The great missionary-theologian Lesslie Newbigin asked, “How can the gospel ‘come alive’ in all these different cultural contexts, and still be the same authentic gospel? That is the problem of contextualization.” [1]
Below is a presentation I’ve created concerning how to contextualize the gospel. I was inspired in part by a new book by Jackson Wu: Saving God’s Face: A Chinese Contextualization of Salvation through Honor and Shame.[2] (Amazing scholarship and hard to read. Highly recommended.) This presentation explores issues such as:
- What does it mean to “assume the gospel”?
- Can biblical truth overlap with a cultural context, even though it does not fit into one’s theology?
- Where do theological blind spots come from?
- Why is honor and shame hardly recognized as a valid theological subject?
- Traditional view of contextualization compared to an expanded view of contextualization
- Introducing a “Canopy of Biblical Truth”—alerting us to various spectrums of biblical-cultural values
- How does Campus Crusade’s “The Four Spiritual Laws” compare culturally to “The Father’s Love Gospel Booklet”—a gospel presentation focusing on story, family, and honor/shame?
- How does culture influence our understanding and communication of the gospel?
- What are some considerations about contextualizing the gospel?
- How does this form a foundation for something called an “Abrahamic gospel”, based on Galatians 3:7–9?
I am working on a book concerning honor and shame in cross-cultural ministry; portions of this presentation will be incorporated into that book.
