{"id":17916,"date":"2018-06-01T08:14:38","date_gmt":"2018-06-01T15:14:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dminlgp\/?p=17916"},"modified":"2018-06-01T08:14:38","modified_gmt":"2018-06-01T15:14:38","slug":"tensions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/tensions\/","title":{"rendered":"Tensions"},"content":{"rendered":"

In his book Grassroots Asian Theology<\/em>, Simon Chan explains that \u201chealthy theological development requires holding together two processes in a healthy tension: ressourcement<\/em> and aggiornamento<\/em>.\u201d[1]<\/a> This statement caught my attention because I\u2019m coming to believe that much of the Christian life is lived in healthy tensions.<\/p>\n

Justice and mercy.<\/p>\n

Faith and works.<\/p>\n

Spirit and truth.<\/p>\n

But ressourcement<\/em> and aggiornmento<\/em> aren\u2019t part of my theological vocabulary, though they are words that I know. (Ressourcement<\/em> is French for \u201chealing\u201d and aggiornamento<\/em> is Italian for \u201cupdating.\u201d) I was eager to read more and see how Chan would apply these terms to theology. Chan defines ressourcement<\/em> as \u201ca creative engagement with earlier sources, the fountainhead of spiritual life\u201d and aggiornmento <\/em>as \u201cadaptation and updating (!) in light of the new situations in which the church finds itself.\u201d[2]<\/a><\/p>\n

I was reminded of the renewal movements I studied in church history, which Professor Brunner pointed out always involved both a restoration of important practices that had been neglected and a renovation (or updating) of archaic practices. He often used the image of opening wide the windows of a stuffy room and letting the stale air out and the fresh air in.<\/p>\n

So according to Chan, theological development has much in common with renewal movements. And the reason the tension is so important, in Chan\u2019s opinion, is that \u201cWithout the prerequisite of ressourcement<\/em>, aggiornmento<\/em> could easily end up with the church capitulating to the spirit of the age.\u201d[3]<\/a> Which is another way of saying that if the church doesn\u2019t stay connected to her roots, she risks renovating herself into irrelevance.<\/p>\n

As I study missionary effectiveness and sustainability, I\u2019m realizing that this tension between ressourcement <\/em>and aggiornmento<\/em> may also have a place in helping missionary sending organizations move their missionaries into the 21st<\/sup> century. I am convinced that we cannot continue to do missions and to fund missions in the same way that have for the past 100 or even 50 years. It is time for restoration and renovation.<\/p>\n

One of the movements in the right direction in the past few decades\u2014a way of aggiornmento<\/em>\u2014has been the push for contextualization. In contextualizing the gospel message, missionaries recognized that while the core message is the same, different aspects of the gospel have a different impact in different cultures. For example, in some cultures, being able to trick and deceive another person is seen as a strength and a positive attribute, so if the story of Jesus\u2019 betrayal is told as a Westerner typically tells it, Judas comes off as the hero in some cultures. When we contextualize the gospel we might start with Jesus\u2019 triumph over death, presenting Christ as a person who \u201ctricked the grave,\u201d and honoring his strength before showing how he used that strength in meekness and humility.<\/p>\n

One reviewer noted that \u201cChan makes an important contribution in arguing that the grassroots implicit and practiced theology of Asian church communities must be heeded in any discussion of contextual contributions to theological understanding.\u201d[4]<\/a> The same could be said for missions; however, I don\u2019t believe that contextualization alone can bring missions into the 21st<\/sup> century, where we are facing the reality of global connectivity and the shift of the global center of Christianity from north to south.<\/p>\n

Perhaps the most critical shift of the 21st<\/sup> century, where missions are concerned, is the shift in funding priorities from gospel proclamation to social justice. Millions of dollars are spent on short-term mission trips that bring first-world \u201cmissionaries\u201d to third-world countries for w few weeks to dig wells or build houses. The target country is typically already evangelized, and the main the goal of the mission is to meet practical needs. Meanwhile, missionaries whose main focus is evangelism and discipleship are struggling to find and sustain donors. Such mission work is a lot less sexy these days. It\u2019s a \u201clong, hard slog\u201d[5]<\/a> and rarely produces quick, concrete results.<\/p>\n

In a book review, Enoch Charles summarized, \u201cChan believes that the pentecostal-charismatic and indigenous Christian movements are crucial for grassroots\u00a0 theology and that they offer an effective alternative approach to social\u00a0 engagement in contrast to mainline liberal theologies.\u201d[6]<\/a> This got me thinking, \u201cWhat might be the \u2018effective alternative approach to social engagement\u2019 for missionaries?\u201d Are gospel proclamation and social justice yet another tension that must be held? Are we forced to see the two as \u201ceither\/or\u201d or could they be embraced as \u201cboth\/and\u201d?<\/p>\n

It is in this very realm that I see the greatest opportunity for global missions to practice ressourcement <\/em>and aggiornmento.<\/em> Historically, in bringing the gospel missionaries also brought schools and hospitals. The gospel had a salvific effect in individual lives, but also an impact in society. This is an \u201cearlier source\u201d to which modern missionaries must connect. Those who focus on gospel proclamation have become too focused, perhaps, on individual conversions, to the neglect of seeking healing and hope for the towns in cities in which they live and work.<\/p>\n

But healing and renovation are also imperative, for indeed, those early missionaries failed and contextualization and often forced their culture on others, resulting in either colonization or a paternalistic relationship. We must contextualize (or better yet, collaborate!) in both evangelization AND social justice efforts.<\/p>\n

[1]<\/a> Simon Chan, Grassroots Asian Theology: Thinking the Faith from the Ground Up<\/em> (Downers Grove, Illinois: InterVarsity Press, 2014). 7.<\/p>\n

[2]<\/a> Chan. 7.<\/p>\n

[3]<\/a> Chan. 7.<\/p>\n

[4]<\/a> Trube, \u201cBook Review: Review: Grassroots Asian Theology,\u201d Emerging Scholars Blog, September 11, 2015, https:\/\/blog.emergingscholars.org\/2015\/09\/book-review-grassroots-asian-theology\/.<\/p>\n

[5]<\/a> Jen Oshman, \u201cThe Truth About Missions Is That It\u2019s A Long, Hard Slog,\u201d A Life Overseas\u00a0 |, February 19, 2018, http:\/\/www.alifeoverseas.com\/the-truth-about-missions-is-that-its-a-long-hard-slog\/.<\/p>\n

[6]<\/a> Charles, \u201cGrassroots Asian Theology: Thinking the Faith from the Ground Up,\u201d Religious Studies Review<\/em> 41, no. 1 (March 2015): 10.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In his book Grassroots Asian Theology, Simon Chan explains that \u201chealthy theological development requires holding together two processes in a healthy tension: ressourcement and aggiornamento.\u201d[1] This statement caught my attention because I\u2019m coming to believe that much of the Christian life is lived in healthy tensions. Justice and mercy. Faith and works. Spirit and truth. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":106,"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":[632],"class_list":["post-17916","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-simon-chan","cohort-lgp8"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17916","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\/106"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17916"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17916\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17917,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17916\/revisions\/17917"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17916"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17916"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17916"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}