Biblio Format	Annotation
Adams, Daniel J. "From Certainty to Uncertainty: Doing Theology in the Postmodern Era." In From East to West: Essays in Honor of Donald G. Bloesch, ed. Adams, Daniel J., 131-49. Lanham, MD: University Press of America, 1997.	The various cultures of the world are based upon religious traditions and value systems that are very different from the Christianity of the West. Indeed, the secularization of the West is a minority situation among the cultures of the world. The postmodern era will mean a coming to terms with this reality as more and more nations and cultures increase their economic, political and military strength. According to Samuel Huntington, "this will require the West to develop a much more profound understanding of the basic religious and philosophical assumptions. " How shall we understand these basic religious and philosophical assumptions, and how will this understanding contribute to our doing theology in the postmodern age? A good place to begin is to consider several of these assumptions and how they have influenced recent theology. We shall consider the premodern theology of J. Gresham Machen, the modem theology of Edward W. Farley, and the postmodem theology of Chung Hyun-Kyung, and in so doing we shall not only come to a more thorough understanding of ourselves, but hopefully a better understanding of others as well.
Arscott, Lindsay A. "Black Theology." Evangelical Review of Theology 10:2 (April 1986): 137-146.	Explores the origins and teachings of Black Theology and assesses it in light of the foundational discussion with implications for the Caribbean. Concludes: As Caribbean evangelicals we should respond to black theology because notwithstanding some positive things, it cuts across the grain of evangelical teaching on some fundamental issues. While it may be true that black theology is not a present threat to the evangelical faith in the region, this is no reason why it should be swept under the carpet. With our close proximity to and frequency of communication with North America and interlocked as we are with their education system, black theology might infiltrate our region and offer a strong challenge. Are we prepared for this challenge?
Baum, Gregory. "The Contextual Theology of Douglas Hall." Journal of Theology for Southern Africa 72 (September 1990): 36-47.	n this article I wish to introduce South African theologians to the work of Douglas Hall, an important Canadian theologian. Douglas Hall is an English-speaking Canadian; this information is relevant because the British Dominion of Canada also embraces a French-speaking people who have come to refer to themselves as "Ies Quebecois." There are two reasons why I believe Hall's theology is of interest to South African Christians who are wrestling with the meaning of the Gospel for their own republic. First, Hall criticizes traditional, made-in-Europe theology that regarded itself as universal, and he offers a systematic defense of contextual theology. A second reason why I believe Hall's theology is of interest to South Africans is that his message to the United States is to abandon its world-wide imperialist policy and its political support of repressive regimes that protect the capitalist order.
Boff, Leonardo; Elizondo, Virgilio P.; and Lefébure, Marcus, eds. Option for the Poor: Challenge to the Rich Countries, Edinburgh: T. &T. Clark, 1986.
Brown, Harold O. J. "On Method and Means in Theology." In Doing Theology in Today's World: Essays in Honor of Kenneth S. Kantzer, ed. John D. Woodbridge and Thomas Edward McComiskey, 147-70. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1991.	What, then, is the conclusion of the matter? One cannot be a theologian without faith, nor a really knowledgeable one unless that faith is biblical and orthodox, in conformity to the inerrantly inspired Scripture. One cannot, or can hardly, learn, nourish, or even maintain such a faith without a surrounding and supporting community of belief, and such a community of belief never exists without a community of practice; together these form a living Christian tradition, apart from which and outside of which the individual Christian's life will be impoverished and this theology, if such it should be called such, pale and weak. Within it, both the individual believer and the believing community can be vital, active, fruitful, and-most important of all--faithful to the Lord they love.
Brown, Robert McAfee. "Diversity and Inclusiveness: Notes for a Study of Experiential-Contextual Theologies in the US." Church and Society 67 (1977): 52-58.	Ten propositions (with discussion) about contextualizing theology from a widely respected thinker; originally a paper delivered the Division of Overseas Ministries of the NCC in 1977.
Brown, Robert McAfee. "Reflections of a North American: The Future of Liberation Theology." In The Future of Liberation Theology: Essays in Honor of Gustavo Gutierrez, ed. Marc H. Ellis and Otto Maduro, 491-501. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1989.	The truth of the matter is that in relation to the groups just described, I am an observer; I am not black, female, Amerindian, gay, Puerto Rican, Hispanic, or Filipino. I am (in terms that are descriptive to some and pejorative to others) a white male North American. This is at best a dubious category in which to be cast, for it is a historical fact that with whatever separates all the liberation viewpoints cited above from each other, they agree that the main architects of their oppression have been and continue to be members of the white male North American establishment. In the light of this fact, how can we white, male North Americans relate to the liberation struggle? Is there a liberation message for us as well? Can there be a liberation message from us as well? It is these themes that I propose to examine for the balance of this essay. I shall not attempt anything so grandiose as a full-blown "liberation theology for white male North Americans," particularly in ten pages.'" My more modest agenda will be to try to identify some of the issues we must confront realistically, if we are to come within hailing distance of a meeting place between ourselves and the liberation struggles of others. Out of a massive potential agenda, I arbitrarily choose five themes: 1) on being an oppressor; 2) on being a traitor to one's class; 3) on working within church structures; 4) on speaking truth to power' and 5) on broadening the base.
Brown, Robert McAfee. "What Can North Americans Learn from Minjung Theology?" In An Emerging Theology in World Perspective: Commentary on Korean Minjung Theology, ed. Jung Y. Lee, 35-47. Mystic, CN: Twenty-Third Publications, 1988.	There are both negative and positive things for North Americans to learn from an exposure to minjung theology. Negatively, the most important thing is probably to acknowledge that it is not "our" theology; that we are unlikely, for cultural, racial, and class reasons, to be able to understand it fully; that we are not competent to interpret it to others; and that as a result we had better leave its exposition and appropriation to those who have created it. Positively, we can recognize that it is a theology indigenous to the core; that it must remain that way; and that what it can best do for us is to stimulate us to find some new ways of doing our own indigenous theology. How, then, can we learn from the minjung theological experience in ways that will first inform, then challenge, and finally transform the North American theological experience? In dealing with this complex matter, I first engage in the risky venture of trying to highlight four emphases in minjung theology that seem to offer pointers for our own theological re-thinking; secondly, I try to look at our North American theological scene in the light of those emphases; and finally, I offer some brief, concluding reflections on the future of indigenous theologies.
Bucher, Glenn R. "Toward a Liberation Theology for the 'Oppressor'." Journal of the American Academy of Religion 44 (1976): 517-534.
Buswell, James, III. "Social Dimensions of Revival: A 'People Movement' Among Florida Seminoles." International Journal of Frontier Missions 2:3 (July 1985): 267-282.	Donald McGavran has written that "undiscipled peoples best become Christians through group conversions and people movements. When conditions are right groups of some people start to accept Christianity" (1955:23-24). The author offers this case study as an exercise in discerning when conditions are wrong as much as in the perception in hindsight of when they were right.
Carson, Don A. "Church and Mission: Reflections on Contextualization and the Third Horizon." In The Church in the Bible and the World: An International Study, ed. D. A. Carson, 213-257. Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1987.	No work proposing to discuss some of the more disputed biblical themes relating to the church can afford to ignore the current ferment over the mission of the church. The field is vast and the disputed areas many; but this essay focuses on the interface between the new hermeneutic and contextualization. In order to keep the subject narrowly focused, the rest of this paper proceeds in dialogue with the influential article of Daniel von Allmen on the birth of theology. Some essays capture a mood or put into words what many others have been struggling to articulate. When such essays are published, they immediately gain assent and wide recognition not necessarily because they are cogent or their arguments unassailable, but because they burst onto the theological scene just at the time when they seem to confirm the opinions of many readers. Apparently, something like that has happened to von Allmen's important essay; and so it provides a suitable backdrop to the following reflections on the third horizon. In what follows I shall first of all summarize von Allmen's arguments, and then proceed to a discussion of exegetical and methodological problems associated with his work. Finally, I shall try to assess von Allmen's judgment of the kind of contextualization that ought to take place as one attempts to evangelize people of the third horizon, and conclude with some slightly broader formulations.
Carson, Don A., ed. The Church in the Bible and the World: An International Study, Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1987.
Carson, Donald A. "Hermeneutics: A Brief Assessment of Some Recent Trends." Themelios 5:2 (January 1980): 12-20.	For introductory surveys of developments in hermeneutics, largely outside evangelical circles, one may turn with profit to the books by C. E. Braaten, W. G. Doty." and R. W. Funk. In what follows I shall survey five large areas of discussion in contemporary hermeneutical debates, but restrict bibliography to representative works. The presentation will be largely descriptive, only occasionally evaluative, until the concluding section, which attempts to assess these developments. The areas discussed are: 1) modern literary tools, 2) the new hermeneutic; 3) canon criticism and hermeneutics; 4) structuralism; and 5) the Maier/Stuhlmacher debate.
Cobb, John B. "Minjung Theology and Process Theology." In An Emerging Theology in World Perspective: Commentary on Korean Minjung Theology, ed. Jung Y. Lee, 51-56. Mystic, CN: Twenty-Third Publications, 1988.	As minjung theology moves into this later phase, it is my hope that there can be a growing alliance between minjung theology and process theology. Few, if any, process theologians in the United States have paid a price in unemployment or imprisonment for identification with the minjung. In that sense we have not earned the confidence of minjung theologians. But in our very different context, focused on very different issues, we have come to see the world in such a way that we hope to support and encourage those who actively identify with the oppressed and pay the price. As we seek to affect the course of events in our churches and in our government, we need help and guidance from Christians in Korea (and elsewhere) who understand, as we do not, the effect of U.S. policies on the minjung of the world. No more than the minjung theologians are able to determine the policies of Korea are we able to determine those of the United States. But we would like, at least, to be directing our efforts in the right direction. For that we need their moral support as well as their wisdom.
Coleman, John A. "Civil Religion and Liberation Theology in North America." In Theology in the Americas, ed. by Sergio Torres and John Eagleson, 113-38. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1976.	Anyone conversant with the literature on civil religion which has grown up since Robert Bellah's celebrated essay on the topic of "Civil Religion in America" knows that to speak of civil religion is to raise a hornet's nest of unresolved problems of definition and evaluation. In debates and colloquies devoted to the subject, questions range from "Does it exist anywhere except in the minds of intellectuals?" or "Is it a purely American phenomenon?" to "Is it anything more than mindless or idolatrous patriotism?" Martin Marty has suggested somewhat flippantly that "Civil religion at least existed once in a speech or two of Abraham Lincoln. He also suggests that it is a sociologist's social construction of reality. It is clear that civil religion is, nonetheless, one of the things we do speak about, if not under that rubric, then in terms of patriotism, the civil heritage, national destiny or purpose, or political and public theology. I will attempt in the following pages to address myself to civil religion under three topics: 1) What is civil religion? Problems of definition and evaluation, 2) America's civil religion; and 3) The relevance of liberation theology for civil religion and of civil religion for understanding liberation theology. The limits both of my competence and time will not allow me more than a brief suggestive analysis of each of these topics. The controversial nature of the term "civil religion "demands that I give, first, some special attention to questions of definition and evaluation.
Cone, James H. "Black Theology and the Black Church: Where Do We Go from Here?" In Mission Trends No. 4: Liberation Theologies in North America and Europe, ed. Gerald Anderson and Thomas F. Stransky, 131-44. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1979.	In this essay Cone discusses the need "to open up the reality of black church experience and its revolutionary potential to a world context." Being "sensitive to the complexity of the world situation," he says, means for the process of liberation that "our starting point in terms of racism is not negated but enhanced when connected with imperialism and sexism." Cone sums up: "We must create a global vision of human liberation and include in it the distinctive contribution of the black experience. We have been struggling for nearly 400 years! What that experience taught us that would be useful in the creation of a new historical future for all oppressed peoples? And what can others teach us from their historical experience in the struggle for justice? This is the issue that black theology needs to address." Reprinted from the summer 1977 issue of Cross-Currents.
Cone, James H. "Black Theology from a Historical Perspective." Bangalore Theological Forum 22:2 (June 1990): 1-25.	Explains North American black theology to an Indian audience. In this essay, Cone analyzes black religious thought in the light of DuBois' "warring ideals" that emerged out of the struggle for justice--beginning with its origin in slavery and concentrating mainly on its 20th century development in the civil rights and black power movements, culminating with. the rise of black theology.
Cone, James H. "Black Theology on Revolution, Violence and Reconciliation." Dialog 12:2 (Spring 1973): 127-33.	Early article on Black Theology in the United States by one of the leading advocates.
Cone, James H. "Martin Luther King, Jr., Black Theology, and the Black Church." AME Zion Quarterly Review 98:2 (1986): 2-17.	During a decade of writing and teaching black theology, the most frequent question that has been addressed to me, publically and privately, by black and especially whites, has been: "How do you reconcile the separatist and violent orientation of black theology with Martin Luther King's emphasis on integration, love, and nonviolence?" I have always found it difficult to respond to this question because those who ask it seem unaware of the interrelation between King, black theology, and the black church. Although it is not my primary intention to compare King and black theology, I do hope that an explication of his theology in the context of the black church will show, for those interested in a comparison, that black theology and King are not nearly as far apart as some persons might be inclined to think.
Cone, James H. "Sanctification and Liberation: A Case Study on Black Worship." Occasional Essays 5:1 (June 1978): 3-20.	Since the appearance of Black Theology in the late 1960's, much has been said and written about the theme of liberation in black religion. Black theologians are concerned to show the liberating character of black Christianity in our struggle for social and political justice. But in our effort to show that the gospel is political, we black theologians were sometimes in danger of reducing black religion to politics and black worship to a political strategy session, thereby distorting the essence of black religion. In this essay, my concern is to examine the spiritual foundation of black worship as reflected in its components of preaching, singing, shouting, conversion, prayer, and testimony. Hopefully I will be able to clarify the connection between the experience of holiness in worship and the struggle for political justice in the larger society.
Cone, James H. "The Social Context of Theology." In Doing Theology Today, ed. Choan-Seng Song, 17-41. Madras: The Christian Literature Society, 1976.	Theological language is not eternal but time bound, not universal but particular. It is the nature and implication of this particularity that I want to explore in this paper. Because Christian theology is human speech about God, it is always related to concrete historical situations. To put it another way, theology is inseparable from social existence. When we become deeply aware of this fact, we come face to face with the question of the theologian's interest in his material. I shall. comment on this matter of the social context of theology in three sections: first, the respective of Feuerbach, Marx, and the sociologists of knowledge; second, the social character of white theology in America; and, finally, the social character of Black Theology.
Cone, James. "What is Christian Theology?" In Toward Theology in an Australian Context, ed. Victor C. Hayes, 9-17. Bedford Park, S. Australia: Australian Association for the Study of Religions, 1979.	Theology is language about God. Christian theology is language about God's liberating activity in the world on behalf of the freedom of the oppressed. Any talk about God that fails to make God's liberation of the oppressed its starting point is not Christian. It may be philosophical and have some relation to scripture, but it is not Christian. For the word "Christian" connects theology inseparably to God's will to set the captives free. I realize that this understanding of theology and Christianity is not the central view of the western theological tradition and neither is it the dominant viewpoint of contemporary Euro-American theology. However, truth ought not to be defined by the majority or by the dominant intellectual interest of university academicians. The purpose of this essay is to examine the theological presuppositions that underlie the claim that Christian theology is language about God's liberation of the victim from social and political oppression.
Conkey, Calvin. "Doing Theology Among the Zuni." International Journal of Frontier Missions 4:1-4 (1987): 39-51.	Although the Zuni have been acquainted with the Gospel for some 400 years, they have yet to embrace Christianity. Why is, this so? Calvin Conkey here offers an explanation and suggests new approaches based upon a more thorough understanding of the Zuni world view.
"Contextualization of North American Theology." In Theology in the Americas, ed. by Sergio Torres and John Eagleson, 433-36. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1976.	The future of North American theology concerns many people today, especially those who are preoccupied with the concepts of pluralism and the contextualization of theology. We hear about Latin American, African, and Asian theologies. What we call Western theology has been largely, if not exclusively, a European theology. This seems for many Christians the right time to develop more authentic North American theologies. Otherwise Christianity in the United States will lack the prophetic voice required of it by the ecumenical demands of today and the future. The context would include many different aspects and issues, one of which, by itself, is far-reaching. The U. S. dominates a large part of the world in economic and technological power. There must be a critical Christian word addressed to the great human issues that arise just from that fact. The American dream has been increasingly challenged in recent years. For many North Americans, U.S. history expressed in religious symbols is a covenant of freedom and democracy; for some people at home and many in the Third World, it is an enterprise of oppression, domination, and imperialism.
Costas, Orlando. In Struggles for Solidarity: Liberation Theologies in Tension. ed. Ruy O. Costa and Lorine Getz, 63-74. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1992.
Cox, Harvey. "The Religion of Ordinary People: Toward a North American Minjung Theology." In An Emerging Theology in World Perspective: Commentary on Korean Minjung Theology, ed. Jung Y. Lee, 109-114. Mystic, CN: Twenty-Third Publications, 1988.	When one looks at minjung and the various liberation theologies from the angle of Western academic theology, one sees that they raise enormously critical issues for the next decades of Christian theology. The fact is that the demographic center of Christianity is rapidly shifting to the black, brown, yellow, poor southern hemisphere. This means that our millennium-long habit of thinking of Christianity as being somehow centered in Europe, with branch offices around the world, is dying. It will not be that way anymore and, frankly put, many of the churches in the Third World think of this movement away from European thought patterns as a great liberation. They rejoice that they no longer need to think like little Europeans in order to become Christian theologians. So the "De-Europeanizing" of Christianity is one of the things at stake in the emergence of minjung theology. What does the gospel look like when it's been unwrapped from its northern, European shell and allowed to take root and flower in a quite other culture? Concludes: We surely have minjung faith in the USA, but we do not yet have a real minjung "theology." We lack it in part because of the religious and political isolation within which most of our theologians work. If we can begin to break down that isolation, to learn from the trust in Jesus of the black churches, the Dostoyevskian passion of the Russian believers, and other expressions of minjung faith, then something quite significant could begin to happen.
Cummings, George. "Who Do You Say That I Am? A North American Minority Answer to the Christological Question." In Sharing Jesus in the Two Thirds World: Evangelical Christologies from the Contexts of Poverty, Powerlessness, and Religious Pluralism, ed. Vinay Samuel and Chris Sugden, 217-36. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1984.	Christological reflection in the early church arose as the early church attempted to discern the meaning of Jesus Christ for their lives. Any contemporary attempt to do Christological reflection must consider the biblical record, the dogmas of the historical churches, and the living presence of Jesus Christ in the lives of Christians as Christology. Black and Hispanic-American Christians have come to understand that Jesus Christ is the one who, delivers them from all oppression-spiritual, social, political, economical, and cultural. They understand the fundamental message of the gospel to be that the God of freedom has acted on their behalf, through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Any overemphasis on any one aspect of Jesus Christ distorts the gospel. Christology is, therefore, challenged to be holistically true to Jesus Christ.
Deloria, Vine. "A Native American Perspective on Liberation." In Mission Trends No. 4: Liberation Theologies in North America and Europe, ed. Gerald Anderson and Thomas F. Stransky, 277-82. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1979.	Arguing that "liberation theology is simply the latest gimmick to keep minority groups circling the wagons with the vain hope that they can eliminate the oppression that surrounds them," Sioux Indian Vine Deloria, Jr., charges that liberation theology ," does not seek to destroy the roots of oppression, but merely to "change the manner in which oppression manifests itself." The 'problem, according to Deloria, is "a general attitude toward the world that underlies the Western approach to human knowledge. What is needed, he proposes, is "the destruction of the whole complex of Western theories of knowledge and the construction of a new and more comprehensive synthesis of human knowledge and experience.... Then we are speaking truly of liberation. For it is the manner in which people conceive reality that motivates them to behave in certain ways." Deloria illustrates his thesis with an old Indian saying--"The white man ... has ideas; Indians have visions. Ideas have a single dimension. . . . The vision, on the other hand, presents a whole picture of experience and has a central meaning that stands on its own feet as an independent revelation." His article is taken from the July 1977 Occasional Bulletin of Missionary Research.
Dulles, Avery. "Theology for a Post-Critical Age." In Theology Toward the Third Millennium: Theological Issues for the Twenty-first Century, ed. David G. Schultenover, 5-22. Lewiston, NY: Edwin Mellen, 1991.	Dulles presents an analysis of the state of the theological question, arguing that Christian theology in the West has passed through at least three discernible eras: classical, critical, and uncritical, and is currently in a post-critical age. He describes the program of each of these phases but dwells on today's "post-critical theology" and deals with a series of questions posed to it: Who is the theologian? What publics are addressed? What is the goal of theology? What are the criteria of theology? What is the role of church authority? And what are the possibilities and limits of diversity and innovation?
Dyrness, William A. " Vernacular Theology." In The Church between Gospel and Culture: The Emerging Mission in North America, ed. George R. Hunsberger and Craig Van Gelder, 260-269. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1996.
Echols, James K. "White Theology: A Contrast to Black Theology." Dialog 23:1 (Winter 1984): 27-31.	Seeks to expose the defense of traditional theology as in reality an expression of "white" theology (the dominant theology in conservative circles; theology which claims a universal perception of truth).
Elizondo, Virgil. "Toward an American-Hispanic Theology of Liberation in the U.S.A." In Irruption of the Third World: Challenge to Theology, ed. Virginia Fabella and Sergio Torres, 50-55. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1983.	There are two major underlying problems facing our Hispanic church communities. One comes from the unquestioned acceptance of capitalism as the only or the best economic system. Many of our people come to the United States seeking a higher standard of living and to them it is unquestionably what the U.S. free-enterprise system has made possible. The other problem arose in the classical nineteenth-century Latin American liberal school of thought that believes it has to reject everything religious if a people is to be set free. This thought is very strong among our Chicano intellectuals, university students, and the militants in liberation movements. Because in the past the church was almost always in league with the oppressor, they feel that they have to eliminate the church and everything religious for their people ever to find integral human liberation.
Erickson, Millard J. "Presuppositions of Non-Evangelical Hermeneutics" In Hermeneutics, Inerrancy, and the Bible, ed. Earl D. Radmacher and Robert D. Preus, 593-612. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1984.	Because of the very broad topic which has been assigned to me for treatment, it is essential that we note initially several definitional problems which we face. The first is involved in the use of the adjective, "non-evangelical." The idea of non-evangelical could cover a wide variety of views, each rather different from each of the others. Here we single out a few examples as well as seek to explore some of the assumptions common to many non-evangelical hermeneutics. A second preliminary issue to be discussed concerns the variety of presuppositions. There are theological presuppositions (doctrinal beliefs which affect the understanding of specific passages), philosophical presuppositions (pertaining to broader topics than the strictly theological or religious) and methodological presuppositions (the use of logic, inference, induction and deduction). We will sample presuppositions cutting across these categories. The scope of the paper then, should be conceived of with several limitations upon the original form as stated above. It will actually be something such as "Some Theological, Philosophical, and Methodological Presuppositions of Typical Non-Evangelical Hermeneutics."
Featherstone, Rudolf R. "The Theology of the Cross: The Perspective of an African in America." In Theology and the Black Experience: The Lutheran Heritage Interpreted by African and African-American Theologians, ed. Albert Pero and Ambrose Moyo, 42-55. Minneapolis: Augsburg Publishing House, 1988.	Sensitive to that which has been alluded to up to this point, what can we say? The theology of the cross is a theology which does and should continue to challenge the church. In the spirit of Luther, it speaks of a unique way of engaging the theological enterprise. The cross is the litmus test as to the veracity or lack thereof regarding theology. Faith and cross are integrally related and are, therefore, different sides of the same coin. Yet, for those who stand in the Christian faith tradition but do so with their backs against the wall, the theology of the cross, as so frequently articulated, creates some tension. Black suffering and the theology of the cross challenge the Lutheran church 1) in any interpretation that remains exclusively personal; 2) to move beyond orthodoxy and become more concerned with orthopraxis; 3) to recognize God's work in America has been and is hidden/revealed; 4) to become one with those whose backs are to the wall; 5) to view suffering as a call to faith; and 6) to realize that theology's word about the cross and suffering must be ever open to critique.
Garcia, Sixto J. "Further Reflections on the Christology and Ecclesiology of Small Ecclesial Communities." In Small Christian Communities: Imagining Future Church, ed. Robert S. Pelton, 27-34. South Bend: University of Notre Dame Press, 1997.	These reflections are meant to be a meditation on small Christian communities. 1 will draw from my own experience with and within small Christian communities as they celebrate and minister in South Florida and, more specifically, within the Diocese of Palm Beach. I choose to keep this concrete experience of SCCs in my diocese as my constant source of theological qualification and critique, since I feel that general theological reflections always need specific historical grounding to be true and vitally authentic. I propose to look at three particular aspects of the SCCs: First, I would like to meditate on the role of the trained theologian active within the SCCs. Second, I intend to look at the SCCs as the privileged place for a fully experienced kenotic Christology. Third, I will attempt to argue that the kenotic identity of the SCCs will challenge the present and future Church to be a kenotic Church--more than that it will summon the Church to realize that she can only be Church as kenotic, suffering, servant Church.
Goble, Phil. "Reaching Jews through Messianic Synagogues." Evangelical Missions Quarterly 11:2(April 1975): 80-87.	Early paper describing and advocating messianic synagogues.
Graber, David. "Experiencing Native American Music: Living with Cheyenne and Crow Indians." Mission Focus 18:4 (December 1990): 62-64.	Chronicles the author's experiences as he learned of the importance of indigenous hymnody in the Native American context.
Greinacher, Norbert. "Liberation Theology in the 'First World'." In Option for the Poor: Challenge to the Rich Countries, ed. Leonardo Boff, Virgilio P. Elizondo, and Marcus Lefébure, 81-90. Edinburgh: T & T Clark, 1986.	If we advocate a contextual theology as something both legitimate and necessary, we shall not--to be consistent--put forward a 'First World' liberation theology. We still have to learn, particularly in the Catholic Church, that there is no such thing as a single, universal and universally acknowledged theology. Nowadays, much more than heretofore, we have to reckon with a multiplicity of theologies. Having said this, however, I am committed to the view that 'First World' theologians have to implement a prophetic and political theology that very seriously takes account of the challenge posed by liberation theology, reflecting upon God and the 'First World' in terms of the fundamental option for the poor. I would regard this as involving a critical dialogue between different theologies--an absolute necessity--including reciprocal 'fraternal correction'. In what follows I shall attempt to outline a number of what I regard as important elements of a prophetic and political theology in the 'First World'.
Hamar, Anna Karin. "Some Understanding of Power in Feminist Liberation Theologies." Feminist Theology 12 (1996): 10-20.	Feminist liberation theologies challenge traditional Western understandings of power in two major ways: first, by a change of perspective from those who dominate and are in control to those who are experiencing domination-more explicitly, by shifting the perspective from point of view of the oppressors to the perspective and comprehension of the oppressed; secondly, by a redefinition of power from 'power over', domination and coercion, to a notion of power characterized by mutuality, reciprocity and 'power with': a redefinition of power from domination and coercion to 'co-powering' and cooperation. The purpose of this paper is to describe these two challenges. I am also aiming at a partial comparison of these two contributions of feminist liberation theologies and their discourse on power with social science and philosophy, and an investigation of their influences and their relationships to one another.
Hayes, Diana L. "Emerging Voices, Emerging Challenges: An American Contextual Theology." In Theology Toward the Third Millennium: Theological Issues for the Twenty-first Century, ed. David G. Schultenover, 41-59. Lewiston, NY: Edwin Mellen, 1991.	Hayes, a Black theologian, argues the need for the Catholic Church to develop an authentic American "contextual theology" that will recognize the voices of the once silent and invisible members of the Church. These voices, now emerging, are challenging the Church, to live up to its teachings, especially those that proclaim the unassailable dignity belonging to all who have been created in God's image.
Hays, Richard B. "The Church as a Scripture-Shaped Community: The Problem of Method in New Testament Ethics." Evangelical Review of Theology 18:3 (July 1994): 234-247.	The author discusses how the Church becomes a Scripture-shaped community in making ethical judgments on the issues of our time. In developing a framework for pursuing New Testament ethics as a theological discipline, he outlines the threefold task of 1) the descriptive or exegetical, 2) the synthetic or coherent-images and 3) the hermeneutical or interpretative methods. He suggests a number of guidelines for both the synthetic and hermeneutical tasks and appeals to the Church to live under biblical authority rather than under the ambiguities of reason and experience. In a case study on homelessness he applies his method to an urgent ethical issue.
Herzog, Frederick. "Birth Pangs: Liberation Theology in North America." In Mission Trends No. 4: Liberation Theologies in North America and Europe, ed. Gerald Anderson and Thomas F. Stransky, 25-36. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1979.	Many North American Christians have difficulty identifying with two fundamental emphases of liberation theology: God's commitment to the poor; and praxis comes first, then theology. The reason for the difficulty, Frederick Herzog explains, is that "systematic theology [has] systematically ignored the poor as its hermeneutical starting point," and "all of us have been brainwashed by the model of theological education we grew up with. It was theory first, then application. Herzog complains that North American theological schools "are enclaves of self-perpetuating intellectual elites reversing the order of God's priorities. Thought gives rise to thought-world without end. In the New Testament it is the opposite. Praxis gives rise to thought, action/reflection including acknowledgment of the claims of the poor." Herzog's article originally appeared in the December 15, 1976 issue of The Christian Century.
Hesselgrave, David J., ed. New Horizons in World Mission: Evangelicals and the Christian Mission in the 1980s: Papers Given at Trinity Consultation No. 2, ed. David J. Hesselgrave, Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1979.
Hesselgrave, David J., ed. Theology and Mission: Papers Given at Trinity Consultation No. 1, Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1978.
House, H. Wayne. "An Investigation of Black Liberation Theology." Bibliotheca Sacra 139:554 (April-June 1982): 159-176.	Black liberation theology critiqued from a conservative evangelical perspective.
Hoyt, Thomas. "Christology and the African-American Pilgrimage." In Christology in Dialogue, Robert F. Berkey and Sarah A. Edwards, eds. 292-307. Cleveland, Ohio: Pilgrim Press, 1993.	The question of whether Jesus was Black in a literal, ontological, or generic sense has been cogently argued by Albert Cleage, James Cone, and J. Deotis Roberts, Sr., respectively. We will be concerned here with two scholars' interpretations of Jesus Christ. Consequently, this discussion will revolve around not only who Jesus the Christ is for African-American theologians, but what this Christ does for the salvation of an oppressed people. Such concerns will be consistent with the general purpose and history of Christological debate. A brief review of the American experience of African Americans suggests how that experience has helped condition the explication of the Jesus Christ event.
Hulsether, Mark D. "Jesus and Madonna: North American Liberation Theologies and Secular Popular Music." Black Sacred Music 8 (1994): 239-253.
Hunsberger , George R. and Van Gelder, Craig, eds. The Church between Gospel and Culture: The Emerging Mission in North America, Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1996.
Jennings, George J. "A Model for Christian Missions to the American Indians." Missiology 11:1 (January 1983): 55-74.	The lack of cultural thinking in missions to American Indians; models that were historically followed.
Kafton, Sheri. "Doing Theology Among Cambodian Refugees." International Journal of Frontier Missions 4:1-4 (1987): 23-37.	Doing theology among peoples of different cultures is not limited to "overseas" locations, In this article Sheri Kafton a U.S. resident, illustrates how such theology can be done among Cambodian refugees in the United States. From her own firsthand experience she delineates three areas of felt needs which must be addressed: what it is like to be a refugee, a Buddhist, and in bondage to the fear inherent to animistic beliefs. Kafton then suggests communication techniques including the use of traditional arts--which may help to implement theology among this people group.
Kantzer, Kenneth S. "A Systematic Biblical Dogmatics: What Is It and How Is It Done?" In Doing Theology in Today's World: Essays in Honor of Kenneth S. Kantzer, ed. John D. Woodbridge and Thomas Edward McComiskey, 463-94. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1991.	Systematic biblical dogmatics is an eminently practical science. It is practical because it seeks to help me as a sinner and other sinners like me, come to know God, find acceptance with him, learn how we can please the One we love supremely and find usefulness in his great kingdom. It seeks to answer the question, What must I think and say and do about God, human beings, and the created universe in their interrelationships? The discipline of systematic theology goes by many names. Until modem times it was most frequently called Christian doctrine or teaching. Calvin called it "instruction." My favorite term for it is systematic biblical dogmatics. It is systematic because it organizes the material in whatever way win be most helpful and readily usable to set forth the whole of the instruction God has given to his church to enable his church collectively and in its individual members to be obedient and useful in his kingdom. It is biblical because it is derived from the Bible. And it is dogmatics because it seeks to understand and communicate the commands of the sovereign God--commands that we are to accept, believe, and obey.
Kato, Byang H. "An Evaluation of Black Theology." Bibliotheca Sacra 133:531 (July-Sept. 1976): 243-252.	An African evangelical's perspective on North American black theology.
Kim, Heup Young and Ng, David. "The Central Issue of Community: An Example of Asian North American Theology on the Way." In People on the Way: Asian North Americans Discovering Christ, Culture, and Community,ed. David Ng, 25-41. Valley Forge, PA: Judson Press, 1996.	Asian North Americans define individual personal identity in relation to other persons, notably to those sharing family ties. Personal attitudes are formed and decisions are made with the community in mind. One does not live for self alone and one's actions are always gauged by their effect on the community. To be a person is to be in community. This chapter is written by Heup Young Kim, a professor of theology at Kangnam University near Seoul, who is a Confucian scholar, and David Ng, a seminary professor of Christian education whose lifework has dealt with helping the Christian church achieve community. Together they claim that community is woven into the fabric of Asian North Americans, the threads are primarily Confucian but include the multiple strands of Taoist, Buddhist, and various native religions and spiritual inclinations.
Klooster, Fred H. "How Reformed Theologians 'Do Theology' in Today's World." In Doing Theology in Today's World: Essays in Honor of Kenneth S. Kantzer, ed. John D. Woodbridge and Thomas Edward McComiskey, 227-50. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1991.	My description of how Reformed theologians do theology in today's world follows these seven steps: (1) survey the history and literature of systematic theology; (2) distinguish the main types of theology and note their chief characteristics; (3) become aware of the two main options for beginning theology within the Reformed camp; (4) examine the nature of scientific activity to understand the nature of theology as a science; (5) identify theology's field of investigation and its norm; (6) recognize Scripture as the final norm, seek to understand the entire Scripture in light of biblical history, biblical theology, careful exegesis, and attention to hermeneutical questions; finally, (7) draw out the implications of Reformed theology for both personal and communal faith and life.
LaFargue, Michael. "Sociohistorical Research and the Contextualization of Biblical Theology." In The Social World of Formative Christianity and Judaism: Essays in Tribute to Howard Clark Kee, ed. Jacob Neusner, et al., 3-16. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1988.	Howard Clark Kee has been a pioneer in insisting on the necessity of taking ancient social conditions into consideration when doing biblical interpretation and criticism. In part because of his influence a younger generation of scholars is now industriously at work on projects related to this theme. But precisely because this field is relatively new, it appears to me that the implications of sociological research for biblical study have not been carefully thought through. This is especially true of the relation between the study of the social background of the Bible and the study of the theology of biblical authors. In this essay I would like to make some attempts at conceptual clarification concerning the relation of these two fields of study, and to offer some specific proposals as to the nature of the important contribution that sociohistorical reconstruction of the biblical milieu has to offer to the study of the theology of biblical authors.
Larson, Donald N. "Missionary Preparation: Confronting the Presuppositional Barrier." Missiology 5:1 (January 1977): 73-82.	Happily, most missionary preparation has moved well past a mere briefing regarding do's and dont's. Excellent training is now available in linguistic skills, psychological sensitivity and cultural awareness. But Professor Larson feels that future preparation must go deeper yet, dealing with feelings and firmly-rooted presuppositions. He also suggests that in turning to the Bible for help in this matter, we will find ourselves working at an additional depth level which he calls the pan-human level of human experience.
Lazenby, Henry F. "The Mythical Use of the Bible by Evangelicals." Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 34:4 (December 1991): 485-94.	I would like to suggest that there is a legitimate mythical use of the Bible by evangelicals as well as an illegitimate use. In this paper I want to examine these two uses in order to clarify the distinction that must be maintained between finding personal significance in the reading of a Biblical text and validating that personal significance in terms of empirical evidence. In this discussion the question is not whether the Bible is inspired or inerrant but what value or worth can be placed on the personal significance that may be found in reading an inspired and inerrant text.
Loades, Ann. "Feminist Theology." In The Modern Theologians: An Introduction to Christian Theology in the Twentieth Century, ed. David F. Ford, 235-52. Oxford: Blackwell, 1989.	Feminism challenges the identity of Christianity fundamentally, and the first representative thinker illustrates this: Mary Daly is no longer a Christian. Ann Loades makes clear in other ways too the profundity of the crisis that this movement has provoked in only twenty years, and describes the critical and constructive theologies of Phyllis Trible, Elizabeth Schussler Fiorenza and Rosemary Radford Ruether. Must Christianity be 'a male-identified project of redemption'?
Loewen, Jacob A. "The Hopi 'Old Testament' a First-Person Essay." Missiology 23:2 (April 1995): 145-54.	This essay focuses on a concern that many tribal societies voice, namely, that their ancestors had a covenant with God much like that of the Old Testament Hebrews. They feel that their original contract with God was condemned when Christianity came and that they were given a choice either to become Christian and be saved or to remain Hopi and be lost. They could not be both! Does the gospel not make Hopis better Hopis, Zulus better Zulus, etc.?
Luecke, Richard. "Local Theology." In The Pastor's Role in Educational Ministry, ed. Richard Allan Olson, 94-136. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1974.	We have received sharp reminders in our day of the senses in which all theology is situational. All theologizing, including that of basic Scriptures and subsequently adopted Confessions, addresses questions present within the culture from which, and partly against which, it speaks. It takes up terms and notions from that culture along the way to supplying its own meanings and designations, methods and structures. If we wish to focus the tasks of theological education in a local congregation, we must begin by pointing to that located company of people as the agents and to the particular events and issues of their setting as helping to set the agenda.
Maimela, Simon S. "Man in 'White' Theology." Journal of Theology for Southern Africa 36 (September 1981): 27-42.	(Written from a South African context.) Nothing perhaps is more difficult for a Black theologian than to be asked to present a paper on White anthropology. For the concept of "man" in White theology is one of the most difficult for an outsider, that is, one who is not White, to analyze and to try to make sense of. This is because the portrait or construal of what is constitutive of the human that White theology offers its readers strikes a Black person as a creature with which he cannot identify himself. For human self ("man") as portrayed in White theology is an incurably dangerous monster. If I am not altogether wrong, it seems at least two major principles: one theoretical and the other practical have contributed to the formation of this composite White anthropology. See also Missionalia 9:2 (August 1981): 64-77.
Newbigin, Lesslie. "Can the West be Converted?" International Bulletin of Missionary Research 11:1 (January 1987): 2-7.	Works through the question, "Can the experience of cross-cultural missions to the many pre-modern cultures of our world in the last two centuries illuminate the task of mission to this modern world?"
Ng, David, ed. People on the Way: Asian North Americans Discovering Christ, Culture, and Community. Valley Forge, PA: Judson Press, 1996.
Ng, Greer Anne Wenh-In. "The Asian North American Community at Worship: Issues of Indigenization and Contextualization." In People on the Way: Asian North Americans Discovering Christ, Culture, and Community,ed. David Ng, 147-75. Valley Forge, PA: Judson Press, 1996.	Asian North American congregations face the challenge to affirm their culture and identity as people of Asian heritage. They also are apart of the people of God called into being and given a new life and identity by Christ. In this chapter Professor Ng tells several stories of Asian North American groups who have found ways to witness to God's good creation through their worship and liturgy. Practical suggestions for planning indigenous worship and for finding useful resources are provided.
Nieto, Leo D. "Toward a Chicano Theology of Liberation." In Mission Trends No. 4: Liberation Theologies in North America and Europe, ed. Gerald Anderson and Thomas F. Stransky, 277-82. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1979.	"The outstanding reality for Chicanos and other ethnic. minority groups in the United States," according to Nieto, "is that we are basically an oppressed people and that we, therefore, form a part of the Third World living within the bowels of the First World." Nieto proposes that "a theological statement peculiar to the Chicano experience ... will of necessity be similar in its main lines to other theologies of liberation." After establishing four criteria or guidelines for this task, he offers "a first attempt at such a statement of a Chicano theology of liberation." Nieto's statement, part of a longer article, first appeared in the Fall 1975 issue of the Perkins Journal.
Ogden, Schubert M. "Doing Theology Today." In Doing Theology in Today's World: Essays in Honor of Kenneth S. Kantzer, ed. John D. Woodbridge and Thomas Edward McComiskey, 417-36. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1991.	What is it to do Christian systematic theology today? This, as I understand it, is the more precise formulation of the question to be addressed in this chapter. The theology into the doing of which we are to inquire is not theology in general, but Christian theology in particular; moreover, the doing of Christian theology that is the object of our inquiry is not the doing of it in any or all of the ways in which it may be done, but that specific way of doing it that is properly distinguished as systematic theology. But if this makes clear how the term "theology" and its cognates are henceforth to be understood, in the absence of explicit indication to the contrary, just how we are to understand our question is still far from obvious and in need of further clarification. . . . So much by way of clarifying the question. We may now proceed to answer it by considering in turn two more specific questions having to do respectively with the what and the how of doing theology today. In conclusion, then, we may reflect briefly on the validity of the answer.
Olson, Richard Allan, ed. The Pastor's Role in Educational Ministry, Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1974.
Ortiz, Manuel. "Circle Church: A Case Study in Contextualization." Urban Mission 8 (1991): 6-18.	One of the most creative and exciting ministries in Chicago during the late sixties and early seventies was Circle Church. This ministry, in a short time (approximately ten years), had a significant impact on the church nationally and on its immediate environment. The Circle Church model provides concerned Christians who are taking on the challenge of planting metropolitan churches with guidelines and cautions that will assist them in this mission. It is the intention of this author to evaluate the significance of this metropolitan city church as it changed life and society. That church of the '70s, the one portrayed in David Mains' book, Full Circle, is still a viable contextual model that has much to say to us today, especially to those interested in developing ministries in a metropolitan environment. I am convinced that Full Circle, written in 1971, is applicable and challenging for pastors and church planters wrestling with contextualization in the urban centers of our nation.
Osborne, Grant. R. "Preaching the Gospels: Methodology and Contextualization." Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 27:1 (March 1984): 27-42.	The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the value of critical tools, specifically of redaction criticism, for the preaching task. It is the thesis of this study that the positive techniques of this school will greatly enhance the preaching of the gospels and other historical literature.
Pero, Albert. "Worship and Theology in the Black Context." In Theology and the Black Experience: The Lutheran Heritage Interpreted by African and African-American Theologians, ed. Albert Pero and Ambrose Moyo, 227-48. Minneapolis: Augsburg Publishing House, 1988.	Worship and theology are contextual, that is, they are shaped by the context within which they emerge. In America there are many factors that contribute to their contextuality; racial, ethnic, and sexual, to name a few. In this essay I will attempt to investigate and discover ways in which the Christian in a pluralistic society may come to affirm and participate in varied contextual forms of worship. Although the African-American experience with liberation theology will be the paradigm used, readers are encouraged to investigate the contextual arenas that are of primary interest to them.
Reist, Benjamin A. "Context of Contextual Theology." Union Seminary Quarterly Review 29 (1974): 153-167.	For nearly thirty years now, Paul Lehmann has been preoccupied with the intrinsic relationship between theology and ethics. His ethical formulations have always manifested theological depth, and his theological formulations have always been dependent upon ethical intensity. The longer one ponders his writings, the more unavoidable becomes a broad and pervasive question: What are the contours and the context of that ethical theology which theological ethics both presupposes and adumbrates? The same question arises, for similar if not identical reasons, from the study of the thought of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and given the extremely close relationship between Lehmann and Bonhoeffer, this, too, should come as no surprise. Having struggled to clarify the contextual character of the Christian ethic, Lehmann has never been able to resist the equally significant insistence on the contextual character of Christian theology. This has yielded the decisive question to emerge from his thought as a whole: What is the context of contextual theology? The real debate, both with him and among those influenced by him, pivots on this question. The lasting tribute to him is the fact that the debate itself is dependent upon the cogency with which he has made the question come alive.
Roberts, J. Deotis and Herzog, Frederick. "Contextualization of Theology in the New South." Journal of Religious Thought 36 (1979): 54-60.	At the 1976 American Academy of Religion meeting in St. Louis there was initial agreement that we would try to do a piece together on our theological efforts in the South, finally sharing them with the AAR Liberation Theology Group. By January 1977 we decided to proceed in tried and tested Southern "round robin" style. The actual correspondence took place from January 31 through May 25, 1977, resulting in nineteen single-spaced pages of text. Dr. Roberts coordinated the black experience, and Dr. Herzog was responsible for the white--as represented by these letters. We agreed that the final paper should be brief enough to be manageable in the AAR discussion group. By August 15 the black section was circulated; by September 15 the white. This represents the edited version contributed to by the whole group.
Roberts, J. Deotis. "Contextual Theology: Liberation and Indigenization." Christian Century 93 (1976): 64-68.	In this time of World History, theology must move from the particular to the universal. In this era of liberation from oppression no "universal" may be imposed upon a people without their creative response. This means that Christian theology must arise out of the varied experiences of peoples around the world. Christ is the Center of the Christian faith and must remain so, but God's revelation is also manifest in the whole creation and in all of history. Even though God's saving revelation may be encountered through our culture, he is not captive of any culture. What we need now is a theology of human liberation for each and all.
Russell, Letty M.. ed. Changing Contexts of Our Faith, Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1985.
Russell, Letty M. "Minjung Theology in Women's Perspective." In An Emerging Theology in World Perspective: Commentary on Korean Minjung Theology, ed. Jung Y. Lee, 75-95. Mystic, CN: Twenty-Third Publications, 1988.	In this response I try to stand in solidarity with the minjung theologians as I listen and learn from their work. I also seek to reflect critically on minjung theology from a feminist perspective by sharing points of convergence and difference that I consider important in the development of both rninjung and feminist theologies. Lastly, I attempt to highlight the ongoing concerns and work of Asian and Korean women theologians.
Sanchez, Daniel R. "How to Reach U.S. Ethnic Groups." Evangelical Missions Quarterly 13:2 (April 1977): 95-103.	Focus on how six basic principles used by Southern Baptists in their mission work across ethnic lines in the United States.
Sano, Roy I. "Ethnic Liberation Theology: Neo-Orthodoxy Reshaped--or Replaced?" In Mission Trends No. 4: Liberation Theologies in North America and Europe, ed. Gerald Anderson and Thomas F. Stransky, 247-58. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1979.	Sano, provides a study in practical hermeneutics. He explains why Asian Americans and other ethnic minorities try "to make better sense of our experiences" by identifying with the ethnic particularism in the story of Esther, rather than the cultural assimilation in the story of Ruth. Ethnic theologies of liberation also find in Scripture that the apocalyptic writers are more helpful to their cause than the prophets. Finally, Sano contends that "ethnic theologies of liberation place a priority on liberation rather than reconciliation. Theologically speaking, this means redemption comes before reconciliation." These emphases demonstrate "what has become outdated in neo-orthodoxy," and how ethnic theologies of liberation are moving beyond it. His essay is reprinted from the November 10, 1975 issue of Christianity and Crisis.
Scaer, David P. "How Do Lutheran Theologians Approach the Doing of Theology Today?" In Doing Theology in Today's World: Essays in Honor of Kenneth S. Kantzer, ed. John D. Woodbridge and Thomas Edward McComiskey, 197-226. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1991.	This approach to theology, which provides definite points of historical reference in the creedal and confessional documents in addition to the biblical ones, presupposes the unity of the Bible and its doctrine and the possibility of doctrinal consensus among Christians even before the theological task begins. The content of the church's doctrine is a given, and not a goal. Theology may be discovered in what is already present, but it is not created nor can it result from new revelations. The Holy Spirit works only through the biblical witness. The experience of theologians is not a factor for theology. Theology does not go beyond this biblical and confessional core to produce new doctrines but strives to explicate this core in new and different situations. The confessions do not possess an independent theological authority apart from the Scriptures; their authority springs from their faithfulness to the Scriptures.
Scandrett-Leatherman, Craig. "Ritual and Resistance: Communal Activity in a Church Retreat." Missiology 27:3 (July 1999): 311-31,	In order to nurture respect for all persons in a racist world, Christian discipleship requires powerful resistance. Drawing on the work of Victor Turner, this paper proposes that the communal connectivity of ritual process enhances hegemonic resistance. Rite of passage provides a three-stage process of separation, marginality, and reincorporation that produces communal connectivity in the margin or liminal stage. Andrew Apter indicates that liminality also produces political dynamism. Muslim pilgrimage and church retreats follow the rite of passage structure. The phenomenon and the religious and historical foundation of the Irving Park Free Methodist Church (Chicago, Illinois) retreat is examined beginning with Jesus' dramatic participation in pilgrimage. In the powerful center of ritual liminality, communal connectivity may affect both political reconfiguration and social habit reformation toward resisting hegemonic racism and promoting respect for all persons.
Schultenover, David G., ed. Theology Toward the Third Millennium: Theological Issues for the Twenty-first Century, Lewiston, NY: Edwin Mellen, 1991.
Scoville, Gordon. "Culture Against Christ: Church Planting as Exodus from Christendom." Mission Focus: Annual Review 3 (1995): 3-13.	Even as cultural barbarism in the United States corrodes the foundations of Christendom, it also opens a providential opportunity to pass through the Red Sea to a new church, a church freed from its American captivity and thus able to surpass the ideological values and practices of the once quasi-Christian nation: that more and bigger are better and hence are progressive; that success (through material abundance) follows the faithful who demonstrate their righteousness; and that God somehow ordained this nation to be a special agent of "democracy" in the world. Under the ideology is power. That is all. The new church can hear this and then plant for a future under the Lordship of Christ alone.
Sider, Ronald J. "Mennonites and the Poor: Toward an Anabaptist Theology of Liberation." In Freedom and Discipleship, ed. Daniel S. Schipani, 85-100. New York: Orbis Books, 1989.	A serious dialogue between Anabaptism and liberation theology must focus major attention on at least two crucial areas: the question of violence, and the question of God's attitude toward the poor. This essay treats only the second. On the question of God's and therefore the church's attitude toward the poor, Anabaptism and liberation theology pose an important question for each other. Liberation theology rightly wants to know if the wealthy Mennonite church in North America and Western Europe has any intention of living what the Bible teaches about the poor. And Mennonites want to ask whether liberation theologians are willing to let the Bible, rather than Karl Marx, provide the decisive definition of the proper Christian attitude toward the oppressed. This dialogue between Mennonites and liberation theologians will also be significant for pressing internal debate within the Mennonite church in North America. Some more conservative folk fear that the Mennonite social activists are developing an unbiblical agenda for the church. They fear secular thought, perhaps even Marxist analysis, is becoming dominant in activist Mennonite circles. These conservative questioners want to know whether the Scriptures are really still the norm for those who talk loudly about justice for the poor.
Sider, Ronald J. "Miracles, Methodology, and Modern Western Christology." In Sharing Jesus in the Two Thirds World: Evangelical Christologies from the Contexts of Poverty, Powerlessness, and Religious Pluralism, ed. Vinay Samuel and Chris Sugden, 237-250. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1984.	One of the most detrimental influences on modern western Christology has been the widespread notion which emerged in the Enlightenment that miracles and scientific thought were incompatible. Convinced that modern scientific thinkers must reject a super natural world view, liberal theologians abandoned the deity and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Similarly, modern historical-critical methodology assumed that the critical historian must reject all instances of alleged miracles. There is no philosophical necessity for this widespread assumption. A historical methodology which assumes that alleged miracles must be rejected as legend carries major unwarranted philosophical baggage. This mistake of Western Christology reveals a misplaced contextualization which is also present in evangelical theology that ignores Christ's concern for liberation and in liberation theology that ignores Christ's concern for personal forgiveness grounded in the substitutionary atonement.
Smith, Luther E. "Black Theology and Religious Experience." Journal of the Interdenominational Theological Center 8 (1980): 59-72.	Discerning the structures, dynamics, and effects of systems is a complex and complicated endeavor, but the same is true for religious experience. It too requires considerable explication in order to resource a liberation consciousness. The nature and meaning of religious experience cannot be assumed; the disciplines of Christian spirituality cannot be ignored. And cursory comments will not suffice for revealing their central place in Christian faith and life. If Black Theology is to inform the liberation of black people, employing the full testimony of Christian faith, more writing and discourse will have to interpret the significance of religious experience and spiritual development to liberation.
Tanouye, Ellen. "Festivals: Celebrating Community, Story, and Identity." In People on the Way: Asian North Americans Discovering Christ, Culture, and Community,ed. David Ng, 177-88. Valley Forge, PA: Judson Press, 1996.	Tanouye, a pastor in a Japanese American congregation, tells in story form how a congregation witnessed of its identity and practiced Christian community through the celebration of an annual festival. Based on the report of a church bazaar ("The Buena Vista Church Bazaar", pp. 43-62 of this book), this story presents the power of festivals to help young and old to know themselves as members of the community who have a unique identity and a common set of values. This chapter reflects Asian North American propensities for story, ritual, roles and responsibilities, communal events, and the transmission of tradition through participation in festival and ritual.
Temme, Jon. "Jesus in the 'New World': North American Native Responses to the European Christ." International Review of Mission 77:305 (January 1988): 59-66.	In many ways the encounter between European Christology and native religions provides an excellent crucible in which to observe certain dynamics of indigenization and syncretism. On the one hand, the drive toward indigenization is clearly seen in the native experience; and this is in spite of the fact that what was being indigenized, namely Christianity, was clearly and closely aligned with the experiences of oppression, exploitation and near-annihilation. On the other hand, christological developments in native experience also reveal the possibilities of syncretistic alteration. Jesus sometimes became an "extra" spirit or deity for whom a role had to be found. Or he was often subordinated as intermediary to the real divinity of Power. It seems that questions raised long ago are still issues today. Must one stop being a native in terms of ethnic experience in order to be or become a Christian? Can there truly be such a thing as native Christology? Can Jesus find a home in the New World's indigenous religion? A definite satisfactory answer has yet to be advanced.
Terry, John Mark; Smith,Ebbie; and Anderson, Justice, eds. Missiology: An Introduction to the Foundations, History, and Strategies of World Missions, Nashville, Tennessee: Broadman and Holman Publishers, 1998.
Tisdale, Leonora Tubbs. "Preaching as Local Theology." Princeton Seminary Bulletin 17:2 (1996): 132-142.
Van Gelder, Craig. "Defining the Center--Finding the Boundaries: The Challenge of Re-Visioning the Church in North America for the Twenty-First Century." Missiology 22:3 (July 1994): 317-37.	It is becoming increasingly clear that we are experiencing a shift in North American culture that requires the church to think of North America as mission field. The thesis of this article is that the church will need to develop a new paradigm of mission to accomplish this. This article identifies 18 issues which such a paradigm of mission will need to address. These issues are discussed in terms of three aspects: (1) the context in which we live, (2) the gospel we seek to proclaim, and (3) the church which seeks to proclaim this gospel.
Vanhoozer, Kevin J. "Mapping Evangelical Theology in a Post-modern World." Evangelical Review of Theology 22:1 (January 1998): 5-27.	This article, given as part of a lecture series at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, analyzes how evangelicals should respond to post-modernity. It is a lucid account of the role of biblical authority and literal meaning in interpreting the Good News in our pluralistic society and modeling it in 'communities of faith'. The author has a passion for a Christocentric faith, tolerance of others, a humble culture-critical spirit and a commitment to joyously practicing the truth.
Wagner, C. Peter. "A Vision for Evangelizing the Real America." International Bulletin of Missionary Research 10:2 (April 1986): 59-64.	The 'real America' is a multi-ethnic society on a scale that boggles the imagination, and it is this America that God has called us to evangelize. Builds argument on use of ethne in Matt. 28:19. What is God's vision? It involved three parts: the social vision, the spiritual vision, and the strategic vision.
Wagner, C. Peter. "Contextualizing Theology in the American Social Mosaic." In The Word Among Us: Contextualizing Theology for Mission Today, ed. Dean S. Gilliland, 219-238. Dallas: Word Publishing, 1989.	The challenge of the contextualization of theology is just as great within the borders of the United States as it is internationally, In one sense it is even greater because of the common assumption that all Americans would or should buy into some sort of a generic American version of theology. Few would disagree that theological adjustments might have to be made in Japan or Guatemala or Sri Lanka or Indonesia. But are similar adjustments needed for Japanese or Guatemalans or Sri Lankans or Indonesians who now happen to be American citizens? Many fail to see that if our evangelization and church-planting efforts among ethnic Americans are to attain their full potential, skillful contextualization needs to take place. Some of them do not see the need because they fail to recognize how ethnically diverse the real America is today.
West, Charles C. "Gospel for American Culture: Variations on a Theme by Newbigin." Missiology 19:4 (October 1991): 431-41.	The author argues that Lesslie Newbigin's missiological diagnosis of secular pluralistic Western culture applies to the United States with three important variations. First, the United States is not a traditional ethnos but a society formed by a covenant. Its survival depends upon maintaining and continually reforming the conditions of that covenant so as to include all of the people who live in the country Second the pluralistic ethos of American society raises the question of unity with special urgency because that unity cannot be assumed, hence the importance of ecumenical witness. Third, in American society power plays a central role in validating the truth, not only of science and technology but also of values and social structures. This article probes these three areas of covenant, ethos and power in American society and offers some missiological suggestions for mission to our culture.
Westmeier, Karl-Wilhelm. "Becoming All Things to All People: Early Moravian Missions to Native North America." International Bulletin of Missionary Research 21:4 (October 1997): 172-76	Taking Paul's injunction from 1 Corinthians 9:19-23 literally, the Moravians, it appears, opted to become all things to the native people. Their level of contextualization was astounding. One form of contextualization was rooted in the ancient Moravian peace emphasis which, on the one hand, barred them from taking up arms during King George's War and, on the other, corresponded amazingly well with a centuries-old Native American peace vision. . . . Within a few years, however, in response to the "Moravian persecution," the Moravians opted for assimilation into the white American ethos in order to ensure the survival of their church in North America--a "contextualization" that could not but curtail their missionary outreach to the native people.
Wilmore, Gayraud. "Black Theology: Its Significance for Christian Mission Today." International Review of Mission 63:250 (April 1974): 211-31.	Defines and explains issues in Black Theology, especially the need for its focus on liberation themes: It is a basically polemical theology, because the main stream of theology in Europe and North America has not been about liberation, but about personal salvation and the rationalization of oppression. Concludes that Black Theology helps the whole church to unbind the churches of the Third World from their acquiescence to white theologies of domination. It helps to unfreeze the material and spiritual resources of the world Christian church for service wherever people languish under the oppression of the proud and affluent Western Christian civilization which has largely failed to bring health and healing to parts of the world that have lain in misery and deprivation much too long.
Wilmore, Gayraud S. "The New Context of Black Theology in the United States." In Mission Trends No. 4: Liberation Theologies in North America and Europe, ed. Gerald Anderson and Thomas F. Stransky, 113-122. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1979.	While still concerned with racist oppression, Gayraud S. Wilmore observes that recent statements and activities of black theologians "seem to point in the direction of a less exclusive introspective obsession with the American race problem than was characteristic of the earliest development of Black Theology. The black-white dichotomy shows signs of breaking up, yielding to a widening perspective on human oppression which recognizes the importance of the class and cultural analyses of other theologians-especially the Latin Americans." "Black Theology today makes room in its formulations for an understanding of liberation that includes the contributions of Native American, Hispanic, Asian, and white brothers and sisters in struggle for the humanity made possible for all by the cross of Christ." Wilmore believes that ethnic theologies "open the way for American churches to better understand indigenous theologies in the Third World and make an important contribution to the internationalization of the mission of American Christianity."
Wingeier, Douglas E. "A Theology for the Third Wave." The East Asia Journal of Theology 4:1 (1986): 14-28.	Building on Toffler's "Third Wave" the implications for theology in contemporary society are discussed.
Wingeier, Douglas E. "Biblical Images of Learning." The East Asia Journal of Theology 2:1 (1984): 50-61.	Advocates the use of imagination and story rather than doctrine and dogmatics in teaching, since the former is how we learn best.
Woudstra, Marten H. "A Critique of Liberation Theology by a Cross-Culturalized Calvinist." Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 23:1 (March 1980): 3-12.	The job, therefore, that we as evangelicals have to do--and this applies also to our evaluation of the various types of liberation theology--is to struggle hard with the question of how to interpret the Word of God. The true test of the liberation movement is not whether this movement agrees with one's personal background and inclinations or whether it conforms to the doctrinal tenets he or she has learned from childhood. The real test lies in its conformity to the Word of God rightly understood. This is why the hermeneutical question continues to be of primary importance, and is the focus of this article.
Yoder, John H. "Withdrawal and Diaspora: The Two Faces of Liberation." In Freedom and Discipleship, ed. Daniel S. Schipani, 76-84. New York: Orbis Books, 1989.	In summary, the seriousness with which we should take the centrality of Exodus in the Hebrew Canon forbids our distilling from it a timeless idea of liberation that we would then use to ratify all kinds of liberation projects in all places and forms. God does not merely "act in history." God acts in history in particular ways. It would be a denial of the history to separate an abstract project label like liberation from the specific meaning of the liberation God has brought. The form of liberation in the biblical witness is not the guerrilla campaign against an oppressor culminating in his assassination and military defeat, but the creation of a confessing community, that is viable without or against the force of the state and that, does not glorify that power structure even by the effort to topple. it. The content of liberation in the biblical witness is not the "nation-state" brotherhood engineered after the takeover but the covenantal peoplehood already-existing because God has given it, and sure of its future because of the Name ("identity") of God, not because of trust in the success of a coming campaign. The means of liberation in the biblical witness is not prudentially justified, tactically guided violence, but "mighty Acts," which may come through the destruction at the Red Sea-but may also come when the king is moved to be gracious to Esther, or to Daniel, or to Nehemiah. The atmosphere of liberation is not compulsive management of events, not calculation of effects in proportion to effort, but wonderment and praise, doxology.