Contextualization Bibliographies
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Religious Dimensions: Doctrine/Theology

Biblio Format Annotation
Abeyasingha, Shanti "Contextualizing Theology in Sri Lanka: Some Reflections." Zeitschrift für Missionswissenschaft und Religionswissenschaft 66 (1982): 226-228. General thoughts on developing a contextualized theology in Sri Lanka, including issues of colonial history and religious syncretism (with four religions--Hinduism, Buddhism, Christianity, and Islam--present as well as an animistic foundation to which people turn in times of trouble). The author proposes that the reality of four centuries framed by religious syncretism, reflected on in faith, should be the starting point for any effort to contextualize theology.
Adams, Daniel J. "Theological Method: Four Contemporary Models." Taiwan Journal of Theology 3 (1981): 193-205. Contemporary theology is characterized by four basic methodologies: systematic theology with its concern for the dogmatic task; philosophical theology with an emphasis upon the apologetic task; political theology with its stress upon the ethical task; and contextual theology with its focus upon the hermeneutical task. Each of these methodologies is operationalized by a number of models. These include the Reformed dogmatics model of G C Berkouwer (systematic theology); the process theology model of John B Cobb, Jr. and David Ray Griffin (philosophical theology); the liberation theology model as presented by Robert McAfee Brown (political theology); and the "third-eye" theology model of C S Song (contextual theology). Due to theological pluralism these models often overlap, however each must be taken in account, especially within the Asian context. Although the age of the theological giants is past, contemporary theology possesses a vitality which continues to influence the theological scene of which we are a part.
Adeyemo, Tokunboh. "Search for Theological Expression for the Church in Africa." Perception 13 (July 1978): 1-4. Speaking generally, the church usually undergoes five cycles of growth in theological formulation: 1) The evangelistic or kerygmatic stage wherein after the Word has been proclaimed and conversions made, the first fruits are gathered in for worship and constituted as cultic community. 2) Next, these converts are taken through the various catechetical schools for teaching and indoctrination. 3) As the teaching is done, efforts are made to put the literature in local languages (i.e., paraphrase). Commonly, this takes poetic form to aid memorization and dissemination. 4) With growth comes myriads of problems both from within and without. At this stage, apologists arise to write a defense of the faith and steadily contend it. 5) The final stage deals with putting together the beliefs and teaching of the church in systematic form. This credo stage may take various patterns including dogmatic theology, systematic theology, historical theology, etc. Sometimes theology is born out of confrontation, consultation and resolution. Looking at the churches in Africa, we find ourselves still struggling to stand at the third base (i.e., the poetic stage), and simultaneously stretching to reach both the fourth and the fifth base.
Aleaz, K. P. "The Indian Christian Pramanas as Constituents of a Theological Method: A Discovery from the Indian Philosophical Pramanas." Bangalore Theological Forum 23:1 (December 1990): 1-19. In this paper we present a summary of the main points of a research done in an attempt to spell out the constituent elements of an Indian Christian epistemology (theory of knowledge) by way of identifying the Christian Pramanas (sources of valid knowledge) as emerging from the Indian Philosophical Pramanas, and indicating their use. Thus it is an investigation simultaneously into the sources of authority for the Christians, into the knowing process or hermeneutics and into an authentic theological method. It is expected that the Indian Christian Pramanas discovered through the Indian philosophical Pramanas would emerge as aspects of a viable theological method in arriving at the content of Indian Christian thought.
Anderson, Joy. "Behold the Ox of God?" Evangelical Missions Quarterly 34:3 (July 1998): 316-20. Example of a redemptive analogies God uses to draw people to himself from the Dinka of Sudan (includes creation story, personality ox, God's sovereignty, bride wealth, bull of peace and blood wealth).
Apeh, John E. "Doing Indigenous Theology: A Philosophical and Theological Basis." Asia Journal of Theology 8:1 (1994): 54-71. Explores the reality of foreign (missionary) domination in theological categories and the quest for Africanization of theology. Uses the Igala as a case study to determine the methodology for understanding culture and the philosophical system which undergirds the world view of people and the basis for beliefs and assumptions and hot theological themes/subjects are then identified and arranged.
Bate, Stuart C. "Method in Contextual Theology." Missionalia 26:2 (August 1998): 150-85. Method in Theology and Missiology continues to be problematic. This article provides a contribution to the ongoing debate. The focus of this method is in praxis: Mission is understood here as the ongoing praxis of the church. Missiological method should be a reflection on praxis which provides direction for praxis. The author argues that three steps in method need to be addressed. Firstly that the starting point for reflection is always human experience; experiences of the Christian community. Secondly it Is argued that coming to understand human experience is a process of mediation: a hermeneutic. This mediation must be in terms of the wisdom of the human community whatever that may be, Such mediation is always cultural. In a Western culture the human sciences provide keys for such mediation. Mediation should always be multidisciplinary in order to come to the greatest possible understanding of the experience and to avoid overly ideological interpretation. It is only at this point that we can begin the third stop which Is theological judgment. Such judgment must always be in terms of dearly explicated criteria if it Is not to run the risk of also being too ideological. The article provides an example of the use of this methodology coming from the author's previous research.
Battlle, Roasrio and Batlle, Agustin "An African Case Study." In Theology by the People: Reflections on Doing Theology in Community, ed. Samuel Amirtham and John S. Pobee, 84-90. Geneva: World Council of Churches, 1986. Describes the Organization of African Initiated Churches (OAIC) Theological Education by Extension (TEE) program as a means of enabling a people theology to develop. The OAIC/TEE program gives an opportunity to all: young people, women who have always been marginalized, and men who are not leaders, lay preachers and pastors, bishops, etc. From the bottom to the top everyone may have the training opportunities to study the Bible. This is a corporate enterprise which involves all the people of God and not just a few that represent the group. This corporate learning enterprise is also in accordance with African tradition that puts emphasis on corporate life. This theological community is also the one that decides on the theologial priorities which need to be studied (or discussed).
Bautista, Lorenzo; Garcia, Hidalgo B.; and Wan, Sze-Kar. "The Asian Way of Thinking in Theology." In Biblical Theology in Asia, ed. Ken Gnanakan, 123-37. Bangalore, India: Asia Theological Association, 1995. We are witnessing In our times an accelerated growth of the Asian church and hope may now be entertained that the riches of the Eastern traditions might contribute to the making of a broader model for theology. An Asian theology must be governed by the dialectic interplay between culture and the Bible. The cultural context poses the questions to the Bible. And the biblical answer, to complete the hermeneutical circle, must be given full integrity not only to respond to the contemporary issues but especially to reformulate, if necessary, the questions themselves. And these answers must then be applied to the bleeding sores of a suffering continent.
Blomberg, Craig L. "The Globalization of Hermeneutics." Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 38:4 (December 1995): 581-93. So what is globalization? To a large degree it depends on whom you ask, but it seems to me that five topics consistently recur with greater frequency than any others: liberation theology, feminism, economics, religious pluralism, and the contextualization of the gospel. What I would like to do is suggest a definition of globalized hermeneutics that is both narrower and broader than this pentad of concerns. It is broader because it is not limited to the five topics just mentioned. It is narrower because it presupposes a long-standing evangelical hermeneutic. After setting my definition into the larger context of contemporary hermeneutical discussion I will give six illustrations all gleaned from the NT (my area of greater competence), though I have no doubt that many profitable OT examples could easily be adduced as well.
Boston, Bruce O. "Doing Theology in a Planetary Age." In Revolution of Spirit: Ecumenical Theology in Global Context: Essays in Honor of Richard Shaull, ed. Nantawan Boonprasat-Lewis, 231-45. Grand Rapids, MI: W.B. Eerdmans, 1998. My hypothesis in this essay is that the emerging shift in our consciousness about our planet (more and more seen as a 'big blue marble') is emblematic of a shift toward a new set of issues that point to a revolution in consciousness itself. The revolution is most advantageously viewed from the speculative and cutting edges of physical and social science. While the changes in self-understanding forced on us by the big blue marble have affected us in as yet only marginally explored ways, they nevertheless demand attention--and theological attention at that. In what follows, I want first to set out five of the dimensions of what appears to be a new consciousness, with the suggestion that what is most remarkable about them is their convergence. I want then to turn to some issues of theological method, as posed by the work of Dick Shaull, as particularly fruitful in our common struggle within that revolution.
Botha, J. Eugene. "Contextualization: Locating Threads in the Labyrinth." Scriptura 59 (1991): 29-46.
Boyd, R. H. S. "The Shape of Indian Christian Theology." The Indian Journal of Theology 22:1 (Jan.-March 1973): 15-20. Seeks to answer the question as to what shape Indian Christian theology should take. Proposes that such a bhasya (commentary on some particular portion of the sruti [or scripture, in this case Romans is suggested]) offers greater possibilities for the development of a genuine Indian theology than is to be found either in the piecemeal approach which has hitherto predominated, or in any effort to compose a comprehensive Indian Summa in the shape of western models like Aquinas, Calvin or Barth.
Boyd, R. H. S. "The Use of the Bible in Indian Christian Theology." The Indian Journal of Theology 22:4 (Oct.-Dec. 1973): 141-162. Surveys use of Bible in development of Indian theology from the days of Carey on through well-known Indian theologians. Also discusses contemporary trends. The author proposes that we need a new, quiet, balanced Indian biblical scholarship, well equipped to read and understand the original texts and to interpret them against the background of Indian culture, and against the foreground of the ferment of India today.
Bromell, David J. "Universal Truth and Local Contexts: Doing Theology in Aotearoa, New Zealand." Colloquium 21 (1989): 39-44. The problem with which this paper is concerned is the movement front the particular witness of the apostles to faith in God as the source and end of authentic human exitence, as decisively represented in the career of Jesus of Nazareth, a Jew of the first century to the particular witness of Christian faith of the churches in Aotearoa in the late 1980s. Or put differently, how might the theological reflection indigenous to the churches of the first century of Christian witness become properly indigenous to churches half a world away and twenty centuries later? We might elaborate on this question in the following ways: to what extent is the articulation of Christian truth-claims bound up with an ancient, and eastern, culture? Is Christianity inescapably and scandalously particularistic? Or is an indigenous theology for Aotearoa able to remain property and distinctively Christian while occurring within and being an expression of the experience encapsulated in tire mythopoeic framework of, for example, Maori culture?
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. "The Rootedness of All Theology: Context Affects Content." Christianity and Crisis 37 (1977): 170-174. Considerable apprehension is being expressed by many North American church persons that the faith once delivered to the saints is being eroded away by new theologies based on contemporary experience in certain limited contexts (Latin American liberation theologians being the chief target). Such new expressions are faulted for being too subjectively arrived at and overly influenced by a specific set of social, political and economic conditions *hat are not universal enough to form the basis for an authentic Christian expression. It is in response to such charges that the following ten propositions are offered as sequential steps in affirming the value of experiential-contextual theologies.
Buatista, Lorenzo; Garcia, Hidalgo B.; and Wan, Sze-Kar. "The Asian Way of Thinking in Theology." Evangelical Review of Theology 6:1 (April 1982): 37-49. In these pages three Asian theological students do us the favor of reflecting on our common theological task. They show us in the first place that our Christian thinking does not arise in a vacuum but certainly reflects various dominant mental frameworks. These frameworks necessarily determine the way we conceptualize and communicate the gospel. And just as the Western Greek tradition has provided various tools for thinking, the East may also have a contribution to make. Secondly our thinking necessarily grows out of various social and economic situations which call for our response. Here again Asia has a definite agenda of needs which Asian Christians must seek to meet. Again we may learn from their struggles to deal with our own particular challenges. Finally all of this may lead to a fresh reading of Scripture from which we may all profit.
Budiman, Rudy. "Contextual Witness and Exegesis." The South East Asia Journal of Theology 21:2/22:1 (1981): 34-46. The author shows that sound principles of contextual exegesis are to be found in the apostles' missionary methods in New Testament times. Mission is actually bringing the word of salvation in a new context. So also is exegesis: it is explaining the word of God into a new context, i.e., in modern times. The exegete must, first, understand the message of a certain pericope for people of the biblical context, then examines the sociological-cultural context of his days. Subsequently, the above message is restated for the latter context. It is the author's conviction that the word of God is relevant for all times, provided contextual exegesis is applied to it.
Caldwell, Larry. "Third Horizon Ethnohermeneutics: Re-Evaluating New Testament Hermeneutical Models for Intercultural Bible Interpreters Today." Asia Journal of Theology 1:2 (1987): 314-333. An attempt to bring help to those involved in the cross-cultural interpretation of Scripture (ethnohermeneutics). Explores the typical Western hermeneutical model, examines some newly emerging models, then the models of the NT writers as the interpreted the OT.
Caldwell, Larry W. "Doing Theology Across Cultures: A New Methodology for an Old Task." International Journal of Frontier Missions 4:1-4 (1987): 3-7. Introduces this issue of the journal by noting that theology has followed a "trickle-down" approach in which the experts are trained to communicate the results of their study of God's word to the laity. He proposes a "transfer up" theology in which theologians attempt to understand the issues, problems, and questions of the people first and then go to the Bible to find relevant answers.
Campbell, Richard. "Contextual Theology and Its Problems." Study Encounter 12:1-2 (1976): 11-25. Recent insistence on the contextual nature of the theological enterprise is justified, and consequent problems provide the correct setting for future tasks. The presumption that doctrinal formulations present at least approximations to universally valid eternal truths presupposed the Platonic model of truth, an illusory ideal which can never be satisfied in a contingent world. Five consequent problems are discussed: a) in Australia the basic concepts of self-understanding have not yet been articulated, let alone developed into theological models; b) the question of ideological element in concrete Christian hopes cannot be avoided; c) while truth is relativized to context, the criteria for assessing the authenticity of theological formulations need to be identified; d) an authoritative teaching office in a church now needs authorization; e) the ecumenical problem has been transformed into that of achieving inter-contextual unity.
Carson, D. A. "A Sketch of the Factors Determining Current Hermeneutical Debate in Cross-cultural Contexts." In Biblical Interpretation and the Church: The Problem of Contextualization, ed. D. A. Carson, 11-29. Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1984. A few years ago I wrote an article with a somewhat similar title, viz.: 'Hermeneutics: A brief assessment of some recent trends'. In this essay I do not intend to repeat the earlier material, but rather to proceed along a line that simultaneously probes a little more deeply and yet skips rather superficially over certain difficult questions in order to deal more immediately with the bearing of hermeneutics on the theology of the international Christian church. One danger of the current hermeneutical debate is that hermeneutics may mire itself in introspection: it begins to overlook the fact that, from the perspective of Christian theology, hermeneutics, however defined, is not an end in itself, but a means to the end. To press beyond the confines of the discipline in order to discover what makes it tick and what impact it has on theology is therefore to escape the introspection and to probe more deeply; but it is also to deal rather superficially with narrowly hermeneutical questions of enormous complexity. In an international consultation like that represented by the papers in this volume, the risk must be taken.
Carson, D. A. "The Limits of Dynamic Equivalence in Bible Translation." Evangelical Review of Theology 9:3 (July 1985): 200-213. In this article the author welcomes the careful use of dynamic equivalent principles in Bible translation but warns against the abuses of applying the principle beyond the limits of linguistic priorities and of absolutizing the dichotomy between meaning and message.
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.
Chandran, Joshua Russell. "A Methodological Approach to Third World Theology." In Irruption of the Third World: Challenge to Theology, ed. Virginia Fabella and Sergio Torres, 79-86. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1983. Traces EATWOT and issues of relevance for theological development in the Third World. Notes two points must be borne in mind concerning the question of exactly what role a Third World Christian theology will have. The first is that we do not first develop a theology and then participate in the struggle. Our commitment to the gospel of Jesus Christ and our faith that he is our risen Lord continuing the ministry he began in Galilee challenge us to discern the reality of his presence in the struggles of the people and to participate in the struggle. We are to cooperate with others who are in the struggle, regardless of their religious, ideological, or political affiliations. Theological reflection follows upon participation. Secondly, our commitment to the risen Lord who mediates to us the sovereignty of God's love as the ultimate reality will guard us from absolutizing any particular theological formulation, ideology, slogan, or program. Without the love of God, we are in danger of sacrificing what is best for the people for the sake of doctrines, ideologies, or programs. Our theology should keep us sensitive to this danger and enable us to always be committed to what God in his love has willed for the people.
Chikane, Frank. "Doing Theology in a Situation of Conflict." In Resistance and Hope: South African Essays in Honour of Beyers Naude, ed. Charles Villa-Vicencio and John W. De Gruchy, 98-102. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1985. About three years ago the Institute for Contextual Theology (ICT) brought together concerned and committed Christians from different parts of southern Africa to grapple with the question of 'doing theology' in our situation of conflict in South Africa. This programme resulted in small group discussions, workshops, seminars, conferences, short-term research programs and involvement in particular social and political struggles. Several questions have arisen from this exercise. What is the difference between 'doing' theology and 'learning' or 'studying' theology? What is the theological position of the church in relation to this conflict? This essay focuses on the theological methodology that has emerged. An attempt is made to identify a contrast between the traditional method of theology and a newly emerging methodology.
Chiu, Andrew. "Is There Ancestor Worship in the Old Testament?" Evangelical Review of Theology 8:2 (October 1984): 217-224. Was ancestor worship practiced in the OId Testament? If the Old Testament refers only to the time span from creation to the New Testament the answer to this question is in the affirmative. if it refers to the people and the land of Israel, or to the canonical books which are accepted by both the Jews and the Christians, the picture might be different. Concludes: These monolatrists, worshipped one God, focused their attention on the will and acts of God in historical events, emphasized the spirit rather than forms, and said that sincerity of penitence could not dispense with the ritual act. They also observed the strict and firm First Commandment that you shall have no other gods before me. Consequently, there is no place for the assertion that ancestor worship was practiced in Israel.
Chow, Wilson W. "Biblical Foundations: An East Asian Study," Evangelical Review of Theology 7:1 (April 1983): 102-112. This paper seeks to deal with some basic issues concerning the relationship between the Bible, theology and the Asian context. It breaks no new ground, but it presents an evangelical position for the foundation of the evangelical theological task. It formulates no rules or guidelines, but it points out the objective, unchangeable nature and priority of the Bible, at the same time allowing freedom to the theologian in his theological reflection.
Cochrane, James R. "Resistance, Reconstruction and Theology: Truth and Method in Question and Under Fire." In The Relevance of Theology for the 1990s, ed. J. Mouton and Bernard C. Lategan, 59-82. Pretoria: Human Sciences Research Council, 1994. Cochrane investigates the way in which the question of the adequacy of theological truth claims arises in the contemporary South African milieu, where political struggles and the demands of reconstruction bring to the fore many counterclaims to truth. Some criticism of Christian truth claims in this context and a generalized conflict of interpretations lead to raising fundamental methodological questions for theology. In this respect, the main body of this paper addresses the problematic division between the fields of hermeneutics (with its tendency to depend, upon idealist philosophies and language as the location or, reality) and practical, action (with the concept of praxis functioning to determine many claims. for truth). The dualism, often expressed by these two approaches remains central to much methodological debate. A concept of "linguisticality" helps bridge the divide.
Cochrane, James R. "The Grave, the Song and a Gestalt: Theology as Pregnant with Context: Contextual Impregnation as the Substance of Theology." Scriptura S11 (1993): 116-130.
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.
Cope, Lamar. "Analogy, the Pauline Centre and Doing Theology Today." Bangalore Theological Forum 15:2 (1983): 128-35. Argues that there is no single analogy which is the center of Paul's thought, and that we should not try to find such a single center today. The great contributions to Christian thought by the people of the NT era is not systematic theology, but a living dialogue between jarring, life-changing, contemporary experience and received tradition. Concludes: Christians in Latin America, Africa and Asia are crying out today for an indigenous theology. It is a path fraught with promise and peril. Western Christians realize far too little how much their analogies of faith are tied to cultural resources. That could happen, and probably will happen, in emerging theologies as well. But a self-conscious effort to use the world given to us as the resource for restating the faith, for Indians the Indian world, is a task toward which the best understanding of the New Testament directs us. So it may help those willing to take up the task to know that they stand in very good company, that of Jesus, John and Paul.
Cunningham, Richard B. "Theologizing in a Global Context." Review and Expositor 94 (1997): 347-435. Concludes: The ancient kerygma and didache tended to set the acceptable non-negotiable parameters for a universal faith that could be appropriated by both Jew and Gentile. But the total system is never locked tight in all the details or applications. That is why theologizing is not a system but an activity, not a static set of propositions but a dynamic reflective process rooted in the once-for-all act of God in Christ and responsive to the real life dynamics of a concrete situation in the world. The one Christ has many faces and voices. The church's challenge is to find ways to ensure that the different faces and voices incarnate the real Christ and the historic faith. The contemporary church has exhumed and put on its back the many-colored coat of Joseph, and the universal mandate is to make sure that the face of Jesus Christ is what comes shining through!
D'Costa, Gavin. "The End of Systematic Theology." Theology 95 (September/October 1992): 324-34. My argument here is twofold. In Part One I argue that the end of systematic theology that I wish to herald is the beginning of new types of systematic theologies, which are both continuous with and dissimilar from earlier traditions. Crudely put, my contention will be that for the most part modem systematic theology has assumed that the world in which Christians live is entirely populated by scientists and atheists (and after the Second World War, Jews). Hence, systematic theology has developed its agenda and styles and its doctrines of God, creation, sin, salvation and the last things almost entirely in dialogue with science and secularisms and with Western European philosophies which have given birth to such a world. In Part Two, I then want to argue that some recent attempts to remedy this situation are seriously flawed and are actually quite detrimental to some of the proper tasks of systematic theology. I will briefly address the pioneering work of Wilfred Cantwell Smith and Leonard Swidler to show that their agenda should be rejected for good theological reasons. Finally, in Part Three I will briefly indicate the directions in which such new systematic theologies could develop and some of the structural implications of these developments. As with any assassination attempt, the subject of overthrow will appear two-dimensional, and necessarily so in such a brief coup.
de Groot, Adrianus and Vriend, John. "One Bible and Many Interpretive Contexts: Hermeneutics in Missiology." In Missiology: An Ecumenical Introduction: Texts and Contexts of Global Christianity, ed. A. Camps, L. A. Hoedemaker, M. R. Spindler, and F.J. Verstraelen, 144-156. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1995. Thus in a variety of ways the Bible itself has again become the subject of discussion. When people allow the real situation of global Christianity to come home to them and when they look more closely at the appeal to Scripture that Christianity continues to make, then hermeneutical questions gain new relevance and new urgency. The one Bible disintegrates contextually. Just what are the implications of this for missiological reflection?
de Gruchy, John W. "The Nature, Necessity and Task of Theology." In Doing Theology in Context: South African Perspectives, ed. John W. de Gruchy and Charles Villa-Vicencio, 2-14. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1994. An integral part of 'doing theology' is examining the way in which Christian thought and action have developed and been expressed by others both in our own time and throughout Christian history. But studying theology has significance only in so far as it enables us to do theology today with better insight and greater faithfulness to the gospel. Hence the use of the word 'praxis" in the title of this series to emphasize the connection between theological reflection and Christian witness or mission in the world. Christian theology, as we know it today, has developed over the centuries into an academic discipline alongside many others. In stressing the need to 'do theology in context' we are not saying that theology is not such a discipline; we are trying rather to show how such a discipline as theology relates to Christian praxis. In order to do this, let us take a few steps back and briefly consider how Christian theology has developed into the scientific discipline it has become.
de Gruchy, Steve. "Doing Theology in the Kalahari." Journal of Theology for Southern Africa 99 (November 1997): 58-62. How do we do theology in rural Africa? Further reflection and contact with others suggest that the question touches on the relationship between academic theology and theological educators on the one hand, and the people of God in Africa on the other. It has to do with forging an identity that is both Christian in terms of its dialogue with the Scriptures and tradition, and African in terms of its method and content. Whilst a final answer is perhaps still far off, in the process of working and sharing with people in various courses at the Kalahari Desert School of Theology a number of key elements to the answer have become clear. These themes provide something of a direction towards that answer, and include the areas of 1) focus on the laity; 2) empowering local leaders; 3) appropriate use of the Bible; 4) keeping theology contextual, 5) giving knowledge to enable empowerment, and 6) the liturgical context of theological development and expression.
Deist, Ferdinand. "The Exodus Motif in the Old Testament and the Theology of Liberation." Missionalia 5:2 (August 1977): 58-69. The theme of the liberation of the slave community that later on became Israel runs right through the Old Testament, not only forming the core of the Pentateuch, but also underlying the message of the pre-exilic prophets as well as the message of Deutero- and Trito-Isaiah, while Jesus, according to Luke 4, also made use of imagery drawn from this theme. No wonder then that this theme has today again regained some of its vigor in the theology of liberation. But unfortunately some aspects of the theology of this theme are easily overlooked or drawn out of perspective by this latest genitive attached to theology. Concludes: It may be true that "traditional" theology laid the stress on the grounds of our salvation, whereas the stress is today laid upon the reality of our liberation, but we should equally take care not to translate the grounds into an apathetic attitude towards the poor and oppressed, nor the reality into activism to bring about the liberation by the power of man."
Dhavamony, Mariasusai. "Indian Christian Theological Method." Studia Missionalia 45 (1996): 57-94. Christian theology in India must be a pilgrim theology in search of the truth. Participation in the religious experience of people of other faiths is the sine qua non for understanding revelation itself. . . . Indian Christian theologizing has to take into account the Indian method of theologizing, for the means (the method) and the end (Indian Christian theology) are interdependent. The kind of method one follows in theologizing determines the kind of theology one produces. In order that Indian Christian theology be fully Indian and fully Christian, we respect what is true, good and valid in the Indian method which can enrich Indian Christian theology, being aware of the necessity of its compatibility with the Christian faith and tradition. Authentic values of the Indian culture are thus safeguarded and enriched by the Christian faith in its turn.
Duraisingh, Christopher. "Reflection on Theological Hermeneutics in the Indian Context." The Indian Journal of Theology 31:3,4 (July-Dec. 1982): 259-278. Posits that every authentic moment of understanding is necessarily shaped by the historicality of the interpreter. A text becomes hermeneutically problematic only because the fact elements in the interpreter's historical context make earlier understandings or accommodation to the text strange or inadequate. What is it that constitutes the specific Indian-Christian hermeneutical context? What follows is is a description of our horizon out of which we understand anything that we understand.
Edet, Rosemary and Ekeya, Bette. "Church Women of Africa: A Theological Community." In With Passion and Compassion: Third World Women Doing Theology: Reflections from the Women's Commission of the Ecumenical Association of Third World Theologians, ed. Virginia Fabella and Mercy Amba Oduyoye, 3-13. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1988. The situation of women and the nature of Christianity in Africa are both shaped by the histories and cultures that are molding contemporary Africa. Our contribution is primarily a descriptive one, sharing the context in which women try to live theologically in Africa. We begin with an overview of Africa's realities as shared by Rosemary Nthamburi of Kenya and Lloyda Fanusie of Sierra Leone, and from our own studies, then we consider women's lives in Africa, with an emphasis on how the changing culture affects and is affected by women. Lastly, we place women in the context of the church and reflect on the shape and content of African women's contributions to Christian theology in Africa.
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."
Escobar, Samuel. "Our Hermeneutic Task Today." In Conflict and Context: Hermeneutics in the Americas, ed. by Mark Lau Branson and C. René Padilla, 3-8. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1986. An evangelical hermeneutics starts from a conviction about the basic unity of the text of the Bible. It refuses to begin by establishing polarities between the Old and New Testaments, between Gospel and epistle, between Jesus I and Paul, between prophets of the left and kings of the right. The key for the unity of the text is Christological. The polarities usually come from ideologies or philosophic systems foreign to the text, to the world of the Bible, world views that are opposed in content and intention to the saving purpose of God. This does not mean that we should ignore a plurality of emphases or perspectives that go along with the human and historic side of revelation. But we should be aware that as there are ways of reading the text that end by eliminating a God who has taken the initiative, there are also ways of approaching the text that end by destroying its Christological core. An evangelical hermeneutics does not separate a so-called "factual core" from its interpretation, putting in its place an interpretation that better suits whatever scientific or philosophical vogue happens to express the mood of the interpreter's age. Rather, it strives to grasp the deep spirit of each Bible author and of the totality of the message--and in that endeavor some scientific disciplines may be able to help.
Evers, Georg. "The Hermeneutical Implications of Comparing Contextual Theologies." Bangalore Theological Forum 23:3 (September 1991): 77-84. The collaborators of Theology in Context, while amassing a huge number of publications of contextual theology, have not been able to reflect on the many issues involved in doing what we are engaged in. Here the question of hermeneutics comes in. How does one go about the business of comparing theologies? What criteria are available? As the subtitle indicates I would simply list these and other. questions and do some thinking in the direction of finding possible paths to tackle these problems. That, is, why I speak of preliminary remarks. I would like to divide these remarks into two topics 1) The inner-Catholic problem of unity and diversity and 2) The hermeneutical implications of inter-religious dialogue.
Fang, Mark. "The Wisdom of Solomon in the Light of the Chinese Context." Ching Feng 36:1 (March 1993): 23-37. The Book of Wisdom is called "The Wisdom of Solomon" in the Greek Bible, the Septuagint. This paper is developed in the following stages: 1) an investigation into the contexts in which the Book of Wisdom was written; 2) a look into what we mean by "the Chinese contexts"; 3) some instances to show how the book can be read in the light of the Chinese contexts.
Ferguson, Graeme. "The Penultimate as a Methodological Category for a Contextual Theology." In Religious Studies in the Pacific, ed. John C. Hinchcliff, Jack Lewis, and Kapil N. Tiwari, 177-184. Auckland, New Zealand: Colloquium Publishers, 1978. I wish to take up one specific question which arose in most of the situations with which we were concerned (in a doctoral seminar which dealt with several case studies of applying theological thinking to life situations)--the category of the penultimate, of "those things next before the last." The context in which this most often arose, happened when people were trying to relate a human response in its particularity and ambivalence to the possibility of an ultimate disclosure of the divine concern.
Fiorenza, Francis Schüssler. "The Crisis of Hermeneutics and Christian Theology." In Theology at the End of Modernity: Essays in Honor of Gordon Kaufman, ed. Sheila Greeve Davaney, 117-40. Philadelphia: Trinity Press International, 1991. This essay addresses one aspect of the crisis of modernity: the crisis of modem theology as a crisis of interpretation or, more specifically, as a crisis of the conception of theology as hermeneutical. A crisis of hermeneutics signifies that many controversies and disagreements exist, not only because individuals and groups have different beliefs and share different values but also because individuals and groups have basically different interpretive approaches to their beliefs, values, and practices. These interpretive approaches deeply affect how persons understand and come to their beliefs and practices and constitute the very rationality with which people approach, articulate, and explain their identity in relation to their particular cultural and political situations. For modem theology the crisis of hermeneutics is not simply about how one interprets the Christian tradition. The issue is much more fundamental because it deals with questions of how one even begins to undertake such a task of interpretation and whether theology is primarily hermeneutical or not. Because interpretation has been central to both traditional and modem theology, however, such a crisis of hermeneutics is at the same time a crisis of both traditional and modem theology. It is a crisis affecting the conception of the theological task and the very nature of theology.
Flemming, Dean. "The Third Horizon: A Wesleyan Contribution to the Contextualization Debate." Wesleyan Theological Journal 30 (1995): 139-163. In the Asian setting in which I currently minister, Christians rightly view contextualization not as an option, but as a necessity for the church. Yet, all of the attention given to contextualization has not led to a consensus regarding its goals, methodologies, limits, and hermeneutical base. Even the definition of the term itself has proved to be extraordinarily slippery. n general, Wesleyans have been rather slow to enter the debate. Yet I believe there is an important and needed contribution Wesleyans can make to the discussion. This essay will focus on one aspect of the contextualization debate--the need for an adequate hermeneutic for the task of contextualization. I choose this particular aspect for two reasons: first, because hermeneutics lies at the very heart of what it means to contextualize the gospel; and second, because the understanding of Scripture and interpretation within the Wesleyan tradition has the potential to shed light on some crucial issues.
Glanville, H. L. "Theology in Conversation with Female Religious Experiences." In The Relevance of Theology for the 1990s, ed. J. Mouton and Bernard C. Lategan, 123-37. Pretoria: Human Sciences Research Council, 1994. Glanville explores the female religious experience in terms of the Critical Realist perspective with the purpose of demonstrating the possible validity of the language arising out of these experiences. The all pervasive dominating male, experience has governed theological conversation for millennia. Today we are observing major paradigm shifts in our understanding of reality. These shifts include the emerging female explanations of her religious experiences. Glanville asks a number of questions: How do these shifts in understanding reality affect the traditional language used to, express God. Can we, as women, given the androcentric language of Scripture, have a genuine female religious experience? And what would this mean in terms of theory-forming in theology? Glanville argues that the female theologian need no longer be limited by the narrow concepts of the past. She can, in faith and commitment, explore her religious experiences and give explanation to them, in the knowledge that they will be both prophetic and liberating.
Gnanakan, Ken R. "Biblical Foundations: A South Asian Study," Evangelical Review of Theology 7:1 (April 1983): 113-22. One will probably argue that this paper restricts itself to missiological issues rather than seeking to discuss wider theological concerns. I will readily concede this. But in doing so I want to emphasize that what India needs is not a cold callous restatement of doctrine and dogma--but a potent and productive affirmation of its biblical beliefs. The urgency of the mission and the staggering needs of the country grow before us in greater and greater magnitude. Theology must produce men for this mission. However, the synthesis of the worship and the witness of the Church which has been used above as a model will demonstrate my real concern for theology. The accent should be on the holding together of the content of theology so that it will both equip and edify as well as motivate for mission. Neither function should be allowed precedence over the other.
Goba, Bonganjalo. "An African Christian Theology: Towards a Tentative Methodology from a South African Perspective." Journal of Theology for Southern Africa 26 (March 1979): 3-12. It is not my intention to vindicate a position that there ought to be an African Christian theology, but to stress that there is already available to an African Christian theologian a religious ethos in the African cultural context which provides insights to develop an African Christian theology. In our attempts to articulate African Christian theology we are carrying on our task as African theologians to own the Christian mythos for ourselves and to bring it in its fullness and challenge to our African Christian communities. Our goal should be to bring the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ to the African Christian community, taking seriously the wisdom of our African traditional religious heritage and the social context.
Gration, John G. "Willowbank to Zaire: The Doing of Theology." Missiology 12:3 (July 1984): 297-309. Describes seminars devoted to helping a local denomination wrestle with doctrinal issues in a significant way.
Gregorios, Paul. "Hermeneutics in India Today in the Light of the World Debate." The Indian Journal of Theology 28:1 (Jan.-March 1979): 1-14. Author concentrates mainly on the general philosophical questions in hermeneutics and leave it to his colleagues to discuss the specific problems of biblical hermeneutics as such. His purpose is only to set the international context for the Indian debate on general hermeneutics. He also makes some comments from the perspective of the Indian philosophical tradition and the Christian theological tradition.
Hardy, Daniel W. "The Future of Theology in a Complex World: An Opening to Discussion." In Christ and Context: The Confrontation Between Gospel and Culture, ed. Hilary D. Regan and Alan J. Torrance, 21-42. Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1993. What I have sought to show is the agenda of theology for the future--finding God's presence in the interwovenness of human beings, their cultures and the natural world. Secondly, I have suggested how this agenda is to be met in a theology which is a creative, intelligent, practical poesis by which peoples, cultures and contexts are interwoven. Thirdly, I have suggested that the fullest form of this poesis is found in the Resurrection of Jesus Christ and the generativity which followed from it. By such means, I suggest, we are led both to understand the proper form of the interwovenness of human beings and the way by which God is present in it.
Hartin, Patrick J.; Nel, Malan; Joubert, S. J. "The Bible, Theology and Our Context." Scriptura 45 (1993): 1-95.
Heim, S. Mark. "The Nature of Doctrine and the Development of Asian Theology." Bangalore Theological Forum 19:1 (April 1987): 14-31. In these brief comments I have tried to suggest some considerations that bear on the development of 'new' theologies, and particularly on the development of Asian theology. My argument is that doctrine can be developed in distinct but quite complementary ways, while yet retaining a clear relation to objective reality. Doctrine need not be literalistic in a narrow cognitivist sense, nor subjectivistic in an extreme expressivist sense. My suspicion is that the rich ferment of theological thinking in Asia, and also in Africa and Latin America, need not lead as some fear to a radical balkanization and fragmentation in theology. In fact this ferment holds the key to an appreciation of the nature of doctrine itself, which can give a new collegiality and koinonia to the theological task. Asian theologians themselves must test whether the approach to doctrine that I outline here in fact seems more responsive to their needs and concerns. I can only say that I have found it an avenue through which to appreciate and to be challenged by the work of Asian theology.
Hesselgrave, David J. "Contextualization and Revelational Epistemology." In Hermeneutics, Inerrancy, and the Bible, ed. Earl D. Radmacher and Robert D. Preus, 691-738. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1984.
Hesselgrave, David J. "The Three Horizons: Culture, Integration and Communication." Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 28:4 (December 1985): 443-54. Without doubt we are justified in conjecturing that, from the beginning, humanity as a communicating species has entertained an awareness of the intimate relation that exists between meanings and contexts. At the same time we are probably also justified in saying that there has never been a time when greater consideration has been given to a delineation of contexts or to an examination of their influence on understanding. Let us briefly look at some contextual categories and exemplify some of the ways in which they are regarded by theorists, both secular and religious.
Hiebert, Paul G. "The Bicultural Bridge." Mission Focus 10:1 (March 1982): 1-6. How does the gospel move from one culture to another? In our day of mass media and modem technology, we are tempted to think in terms of radio, television, and the printed page. Rather, communication of the gospel across the chasms of cultural differences rests upon the quality of interpersonal relationships between human beings--between missionaries and the people they serve. This relationship of people of one culture to people of another culture is what we call the bicultural bridge. Communication across the bicultural bridge takes place within the biculture: a new culture created by people from two different cultural backgrounds.
Hughes, Philip. "The Use of Actual Beliefs in Contextualizing Theology." The East Asia Journal of Theology 2:2 (1984): 251-258. Rather than beginning with statements from the Bible or philosophy, the actual beliefs of Christians in the local context is the beginning and ending point of contextual theology.
Israel, S. "Towards a People-centred Theology." Ministerial Formation 27 (1984): 3-9. This paper proposes guidelines on the nature and function of a people-centered theology. To illustrate the points, the new pattern of ministry initiated by a catechist with his team in a remote village of Tamilnadu is referred to, emphasizing the fact that any authentic theology from a Christian point of view should be, without exception, a people's theology just as the Bible represents the dialogical reflections of two major communities. Theology is not created in an isolated sphere but emerges in the context of a concrete struggle for survival and liberation in various aspects of personal and community life. It is a corporate venture and contextual. It does not ignore the academic value of theological education in a seminary context but corrects it to play a coordinating role between different theological circles or communities.
James, Emmanuel E. "Is Not My God Also Your God?" In Doing Contextual Theology: A Festschrift in Honour of Bruce John Nicholls, ed. Sunand Sumithra, 25-43. Bangalore, India: Theological Book Trust, 1992. The conversion of Cornelius opened the eyes of the early Church to realize that the Gospel was for everybody--both to the Jews and the Gentiles. A significant step had been taken to reach the unreached; to obliterate the distinction between the Jews and the Gentiles. God takes extraordinary and even supernatural steps to reach the unreached and reach those who seek Him. God reaches those who want to find Him through Lord Jesus Christ. Is not my God also your God?
Kanyoro, Musimbi R. A. "Interpreting Old Testament Prophecy through African Eyes." In The Will to Arise: Women, Tradition, and the Church in Africa, ed. Mercy Amba Oduyoye and Musimbi R. A. Kanyoro, 87-100. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1992. Kanyoro's essay focuses on polygamy in Scripture, emphasizing how predominantly male-influenced cultures have influenced both translation and interpretation of the Bible. Argues that men perpetuate polygamy for their own sexual, patriarchal, and material needs. Claims that polygamy is a form of oppression against women and that the church should stand in solidarity with women to reject this form of oppression.
Kraft, Charles H. "Dynamic Equivalence Theologizing." In Readings in Dynamic Indigeneity, ed. Charles H. Kraft and Tom N. Wisley, 258-85. Pasadena, CA: William Carey Library, 1979. Kraft sees theology as a "dynamic process." He calls our attention to the importance of theologizing as an activity that takes place in the context of a real (not supposed) cultural milieu. As such it is in dynamic interaction with the cultural values and expressions of the people of that culture (insiders) not just those missionaries who are attempting to communicate about God (outsiders). He points out that the study of God must ultimately be done by people from within their own dynamic interaction with the world as they perceive it. It follows, therefore, that the perceptions of God by an Australian aborigines Christian not only will but should be somewhat different from those of a Christian New Yorker or of a philosophically oriented Indian Christian.
Kress, Robert. "Theological Method: Praxis and Liberation." Communio (US) 6 (1979): 113-134. Various "liberation theologies" (political, women's, black and South/Latin American) are examined insofar as they claim to have a specific method, namely one inspired by praxis in contrast to what they claim is abstract, speculative, theoretical. A brief historical survey demonstrates that the problem of praxis/theory is as old as Western philosophy itself, that it was much discussed in medieval theology under the rubric of the active and contemplative lives, that it has become especially present in theology today through the Marxist interpretation. Of the various theologies of praxis, it is shown that political theology remains very speculative, abstract and non-practiceable; that women's liberation theology has the best claim to roots in the ministry of Jesus and the life of the early Church; that Black liberation theology (specifically religion and religious practice) has the most success in actually liberating people; that Latin American liberation theology most strikingly illustrates the ambiguity of the concept "praxis", and hence the ambiguity of all theologies claiming to be liberational.
Kurten, Tage. "Theology and the Secular Fallacy: An Outline of Contextual Theology." Studia Theologica 44 (1990): 137-48. The relation between theology as an academic discipline and the church and culture that surrounds it is a pressing problem for theologians all around the world. It seems as if Finnish theology today has little to offer anyone outside academic circles. This development could, of course, be understood as natural and necessary. But it can also be seen as a problem. In this article I will put forth arguments for a more constructive aim of (systematic) theology, in order to tackle this problem. First I will present a view of our over-all cultural situation, aiming at a deeper understanding of our present predicament. Inspired by the philosophy of Ludwig Wittgenstein, I will then develop an argument for a constructive methodology in theology.
Kuster, Volker. "Models of Contextual Hermeneutics: Liberation and Feminist Theological Approaches Compared." Exchange 23:2 (September 1994): 149-162. In the philosophical and theological discussion in postwar Germany hermeneutics went through a boom which only came to an abrupt end through the effects on theology of the social irruption of the late sixties. "Hermeneutics were dethroned and who still asks for them today only shows that he is out of touch" K. Scholder concluded in the year 1971.1 The question of the social relevance of theology became the new leading theme, even if only for a short time.' After programmatic beginnings already with the political theologians Moltmann and Metz', today it is precisely the contextual theologians who are part of this tradition, like Latin American liberation theology or feminist theology that again kindle the hermeneutic discussion and add a new impetus to it.' The following considerations are an attempt to bring about a dialogue between some Latin American approaches, while at the same time pointing out structural resemblances to the theology of women from the Third World and to feminist theology.
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.
Lambino, Antonio B. "A Critique of Some Asian Efforts at Contextualization with Reference to Theological Method." The South East Asia Journal of Theology 21:2/22:1 (1981): 88-96. The present task for Asian theologians is not to continue convincing themselves or others that contextualization is necessary. That would be to get stuck at the motivational stage of an enterprise and never quite get around to actually doing it. There are significant indications that a working consensus has been reached by the Asian theological community regarding the need to contextualize. In the author's opinion, we should let the process of implementation roll on. We should proceed with our attempts and experiments at contextualization and "quietly--as well as charitably--bid our adversaries good-bye."
Lategan, Bernard C. "Aspects of a Contextual Hermeneutics for South Africa." In The Relevance of Theology for the 1990s, ed. J. Mouton and Bernard C. Lategan, 17-30. Pretoria: Human Sciences Research Council, 1994. Lategan gives an overview of the contemporary debate. He sees "contextual" as referring to a sustained attempt to include the situation of reception in both the theoretical reflection on and the pragmatic implementation of the process of interpretation. Issues like the plurality of audiences and interpretations, the nature of the biblical text, the relationship between experience and thought, the implications of post-modernism, the ethical responsibility of interpretation, the emergence of the "ordinary' reader, the need for rethinking theological education and for recognizing the ecumenical dimensions of interpretation, are briefly discussed. In conclusion, reference is made to the resources available and the advantages of doing theology in the present context.
Latuihamallo, Peter D. "Methodological Significance of Context: Sociological, Historical, Cultural, Economic, Political and Theological Perspectives in Asia" The South East Asia Journal of Theology 21:2 (1980): 7-18. Building on E. P. Nacpil's "critical Asian principle" (seeks to identify what is distinctly Asian and use this distinctiveness as a critical principle of judgment on matters dealing with life and mission of the Christian community), the article illuminates context from sociological, historical, cultural, economic, political and theological perspectives in Asia.
Lee, Archie C.C. "Biblical Interpretation in Asian Perspectives." Asia Journal of Theology 7:1 (1993): 35-39. Presents three approaches to the Bible in Asia: 1) text alone approach, 2) text-context interpretive mode; and 3) cross-textual hermeneutics.
Lee, Archie C.C. "Cross Textual Hermeneutics on Gospel and Culture." Asia Journal of Theology 10:1 (1996): 38-48. Early conversions in China were both to Christianity as a religious faith and to (Western) Christian culture. Today Chinese Christians have two identities: a cultural identity and a Christian one, with the latter often overshadowing the former. Can both be held in dynamic tension? The search for an adequate framework for cross-cultural hermeneutics is an attempt to restore the split identity and construct an appropriate faith in cross-cultural context.
Lee, Jung Young. "The Yin-Yang Way of Thinking." In What Asian Christians Are Thinking: A Theological Source Book, ed. Douglas J. Elwood, 59-83. Quezon City, Philippines: New Day Publishers, 1976. The Yin-Yang way of thinking is inclusive and dialectical, embracing even the possibility of "either/or" thinking as well. It can therefore help to clarify many of the unresolved issues that have plagued the history of Western Christian thought, such as the nature of divine transcendence and immanence, the idea of God as personal, Jesus Christ as human and divine, and man as body and spirit. This Asian way of thinking re-orientates us "from a dualistic to a monistic view of the world."
Lee, Peter K. H. "Contextualization and Inculturation of Christianity and Confucianism in the Contemporary World." Ching Feng 34:2 (June 1991): 84-93. In terms of religious conviction, I am a Christian, but culturally and ethnically I am a Chinese, and some traces of Confucianism are in my blood, so to speak. It is meaningful as far as I am concerned to take up the question about contextualization and inculturation (the two are related but not identical) as they relate to both Christianity and Confucianism in the contemporary world, though in my presentation I give more weight to the former than the latter. The following issues seem to me worthy of our attention. They are of a methodological nature. By knowing how to deal with these methodological issues, one then finds one's answers to the question of contextualization or inculturation in the given situation. 1) How is it possible that the Christian gospel can be presented in a non-Christian cultural context with particular reference to Confucianism? 2) What is the point of entry into the context for the process of contextualization? and 3) What is the end result of contextualization/inculturation?
Lee, Robert. "From Ancient Jerusalem to Modern Tokyo: Contextualization in Japanese Culture and Society." Mission Focus 17:2 (June 1989): 24-30. Three tasks in contextualization are noted: 1) discovering the meaning of the biblical text; 2) bracketing the missionary culture to learn and live in the new culture; and 3) the journey from Jerusalem to contemporary Tokyo (integrating the first two tasks). Contextualization at the third level will require an understanding of the "models of" reality and their transformation into "models for" reality in the Japanese or East Asian cultural tradition. It will need to incorporate the aspirations of modem Japanese raised by Western culture but not supported in traditional culture. For the missionary, the third step in the contextualization process should be additional training beyond learning Japanese language and culture. For theological education in Japan, Asian religious and cultural history must become constitutive for theological studies. For contemporary missiology, methodology needs to find actualization in specific cultural contexts.
Lilburne, Geoffrey. "Contextualising Australian Theology: An Enquiry into Method." Pacifica 10 (1997): 350-364.
Lindsell, Harold. "Biblical Infallibility from the Hermeneutical and Cultural Perspectives." Bibliotheca Sacra 133:532 (Oct.-Dec. 1976): 312-318. Universal issues related to infallibility.
Loewen, Jacob A. "Which God Do the Missionaries Preach?" Missiology 14:1 (January 1986): 3-19. Cultural perceptions of God and the resulting perceptions of the missionary message with examples from Africa and Latin America.
Lott, Eric J. "Theological Research; Reflecting in the Indian Context." Bangalore Theological Forum 16:1 (January-April, 1984): 5-28. The Indian research student faces a considerable handicap: theological research has been inherently a Western field of study. For the Indian student, then, to develop the independence and integrity he/she must fuse epistemological and other conceptual insights from both East and West. Once the Indian student has attained genuine Indian-orientation, set free as it were from the western student's particular kind of epistemological bondage, theological orientation may well prove to be less problematic, though no one can avoid some kind of personal and intellectual crisis if there is to be authentic research.
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. "The Atonement in the Context of Liberation Theology." International Review of Mission 75:299 (July 1986): 261-69. In the light of liberation theology's christological anchorage, one would expect that liberation theology would be a keen exponent of a doctrine of atonement. There seems, however, to be a general feeling among liberation theologians that, without rejecting the realities to which the concept of atonement refers, the traditional notion of atonement is no longer serviceable for theology today because it cannot adequately express the significance of the life and death of Christ with particular reference to the oppressed and the poor. Therefore liberation theology had found it necessary to coin a new vocabulary. We will first explain the traditional understandings and then examine the particular contribution that liberation theology has made toward a broader understanding of the significance of the life and death of Jesus for the oppressed peoples. Concludes: one cannot help being impressed by the liberation theology's insistence that a true understanding of God's atoning and therefore reconciling work in Christ, if this work is believed to be authentic and efficacious, must be such that it not only affects our private, pious attitudes but also our socio-political environment in its totality. See also Journal of Theology for Southern Africa 39 (June 1982): 45-54.
Maimela, Simon S. "The Atonement in the Context of Liberation Theology." Journal of Theology for Southern Africa 39 (June 1982): 45-54. In the light of liberation theology's christological anchorage, one would expect that liberation theology would be a keen exponent of a doctrine of atonement. There seems, however, to be a general feeling among liberation theologians that, without rejecting the realities to which the concept of atonement refers, the traditional notion of atonement is no longer serviceable for theology today because it cannot adequately express the significance of the life and death of Christ with particular reference to the oppressed and the poor. Therefore liberation theology had found it necessary to coin a new vocabulary. We will first explain the traditional understandings and then examine the particular contribution that liberation theology has made toward a broader understanding of the significance of the life and death of Jesus for the oppressed peoples. Concludes: one cannot help being impressed by the liberation theology's insistence that a true understanding of God's atoning and therefore reconciling work in Christ, if this work is believed to be authentic and efficacious, must be such that it not only affects our private, pious attitudes but also our socio-political environment in its totality. See also International Review of Mission 75:299 (July 1986): 261-69.
Manickam, Thomas. "Theologizing in India: An Exploratory Method." Journal of Dharma 5 (1980): 406-414. Let me draw my inspiration for this exploratory approach to theologizing in India from the basic insight of the Vedic Seer: "The Seers call that which is One in many ways" (Rv. I. : 164, 46). Theology, as I understand it, is man's language (logia) about God. It is his expression of his experience of God in whom he believes and looks up to for some sort of ultimate meaning for his life. As language is meant for communicating one's inner experience, theology is primarily concerned with man's communication of his God-experience. Hence God as God is the primary subject-matter of its communication. So in this exploration I would like to confine my inquiry to that aspect of man's God-experience in India without immediately attempting at creating Indian parallels for the traditionally known branches of Christian "Systematic Theology ", such as Christology, Pneumatology, Bcclesiology or whatever else is relevant to Indian context.
Mbiti, John. "The Biblical Basis in Present Trends of African Theology." Bulletin of African Theology 1:1 (Jan.-June 1979): 9-22. Examines a number of areas in which the Bible is the basis for written theological reflection in Africa. Concludes is plays a crucial role, as African Christianity has the Bible at its forefront, and the Bible is shaping much of its development both explicitly and implicitly. Same as OBMR (4:3 (1980): 119-24) and ATJ (7:1 (1978): 72-85) versions of the article.
Metz, Johann B. "The 'One World': A Challenge to Western Christianity." In Christ and Context: The Confrontation Between Gospel and Culture, ed. Hilary D. Regan and Alan J. Torrance, 210-23. Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1993. The culture which Christianity cannot simply take off as one takes off a piece of clothing is that European and Western culture that was formed from the Jewish and Hellenistic Greek traditions. With this arises the crucial question: if Christianity cannot simply strip off this historically contingent cloak in order to slip into this or that cultural mantle, how can there be a World Christianity that is rooted in truly diverse cultures? With this starting point, how can a real enculturation of the Gospel take place which would be something more than simply an expansion of Western culture concealed for tactical reasons Thus, is what we call cultural polycentrism in World Christianity ultimately anything more than the continuation of a monocultural colonization of the souls of foreign peoples and cultures, only now carried out with less drastic means than used previously in the history of the Church?
Miguez-Bonino, José. "Doing Theology in the Context of the Struggles of the Poor." Mid-Stream 20 (1981): 369-373. What does it mean, methodologically, to do theology in a world context characterized by massive poverty? the article explores three questions: 1) the significance of the social "location" of the theologian as conditioning "perspective on reality", "priorities for reflection" and "terms of accountability" (for whom?); 2) the "poor" do not do theology formally but their "life commitments" and their "spontaneous" reading of the gospel have theological substance; 3) since theology is done mostly by and for the "rich", how can it share, both reflectively and existentially, the perspective of the poor? It demands a conversion which means both a spiritual experience and concrete options.
Mofekent, Takatso A. "A Basis for a Relevant Theology for Botswana." Mission Studies 4:1 (1987): 55-61. When we as a Christian community try to take the present Botswana context and our social practice seriously and reflect theologically on its questions and challenges we are continuing the old and proven ecclesial tradition of the 1st century Christian communities. Conversely by being true to the legacy of the New Testament Christian communities; and vice versa, by ignoring or neglecting our time, our locality and its challenges we are being unworthy heirs of this noble Christian tradition that has enabled the church to survive. It is our ecumenical obligation to search for a relevant theology for Botswana today. Our positive response to this ecumenical obligation shall not only be continuing the laudable tradition of Martin Luther, Calvin, Black and Latin Christians and others but also the tradition of the founding fathers of the church of the 1st century A.D.
Mosala, Jerry Itumeleng. "African Independent Churches: A Study in Socio-Theological Protest." In Resistance and Hope: South African Essays in Honour of Beyers Naude, ed. Charles Villa-Vicencio and John W. De Gruchy, 103-111. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1985. South Africa is by definition a conflict-ridden society, although the exact nature of the conflict is often assumed rather than precisely articulated. It is nevertheless clear that central to this conflict are racial and economic divisions inherent in the contemporary South African scene. The pertinent task of the theologian in this situation is not merely to identify the task of theology but, more precisely, to perceive the nature and identity of conflict which is inherent in theological discourse. Theology is too often seen as 'neutral' in such conflict. Theologians do not readily understand that they are part of the conflict. They create the impression that theology is able to stand outside the world of social conflict, and from this elevation pontificate on the activities of the day. This essay attempts to correct that perception by demonstrating that theology arises out of and bears the indelible marks of racial and social conflict in South Africa, as elsewhere. It is argued here that what is commonly referred to as 'contextual' theology must be subjected to a thorough sociological and cultural analysis. For the purpose of this task the African Independent churches are identified as a point of reference.
Müller, Hans P. "The Anthropological Suppositions of the Protestant Reformation and the Pedagogy of Paulo Freire as Possible Elements of a South African Theology of Liberation." In The Relevance of Theology for the 1990s, ed. J. Mouton and Bernard C. Lategan, 571-84. Pretoria: Human Sciences Research Council, 1994. Miller argues that relevant theology for the nineties should at least organically include the further development of a theology which liberates people form structure-generated oppression, poverty and marginalization. In order to contribute to this end, the anthropological suppositions of two different spheres of thinking is analyzed. The findings of the analyses are compared and the respective and combined value of the two sets of suppositions for theology in South Africa is discussed. The analysis of the Protestant Reformation brings to the fore the radical anthropology of Luther and Calvin who supposed free and interacting human beings in the basic tenets of their theology. In the analyses of Paulo Freire's pedagogy, his redefinition of the poor and marginalized is studied from the perspective of theological anthropology. It is concluded that the two seemly different anthropologies, are analogous and that they are both part of a new way of thinking about human beings in their respective contexts.
Musopole, Augustine C. "Towards a Theological Method for Malawi." Journal of Theology for Southern Africa 82 (March 1993): 37-44. The churches in Malawi still live on "historically stale" confessions which were formulated, not only elsewhere, but alas! a long time ago. They have failed theologically to engage the problems facing them at the present time in a creative way. It is well past the time the churches should address themselves to the crucial question, What does it mean to be the church of God in Malawi today? Or, how do the churches perceive God to be at work in Malawi today? These questions are crucial for the legitimacy, relevance, mission and theological development of the church presently and in the coming century. The issue of legitimacy has to do with the establishment of a church with a strong Malawian cultural flavor in its theology, liturgy, history, spirituality and praxis; and also to have a theological basis for its understanding of the Malawian culture. Only a theology that is culturally relevant and pertaining to the life experience of the people will help the churches in Malawi to come into their own and thereby contribute meaningfully to the church worldwide.
Nebechukwu, A. Udeaja. In Catholic Social Teachings en-route in Africa, ed. Obiora F. Ike, 311-324. Enugu, Nigeria: Catholic Institute for Development Justice and Peace, 1991.
Newbigin, Lesslie. "Text and Context: The Bible in the Church." Theological Review 5:1 (1982): 5-13. The eclipse of the "biblical theology" of the 1950s has had serious consequences for the practical life of the churches. One must ask for the grounds on which it was abandoned. Among the most effective works of demolition was James Barr's The Bible in the Modern World (1973). But the three grounds there given are questionable. 1) The relation between exegesis and theology is reciprocal, not unilateral. 2) The culture gap is not as insuperable as suggested. 3) The kind of authority he seems to desire is not available. Pannenburg's attack on Barth's "revelational positivism" rests on vulnerable assumptions.
Njoroge, Nyambura J. "The Mission Voice: African Women Doing Theology." Journal of Theology for Southern Africa 99 (November 1997): 77-83. Describes the work of the Circle of Concerned African Women Theologians in seeking to provide a place from which African women can explore, articulate, and advocate theologically. By taking seriously the religious and cultural plurality in Africa, it was decided that the Circle will embrace African women from all religions resident in Africa--provided their concern and commitment was to participate in 'doing' theology. The 'doing' of theology implies participation and exploration, emphasizing the activity that produces theology. We 'do' theology by seeking to live out our faith in the contemporary world, applying our skills and God-given gifts and addressing the problems confronting individuals and communities. We are not addressing hypothetical or abstract ideas, or answering questions raised by another generation. But rather we are dealing with today's life-threatening/destroying and life-giving/affirming issues. Doing theology means wrestling with God's Word as we confront the powers and principalities of this world.
Ntreh, Benjamin A. "Towards an African Biblical Hermeneutical." Africa Theological Journal 19:3 (1990): 247-54. Africans tend to follow a Western hermeneutic; more work needs to be done on an African hermeneutic in biblical interpretation. Follows new critical methodologies that take account of the involvement of the reader in the interpretation of the text.
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