LAUSR

destruction of the city in the Second World War and subsequently saw his nation damaged by the cult of the emperor. The effects of the destruction of his home and the utter devastation of Hiroshima and Nagasaki never left him and resonate through much of his writing. Koyama worked as an ecumenical theologian and missiologist in Asia, New Zealand and the USA, and he played an important role in the development of the World Council of Churches as a bridge-builder between different factions. Aldous explores Koyama’s imaginative use of terms such as ‘neighbourology’ to explore the mutuality of providing hospitality to the stranger and to counter seeing people as evangelistic ‘projects’. He highlights Koyama’s rhetoric of love to speak of the vulnerability and unconditional acceptance that will be needed for the future intercultural church in the UK. I particularly appreciated the chapter exploring Koyama’s observation that Western Christianity suffers from ‘teacher complex’ and does not want to learn. Aldous takes up Koyama’s exhortation to move towards Jesus’ own model of listening and questioning. He reminds us that it was through Jesus’ vulnerability that the victory of the cross came, and, in this, the experience of Christians elsewhere in the world holds much we can learn from. Accompanying people to grow as human beings in Christ rather than adopting the evangelistic ‘smash and grab’ approach can be mutually transformative. It requires the gift of time and the sacrifice of efficiency. It accepts slow evangelism. Aldous writes to build up God’s Church, scattered rather than gathered in churches, and in this he provides a helpful introduction to Koyama’s insights that are relevant for us today. Less attention to marketing, mission strategies and shortterm goal setting, and more time for walking and listening to the people we meet. In short, an openness to share our human limitations rather than seeking pace, power and prestige. Aldous utilizes John Swinton’s theological research among the disabled to illustrate Koyama’s observation that, in his ministry, Jesus moved to the peripheries. From personal experience, retirement to the fringes of church life can also provide salutary lessons in God’s priorities. Perspectives from the peripheries serve to challenge the Church’s obsession with modernity and deserve more attention. Aldous’s reflections on Koyama’s writings provide a timely challenge to Western Christianity, that God is often to be found working in the slow lane.