Christ Crucified: A 21st-Century Missiology of the Cross.

Christ Crucified: A 21st-Century Missiology of the Cross. By Mark W. Thomsen. Minneapolis: Lutheran University Press, 2004. 121 pages. Paper. $16.00.

This is a book long needed by the Lutheran church: a consequential interpretation of the theology of the cross for its mission in the world. Mark Thomsen is well equipped for the task. He has served as missionary and educator in Nigeria, pastor of a congregation in the U.S., seminary professor, and Director of Global Mission for the ELCA. He brings passion for the world church together with deep conviction about the cross of Christ as God's ultimate act of loving the creation.

While understanding and appreciating the sixteenth-century origins of Luther's theology of the cross, Thomsen reclaims this focus of Luther's thought for the church in its present-day missionary engagement. In the process he criticizes another major North American interpreter of Luther's theology of the cross, Gerhard Forde, for failing to connect theology of the cross with the immense pain and absurdity experienced by millions in the world today (chap. 2). Theology of the cross should not be reduced to the forensic interpretation of justification by faith but must address human suffering holistically--not only spiritual but also physical suffering.

Thomsen powerfully articulates the pain of the world into which God entered through the incarnation and crucifixion of Jesus Christ. "The theology of the cross announces that God is in solidarity with life, pain, and suffering in the world" (p. 24). He devotes two chapters to religious pluralism and how Christians should engage it dialogically. Thomsen leans toward an inclusivist stance toward the religions as he stresses the universality of the cross. In this vein, he is "convinced that the Abba and Spirit of Jesus are universally loose in the world, and their presence and activity are within all creation and every people" (p. 74). Dialogical witness entails mutual listening, affirmation, understanding, and enrichment.

A missiology of the cross not only engages other religions; it also addresses global injustice. Thomsen attends to the voices and stories of the world's marginalized people in sketching the implications of a missional theology of the cross for those who live in the center of global power. Advocacy for the poor and the equipping of all the baptized for ministry are key elements in this effort.

The book concludes with two fine sermons that translate theology of the cross into the language of the preacher. I highly recommend this book for pastors and congregations seeking to ground their missional outreach in the heart of the Lutheran theological tradition. Christ Crucified leads us into the midst of the world's suffering and accompanies us as we take up the cross and follow.

Craig L. Nessan

Wartburg Theological Seminary