Reading a Different Story

December 9, 2013
In the second book in the Turning South series, which examines issues of the global South, VanZanten (Joining the Mission), a professor of English at Seattle Pacific University, recounts the intellectual and spiritual journey that led her to focus on African literature and advocate for an inclusive approach to education. The narrative begins with her childhood in a small Dutch reformed community in Washington state and proceeds through her education at a Christian liberal arts college and Emory, which leads to her present career in Christian higher education. VanZanten reflects candidly about her struggles in traditionally male-dominated Christian schools and her dissatisfaction with the male- and Western-dominated canons. She began to teach classes on African literature and fiction by women. Ultimately, she argues for curricular globalization and the idea of Christian cosmopolitanism, the belief that all human beings share an identity as special creations of God. At times, this book reads more like a resume than a memoir, but many—especially those who work in Christian higher education—will appreciate VanZanten’s thorough exploration of what it means to be a Christian scholar-teacher.