Bruchko

Rating:
Summary: FIVE STARS-Quite possibly the best book I have ever read!!!
Review: If you are looking for a book which will captivate you from cover to cover, look no further. Bruchko is the true-life story of Bruce Olson and his life among the Motilone tribe of South America. You will experience God at work in the life of a young man who sets out armed with nothing more than his faith and a clear sense of calling. You will walk with Bruce from mountaintop elation to the the valley of the shadow of death. You will watch a young man leave behind everything familiar to search for and find his life's call. Order this book today, you will not be disappointed. . . and while you're at it, might as well order one for a friend

Rating:
Summary: Will capture you from start to finish
Review: If you really want an awesome true life adventure story, this will make your jaw drop. Olson's commitment to Jesus and his calling is something I hope to come close to. Too extreme!

Rating:
Summary: Proof that we mustn't underestimate the power of the gospel
Review: It has been I while since I read "Bruchko," and my copy of the book is now out on loan, so I might have a few details wrong in what follows (but I am mostly confident in my memory). This is the story of a Bruce Olson, a 19 year old American youth who went, on his own (i.e., with close to zero support from anyone), as a missionary to the Motilone, one of the most feared and least understood Indian tribes in South America. He nearly died several times but in the end seems to have converted the greater part of the tribe to Christianity. He did several things that were quite unusual. Two that stick in my mind were: 1) he and the Indians composed original hymns in their peculiar musical language, which is reported to sound eerie and dissonant -- almost demonic -- to Western ears; and 2) he went to great extremes to use dynamic equivalence in translating the Bible into their language. For example, he completely reversed the metaphor used by Christ in Matt. 7:24-27; in that tribe's culture, only a fool would build his house on a rock, and the obvious wise place to build a house is on *sand.* Architectural references were also modified, as in their culture the box-like rectangular architecture familiar to us is considered ugly; "virtuous" architecture is all round. And so on.

As an aside, I'll bet that over time a new translation of the Motilone Bible will come to be needed, one that is more "direct and literal" in its approach and resorting less to "dynamic equivalence." I think they will eventually "outgrow" the one they have. The same may happen with their music; European music certainly evolved after contact with Christianity and there is still plenty more room for change. I think that over time the Motilone culture will be greatly transformed by the gospel, and in some ways it will inevitably come to resemble that of Christian Europe, but there could very well be many other ways in which it persistently retains many features quite different from the Western culture we generally associate with Christianity. Nothing wrong with that! -- in the Godhead the One and the Many are equally ultimate, and there is no reason to expect that human cultures should all become monotonous cookie cutter duplicates of each other as they turn to Christ.

Here are a few more interesting particulars that stick with me after reading the book. First, there was another tribe of Indians, speaking an entirely unrelated language, with which the Motilone were perpetually at war. Both tribes would take every opportunity to inflict pain and suffering on the other. Well, after the Motilone became Christian, some of them insisted on sharing the gospel with their traditional enemies, with which they previously had had no contact except to give or receive violence. Olson knew the languages of both tribes (as he had lived among the other tribe as well), and he knew that they would never be able to communicate, so sharing the gospel would not be possible. Accordingly, he tried to discourage the would-be evangelists from going, fearing they would only get hurt or killed. Well, they went anyway, and the other tribe also converted to Christianity! A miraculous repeat of the power of Pentecost in Acts chapter 2? Who can say? Another interesting thing was that while Olson was away one time, the Indians cured a deadly ailment using totally inappropriate medicine from Olson's supplies. When he came back, the Indians explained that they knew it was praying to God that was the essential part of the cure, and thus they didn't see any problem in using the "wrong" medicine. Before becoming Christians, the Motilone were so fierce that no Westerner had been able to approach them -- several white men had been killed upon making contact -- so no outsider would believe Olson was actually living among the Motilone. Finally some government and oil mining company officials went with Olson to these "primitive" Indians and found that in the short time since their conversion to Christianity, they had established schools, agriculture and a hospital more sophisticated than those used by the white men around them. Eventually it became standard practice for the the white people to go to the Indians for health care.

Finally, without wishing to knock missionary organizations, I find it interesting that a maverick who "bucked the missionary system" so completely should have achieved results where nobody else could. The pastor of my church is also a totally independent missionary to Japan, and has also enjoyed unusually great success in this country. He attributes part of his success to the fact that he hasn't been constrained by some of the peculiar handicaps common to missionary organizations. Another important factor is simply staying on for the long haul. If anyone reading this is contemplating missions, I hope you will think about this. Some people will definitely work best within a missionary organization, while others will definitely be able to do more without one. Part of your success will depend on knowing which type of person you are and allowing yourself to be led into a situation where your talents can be put to best use. One thing is for certain: humanly speaking, you will always achieve more if you have a lifelong, or at least "career-long," commitment to your mission station than if you just rotate in and out every few years. Why so many missionaries only stick around for a couple of years has always puzzled me to no end. And living in a missionary "ghetto" is another no-no. If you're going to go, go all the way.

Rating:
Summary: Proof that we mustn't underestimate the power of the gospel
Review: It has been I while since I read "Bruchko," and my copy of the book is now out on loan, so I might have a few details wrong in what follows (but I am mostly confident in my memory). This is the story of a Bruce Olson, a 19 year old American youth who went, on his own (i.e., with close to zero support from anyone), as a missionary to the Motilone, one of the most feared and least understood Indian tribes in South America. He nearly died several times but in the end seems to have converted the greater part of the tribe to Christianity. He did several things that were quite unusual. Two that stick in my mind were: 1) he and the Indians composed original hymns in their peculiar musical language, which is reported to sound eerie and dissonant -- almost demonic -- to Western ears; and 2) he went to great extremes to use dynamic equivalence in translating the Bible into their language. For example, he completely reversed the metaphor used by Christ in Matt. 7:24-27; in that tribe's culture, only a fool would build his house on a rock, and the obvious wise place to build a house is on *sand.* Architectural references were also modified, as in their culture the box-like rectangular architecture familiar to us is considered ugly; "virtuous" architecture is all round. And so on.

As an aside, I'll bet that over time a new translation of the Motilone Bible will come to be needed, one that is more "direct and literal" in its approach and resorting less to "dynamic equivalence." I think they will eventually "outgrow" the one they have. The same may happen with their music; European music certainly evolved after contact with Christianity and there is still plenty more room for change. I think that over time the Motilone culture will be greatly transformed by the gospel, and in some ways it will inevitably come to resemble that of Christian Europe, but there could very well be many other ways in which it persistently retains many features quite different from the Western culture we generally associate with Christianity. Nothing wrong with that! -- in the Godhead the One and the Many are equally ultimate, and there is no reason to expect that human cultures should all become monotonous cookie cutter duplicates of each other as they turn to Christ.

Here are a few more interesting particulars that stick with me after reading the book. First, there was another tribe of Indians, speaking an entirely unrelated language, with which the Motilone were perpetually at war. Both tribes would take every opportunity to inflict pain and suffering on the other. Well, after the Motilone became Christian, some of them insisted on sharing the gospel with their traditional enemies, with which they previously had had no contact except to give or receive violence. Olson knew the languages of both tribes (as he had lived among the other tribe as well), and he knew that they would never be able to communicate, so sharing the gospel would not be possible. Accordingly, he tried to discourage the would-be evangelists from going, fearing they would only get hurt or killed. Well, they went anyway, and the other tribe also converted to Christianity! A miraculous repeat of the power of Pentecost in Acts chapter 2? Who can say? Another interesting thing was that while Olson was away one time, the Indians cured a deadly ailment using totally inappropriate medicine from Olson's supplies. When he came back, the Indians explained that they knew it was praying to God that was the essential part of the cure, and thus they didn't see any problem in using the "wrong" medicine. Before becoming Christians, the Motilone were so fierce that no Westerner had been able to approach them -- several white men had been killed upon making contact -- so no outsider would believe Olson was actually living among the Motilone. Finally some government and oil mining company officials went with Olson to these "primitive" Indians and found that in the short time since their conversion to Christianity, they had established schools, agriculture and a hospital more sophisticated than those used by the white men around them. Eventually it became standard practice for the the white people to go to the Indians for health care.

Finally, without wishing to knock missionary organizations, I find it interesting that a maverick who "bucked the missionary system" so completely should have achieved results where nobody else could. The pastor of my church is also a totally independent missionary to Japan, and has also enjoyed unusually great success in this country. He attributes part of his success to the fact that he hasn't been constrained by some of the peculiar handicaps common to missionary organizations. Another important factor is simply staying on for the long haul. If anyone reading this is contemplating missions, I hope you will think about this. Some people will definitely work best within a missionary organization, while others will definitely be able to do more without one. Part of your success will depend on knowing which type of person you are and allowing yourself to be led into a situation where your talents can be put to best use. One thing is for certain: humanly speaking, you will always achieve more if you have a lifelong, or at least "career-long," commitment to your mission station than if you just rotate in and out every few years. Why so many missionaries only stick around for a couple of years has always puzzled me to no end. And living in a missionary "ghetto" is another no-no. If you're going to go, go all the way.

Rating:
Summary: New Trails in Missiology
Review: Not only great content, but suprisingly well written. Bruce Olson interweaves different times thematically, without taking the easy path so many authors do of simply starting at some time in the future and then telling the rest of the story behind it. Rather, the different chapters are placed together to reveal the ideas, as past, present, and future tense weave themselves together.

There are wonderful stories here that I can only partially reveal- "flat mice", butterflies in the mouth, and others that moved me to tears. Bruchko faced an incredibly hard life- one I couldn't possibly emulate. But he writes with such a humble style, not as a "saint" or holier-than-thou; he was so easy to relate to, that I think I could go through these trials. He did. And yet the struggles he describes- they are definitely incredibly hard.

Missiologically, there are some great redemptive analogies present, like banana stalks and man-ants. He has some nice recoginition that folk practioners aren't always demonic, but can at times be praying to God. The easy path would be to label them all as true "witch doctors". But Bruchko never takes the easy path. All the more suprising in that he had no formal missiological training or a mission agency. Perhaps that's why he could take new roads; new trails. He provides the proof that one doesn't have to go the authorized route of a mission board that is so trumped up these days.

It was nice to to see his growing acceptance of the miraculous, and that it was a new thing to him too initially. I think it would have been better however to focus a bit more on God's power to heal, and one of the few flaws I find in his missions approach is so closely identifying bacteria with the demonic. Yes, it is something the Motilone could relate to- but it sets them up for some pretty bad theology later. Though some good resulted in this analogy- the belief that God is involved in all healings- this could cause problesm in the future as Western medicine is related to anything that is miraculous.

Other than that, I would highly recommend this book, and the missiological theology therein.

Rating:
Summary: Bruce Olsen's an Amazing Man
Review: The persistence of the drive in Bruce Olsen to reach the most remote of people with the gospel is astounding. He was and is truly, the only person for the job.

The wisdom he was given to overcome deadly hostility, disease and linguistic/cultural barriers could only come from God. The quote that sticks in my mind was his short prayer to adapt the gospel message to the tribe:

"Jesus, become a Motilone"

The principle behind that prayer is pure compassion that God honors, as seen by how it was answered.

If you are even curious about mission work, get the book!

Rating:
Summary: One of the few Books I Would read Again
Review: This book is a true story of a 19 year old boy who is inspired by God to minister to the Motilone indians in South America. The book tells of his life and of his trial he has ministering to the Motilones. The 19 year old boy was captured, caught a few deseases, was very lonely and was tortured, But what he discovered by trial and error has revolutionized the world of missions. If I was looking for a book to read I would consider reading this one. I believe you will read it all at one time. Once you start you can't stop. So order a copy and have a fun time.

Rating:
Summary: An incredibly inspiring and awesome story.
Review: This book is absolutely incredible. I didn't know what to expect, but once I started reading it I was hooked. This book just shows how awesome things can be done through faith in Christ. You will be amazed at how Bruce Olson had to go through incredible anguish, but still answered God's call. A must for any follower of Christ.

Rating:
Summary: Wow!!
Review: This book is amazing........and to think that it is actually a true story! With all the setbacks Bruce encounters, you would think he would have packed up and left South America. It's nice to read about someone with undying faith!

Rating:
Summary: Incredible what one man can do in the Will of God
Review: This book is definitely one of the best books I have ever read! A great, true story, about how God blesses those who will just do as He calls us to do!

I would definitely recommend it to anyone who is struggling with God's call on their life, and wondering if God will be faithful to you, if you are faithful to Him!! (He will!!)