Haase_UZ_x007E_DTh (2).pdf - South African Theological Seminary

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Yet, with few exceptions, the Western church, even in its still desperate condition, has
refused to humble itself to others, even its own from non-Western Christianity. Prof.
Walls agreed with Newbigin, that Western Christians need non-Western Christians to
help them assess current cultural challenges to the faith, to especially help them see how
deeply they have syncretistically succumbed to surrounding culture (Walls, 2002:69).
There is no question that the Western church has deeply embraced modernity, and oddly
enough, it is in some ways postmodernity that is not only challenging modernity, but
modernity in the church. Where God’s people will not listen to their own prophets, God
will use whatever means necessary to produce needed changes. Ancient Israel is a classic
example of this; yet, these lessons seem lost on the contemporary Western church.
Among Christian academics, Western schools remain the preferred choice, and few
from the non-West are ever brought ‘into the system,’ as it were. Yet, one has to question
this logic; for if these training centres are so superior to others around the world, why is
the faith community in their own back yards so anaemic If departments of theology in
the UK, for example, are so superior, why is the faith is such a dire condition in their own
country How wise is it then, for non-Western training centres to emulate their Western
counter-parts
In the US, the same sort of arrogance runs rampant throughout many Christian training
centres. Perhaps worst of all is the ingrained sense of [Western] doctrinal and cultural
superiority regularly passed on to new generations of church leaders, who in turn look
down upon their non-Western brethren. Still it is at so many of these supposedly superior
Western centres for the training of global Christian leadership, that the Word of God is no
longer trusted and revered: instead treated as just another historical treatise, where man
stands in judgment. The teachings of these arrogant, anthropocentric schools are of
course then manifested in church praxis, where homosexual ordinations and the blessing
of homosexual relationships have become all too common. Where is this taught in
Scripture
We can expect those outside the church to challenge the veracity and integrity of
Scripture, the faith historically, and the teachings of the church -- for this is what they
have always done. However, for those supposedly inside the faith, who claim to trust
University of Zululand, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa