Local Theology for the Global Church

Principles for an Evangelical Approach to Contextualization

Matthew Cook, Rob Haskell, Ruth Julian, Matthew Cook, Rob Haskell, Ruth Julian

• Editorial: William Carey Library
• Año: 2010
• ISBN:
  9780878089468
• Categoría: Teología y religión
• Categoría: Ministerio cristiano

As the church in the global south continues to grow at a rapid pace, the question of how to develop local theologies becomes more and more urgent. This book charts a path forward through exegetical, theological and cultural analysis by scholars who are wrestling with the issues in their own situations around the globe. The contents were developed under the auspices of the World Evangelical Alliance Theological Commission at the Oxford contextualization consultation. This book was published in partnership with the World Evangelical Alliance.

1

Paul the Contextualizer

Dean Flemming

Dean Flemming is a Lecturer in New Testament and Intercultural Communication, European Nazarene College. In addition to writing various articles for professional and popular journals and multi-author works, Dean is the author of Contextualization in the New Testament: Patterns for Theology and Mission (InterVarsity Press, 2005), which received a 2006 Christianity Today book award. He has been a missionary with the Church of the Nazarene since 1987. He has also served as a local church pastor in Japan and the US and was ordained in 1982. Education: BA (Mid-America Nazarene University), MDiv (Nazarene Theological Seminary), PhD in New Testament Exegesis (University of Aberdeen, Scotland).

Introduction

Evangelicals are still not quite sure about what to do with contextualization. We want a theology that speaks to our life setting. But we are concerned that trying to make our theology fit the context might end up compromising biblical truth. As a result, sincere Christians in a variety of global settings feel caught between the need to express the faith in culturally relevant ways and the fear of giving away too much of the gospel in the process.

This is not just theory. In practice, authentic contextualization is never easy to do well. When it comes to engaging our cultures with the gospel, some go too far; others don’t go far enough. Nearly two decades ago, Dean S. Gilliland wisely observed that contextualization is

“a delicate enterprise if ever there was one…. the evangelist and mission strategist stand on a razor’s edge, aware that to fall off on either side has terrible consequences. Fall to the right and you end in obscurantism, so attached to your conventional ways of practicing and teaching the faith that you veil its truth and power from those who are trying to see it through very different eyes. Slip to the left and you tumble into syncretism, so vulnerable to the impact of paganism in its multiplicity of forms that you compromise the uniqueness of Christ and concoct ‘another gospel which is not a gospel.’”¹

Are there biblical resources that can help us carve out theologies and practices with local fit on the one hand, while avoiding the slippery slope of syncretism on the other? I believe there are. The biblical writers not only offer us normative theological and moral content; they also model a process for doing theology in authentic, context-sensitive ways. The New Testament is teeming with “case studies” in contextualization. Some of these come in the form of narratives of how the good news is targeted to different audiences of unbelievers. Paul’s missionary preaching in Acts—to Jews at the synagogue in Pisidian Antioch (Acts 13:13-52), to some rustic pagan Gentiles at Lystra (Acts 14:18-20), and to a group of educated pagans in Athens—offers some compelling examples of evangelistic contextualization.

Or we could turn to the Gospel accounts of Jesus’ own ministry. When Jesus speaks the good news of God’s liberating kingdom, he draws on local resources from his cultural world. Jesus uses the earthy images of rural life in first-century Palestine—farming and fishing, weeds and wineskins, salt and soil. He tailors his theology to specific people and occasions. He speaks differently to the crowds than to the Pharisees, differently to a rich would-be disciple (Mt. 19:16-22) than to a paralytic on his bed (Mt. 9:2-8), differently to Nicodemus (Jn. 3) than to the woman of Samaria (Jn. 4). This is simply an extension of the incarnation principle. Becoming flesh, Jesus “exegeted” the Father to us (Jn. 1:18); he embraced our human context in all of its scandalous particularity, as one “born of a woman, born under the law” (Gal. 4:4). As one has put it, “The eternal Word of God only ever speaks with a local accent.”² At the same time, although Jesus was at home in Palestinian Jewish culture, he prophetically challenged that culture’s religious and social norms; he sought to transform them from within.

In addition to these stories of contextualization, the New Testament writings themselves model the theological task. Each of the four Gospels, we could say, contextualizes the story of Jesus for a different target audience. Paul writes letters that become a word on target for diverse mission communities. The Revelation of John offers Asian Christians a countercultural perspective on a world that is dominated by the oppressive engines of Roman power and idolatry. Using compelling images, John calls his readers to a radically transformed vision of their world.³ Each of the New Testament writers sings the gospel story in a different key.

Obviously, we cannot imitate the way that Luke or Paul or John did theology in a direct ”photocopy” fashion. Our contexts and cultures are different. But we can learn from their examples of doing theology in context. In this essay, rather than looking at the broad sweep of biblical precedents for the task of contextualization, I will focus on one instructive “case study.” Paul’s letter to the Colossians⁴ is perhaps the classic New Testament instance of contextualizing the gospel over against the problem of syncretism—the blending of incompatible beliefs and practices.⁵ I have chosen this particular case study for two reasons. First, it gives us a positive model for doing context-sensitive theology. Second, Colossians, I believe, can help us in the important task of recognizing the difference between genuine contextualization and the kind of “relevance” that goes too far.⁶

The Gospel and Syncretism: the Colossian Context

Colossians is written to a church of mainly Gentile Christians from a pagan background (1:21, 27; 2:13). These young believers were living in a part of Asia (present day Turkey) where syncretism and religious pluralism were stitched into the very fabric of life. Paul has received word—probably from the church’s founder Epaphras (Col. 4:12-13)—that a rival “philosophy” (2:8) has bubbled up in the Lycus Valley. This teaching threatens to kidnap the Colossians (2:8) by offering them what Paul believes is a toxic substitute for the gospel of Christ. Paul’s theological reflection in the letter in part responds to this lurking danger.

What was the nature of this false teaching? It is hard to be precise. Paul assumes that his readers know perfectly well what he is referring to. As a result, he does not go into as much detail about it as we might like.⁷ Various scholars have suggested a background in some early form of Gnosticism, or Judaism, or Greek philosophy.⁸ It seems best, however, to understand the Colossian “philosophy” as a syncretistic stew, which combined a number of different religious ideas and practices. This also fits with what we know about the local context. Clinton E. Arnold has shown that popular religion in first-century Asia Minor was syncretistic to the core. In particular, it was characterized by a belief in various spirit and astral powers that were seen as a threat to everyday life.⁹ In addition, ancient people felt victimized by impersonal Fate, which was thought to control their lives like an unpredictable storm.¹⁰

It is likely, then, that the Colossian “philosophy” tried to supplement the gospel of Christ with various ways of helping people cope in a world that was dominated by forces beyond their control. These “add-ons” probably included observing taboos (2:21), subduing the body with ascetic practices (2:23), offering worship to angels (2:18) and experiencing visions (2:18). The rival teachers also apparently borrowed elements from Judaism, such as rules about eating and drinking and calendar observances (2:16), as further ammunition for dealing with the powers.¹¹ What is more, in Colossians we encounter frequent and at times rather polemical references to “wisdom,” “knowledge,” “understanding,” “mystery,” and “fullness” (see 2:2-3, 23). This suggests that the philosophy may have promised a deeper understanding and experience of God than the Colossians already had.

Above all, Paul is convinced that the teaching devalued the role of Christ. Perhaps it reduced Christ to one among many supernatural powers.¹² In any case, from the perspective of the philosophy, what God had done in Christ was not enough to provide security in a world of unseen powers; one needed the help of additional practices, mystical experiences, and celestial beings.¹³

In sum, this counter message probably represents a blending of the Christian gospel with elements of the worldviews, beliefs, and practices that flourished in the local culture. Such a religious cocktail may well have appealed to young converts—Christians who may have been struggling to make a full break from their old ways of thinking and living (see 2:20).

What is Paul’s response? The situation calls for a fresh articulation of the gospel into categories and language that speak to the issues the Colossians were facing. As a result, Paul launches a two-pronged strategy for de-fanging the “philosophy.” Negatively, he unmasks the syncretistic teaching as “empty deception” and warns the Colossians not to be hijacked by it (2:8). Paul’s direct attack on the philosophy is concentrated in 2:8-23. There he apparently seizes a number of catchwords from his opponents (e.g., “insisting on self-abasement,” “the worship of angels” [2:18]; “Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch” [2:21]) in order to show his audience how utterly incompatible such practices are with the gospel they received (2:6-7).

But Paul is not content simply to criticize. His main response is to positively reflect on the meaning and implications of the gospel he and the Colossians share. This theological response does not simply address his readers’ thinking; it also calls them to a new way of living (3:1-4:6). Writing out of a missionary-pastor’s heart, he seeks transformation in their worldviews, beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors. Paul’s reflections on Christ and the gospel thus become a word on target for the Colossians in the midst of challenging circumstances. In the process, several key themes emerge.

A Cosmic Christ

In light of the threatening philosophy, Paul does some of his most creative and profound reflection on the person of Christ. John Barclay asserts that the theology of Colossians is “at every point Christological. . . . Christ is the center of all reality that integrates and energizes the letter.”¹⁴ This radical Christological focus is wholly appropriate, given the setting to which Paul is writing. Apparently, the rival teachers did not deny Christ and his saving work as such. Rather, they seem to have downgraded his status; they questioned his ability to fully deliver people from the unseen powers. The net result was a small-scale savior who was part of the cosmos, not its sovereign Lord.

In contrast, Paul proclaims that Christ is supreme over all things. The Christology of Colossians reveals the cosmic dimension of Christ’s role in creation and reconciliation in a way not seen in the earlier writings of Paul. If letters such as Galatians and Romans focus on God’s salvation in Christ in relation to Israel and the Law, Colossians spotlights Christ’s relationship to creation, the world, and the powers.¹⁵ In Colossians, Christ is the lead actor who p...

Índice

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Foreword
• Introduction
• Chapter 1: Paul the Contextualizer
• Chapter 2: What Shall We Name God?
• Chapter 3: We Contextualize More Than We Realize
• Chapter 4: Ground Level Contextualization
• Chapter 5: Contextual But Still Objective?
• Chapter 6: Can We See the Naked Theological Truth?
• Chapter 7: Developing a Palate for Authentic Theology
• Chapter 8: The Practice of Theology
• Chapter 9: Theologizing Locally
• Chapter 10: Evangelical Models of Contextualization
• Chapter 11: Bridging Theory and Training
• Suggested Reading: