Contextualization and Syncretism PDF Download

Author: Gailyn Van Rheenen
Publisher: William Carey Library
ISBN: 9780878083879
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 360

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Book Description
"Culture's influence upon Christianity is easier to discern in retrospect than in prospect. If history is our guide, one thing is sure: This age will be as syncretistic as any other?How is the gospel being contextualized in the contemporary world? To what degree are these new contextualizations syncretistic? This book attempts to answer these questions by defining and analyzing contextualization and syncretism."-Gailyn Van Rheenen

Author: Derek Brotherson
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
ISBN: 1666701076
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 363

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Book Description
As Christians seek to follow Paul’s example of becoming like all people in order to win them to Christ, a key question arises: How far is too far? Is there a point where appropriate contextualization becomes gospel-distorting syncretism? With the growing prominence of Insider Movements in the Muslim-majority world in recent decades, these questions have become especially urgent and hotly-debated. Based on an in-depth, biblical-theological study of key Bible texts used by Insider Movement proponents and critics, this book provides a ground-breaking new assessment tool for distinguishing contextualization from syncretism. It provides an invaluable resource for those engaged in ministry amongst Muslims, for those with questions about Insider Movement practices, and for all who seek to grow in their understanding and practice of biblically-grounded and authentic contextualization of the gospel.

Author: David J. Hesselgrave
Publisher: William Carey Publishing
ISBN: 1645083292
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 392

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Book Description
This classic textbook brings together the meanings, proposals, and tasks involved in contextualization. Hesselgrave and Rommen explore the history of contextualization in the Bible and the Church while examining the proposals of prominent thinkers on this subject. They conclude with their own definition and approach to contextualization.

Author: Brad Vaughn
Publisher: William Carey Publishing
ISBN: 1645081184
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 310

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Book Description
The Bible tells us what to believe––the gospel. Did you know it also shows how to contextualize the gospel? In One Gospel for All Nations, Jackson Wu does more than talk about principles. He gets practical. When the biblical writers explain the gospel, they consistently use a pattern that is both firm and flexible. Wu builds on this insight to demonstrate a model of contextualization that starts with interpretation and can be applied in any culture. In the process, he explains practically why we must not choose between the Bible and culture. Wu highlights various implications for both missionaries and theologians. Contextualization should be practical, not pragmatic; theological, not theoretical.

Author: Dean Flemming
Publisher: InterVarsity Press
ISBN: 0830874798
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 345

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Book Description
Winner of a 2006 Christianity Today Book Award! Honored as one of the "Fifteen Outstanding Books of 2005 for Mission Studies" by International Bulletin of Missionary Research From Cairo to Calcutta, from Cochabamba to Columbus, Christians are engaged in a conversation about how to speak and live the gospel in today's traditional, modern and emergent cultures. The technical term for their efforts is contextualization. Missionary theorists have pondered and written on it at length. More and more, those who do theology in the West are also trying to discover new ways of communicating and embodying the gospel for an emerging postmodern culture. But few have considered in depth how the early church contextualized the gospel. And yet the New Testament provides numerous examples. As both a crosscultural missionary and a New Testament scholar, Dean Flemming is well equipped to examine how the early church contextualized the gospel and to draw out lessons for today. By carefully sifting the New Testament evidence, Flemming uncovers the patterns and parameters of a Paul or Mark or John as they spoke the Word on target, and he brings these to bear on our contemporary missiological task. Rich in insights and conversant with frontline thinking, this is a book that will revitalize the conversation and refresh our speaking and living the gospel in today's cultures, whether in traditional, modern or emergent contexts.

Author: A. Scott Moreau
Publisher: Baker Academic
ISBN: 1493415689
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 260

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Book Description
This major statement by a leading missiologist represents a lifetime of wrestling with a topic every cross-cultural leader must address: how to adapt the universal gospel to particular settings. This comprehensive yet accessible textbook organizes contextualization, which includes "everything the church is and does," into seven dimensions. Filled with examples, case studies, and diagrams and conversant with contemporary arguments and debates, it offers the author's unique take on the challenge of adapting the faith in local cultures.

Author: A. Moreau
Publisher: Kregel Academic
ISBN: 0825487994
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 434

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Book Description
Contextualization is the art of translating ideas into a particular situation, place or culture. It is fundamental to communication, which makes contextualization essential in missions. This textbook pulls together and maps the variety of evangelical approaches to contextualization. Introductory classes on contextualization and missionary preparation institutes will appreciate this valuable textbook. Contextualization in Missions will guide mission-minded Christians to an informed plan for spreading the gospel effectively. While written with a theoretical perspective, Contextualization in Missions also provides real-world examples to provoke both thought and action.

Author: Andrew James Prince
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
ISBN: 1498245285
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 269

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Book Description
There has been heightened interest and prolific publication by missiologists about contextualization since the term was first coined in 1972. There has been ongoing debate, particularly amongst evangelicals themselves regarding which of these meanings, methods, and models of contextualization are acceptable to use. Much of the debate has been carried out by academics and practitioners whose observations and conclusions have been largely shaped by the social sciences and practical theology. In contrast, the disciplines of biblical studies and Christian thought have not featured significantly in the debate. The purpose of this research is to establish that biblical studies and Christian thought in general (and Scripture and the church fathers in particular) have an essential contribution to make in the contextualization debate and should form part of an evangelical approach to contextualization of the gospel alongside the social sciences and practical theology. Following a review of the literature on contextualization over the past forty years, the research examines the book of Acts as representative of Scripture, and the work of John Chrysostom as a representative church father. Contextual principles that are consistent with an evangelical approach to contextualization of the gospel are drawn from each work, establishing the value of biblical studies and Christian thought in contextualization.

Author: Derek Brotherson
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
ISBN: 166670105X
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 362

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Book Description
As Christians seek to follow Paul’s example of becoming like all people in order to win them to Christ, a key question arises: How far is too far? Is there a point where appropriate contextualization becomes gospel-distorting syncretism? With the growing prominence of Insider Movements in the Muslim-majority world in recent decades, these questions have become especially urgent and hotly-debated. Based on an in-depth, biblical-theological study of key Bible texts used by Insider Movement proponents and critics, this book provides a ground-breaking new assessment tool for distinguishing contextualization from syncretism. It provides an invaluable resource for those engaged in ministry amongst Muslims, for those with questions about Insider Movement practices, and for all who seek to grow in their understanding and practice of biblically-grounded and authentic contextualization of the gospel.

Author: Bruce J. Nicholls
Publisher: Regent College Publishing
ISBN: 9781573830522
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 84

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Book Description
How can a Christian brought up in the metropolis of Sao Paulo speak the gospel clearly to a Buddhist raised in the mountains of Tibet? Every missionary confronts the difficulty of cross-cultural communication. But missionaries from the Third World, Bruce Nicholls says, must understand four cultures--"the Bible's, the Western missionaries' who first brought the gospel, their own, and the people's to whom they take the gospel." Recognizing this, Nicholls proposes that the gospel be contextualized, that is, presented in forms which are characteristic of the culture to which the gospel is taken. The problem is to find the right cultural forms and thus keep the gospel message both clear and biblical. Nicholls deals with tough social, theological and hermeneutical questions and proposes a direction for missions in the future. Bruce J. Nicholls, formerly executive secretary of the World Evangelical Fellowship Theological Commission, was a career missionary in India working in theological education and in pastoral ministry with the Church of North India. He was also Editor of the Evangelical Review of Theology for 18 years and is now Editor of the Asia Bible Commentary series.