Soul, Self, and Society

"Rynkiewich has written an excellent accessible introduction for missionaries to postmodern anthropology. Soul, Self, and Society provides up-to-date perspectives and 'tools' for properly understanding the cultural/social phenomena of our complex and changing world today, such as migration, urbanization, globalization, and postcolonialism, and therefore enabling missionaries to proclaim, serve, and witness to God's Reign more appropriately and deeply within the heart of the human situation."

-Roger Schroeder

Catholic Theological Union in Chicago



"This book is a worthy successor to texts by Nida, Luzbetak, Mayers, Hiebert, and Lingenfelter. Good writing, clear thinking, and cutting-edge engagement with contemporary concerns such as migration, diaspora, transnationalism, urbanization, and globalization set this volume apart from its predecessors. It deserves to become the standard textbook for introductory anthropology courses in Christian colleges and seminaries."

-Jonathan Bonk

Overseas Ministries Study Center



"Anthropology has always played a critical role in missiological reflection. Yet, though the discipline of anthropology has changed, missiology often has not. In this important work, Michael Rynkiewich, a senior missiological anthropologist, calls for a much needed 'upgrade.' His mature reflection challenges traditional missiological thinking as he argues for a postmodern, postcolonial missiology that engages current anthropological theory. All who take mission and context seriously must grapple with the ideas in this book!"

-Christopher Flanders

Abilene Christian University



"In an irenic spirit, Rynkiewich chides anthropologists, missiologists, and missionaries for not adequately coming to grips with the enormous changes our world has undergone in the past fifty years. We therefore ignore at our peril these urbanizing and globalizing dynamics, and may by default promote a missiological practice or follow an anthropological theory that is no longer useful or even true in today's world. In a masterful way, Rynkiewich, drawing on his anthropological research and mission experience in the South Pacific, brings together anthropology and missiology and shows us how both can inform each other, and move us forward through the murky waters of our increasingly postmodern era."

-Darrell Whiteman

The Mission Society



"...His book will hopefully be used extensively to begin challenging current and future missionaries to grapple with the complex realities faced by billions on our planet every single day."

--Elizabeth Korver-Glenn, Rice University, as reviewed in Evangelical Missionary Quarterly