Can We Talk: Sharing Your Faith in a Non-Christian World

Rating:
Summary: Talking about Christ across the table or across the world
Review: "Can We Talk" reminds us that sharing our faith in Jesus Christ continually seeks relevance. Anyone who is familiar with Robert Tuttle will be delighted with his numerous illustrations and concepts with regard to sharing the gospel. The book will edify you personally and could also be useful as a small group study guide. To discover that the gospel is "Transcultural" is vital for our sharing of the faith in the present culture. Read Tuttle for a joyful trip around the world of sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ in relevant ways.

Rating:
Summary: Talking about Christ across the table or across the world
Review: "Can We Talk" reminds us that sharing our faith in Jesus Christ continually seeks relevance. Anyone who is familiar with Robert Tuttle will be delighted with his numerous illustrations and concepts with regard to sharing the gospel. The book will edify you personally and could also be useful as a small group study guide. To discover that the gospel is "Transcultural" is vital for our sharing of the faith in the present culture. Read Tuttle for a joyful trip around the world of sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ in relevant ways.

Rating:
Summary: Yes, We Can!
Review: Dr. Tuttle, in this book, attempts to give readers guidance in developing strategies for effective sharing of the gospel with people from vastly different cultures than our own. While he appears to fail in his search for a transcultural gospel (p.11), he does succeed in his search for phenomena that are fairly transcultural. He discusses those phenomena that can be used as analogies to help explain the gospel concepts, or at least to soften the heart of the non-believer to make the person ready to hear the evangelist's message. He indicates that these analogies are necessary to begin the process of evangelism with a person who has little in common with the evangelizer or has insufficient awareness or appreciation for gospel figures and their relationships. Dr. Tuttle uses many true stories to demonstrate the effectiveness of his transcultural tools, and, in the course of doing so, gives readers an ample supply of examples from which to learn.

The author's generous uses of evangelistic vignettes are advantageous to the reader. One cannot only learn about the tools he has discovered, but also identify the context in which they were used successfully. The book is easily read and understood. Most readers will enjoy reading the testimonies, situations and successes of Dr. Tuttle's experiences.

He identifies several transcultural phenomena, which can be compelling in their use with people, especially from non-Western cultures. These include sports, music, a high regard for children, the desire to measure up, the need for community, the need to overcome, and the quest for understanding our origin. Throughout the book, and especially in chapter seven, he demonstrates the effective use of these transcultural phenomena in short stories of his interactions involving people from around the globe and from vastly different backgrounds. He evangelizes in airports, train stations, planes, trains, and automobiles, on various parts of every continent, saving Antarctica.

The strength of this book lies in its efforts to sensitize the reader to various cultural differences and how those differences can impede the gospel message. Dr. Tuttle gives us tools to use which he has demonstrated with his life to be helpful in beginning and sustaining an evangelistic interaction.


Rating:
Summary: Informative, but leaves questions
Review: Robert G. Tuttle provides a "transcultural" way for asking questions that allow Christians to better share their faith. He looks at universal common denominators that speak to a wide range of cultures and generations such as children and sports. One of the strengths of this book is that Tuttle backs up his evangelistic lip service with practicing what he preaches. He provides a lot of illustrations and teaches beyond the theory motif. This book is very short and can be read in an afternoon as well. I would have liked for the author to have provided more information about why the "Modern" way of evangelism is far less superior, there are many presuppositions within this account.

There are a lot of places where this book has really great theology but a few places let me confused like his term "Muslim-Christians?" I was also surprised to learn Jesus was a socialist in the Marxist sense, but that might explain why Tuttle was in Cuba. Maybe illegally? Also he says he is not an inclusiveness but after you read it you will discover this is not quite true. Still, the positives probably outweigh the negatives.

Rating:
Summary: An excellent cross-cultural evangelism primer
Review: Tuttle's best contribution in this book is the way he identifies felt needs, regardless of a person's culture, that make him or her open to the gospel. Excellent book to teach intelligent active listening as a way to open doors for the gospel.