{"id":3905,"date":"2015-02-05T23:35:11","date_gmt":"2015-02-05T23:35:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dminlgp\/?p=3905"},"modified":"2015-02-05T23:35:11","modified_gmt":"2015-02-05T23:35:11","slug":"a-question-of-relevance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/a-question-of-relevance\/","title":{"rendered":"A Question of Relevance"},"content":{"rendered":"

As I try to synthesize the readings from the books Models of Contextual Theology, Spirit in the Cities: Searching for Soul in the Urban Landscape,<\/em> and The Bible, Justice, and Public Theology<\/em>, the word that keeps coming to mind is \u201crelevance\u201d.<\/p>\n

Spirit in the Cities<\/em> paints a landscape of urban life that is often missed by those who pass through without interacting. The view from the train or bus allows a perspective that a commuter in a car may never see.[1]<\/a> Not only is the history of the city revealed through the landmarks, but the ethnic demographics become strikingly obvious. Chapter 5 expounds on this as Isasi-Di\u00e1z relates that, even though she is an American citizen, first and foremost she is Cuban because that is where she came from.[2]<\/a> Is the Gospel relevant in an urban setting with racial and ethnic diversity? If not, what is missing? Does the gospel speak the same message to the suburban commuter alone in her car on the way to an office job as it does to the person waiting at the bus stop to go from one inner-city neighborhood to the other?<\/p>\n

Pondering these questions, I delved into Models of Contextual Theology<\/em>. I was immediately confronted with the concept that \u201cthere is no such thing as \u2018theology\u2019; there is only contextual theology.\u201d[3]<\/a> \u201cTheology that is contextual realizes that culture, contemporary thought forms, and so forth are to be considered, along with scripture, tradition, and present human experience\u2014or context.\u201d[4]<\/a> A person\u2019s theology affects the way they live and think. Can a relevant theological expression take place outside of the context in which a person lives?<\/p>\n

While looking at the praxis model, Bevan\u2019s say, \u201cWhile for more traditional ways of doing theology, theology might be described as a process of \u2018faith seeking understanding,\u2019 the praxis model would say that theology is a process of \u2018faith seeking intelligent action.\u2019\u201d[5]<\/a> How do we move from a gospel message that is disconnected from those around us toward one which is relevant to those around us? \u201cFaith seeking intelligent action\u201d seems to be a good place to start. Too often we expect the eloquent, yet simple Bible story to be accepted by those around us simply because it is \u201cthe Bible story\u201d. The problem is that \u201cthe Bible is no longer recognized as a source of authority in Western public consciousness.\u201d[6]<\/a> If the Bible is no longer a source of authority, what relevance does it have to public life?<\/p>\n

The amazing truth is that the gospel message is still relevant. The contextual limitations are not a result of a disconnected scriptural truth but rather the result of a disconnected church. Regarding a public theology that is relevant and contextual, the question is, \u201chow to communicate in a credible and intelligible manner the riches and insight of the gospel of Jesus Christ to the variety of publics found with the contexts of church, state, civil society, the market place and the academy.\u201d[7]<\/a><\/p>\n

The Bible, Justice, and Public Theology<\/em> reminds us of the way in which Jesus used parables to teach deep theological truths. These truths were never intended to be simply theological information but rather practical truths integrated into a transformed life. How does the gospel become relevant? It becomes relevant when it is lived out before others. How do others begin to see scripture as authoritative? By seeing us submit to its authority. Jesus used parables to teach truth. Wouldn\u2019t it be great if we allowed him to use our lives as living parables that communicate the relevant truth of his love within the context of our lives and the lives of those around us?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

[1]<\/a> Kathryn Tanner, Spirit in the Cities: Searching for Soul in the Urban Landscape<\/em> (Minneapolis, Minn.: Fortress Press, 2004), 7.<\/p>\n

[2]<\/a> Ibid., 99-100.<\/p>\n

[3]<\/a> Stephen B. Bevans, Models of Contextual Theology<\/em>, rev. and expanded ed., Faith and Cultures Series (Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis Books, \u00a92002), 3.<\/p>\n

[4]<\/a> Ibid., 4.<\/p>\n

[5]<\/a> Ibid., 73.<\/p>\n

[6]<\/a> The Bible, Justice, and Public Theology<\/em>, ed. David Neville, OR: Wipf & Stock Pub, 2014), 8-9.<\/p>\n

[7]<\/a> Ibid., 177<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As I try to synthesize the readings from the books Models of Contextual Theology, Spirit in the Cities: Searching for Soul in the Urban Landscape, and The Bible, Justice, and Public Theology, the word that keeps coming to mind is \u201crelevance\u201d. Spirit in the Cities paints a landscape of urban life that is often missed […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":39,"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":[603,601,506],"class_list":["post-3905","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-bevins","tag-bevins-neville-and-tanner","tag-dminlgp5","cohort-lgp5"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3905","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\/39"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3905"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3905\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3906,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3905\/revisions\/3906"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3905"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3905"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3905"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}