The title must not mislead the prospective buyer into thinking that this is a book only for those interested in Malawi. Only three or four of its eight essays are really about Malawi. The others - although they refer to Malawi and Africa - could each stand alone as interesting contributions to such subjects as the world wide discussion about Church - Culture - State - Politics relationships, Eastern Orthodox Ecclesiology, and the place of recreation (in the sense of play and fun) in the Christian Life.
The first essay `The Truth Shall Set You Free' is a good summary of the very pivotal and courageous role the Malawian Churches played in the overthrow of Malawi's oppressive one party state ruled by the dictator Hastings Kamuzu Banda. For those who, like this reviewer, lived through many years of Dr. Banda's rule and knows personally a number of the key Church figures involved it makes intriguing reading.

The three essays that follow are theological reflections on the relationship of gospel to the wider world of politics, social reform etc. In these three essays we receive a good exposition of Calvin ( the whole of life, private and public being embraced by creation and redemption), Bonhoeffer (the relationship of Ultimate and Penultimate in the Kingdom of God), and Moltmann (Theology of Hope). Running through Kenneth Ross's explanations is his own view (shared by this reviewer) that there is a continuity and discontinuity between the coming kingdom of God and this world. That means that we cannot but be concerned about righteousness in the world of politics, whilst recognising that our final hope is not in the Church's own achievements in this world.
He particularly believes that where the government or dictator claims `omnipotence' the Church has the duty to proclaim the Lordship of Christ. But here is the great irony of so much clergy political comment in the Western World and I am sure we must really think it through. A great deal of Church political comment from pulpits and Church reports makes the implicit assumption that governments do have something approaching  omnipotence and so  have the power to redistribute wealth, guarantee full employment etc. But is the exercise of such power possible without destruction of the economy? I would like to hear Kenneth Ross on that.
He refers to the widely held view that Christ sided with the poor against the rich. This reviewer believes this is only partly true. It was Christ's show of friendship to certain rich people (e.g. the exploiter Zacchaeus) that brought down upon Him the wrath of the religiously self-righteous - the very people who became most responsible for His crucifixion. The danger of self-righteousness in all our varying theological/political pronouncements is something we need to think through.

The next essay is a fascinating analysis of the actual preaching that is given in Malawi's main churches and the attitudes of preachers and listeners to their faith.

From this essay we move to a good overview of one of the early pioneers of Blantyre Mission - Rev. David Clement Scott. Here we meet a man whose whole missionary strategy revealed his deep respect for the African peoples and their languages. Kenneth Ross contrasts this with the mentality prevalent in the white man's political conquest of Africa. These very different attitudes led to the long and painful differences between the missions and their churches on the one hand and the colonial authorities on the other.

The design of the famous Church building that Clement Scott constructed in Blantyre leads Kenneth Ross to write an essay on Eastern Orthodox Ecclesiology in which each local church is not so much an outstation of the central Church authority, but rather a representation of the whole Church of God. He makes a number of interesting and helpful points in this essay but I couldn't help wondering whether his view of Eastern Orthodoxy would be quite so rosy if he lived in a country where it is the dominant faith.

The final essay is a plea - on good theological grounds - for Christians from a pietistic/evangelical tradition to re-consider more positively their normally semi-negative attitudes to recreation and play in the Christian Life. 

I certainly recommend this book. It is Biblically and theologically well argued,  full of good points, very relevant to the modern world and written out of a situation of life and death ferment in a country that has long and honourable associations with the Church in Scotland.