Introducing Story-Strategic Methods [Hardcover]

The purpose of Introducing Story-Strategic Methods is to awaken us in the cross-cultural context. Our natural tendency is to be asleep to our own cultural values and core worldview assumptions. This tendency applies as well to our expectations in the cross-cultural context. For example, in what ways would a justice pattern of culture orient our speech and behavior? To what degree is a justice pattern of culture different from an honor pattern of culture? The book asserts that culture matters in effective communication. Going further, to what degree does a story told from the Bible nullify the power of culture? Often we assume that the biblical story trumps culture. It does not. The book affirms rigorously that culture is much more powerful than we first suppose. If in fact, culture trumps the biblical story. Therefore, understanding and skills are required for effective engagement across cultures. Strategic storytelling is a twelve-step methodology that addresses the problems of miscommunication and syncretism that plague the cross-cultural context. It offers a step-by-step solution that promises success. Insights are firmly rooted in Scripture and equally grounded in empirical research from the social sciences. The stories told throughout the book are true. The answers are compelling. Robert Strauss has made a timely contribution to tell the Gospel story in a way that is world-transforming. Coming from India, a land of stories, I cannot but deeply admire Strauss's extraordinary sensitivity to the local stories in different cultures that may parallel, if not rival, the Gospel stories, and his erudite wisdom in inviting [others], particularly the cross-cultural Gospel storytellers, to awake to the way stories function in a local culture so that the Gospel itself may be communicated intelligently and intelligibly. --Babu Immanuel Venkataraman, Associate Professor, Theological Centre for Asia College, Singapore Whether you are one of the four hundrlƒ