Maicol Umana Introduction to Mission

Summarize the concept of contextualization and explain its significance for mission. Introduction The Scriptures were given to us hundreds of years ago, the revelation and interaction between God and human beings was done in a specific context and culture very different to what it is today. The changes in societies are affected by many factors and this changes makes us contextualize the message every time we are preaching the gospel, even in our own culture we need to adapt, the many English translations of the Bible is an example of it. In the missionary context is the same, all mission theology is contextual because it involves the communication of the gospel by someone influenced by a particular context to someone else in a different context. Bevans says: "Contextualization is not something on the fringes of the theological enterprise. It is at the very center of what it means to do theology in today's world. Contextualization, in other words, is a theological imperative".1 Each person is heavily influenced by the context in which the reality and truth is perceived, this affects the way we understand the gospel as well as the way in which we express our faith and do theology. So it would be wrong to think that there is a privileged interpretation and revelation of the gospel given exclusively to a particular culture. "Contextualization forces us to have a wider loyalty that corresponds to an enlarged and more adequate view of God as the God of all persons, male and female, and as a God who especially hears the cry of the poor. God can no longer simply be the God of myself, my family, my community, my nation; such a god is ultimately an idol or false god, one made according to my narrow and limited image and perspective".2 So, what is contextualization? This assay tries to summarize and differentiates the term and presenting some of the reasons of its significance for mission. Accommodation, adaptation and indigenization Missiologists use these terms to define the process of interaction between the gospel and a particular culture. It would be helpful to understand their meaning to finally summarize the meaning of contextualization. Accommodation and adaptation are more used by Catholics and indigenization is used more by Protestants3, but the three of them refers to the process of changing Christianity in
1 2

Stephen B. Bevans, Models of Contextual Theology (New York: Orbis, 1994), p.10. D.L. Whiteman, "Contextualization: The Theory, the Gap, the Challenge", IBMR, Vol. 21, No 1, January 1997, p.4. 3 David J. Bosch, Transforming mission (Maryknoll: Orbis, 1991), p.448. Spurgeons College 2012

Maicol Umana Introduction to Mission

non-essential ways to suit a culture when introducing the gospel. We could say they are synonyms, and missionaries still use them today. In fact these three words still express the official policy of the Catholic Church.4 Then, Accommodation, adaptation and indigenization of the Gospel is to adjust the ready-made (or culturally dominant) gospel and all its structures, including rituals, language, etc. to accommodate the differences in a new culture.5 Catholic missiologist Luzbetak defines it this way: "[Is] the respectful, prudent, scientifically and theological sound adjustment of the Church to the native culture in attitude, outward behaviour, and practical apostolic approach."6 This approach seems to ignore that the gospel in the sending country is influenced and affected by the culture. It tends to think only in terms of taking the 'pure' gospel and 'fix' it to suit the new cultures without challenging back the missionary's culture.7 Furthermore, the superficial adaptation of the peripheral things (such as vestments, recruiting local priests, indigenous music, etc.) shows the need to go deeper and find the central meanings within culture. It is from this need of a deeper and more organic process where the term contextualization originates.8 Contextualization and inculturation Contextualization Shoki Coe introduced the term in 1972, the Taiwanese scholar argued about the theological necessity for the gospel to take a fresh shape in each culture, because the Gospel is incarnational - it takes flesh, it is particular, it is rooted in the human situation. Contextualization, as Shoki Coe defined it, presses beyond and deeper than indigenization.9 In other words, contextualization is the expression of the gospel through appropriate forms within the receptive culture. A difference is made between the content of the gospel and the forms which the cultures express it. As Dr. Patrick Sookhdeo says: "The gospel is God-given and so is of universal application, while culture is relative to time and place. The process of contextualization recognizes that all cultures contain elements which oppose or compromise the gospel.

4 5

Louis J. Luzbetak, The church and cultures (Pasadena: William Carey Library, 1975), p.7. Gerald A. Arbuckle, Earthing the gospel (Homebush, NSW: St Paul Publications, 1990), pp.13-14. 6 Luzbetak, p.341. 7 Arbuckle, pp.13-14. 8 John Stott & Robert Coote, ed., The church in culture - A dynamic equivalence model, in Down to earth: Studies in Christianity and culture, ed. (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1980), p.213. 9 David J.Hesselgrave & Edward Rommen, Contextualization (Leicester, UK: Apollos, 1989), pp.31-32. Spurgeons College 2012

Maicol Umana Introduction to Mission

Contextualization is therefore committed to the gospel controlling its forms of expression".10 In contextualization the dynamic encounter between the Scriptures and world in a concrete context applies, not only in tribal or traditional situations, but also in secular and urban situations. Inculturation The term inculturation has the same meaning as contextualization, but is used more in Catholic circles. Gerald Arbuckle defines it as: "The dynamic relation between the Christian message and culture or cultures; an insertion of the Christian life into a culture; an ongoing process of reciprocal and critical interaction and assimilation between them."11 Although Catholic missiologists define it as a reciprocal process, the term 'inculturation' gives the impression that it's only one way, the insertion of the gospel from a converted culture into pagan or "non-culturized" culture. Aylward Shorter sees the flaws on the term, and suggests a different word, 'interculturation', to emphasize the interaction between cultures and maintain the reciprocal nature of mission, the partnership and mutuality.12 Contextual theology and local theology There are two more terms related to contextualization, and inculturation. The first, 'contextual theology', can be used to refer to all theologies which are more sensitive to the context, allowing some discussions to a certain degree.13 The second, 'local theology', comes from the Latin ecclesia particularis meaning the local church in its cultural particularity.14 The importance of contextualization for mission First of all, contextualization helps us to recognize that every human being is deeply shaped by its culture. There are differences in the laws, how we view time and weather, how we perceive spirituality, how authority is best exercised in and outside church, holidays, fashion, marriage, work, etc. Individuals have been evangelized at times when groups should. Churches have been built without considering the implications for the locals.
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Patrick Sookhdeo, Issues in contextualization, the Lausanne.org, <http://www.lausanne.org/fr/documents/all/174-haslev-1997/305-issues-in-contextualisation.html>, [accessed 13 January 2012]. 11 Arbuckle, p.17. 12 Aylward Shorter, Toward a theology of inculturation, (Maryknoll: Orbis, 1988), p.13. 13 Bevans, p.31. 14 Robert J. Schreiter, Constructing local theologies (Maryknoll: Orbis, 1985), pp.5-6. Spurgeons College 2012

Maicol Umana Introduction to Mission

Secondly, in the incarnation God reveals himself as the universal truth in a historical context. The Incarnation unmistakably demonstrates God's intention to make himself known from within the human situation. Because of the very nature of the gospel, we know it only as a message contextualized in culture.15 Jesus, as human being, engages with human beings in the context of their lives. He spent years living, listening, dialoguing, growing in their culture and understanding their context. Then he presented his message in terms they could understand, using cultural referents that were familiar and could relate to but giving them new meaning. His teachings came to them as good news to their poverty, healing and deliverance from all forms of their oppression, new hope, etc. At the same time his words challenge them to repent and submit their lives to the Kingdom of God, making a revolution in their minds, challenging many areas of their culture because his message was not conditioned to the culture but adapted to the context. Christology then becomes very relevant to contextualization, since those who want to make the context determinative for Christ's message begin with the human Jesus and focus on his life and words. They bring their own human context to his context, to see how he can inspire and encourage them. Those who take Christ's message as a universal true take His words in terms of absolutes which need no interpretation and are relevant to every context. As John Corrie says: "The Incarnation broke through any division between the eternal and the human. It does not destroy the difference between them, but it does allow us to hold the two together. Similarly text and context need to be held together to be faithful to God's revelation in Christ. To relativise the text is to lose its transcendent dimension. To absolutise the text is to make it irrelevant."16 Thirdly, contextualization also tries to keep a balance between the teachings of the Scriptures and the reality of those who received it. A focus just on eternal truths leaves us with a view of a God uninvolved with the world. On the opposite side, a focus just in the context leaves us with a human God whose meaning is governed by the context. An overemphasis on transcendence can lead to a theology that is irrelevant to the cultural context in which it seeks to speak, whereas an overemphasis on immanence can produce a theology held captive to a specific culture.17 Then, where do we draw the line to keep that balance? How do we know where our cultural context interferes with the Bible or vice versa? Is there any such thing as a 'common formula' applicable to all contexts? Newbigin says:
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C. Rene Padilla, Mission between the Time: Essays (MI: Grands Rapids, Eerdmans. 1985), p.83. John Corrie, Mission and contextualization, from Trinity College Bristol, http://www.trinitybris.ac.uk/assets/files/articles/corrie_mission_and_contextualisation.pdf , p.9. [accessed 13 January 2012] 17 Stanley J. Grenz and Roger E Olson, 20th Century theology: God and the world in a transitional age (Carlisle: Paternoster Pres, 1992), p.12. Spurgeons College 2012

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"The originally given revelation has to be continually reappropriated and reinterpreted in the light of new situations"18 Another response to this question is proposed by Charles Kraft with the term 'dynamic equivalence'. He proposed that contextualization should be done by reproducing in another context the equivalent effect of the words in their original context. Theology is about translation, but also about reinterpretation. "Theological truth must be recreated like a dynamic equivalence translation or transculturation within the language and conceptual framework of the hearers if its true relevance is to be properly perceived by them" 19 Since this response suggests that meaning is not in the words themselves but in their intended effect on the hearers, some critics (who want to avoid syncretism at all costs) defend that if context is allowed to play too much of a role, it might determine the meaning of the gospel. "The adequacy of an attempted contextualization must be measured by the degree to which it faithfully reflects the meaning of the biblical text".20 Conclusion The concept and the idea of contextualization and the development of a theology for our own context, is an ongoing process that needs a lot of work especially in the practical area. Contextualization is an important part of the Missio Dei (The incarnation of God in a Jewish context two thousand years ago), which makes it also important and absolutely central for the work of the church. There is not a concrete and definitive solution to the question of how much we need contextualize the gospel to make it more effective in a culture, but the authority of the Bible and the guidance of the Holy Spirit must be always the root of any answer.

Bibliography Arbuckle, Gerald A., Earthing the gospel, (Homebush, NSW: St Paul Publications, 1990).
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Lesslie Newbigin, The Gospel in a Pluralist Society (London: SPCK, 1989), p.63. Charles H. Kraft, Christianity in Culture: a study in dynamic biblical theologizing in cross-cultural perspective (New York: Orbis, 1979), p.297. 20 Hesselgrave and Rommen, p.201. Spurgeons College 2012

Maicol Umana Introduction to Mission

Bevans, Stephen B., Models of Contextual Theology, (New York: Orbis, 1994). Bosch, D. J., Transforming mission, (Maryknoll: Orbis, 19910). Corrie, John, Mission and contextualization, from Trinity College Bristol, < http://www.trinity-bris.ac.uk/assets/files/articles/corrie_mission_and_contextualisation.pdf > [accessed 13 January 2012]. Grenz, Stanley J. and Olson, Roger E., 20th Century theology: God and the world in a transitional age (Carlisle: Paternoster Pres, 1992). Hesselgrave, David J. & Rommen, E., Contextualization (Leicester, UK: Apollos, 1989). Kraft, Charles H., Christianity in Culture: a study in dynamic biblical theologizing in cross-cultural perspective (New York: Orbis, 1979). Luzbetak, Louis J., The church and cultures (Pasadena: William Carey Library, 1975). Padilla, C. Rene, Mission between the Time: Essays (MI: Grands Rapids, Eerdmans. 1985). Newbigin, Lesslie, The Gospel in a Pluralist Society (London: SPCK, 1989). Schreiter, Robert J., Constructing local theologies (Maryknoll: Orbis, 1985). Shorter, Aylward, Toward a theology of inculturation, (Maryknoll: Orbis, 1988). Sookhdeo, Patrick, Issues in contextualization, in the Lausanne.org, <http://www.lausanne.org/fr/documents/all/174-haslev-1997/305-issues-incontextualisation.html> [accessed 13 January 2012]. Stott, John & Coote, Robert, ed., The church in culture - A dynamic equivalence model, in Down to earth: Studies in Christianity and culture, (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1980). Whiteman, D.L., "Contextualization: The Theory, the Gap, the Challenge", IBMR, Vol. 21, No 1, January (1997).

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