{"id":4550,"date":"2015-04-10T03:23:10","date_gmt":"2015-04-10T03:23:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dminlgp\/?p=4550"},"modified":"2015-04-10T03:26:41","modified_gmt":"2015-04-10T03:26:41","slug":"translatability","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/translatability\/","title":{"rendered":"Translatability"},"content":{"rendered":"

I have found the topic of globalization fascinating. Why? Because\u00a0globalization has many effects, but one of the most important is the dramatic increase in the opportunity and need to interact with people who are culturally different from ourselves.[1]<\/a> With me writing, or will soon be writing, a dissertation about cultural intelligence and the need for all of us to increase our CQ in the light of globalization, I find the study of globalization highly intriguing. Yet many of the authors that I have read seldom, if at all, recognize, or provide observations on how Christianity has helped, or hindered globalization. Nor do many authors mention how Christians have come to the aid of those who have become \u201ccollateral damages\u201d due to globalization. Donald M. Lewis and Richard V. Pierard editors of Global Evangelicalism: Theology, History and Culture in Regional Perspective<\/em> agree that it is surprising how little attention has been given by scholars in the field of globalization to Christianity in the light of these world changes.[2]<\/a> They affirm my observations by stating, \u201cmany globalization theorists are virtually silent about the role of religion in globalization.\u201d[3]<\/a> Yet as Groody writes, \u201cwith the recent challenges of globalization, it is all the more urgent that we reflect on the contribution of the church in general and Christian theology in particular to the challenges of the modern world.\u201d[4]<\/a> If there ever was a group that could be looked at as truly global and culturally influential it is this Evangelical movement.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Global Evangelicalism<\/em> provides a large overview of this culturally diverse and polycentric movement. Why is this movement so powerful? Why is it so wide spread?\u00a0In Global Evangelicalism,<\/em> one learns that this religious passion to share the Gospel with the world is a cornerstone of Evangelicalism.[5]<\/a> It is this movement with key ingredients of conversion, the Bible, activism, and a cross centeredness (crucicentrism),[6]<\/a> that makes it such a powerful force on the earth. Yet this Evangelical movement is not really understood by those outside nor inside the movement. The main thrust of Global Evangelicalism<\/em> is an attempt to trace the roots and to help understand its diversity.[7]<\/a> A diversity that has both grown with globalization and assisted in the advancement of globalization and yet, at the same time, a number of theorists see religion as the potential spoiler of globalization.[8]<\/a><\/p>\n

I wrote about globalization and the church last semester. I began with the words, \u201cSince the inception of the church the gospel message has been a message that began and continues to find itself crossing international boarders and cultures.\u201d Though the Gospel proclamation began in Jerusalem, it did not long stay there. For Christianity and the power of the resurrected Christ quickly made its way into different cultures and regions of the then inhabited world. That was, and is, the uniqueness of Christianity, its \u201ctranslatability.\u201d[9]<\/sup><\/sup><\/a> From culture to culture, from people to people, this Gospel of the Kingdom continues to be translated and \u201chas ennobled all the cultures that it has touched.\u201d[10]<\/sup><\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n

All this academic verbiage said, I believe the strongest reason that I am an evangelical, and why so many are as well, is that I have found the love of a God that is real enough to change both my mind and my life. Since coming to faith in Him I have altered and continue to alter my life course. Because of this faith and the impact that it has made in my life I desire to tell others about what I have found. No man, having found a great treasure, goes and hides his discovery but rather, gathers his friends and shares what great fortune has come upon him. May we all continue the translatability of this message of love and help other join in on the treasure.<\/p>\n

[1]<\/a> David C. Thomas and Kerr Inkson, Cultural Intelligence: Living and Working Globally<\/em>, 2d. ed. (San Francisco: Berrett-Kehler Publishers, Inc., 2009), ix.<\/p>\n

[2]<\/a> Donald M Lewis and Richard V. Pierard, eds., Global Evangelicalism: Theology, History and Culture in Regional Perspective<\/em> (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 2014), 72.<\/p>\n

[3]<\/a> Ibid., 67.<\/p>\n

[4]<\/a> Daniel G. Groody, \u201cGlobalization and Grace: A Christian Public Theology for a Global Future,\u201d Theological Studies<\/em> 70, no. 1 (March 2009): 1.<\/p>\n

[5]<\/a> Lewis and Pierard, Global Evangelicalism: Theology, History and Culture in Regional Perspective<\/em>, 20.<\/p>\n

[6]<\/a> Ibid.<\/p>\n

[7]<\/a> Ibid., 13.<\/p>\n

[8]<\/a> Ibid., 71.<\/p>\n

[9]<\/a> Samuel Escobar, Changing Tides: Latin America and World Mission Today<\/em>, American Society of Missiology Series, No. 31 (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2002), 173.<\/p>\n

[10]<\/a> Ibid., 174.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I have found the topic of globalization fascinating. Why? Because\u00a0globalization has many effects, but one of the most important is the dramatic increase in the opportunity and need to interact with people who are culturally different from ourselves.[1] With me writing, or will soon be writing, a dissertation about cultural intelligence and the need for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"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":[621],"class_list":["post-4550","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-lewispierard","cohort-lgp4"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4550","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\/17"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4550"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4550\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4551,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4550\/revisions\/4551"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4550"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4550"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4550"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}