Global Diasporas and Mission.

Kim, Rebecca Y.

Global Diasporas and Mission.

Edited by Chandler H. Im and Amos Yong.

Oxford: Regnum Books International, 2014.

Pp. vii, 285. 26.99 [pounds sterling]. Also Eugene, Ore.: Cascade Books. Paperback $34.

Published as a part of the Edinburgh Centenary Series on Christian mission, Global Diasporas and Mission is an edited volume that explores global diasporas and their implications for twenty-first-century mission. The book conceptualizes global diasporas as "a 'theological form' that accentuates God's missionary intention for people on the move and the redemptive acts that go along with it, both domestically and globally" (6). Exploring global diasporas from both ecclesiological and missiological perspectives, it includes chapters that address the ethnic-specific concerns of global diaspora churches, as well as chapters that provide a broad overview of the phenomenon of global diasporas.

What is most striking about this volume is its diversity. Global Diasporas and Mission covers various ethnic groups and regions, such as the Japanese diaspora in Brazil, the South Asian diaspora in the Persian Gulf, the Korean diaspora in the United States, and the African diaspora in Germany. Chapters offering historical and biblical perspectives on migration, diaspora, and mission cover both the Old and the New Testaments. Some chapters rely solely on biblical criticism; others, mostly on descriptive statistics. Some authors are evangelical; others are ecumenical or Catholic. The contributors also vary in ethnic background and country of residence, and they provide a broad spectrum of missiological and theological perspectives. Definitions and the use of the terms diaspora and migration also vary across the chapters.

Anyone interested in migration, mission, and global diaspora will find something of interest in the chapters in this volume. The very diversity of the book, however, is a limitation, for no concluding chapter pulls the motley collection of essays together to provide a definitive argument or insight regarding diasporas and mission in the twenty-first century.

The epilogue of the book, however, offers a final charge for Christian leaders that will be hard for readers to ignore. No matter their ethnic or racial background, national Christian leaders and churches, as well as diaspora Christian leaders and churches, are all part of a global church. They must therefore learn to do more than tolerate and coexist with each other. Instead, they should love one another. They are called to be unified in Christ and serve as coworkers and cosojoumers on earth on the way toward the City of God, "where diaspora shall be no more" (265).

Rebecca Y. Kim is professor of sociology at Pepperdine University, Malibu, California.