Is There More Than One Type of Contextual Theologian

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 …

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Contextual Biblical Theology Quote

I have been reading Grenz and Olson's book, "Who Needs Theology?" and found that they have a nice section of contextual theology. The following is a quote addressing the question of whether contextualization of theology should start from the Bible, as opposed to starting from culture. (I am reading the Kindle version, so I don't …

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Six Robust Foundations for Contextualized Christian Theology?

One of the big trends in recent years in Christian missions has been to think about contextualization for cultures that place a higher value shame than on guilt. As work in contextualization for honor/shame cultures, three things happened. First, there was a growth in the realization that the Bible not only focuses considerably on honor …

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Flavors of Localized Theology. Part 2

Instead of repeating myself, please read PART ONE. Now, let's move to the first flavor. Flavor #1. Localized Theology in Terms of Region Using the example of the Philippines, a localized theology for this country might be thought of as Asian, or sharing features of theologies of other parts of Asia. Emerito P. Nacpil claims …

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Flavors of Localized Theology. Part 1

The following is s from a chapter I am writing on Localizing Theology. I decided to talk about "Flavors" of Localized Theology versus "Theories" or "Models" of Localized Theology (I will use "LW" forward). The reason is that if one speaks of Models of something, there is the temptation of people to assume that one …

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Theology “Tests” in Localization

TestQuestionsBasisRevelationHarmonious and Coherent with Scripture? Or Disonant, or “cherry-picked” from Scripture?Unity and Canonicity of the BibleGodIs the God described within the theology, the God who is revealed? Is God worthy of worship, and relational in prayer?God as Object of TheologyCreationIs our relation to creation in line with it being God's good creation? Is our relation …

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Evaluating Contextual Theologies. Part 3

Third and final part of the chapter that I have written on this topic for my (work-in-progress) book on Missions Theology. Contextual Theology as “Good Scandal” “Good Scandal” is not another test or sub-test, but a different way of looking at the third test--- the test of culture. A good contextual theology should connect to …

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Evaluating Contextual Theologies. Part 2

This is part of a chapter of a book I am writing on Contextual Theology. Still a work in progress. I will finish one day. Fair of Foul All Theology is Contextual. So when I speak of the “foul lines” of contextual theology, I mean the “foul lines” of ALL theology. The use of the …

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Evaluating Contextual Theologies. Part 1

This is a chapter of a book I am writing on Contextual Theology. Still a work in progress. I will finish one day. Chapter 13 Evaluation of Contextualized Theologies Stephen Bevans states that all theology is contextual.1 However, as one of my dialogue partners noted, it could be taken to mean that there is nothing …

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Contextual Theology Diagrams

I have SLOWLY been working on my book on Missions Theology. I am putting here a couple of diagrams that are associated with the sections related to Contextual Theology. The first one is the one related to Models of Contextualization. I am using Stephen Bevans six models. I try to relate the six models of …

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