That defintion is really narrow, and if the goal is spreading Christianity, not Jesus then we continue down the same road many doing church planting have gone before. I want Jesus to be at the center of a particular people, not Christianity. Keep posting great stuff.
PaulLion and all readers should the entire article on the link shown. It is an excellent. At the beginning of the article, he defines contextualization as “to enable, insofar as it is humanly possible, an understanding of what it means that Jesus Christ, the Word, is authentically experienced in each and every human situation." Great post--keep up the good work.
I liked the quote because it was a unique way to look at the big picture of contextualization.
PLEASE, PLEASE don't get hung up on semantics. In Cody's case, when he says "Christianity" he means "Biblical faith." Personally, I don't want to use the word "Christianity" with Muslims, because it is misunderstood, but when I MYSELF read the quote I knew exactly what Cody meant. He's not writing to Muslims but TO US- we know what he means (Hermeneutics 101).
If you're confused or offended by the word "Christianity," you can substitute your own preference. I.e. "Contextualization is about making Biblical faith the spiritual heritage of a particular people."
Make sense?
And of course "Biblical faith" is Jesus-centered (as you mentioned), which is what Cody meant.
That defintion is really narrow, and if the goal is spreading Christianity, not Jesus then we continue down the same road many doing church planting have gone before. I want Jesus to be at the center of a particular people, not Christianity. Keep posting great stuff.
ReplyDeletePaulLion and all readers should the entire article on the link shown. It is an excellent. At the beginning of the article, he defines contextualization as “to enable, insofar as it
ReplyDeleteis humanly possible, an understanding of what it means that Jesus Christ, the Word, is
authentically experienced in each and every human situation." Great post--keep up the good work.
PaulLion,
ReplyDeleteI liked the quote because it was a unique way to look at the big picture of contextualization.
PLEASE, PLEASE don't get hung up on semantics. In Cody's case, when he says "Christianity" he means "Biblical faith." Personally, I don't want to use the word "Christianity" with Muslims, because it is misunderstood, but when I MYSELF read the quote I knew exactly what Cody meant. He's not writing to Muslims but TO US- we know what he means (Hermeneutics 101).
If you're confused or offended by the word "Christianity," you can substitute your own preference. I.e. "Contextualization is about making Biblical faith the spiritual heritage of a particular people."
Make sense?
And of course "Biblical faith" is Jesus-centered (as you mentioned), which is what Cody meant.
Hopefully now you can understand the quote.
For your joy,
WF
Just saw this, Warrick. Was looking for an online copy of this little article. Thanks for the post and the discussion.
ReplyDelete