I’ve just finished reading “The Poisonwood Bible” a novel by Barbara Kingsolver about the Price family who go to the Belgian Congo in the late 1950′s as Baptist missionaries. It’s a pretty depressing story based upon the experiences of Nathan Price’s wife and four daughters… who rotate telling their story in each chapter of the book. Orleanna, Rachel, Leah and Adah (twins), and Ruth May (the youngest).

Nathan turns out to be an abusive, narrow-minded, ultra-conservative tyrant who refuses to learn anything from the Kingala culture around him, and chooses to impose his views, opinions and version of reality on the unsuspecting villagers. He yells “Tata Jesus is Bangala” to his congregation over and over, never understanding that depending on the way you say it, it means that Jesus is either precious (good), or that he is the poisonwood tree (bad). His listeners are never really sure what he means and there is never any real spiritual transformation as a result.

The female Price family members however, do learn from their Africa experiences but become increasingly alienated and separated from Nathan. Eventually tragedy strikes – which leads to the eventual sad breaking apart of the family.

Another interesting part of the book is how it weaves in the 1960′s political background of how the Congo became independent, then how the Eisenhower administration was involved in the assassination of the first Prime Minister, Patrice Lumumba, and how it came to support the ruthless dictator, Mobutu.

To me the book makes a strong case for the serious consequences that exist for anyone (an individual, church or a nation) who is not willing to learn and communicate cross-culturally with a sensitive, serving attitude and manner. The same consequences exist for us in today if we do not learn to be flexible and to make the transition and bridge from modernism to postmodernism.