Haase_UZ_x007E_DTh (2).pdf - South African Theological Seminary

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126 coming again has always been a means of motivating God’s own to be about their Lord’s business (cf., 1Jn. 3:1-3). The church often confuses these concepts of ‘compromise’ and ‘contextualization.’ Christians often erroneously assume that contextualisation means compromise; which is certainly not the case, especially when contextualisation is done correctly. Contextualisation means that believers attempt to “communicate the gospel in word and deed and to establish the church in ways that make sense to people with their local cultural context, presenting Christianity in such a way that it meets people’s deepest needs and penetrates their worldview, thus allowing them to follow Christ and remain with their own culture” (Bevans, 1999:43). We must seek to maintain the tension, or balance, between an insider’s deep understanding and the outsider’s critique, which in Anthropology is called the ‘emic’ and ‘etic’ perspectives. One example of this is the way so many of the so-called main-line churches in North America have compromised doctrinally, but have almost totally resisted making any changes to their style of worship. On the one hand, homosexual ordinations and marriages are approved of, standing in contrast to long-held traditions and more importantly the teachings of Scripture. Taking this course is thought to put them more in accord with contemporary society -- in truth, nothing more than compromise. Postmodern trends would have the church compromise all to please the whims and weaknesses of the flesh. This is precisely what so many churches have done, and it will be their undoing -- not to mention how it must displease the Lord. Instead, we are called to be relevant, or contextual, with our society -- without compromise. God’s people are to discern the times, to know how best to speak to their generation, yet without compromising who and what they are (cf., 1Ch. 12:32; Mat. 24:32-35; Act. 17:16-34). Contextualisation is a relatively new word, first used around 1972 by Shoki Coe. The concept, however, was employed by St. Patrick among the Celts, by the Italian Jesuit missionary Roberto de Nobili among Hindus in the early 17th Century, and by the Apostle Paul among the Greeks (cf., Act. 17), to name just a few. Contextualized approaches seek to present the unchanging word of God in the varying languages and cultures of human beings (Anderson, 1998:333). Contextualization explains how God’s University of Zululand, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
people are to effectively participate in God’s mission (Missio Dei) to the world. The term is derived from ‘context’ from the Latin, textus, and means ‘weaving together.’ Contextualization can be defined as “making concepts and methods relevant to a historical situation” (Anderson, 1998:318). Missiological contextualization can be “viewed as enabling the message of God’s redeeming love in Jesus Christ to become alive as it addresses the vital issues of a socio-cultural context and transforms its worldview, its values, and its goals” (Tabor, 1978:55, in Anderson, 1998:318). Contrary to the older missiological terms, accommodation (as originally used), and indigenization, contextualization “conveys a deeper involvement of the cultural context in the missiological process and a greater sensitivity to situations where rapid social change is occurring” (Coe, 1976:19-22, in Anderson, 1998:318). Contextualization is a broad and complex topic (cf., Bosch, 1991:420-432). The ultimate goal of contextualization is that the Church be enabled in a particular time and place to witness to Christ in a way that is both faithful to the gospel and meaningful to men, women, and children in the cultural, social, political, and religious conditions of that time and place (Desrochers, 1982:23). Pre-eminent South African missiologist, David Bosch, said it is incumbent upon God’s people to interpret the “signs of the times.” These interpretations are risky, because they are sometimes incorrect. “Matthew’s parables of the reign of God emphasize the need for watching (Mat. 25)” (Bosch, 1991:430). Scripture, history, and the Holy Spirit’s guidance are the greatest interpretive tools we have. Scripture provides a foundational understanding of the base nature of man -- a benchmark -- making future thoughts and actions of mankind generally predictable. History provides additional insights about the nature of mankind. With these basic tools, and guided by the Holy Spirit (cf., Rom. 12:1- 2), God’s people can acquire understanding about all things (Eph. 1:15-23), even as we are now doing about the seeming complexities of our post, or ultra modern cultural climate. A built-in risk of contextualization is that the human situation and the culture of peoples so dominate the inquiry that God’s revelation 127 University of Zululand, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
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1 POSTMODERNITY: IMPACT AND IMPLICA
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3 Key Terms Postmodern, postmoderni
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5 An Apologetic Response 115 Compro
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killed massively in the name of goo
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9 together in an eclectic, rather d
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11 Postmodernity: Impact and Implic
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13 heights” (Veith, 1994:30). For
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15 autonomy proper to human reason
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inviolability and Divine origin, th
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diminished” (Bosch, 2000:6). The
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‘god’ to keep and to save him.
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Occultism flourished among the Brit
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He was a passionate, powerful chara
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27 record reveals that the church o
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29 eliminating poverty, hunger and
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may simply transform the nature and
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Contrary to Christian notions that
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35 ‘modernize’ the nation. To b
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37 expression. This “first respon
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39 of his own awareness of God” (
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41 Existentialism understandably em
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depends upon our decision makes our
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group Socialisme et Liberte. During
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47 The Mind of Sartre Sartre’s vi
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ethical absolutes (Craig, 1994:67).
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51 Chapter II Postmodernity: The Es
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53 Postmoderns promote individualis
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meaning and language. The postmoder
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pointed out that science, far from
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59 Ferdinand de Saussure at the tur
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considers the Greek logos (i.e., λ
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63 models and then try not to subve
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marginalized and to the historical
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without essential foundations (Khan
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maximum voluntary community agreeme
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71 something akin to the virtual re
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73 During the 1960’s, Foucault wa
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Page 85 and 86: 85 referentially incoherent. That i
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Page 115 and 116: 115 An Apologetic Response Beyond t
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Page 171 and 172: 171 (Johnson, 2004). Contemporary n
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177 postmodernity has opened the do
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Pagans are usually worshippers of t
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most Catholics in Brazil. Many Musl
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which is one of the key factors tha
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185 1980:viii). For example, when t
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187 the higher religions. The pleth
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whose wrath has been and will be di
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in the movies, further fulfilling t
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to ancient Greek writings, the post
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195 more, the atoning work of Jesus
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197 to develop. Even after several
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199 excesses of scientism and reduc
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Carson, D.A., ed. (2000). Telling t
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Grudem, W. (1994). Systematic Theol
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McMichael, P. (2004). Development a
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207 Riss, R. (1988). A Survey of 20
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209 Bibliography of Electronic Sour
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211 Foucault, M. (1982). Truth, Pow
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Montgomery, J.W. (2002). Defending
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215 The University of Zululand Esta
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