{"id":11204,"date":"2017-01-26T13:09:19","date_gmt":"2017-01-26T21:09:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dminlgp.com\/?p=11204"},"modified":"2017-01-26T13:09:19","modified_gmt":"2017-01-26T21:09:19","slug":"context-is-everything","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/context-is-everything\/","title":{"rendered":"Context is Everything!"},"content":{"rendered":"

Summary:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Context is everything! The importance of a contextual expression of God\u2019s love, grace, activity, and power is the cornerstone of the Christian faith. Without it, God would be the distant unknown<\/em>, completely removed from our knowledge, understanding or experience. The fact that in the beginning God created<\/em> and even dwelt among us compels us\u00a0to wonder who God is, and what might God be saying to all peoples. To know God, understand God and experience God is the heart of God, the hallmark of Christianity, and is the rationale a theology. Toward that end, in Models of Contextual Theology,\u00a0<\/i>Steve Bevans asserts that all theology is contextual. In addition, he presents 6 models toward developing a contextual theology.<\/p>\n

Beven\u2019s core thesis is a bit of a departure from classical theology in which there are two legs on which the development of theology stand: scripture and tradition. In addition to the two classical sources, Bevan interjects a third: human experience or what he terms, \u201ccontext.\u201d This addition is a move away from the more traditional theological approaches as an objective discipline to a more dynamic, flowing \u201csubjective\u201d exercise in knowing God.[1] \u00a0Doing contextual theology takes into account both the past and the present context in addition to individual and group experiences.[2] For the purposes of this discussion, there is no need to detail the 6 models (Transitional, Anthropological, Praxis, Synthetic and Counter Cultural ) as they are well delineated in the book. There are, however, two applicable items for which I would like to highlight. The first considers the addition of experience to the loci theologici;<\/i> the second, the ability of an outsider to do theology for a context that is not their own? Both have direct application for my faith and ministry.<\/p>\n

Application:<\/strong><\/p>\n

That Bevan\u2019s brings experience into the process of doing theology is interesting for me from a Pentecostal point of view. As Pentecostals, experience\u00a0has always been part of our faith expression and it has certainly impacted our theology and the way in which we practice our faith. Gardner describes it as\u00a0\u201ca more dynamic Trinitarian expression[s] of faith.”[3] I must admit that his definition makes me smile a bit; I’ve never heard it put quite that way before. Experience is nothing new to Pentecostal\/Charismatic theology. Because of this, Pentecostals have at times been viewed as somewhat biblically and theologically naive.<\/p>\n

I remember a missionary colleague and friend asked me about the Pentecostal experience. I don\u2019t remember the exact words but the gist of the question was, for a Pentecostal does experience supersede the Bible. My answer then is still the same today; I do not consider the Pentecostal experience to be anything other than biblically and theologically sound. The Pentecostal experience is well within the context of both scripture and church tradition. In this respect, even though it seems that \u201ccontextual theology\u201d is a relatively new concept,[4] Pentecostals have been adding \u201cexperience\u201d into their theological formation equation for a long time. I do admit that it is not in the exact vein as Bevans\u2019 purely contextual\/cultural theology. For Bevans, it is the difference between a contextual theology and a cultural theology. The first acknowledges culture and builds on a biblical foundation; the second acknowledges the Bible but builds on a cultural foundation.[5] Although there are those who would disagree, I contend that the Pentecostal experience is biblical, a-cultural, historical and normative.<\/p>\n

The second point of application is the answer to the question, can an outsider do theology for a culture that is not their own? Can an American do Czech, German, Austrian, Slovenian or Bulgarian theology? That is an important question for me and the context in which I serve, for if they cannot then the Great Commission will have been totally absent the ability to accomplish it. In this Bevan\u2019s missiology and cross-cultural experience shines through. In his answer, he gives a theoretical \u201cno\u201d and a practical \u201cyes.\u201d \u00a0There are times when an outsider can be more \u201cin tune\u201d with a culture than one who is a part of that culture. There are other times when a guest can give a unique perspective to a current situation or cultural perspective. According to Bevans, \u201ca genuine contextual theology\u2026can indeed grow out of genuine dialogue between the participants in a particular culture and the stranger, the guest, the other.\u201d[6] Though it’s not new news\u2014one only need look to Christ’s incarnational model\u2014it is good news for the church. And, it is also good news for Pentecostals, for as the same colleague and friend who asked me about the Pentecostal experience also said, “you Pentecostals have a tool in your tools chest that I just don’t have.” Maybe that tool has been, all along, the addition of a third leg, the Pentecostal experience.<\/p>\n

The importance of a contextual expression of God\u2019s love, grace, activity, and power is the cornerstone of the Christian faith. Without it, God would be a distant Unknown, completely removed from our knowledge, understanding or experience. Context is everything!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Bevans, Stephen B. Models of Contextual Theology<\/i>. Rev Exp ed. Faith and Culture, Orbis Books, 2002, l 198.<\/li>\n
  2. Ibid., l 243-251.<\/li>\n
  3. Garner, S. \u201cContextual and Public Theology: Passing Fads or Theological Imperatives.\u201d Stimulus: The New Zealand Journal of Christian Studies<\/i> (2015): 23.<\/li>\n
  4. Ibid., 21.<\/li>\n
  5. Bevans, l 646.<\/li>\n
  6. Ibid., l 572-620.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Summary: Context is everything! The importance of a contextual expression of God\u2019s love, grace, activity, and power is the cornerstone of the Christian faith. Without it, God would be the distant unknown, completely removed from our knowledge, understanding or experience. The fact that in the beginning God created and even dwelt among us compels us\u00a0to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":90,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[15,13],"class_list":["post-11204","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-bevans","tag-garner","cohort-lgp7"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11204","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/90"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11204"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11204\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11204"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11204"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11204"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}