Brian C. Stiller has had a very rich and diverse ministry experience. He has served as the president of Tyndale University College & Seminary, written books, founded and edited Faith Today magazine, and currently is global ambassador for the Evangelical World Alliance ministry. What may be of particular interest to some of our readers is that he is also a Pentecostal. This brief list of his ministry involvements tells us that he has engaged the Christian faith both intellectually and practically. In this volume he shares both his knowledge and experience of the church around the world.

The book is divided into three parts. Part 1, which is very short (only one chapter), points out that the Christianity is experiencing tremendous growth in the global south: Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Part 2 is devoted to a consideration of what the author calls five “drivers.” These drivers have substantially contributed to the growth and shaping of Christianity in the world. This is the longest section of the book. In part 3 Stiller looks at factors that are intertwined with the drivers that have also helped to fuel the growth of Christianity.

As I indicated in the previous paragraph the majority of this book focuses on the five drivers. The drivers that Stiller identifies are: the Holy Spirit, Bible translations, indigenous leadership, re-engaging the public square, and the power of the whole gospel. He devotes a chapter to each of these subjects.

A second driver that has helped Christianity to spread is Bible translation. In chapter 3, which is called “The Power of Bible Translation” Stiller points out a number of benefits people have when they have the Bible in their own language. He says one thing that is implicit in Bible translation is the idea that God is at the center of all cultures (page 56). The author also points out that the Bible empowers its readers against errant ideas. He mentions specifically false ideas from the West and the Enlightenment (page 57). One of the things that the Bible defends against is the anti-supernaturalistic views that frequently come from the West (page 57). Another benefit of Bible translation may be an unintended consequence. In some cases, when translators work on the Bible they create an alphabet and a written language in a culture that does not yet have one, this development can help the culture as a whole (page 55-56).

Brian C. Stiller, Jesus and Caesar: Christians in the Public Square (Oakville, Ontario: Castle Quay Books, 2003), 187 pages, ISBN 9781897213193.

All too often the church vacillates between secularization and sectarianism, between a diminished belief in God in the world and the withdrawal of the church from culture to protect the faithful. Brian Stiller wants to rehabilitate the role of public engagement, Jesus and Caesar argues that Christians need to steer a middle course between secularization and sectarianism if the church is to be a spiritual light to the world.

After investigating the reasons for the decline of Christian witness in the world, Stiller explores the biblical approach to public engagement. In the Old Testament, creation established the principles of shared resources, work, growth and accountability. Since the Fall, however, greed and envy led to the abuse of creation and use of economic resources for personal gain. In the New Testament, Jesus was a political force, a witness to people regardless of political or social location. Although he did not participate in political rule or contest government rulership, Jesus effected social change. He upset the status quo by challenging its “self serving assumptions and values” (p. 62). He inaugurated the kingdom reign by cutting to the center of human self-interest, power and ego. Yet hope for the ultimate fulfillment of the kingdom still lay in the future, pushing the Christian community forward to celebrate life in the midst of turmoil. Christ’s kingdom message sowed the seeds for life-giving transformation. For Stiller, the Christian must embrace the earth (and cosmos) as part of God’s grandeur reality, not to be annihilated but to be transformed into the new heaven and new earth. Thus the state has legitimate status in the order of creation and kingdom expectation, so that Christians have an obligation to influence the state for the gospel.

Brian C. Stiller

Four models of church-state engagement are suggested by Stiller. The “Christendom model,” developed under Constantine, combined the church’s message with the state’s concern for exercising power. However, the church’s lack of distance created an inability to critique society. The “Luther model” challenged papal authority and its link to social power to emphasize personal faith. Luther’s two kingdom doctrine severed the spheres of church and state: The former was concerned with spiritual growth, the latter with the restraint and punishment of evildoers. Ironically, Luther ended up calling on the state to fight against the “tyranny of Rome,” Anabaptism and the peasant’s revolt. The “Calvin model” asserted that the state receives its authority directly from God (not the church), but this authority is limited. The church is called to renew creation and exert influence on the whole social order as the gospel makes its way into the world to oppose ungodliness. The “Otherworldly model” argues for Christian separation from the world; the church is the locale of the redeemed, the world under demonic rule. In this model, obedience to the state is conditional and subsequent to obedience to God. For Stiller, the church is called to serve Christ whereas the state is to serve all peoples, faiths and cultures.