Maybe I am a bit slow on things… but in the past I thought of Contextual Theology in very simple terms. Since I agree with Bevans and Vaughn and others that “All Theology is Contextual” I would argue that there are two types of Contextual Theology — Good Contextual Theology and Bad Contextual Theology. This would imply that there are only two types of theologians: Good Contextual Theologians and Bad Contextual Theologians.

And then I would probably add another duality, and this has to do with the relationship between the theologian and the context in which he or she is doing theology. This would then create two categories— Insider Theologians (doing theology within one’s own enculterated setting) and Outsider Theologians (doing theology within someone else’s enculturated setting).

These groupings are not well-defined sets. They are both spectra.

I have wondered whether one should also divide contextual theology into more theoretical and more practical. After all, we separate theology into Practical Theology and “Non-Practical” (?) Theologies (such as Biblical, Historical, Philosophical, and Systematic). Further, I have two colleagues (at one time their were students of mine, but has since “grown up”). One of them does great Filipino Theology in terms of big concepts— especially Theological Anthropology. The other is more in Pastoral Theology— more practical/ministerial. However, when focusing on the contextual aspect of theology, I am not sure separating between theoretical and practical is particularly useful.

However, I have another student who presently serves in a churchplanting work in Sierra Leone. I would argue that he is a gifted contextual theologian as well… but in a very different way. He doesn’t emphasize cultural characteristics in terms of theology. Rather, he is doing theological work in response to the unique questions and concerns of his setting.

This suggests two categories of contextual theology. One might be seen as “Cultural Contextual Theology.” There is probably a better term for this, but suggests theology that connects to the cultural beliefs, values, and categories of a setting. The other could be “Correlative Contextual Theology.” With this, the theology correlates to the setting— asking questions of and answering questions for the context.