Contextual Theology
Contextual Theology
Contextual Theology
1 (2014) 1-14
Peter O. Okafor
Blessed IweneTansi Major Seminary, Onitsha, Nigeria.
[email protected]
Introduction
Theology is commonly defined as “faith seeking understanding” (fides
quaerens intellectum). Since what we mean is Christian theology, we can also
define it as Christian faith trying to understand the things of God as revealed in
Jesus Christ. As Jesus is the Word made flesh, he is God in context, sharing
our condition in the human culturally conditioned world. He was a male, a first
century Jew, and shared the culture of his own people. In this mystery of the
incarnation, he made use of all that is familiar to us, in order to communicate
his divine life and grace. This is the way for theology to follow if it is to
remain relevant in today‟s world. Theology must be contextual. It must speak
to man where he is. It must address human questions and concerns in the light
of the faith. In this way, theology is no longer simply a study of God but a
study of what God says and does in a context. This is because we Christians
believe in God who is present and active in each local context – in the face of
neighbour and stranger, in the depths of human culture and experience, or in
the life we seek to build together. That is why theology ought to be contextual.
It is not just a matter of academic analysis, it rather emerges from a life of
prayer and practice – in a community that meets God in Word and Sacrament,
that listens to the wisdom of Tradition, and that seeks to discern and respond to
his presence and action in the world. It is therefore the contention of this
article that the challenge of contextual theology is the challenge of relevance.
Every genuine theological reflection must show its relevance by engaging
consciously the context of its theologizing.
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Okafor: The Challenge of Contextual Theology
2. Theological Method
We have seen that contextual theology is an interpretation of Christian
faith, which emerges in the consciousness of its context. It differs from the
1
Stephen B. Bevans, Models of Contextual Theology (Maryknoll/New York: Orbis
Books, 1992), 1.
2
Bevans, Models of Contextual Theology, 2.
3
Lourdino A. Yuzon, “Towards a Contextual Theology,” http://cca.org.hk/home/ctc/
ctc94-02 /1.yuzon.htm (Assessed 2014-04-12).
4
Robert J. Schreiter, Constructing Local Theologies (London: SCM Press Ltd, 1985).
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Ministerium – Journal of Contextual Theology Vol. 1 (2014) 1-14
5
Bevans, Models of Contextual Theology, 2.
6
Sigurd Bergmann, God in Context. A Survey of Contextual Theology (Hants: Ashgate,
2003), 4.
7
Ibid.
8
Bevans, Models of Contextual Theology, 2.
9
Ibid., 11.
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Okafor: The Challenge of Contextual Theology
specific traits of Christian tradition, and partly relevant, meaning that it would
be applicable in a liberating way to different situations in society.”10
Behind the quest of contextual theologians in their theological method
is the issue of relevance of the enterprise of theology. Contextualization of
theology or the restatement of the faith in a relevant way in ever new situations
or contexts enables theologians to address current issues and needs of the
Church in a particular culture. By continually contextualizing our theology and
thus, understanding and reconfessing the faith in a relevant way enables the
Church to lead her members into a full and vivid grasp of the faith. Michael
Goheen could therefore state: “Theology that does not speak to the issues and
needs of the present will not enable the Church to take hold of and own the
faith.”11 This points to the need for “servant theology.”
3. Servant Theology
The great Dutch evangelical theologian, Hendrikus Berkhof, comments
that theology is “meant to equip the saints for service.” Contextualization is
but another way of referring to this “servant role of theology.”12 David Wells
in this light calls on contemporary theology to be truly rooted in context by
modelling the incarnation in its methodology: “The Son of God assumed the
form of a servant to seek and save the lost and theology must do likewise,
incarnating itself in the cultural forms of its time without ever losing its
identity as Christian theology.” 13 By so doing, theology is able to serve both
its ecclesial and cultural context. In other words, Christ‟s willingness to
accommodate the needs of our situation even to the extent of becoming
incarnate in the form of a man, stands as the model for a humble theology that
exists primarily to meet the real needs of the context.14
4. Incarnation Theology
Contextual theologians have relied heavily on the insight drawn from
the mystery of incarnation in order to elaborate their theological synthesis. We
shall consider such two syntheses by the analysis of the contribution of two of
the principal exponents of contextual theology.
10
Jurgen Moltmann, Der Weg Jesu Christi. Christologie in messianischen Dimension
(Munchen, 1989), 56-58.
11
Michael W. Goheen, “Theology in Context: Lesslie Newbigin‟s Contribution” (2001),
newbig.net/assets/pdf/Inc_pdf. (Assessed 2014-03-30).
12
David Wells, “The Nature and Function of Theology,” in The Use of the Bible in
Theology: Evangelical Options, ed. R. K. Johnston (Atlanta: John Knox Press, 1985), 15.
13
Ibid.
14
Marc Cortez, “Creation and Context. A Theological Framework for Contextual
Theology,” in Westminister Theological Journal, 67.2 (2005): 347-362.
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Ministerium – Journal of Contextual Theology Vol. 1 (2014) 1-14
15
Rene Padilla, “The Contextualization of the Gospel,” in C. H. Kraft and T. N. Wisley,
eds., Readings in Dynamic Indigeneity (Pasadena, Calif.: William Carey Library, 1979), 286.
See Bevans, Models of Contextual Theology, 8.
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Palestine”.16 Bergmann therefore draws out the implication of this mystery for
the dynamics of the Christian faith:
16
Bergmann, God in Context, 15.
17
Ibid.
18
Ibid., 4.
19
Bevans, Models of Contextual Theology, 3.
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20
Ibid.
21
Ibid.
22
See Raymond E. Brown, The Churches the Apostles Left Behind (New York/Ramsey:
Paulist Press, 1984).
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23
Goheen, “Theology in Context.”
24
Ibid.
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25
Ibid.
26
See J. C. Murray, The Problem of God, Yesterday and Today (New Haven, Conn.: Yale
University Press, 1964), 45-53; and Bernard J. F. Lonergan, The Way to Nicea: The
Dialectical Development of Trinitarian Theology (London: Darton, Longman & Todd, 1976),
136-37.
27
Goheen, “Theology in Context.”
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There lies the true significance of Nicea, and later of Chalcedon, namely, “the
underlying challenge they pose to us to have our own contemporary culturally
based Christological formulations.”28
28
V. Fabella, “Christology from an Asian Woman‟s Perspective,” in We Dare to Dream:
Doing Theology as Asian Women, ed.V. Fabella and S. Ai Lee Park (Maryknoll, N. Y.: Orbis
Books, 1989), 9.
29
Bevans, Models of Contextual Theology, 4.
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30
Paul Tillich, Systematic Theology, vol. 1 (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1967),
60.
31
Bevans, Models of Contextual Theology, 4.
32
Ibid.
33
“Problems and Methods in Contextual Theology”; http://moodle.bookes.ac.uk/
pluginfile.php/109881/mod_resource... (Assessed 2014-02-25).
34
Shoki Coe, “In Search of Renewal in Theological Education,” Theological Education,
vol. 9, 4 (1973).
35
Bergmann, God in Context. A Survey of Contextual Theology, 3.
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36
See Ngindu Mushete, “An Overview of African Theology,” in Paths of African
Theology, ed. R. Gibellini (Maryknoll: Orbis, 1994), 9-26. Mushete thinks that there are three
types of theology in Africa, namely, mission theology, “African theology” and black South
African theology. On the other hand, Timothy Palmer argues that there are four basic types of
theology in Africa today, namely, inculturation theology, liberation theology, African
evangelical theology and prosperity theology. See Timothy P. Palmer, “African Christian
Theology: A New Paradigm.” www. Tcnn.org/articles/RB56_Palmer.pdf. (Assessed 2014-04-
31).
37
See Emmanuel Martey, African Theology: Inculturation and Liberation (Maryknoll:
Orbis, 1993); Charles Nyamiti, “Contemporary African Christologies,” in Paths of African
Theology, 62-77 (64).
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38
Palmer, “African Christian Theology: A New Paradigm.”
39
David Tracy, “Theological Method,” in P. C. Hodgson & R. King, eds., Christian
Theology. An Introduction to Its Traditions and Tasks, 2nd ed. Philadelphia, 35-60.
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40
James Cone, A Black Theology of Liberation, 2nd ed. (Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis Books,
1986). See Paul VI, Evangelii Nuntiandi, Apostolic Exhortation on Evangelization in the
Modern World, 63: Austin Flannery, ed., Vatican II. More Post Conciliar Documents (New
York: Costello Publishing Company, 1982), 742.
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