Contextualization
Abstacted from pages 321 to 329 of The Changing Face of World Missions (bibliographic info below).
The term was coined in 1972 by Shaki Coe and has had many definitions. Conservative Christians use it to name the “process whereby Christians adapt the forms, content, and praxis of the Christian faith so as to communicate it to the minds and hearts of people with other cultural backgrounds.” (page 323).
Contextualization overlaps with some other terms:
Indigenization was coined in the mid-1800’s and describes the translatability of the universal Christian faith into the forms and symbols of particular cultures of the world (page 327, quoting Conn 2000, see below). It is illustrated by the “three-self” principle developed by Rufus Anderson and Henry Venn, that local churches should become “self-propagating, self-governing, and self-financing.” More recently, self-theologizing has been added to this list. Some today question whether using the word “self” emphasizes individualism rather than interdependence.
Inculturation, more widely used in Roman Catholic circles, was defined by Pedro Arrupa as “the incarnation of Christian life and of the Christian message in a particular cultural context, in such a way that this experience not only finds expression through elements proper to the culture in question, but becomes a principle that animates, directs and unifies the culture, transforming it and remaking it so as to bring about a new creation” (Schineller , page 6) (327-329)
Challenges in achieving contextualization include “cultural imperialism,” “syncretism,” and “letting immediate needs overwhelm biblical priorities.” (330-1)
Works cited:
Pocock, Michael, et. al., The Changing Face of World Missions. Grand Rapids: Baker Publishing House, 2005. ISBN 0-8010-2661-X
Schineller, Peter. “Inculturation: a Difficlut and Delicate Task,” in International Bulletin of Missionary Research 20 (July 1996)