Abstract
In Facing West, David R. Swartz examines the mythologies of the northern American identity (i.e., those of the United States and Canada) such as pioneering capitalism, rigorous individualism, and optimistic exceptionalism that have shaped the fabric of national evangelicalism in the past and present political climate. The author explores this identity from a global perspective, presenting his thoughtful analysis with grace and sensitivity.
The explosion of Christianity in the Global South in the late twentieth century has moved the center of the faith from West to East and from North to South. Thrusts of global influence are now running in reverse, with non-Western evangelicals shaping the Western church in matters of immigration rights, imperialism, poverty, race, theology, sexuality, and social justice. Christian immigration movements, with their increasing ethnic diversity, have brought revitalization to many pockets of US evangelicalism, with its renewed interest in the poor, together with the powerful gifts of the Holy Spirit.
Swartz confronts evangelical assumptions, challenging the belief that greater political and financial power allows the donor greater influence over the recipient, including dictating the shape of Christendom’s culture, beliefs, and values. In simple terms, he disputes the supposition that Christian mission flows exclusively from the greater to the lesser power. He accomplishes this task by allowing voices to speak from outside northern American Christianity. He thereby separates the Christian faith from US nationalism in its transnational contexts.
This exploration is particularly evident in Swartz’s case-study approach, which spans the globe to include Guatemala, India, Philippines, South Korea, Switzerland, Thailand, and the United States. The following are three examples: World Vision and its refocusing of leadership empowerment to the Majority World, as well as the move from emergency relief to transformational development; the East African critique of northern American sexuality, with the willing reception of African Pentecostalism and the influence of Bishop Henry Luke Orombi of Uganda, especially in Anglican alliances regarding same-sex marriage; and the International Justice Mission and the world of human trafficking that unfolds the complexities of structural injustice, partnership and policy, and the triumphalism of northern American evangelicalism.
As an Australian-Pentecostal cross-cultural worker in the United States for over thirty years, I believe that I offer a middle-ground perspective between the northern American experience and the growing Majority World evangelicalism presented in the book. For me, I feel called to continue repenting of my Western cultural superiority and to receive with gratitude the faith views and practices being expressed in our world from international arenas beyond Christian Americanism. With John 13 reverberating in my soul, I believe that the message of Facing West is important for every evangelical to digest and implement. In divine humility, Christ washed his disciples’ feet. I can picture him now asking the northern American evangelical church, “Whose feet are you washing?”