added
an extensive bibliography on various aspects of cross-cultural
communication.
This revision of C om m u nicating C hrist C ross-C ulturally
is superb. It raises a great book into a unique category,
undoubtedly the finest book on this topic available today.
K e n n e t h S. K a n t z e r
Director of the Ph.D. Program
Trinity Evangelical Divinity School
and Dean of C hristian ity T oday’s
Theological Institute

17
 PREFACE TO THE
REVISED EDITION
Whether we focus on Christian missions, the discipline
known as missiology, or communication theory itself, much
has transpired since the first edition of this book came off the
press in 1978. Therefore, on the one hand, it has not only been
advisable to undertake this revision, it has also been neces­
sary. On the other hand, many of the basic considerations are
much the same today and will remain so into the future. So an
affirmation of, and continuity with, that which was written
previously is both warranted and desirable.
Over the period of about fifteen years, some fifteen
printings of this book have appeared. Its ministry has been far
beyond what I anticipated in the middle 1970s. Teachers,
students, and practitioners from all parts of the world have
expressed appreciation. Not a few have said that it has been
used of God to enhance their ministry. And one missionary
couple from Africa, whose influence and outreach have
become little short of phenomenal, journeyed all the way to
Deerfield to explain how our great God used this book to keep
them on the field and redirect their strategy. No Christian
author could ask for more than that the God of all wisdom and
grace thus use his sincere but inadequate literary efforts. To
God be the glory!
It is appropriate that I express gratitude to all who have in
any way aided me in the publication of this revision of
C om m u nicating C hrist C ross-C ultuially. To my esteemed
colleague Kenneth S. Kantzer, who once again has contributed
the Foreword,- to my assistant Kent Carle, who put the
bibliography in final form; to my wife, Gertrude, and my
children, especially my daughter, Sheryl Kroeker, who pre­
pared the indexes, their spouses, and their children, all of

19
 Communicating Christ Cross-Culturally

whom continue to provide the kind of help and inspire the

kind of hope that allow me to concentrate on the writing
enterprise; to faculty colleagues whose ideas stimulate contin­
ued reflection; to the staff at Zondervan Publishing House
who work with me; and to all who have in any way
encouraged me— to all of these I direct my heartfelt thanks.
As in the first edition, I continue to use the masculine
pronoun and the word m an in a generic sense rather than
resort to the alternatives. Given the limitations of the English
language, this approach seems to be a small price to pay for a
more straightforward style.
It is appropriate also that I repeat here a portion of the
Preface to the first edition. There I wrote, "If the Christian
mission were something to be played, communication would
be the name of the game. As it is, the Christian mission is
serious business— the King's business! In it missionaries have
ambassadorial rank. Their special task is to cross cultural and
other boundaries in order to communicate Christ. That is a
tremendously rewarding endeavor. But it is also an unusually
demanding one."
That still being true, may our commissioning Lord be
pleased to use this book in a still greater way to enable his
ambassadors to represent him and his kingdom effectively and
well.

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