ASIAN PENTECOSTAL THEOLOGIZING: Agendas and Issues

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ASIAN PENTECOSTAL THEOLOGIZING Agendas and
Issues

• DATES 28 Sept 2007
• VENUE AGBC, Singapore

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THE TRADITIONAL DIVISIONS IN A SEMINARY CURRICULUM

• Bible Biblical Theology
• Theology Systematic Theology
• History Historical Theology
• Praxis Practical Theology

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Book-ends Model The Pentecostals Leap of
Faith
EARLY CHURCH
20th/21st C. CHURCH
Church History
BIBLE
PRAXIS
TheologyHistory
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Doing Theology in a Community

• We believe that truth is not found in
  Spirit-illuminated individuals, but in a
  community of Spirit-illuminated individuals.
  Therefore, we believe that the Body of Christ,
  both alive and dead, must come together to
  understand theology, shaping it from many
  perspectives and differing experiences. This is
  doing theology in a community.

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Why not Western Theology?

• It perpetuates Western world-view, values and
  theological presuppositions.
• It relieves churches of other lands of the urgent
  priority to develop their own theologies.
• It unconsciously perpetuates an unacceptable
  theological imperialism the idea that West is
  right better.

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Reasons for Rejection of non-Western Cultures by
Western Missionaries

• The Rise of Colonialism
• Demonstrated the superiority of Western
  civilization
• The Theory of Cultural Evolution
• Evolution legitimized superiority of Western
  civilization in terms of history
• The Triumph of Science
• Science and Christianity provided the
  intellectual foundations for Western superiority
• Therefore, period from 1800-1950 was
  anti-contextual. (Paul Hiebert)

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Ralph Winters 25 Unbelievable Years

• Peak of Western expansion in 1945 when 99.5 of
  non-Western world was under Western domination
• By 1969, 99.5 of the world became independent!
• Rise of nationalism and desire to express
  Christianity in own cultural forms resulting in
  uncritical contextualization

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Beyond Culture

• Developmental Stages
• Superstition spiritistic worldview
• Religion communalistic worldview
• Culture materialistic worldview
• TEFs contextualization Missiology, theological
  approach, educational method, educational
  structure
• Now includes technology . . .

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Culture and Christianity

• The encounter between Christianity and any
  culture is governed by the dialectic of rupture
  and continuity
• There is no contextualization without a process
  of creative re-interpretation
• Christianity never encounters a culture in its
  pure form the cultural and religious elements
  are always intermingled.

Geffre, Christianity and Culture IRM 84 (1995)
17-31
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Christ and Culture 5 possibilitiesAdapted from
Richard Niebhur
Agreement Culture idealized we are to perfect it
Synthesis Christ stands above culture and yet
embraces it in its highest aspects to transcend it
Tension Live the gospel in an unconquerably
immoral society separating from culture
Conversion Culture is fallen but redeemable we
seek to recreate it by converting it to Christian
community
Opposition Deny or reject culture
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Beyond the Indigenous Church Principle

• Henry Venn Rufus Anderson
• Self-governing
• Self-supporting
• Self-extending/propagating
• John Nevius Method
• Chinas Three-Self Church
• But, still saddled with Western theological
  systems, Western presuppositions, etc. A 4th
  category is needed Self-theologizing

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Two views of Revelation

• Proposition
• revelation is propositional in nature the goal
  is to communicate the Christian faith
  propositionally across cultural and linguistic
  barriers.

• Existential
• revelation is the subjective experience of God
  the goal is to communicate the Christian faith in
  light of the historical and cultural context (and
  moment) and Gods work towards human fulfillment
  within that moment.

Hellenistic
Hebraic
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TWO POLES

• Static
• Faithfulness to the eternal message of the Word
  of God
• Technical
• Revelation

• Dynamic
• Sensitivity to the ever-changing contexts of the
  world
• Popular
• Relevance

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Bipolarity in Pauline Theology (Beker)
Local Contingencies
Coherent Center
Think about Center and Circumference in a
circle . . .
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Dualism, Monism, Holism A Simplistic
Diagrammatic Representation
DUALISM Separated Categories. Either/OrGreek/W
esternNeglected Middle
MONISM Confused Categories. Neither/Nor
Eastern MysticismFinding the Balance
HOLISM Separated but Together.
Both/AndBiblical HolismHolding the Tension
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THEOLOGIZING A CONTEXTUAL MODEL

• Methodology Model

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STEPHEN BEVANS FIVE MODELS OF CONTEXTUAL THEOLOGY
CreationOriented
RedemptionOriented
TranscendentalModel
Translation Model
Synthetic Model
Praxis Model
Anthropological Model
GOSPEL MESSAGETradition
CULTURESocial Change
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Evangelicals tend towards . . .
RedemptionOriented
GOSPEL MESSAGETradition
CULTURESocial Change
Translation Model
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VERTICAL ISSUES

• Uniqueness of Christian revelation
• Worship Forms, Christian sacraments, Church
  service
• Ancestral Veneration, Funerary practices
• Food offered to idols
• The Church the Christian

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HORIZONTAL ISSUES

• Social Transformation, The Church and the
  Community, poverty, blessings, etc.
• Filial Piety, memorial/history, etc.
• Political involvement, church state, church
  leadership, etc.
• Family issues e.g. Marriage, Parenting, etc.
• Ethics e.g. bribery, nepotism, etc.
• Asian festivals

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EVANGELICALISM/ORTHODOXY

• As defined from Willowbank report
• We recognize as central the themes of God as
  creator, the universality of sin, Jesus Christ as
  the Son of God, Lord of all and Savior through
  His atoning death and risen life, the necessity
  of conversion, the coming of the Holy Spirit and
  His transforming power, the fellowship and
  mission of the Christian church and the hope of
  Christs return.

Evangelicals are more interested in spiritual
(vertical) issues . . .
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Bebbingtons Definition

• Conversionism - the belief that lives need to be
  changed
• Activism - the expression of the gospel in effort
• Biblicism - a particular regard for the Bible
• Crucicentrism - a stress on the sacrifice of
  Christ on the cross. A second sense is to look at
  evangelicalism as an organic group of movements
  and religious tradition

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Favored Positions of Asian Theology

• Philosophy
• East instead of West
• Methodology
• from below instead of from above
• Politics
• left instead of right
• Issues
• horizontal instead of vertical

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Traditional Sources for Christian Theology

• Bible
• Tradition (History)
• Reason (Philosophy)
• Weightage depends on our traditions!
• Roman Catholics
• Traditional mainline churches
• Evangelical churches

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TENSIONS IN THEOLOGY

• Text-Context
• Which one comes first?
• Form-Content
• Can they be separated? Can truth be expressed
  without form?
• Meaning-Significance
• Are they different?
• Descriptive(Propositional)-Prescriptive
• Which one is more important?
• Etic-Emic
• Should we choose one over the other?
• All these need not be either-or choices.
• We can have both alternatives held at tension.

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Globalized (Universal Planetary) Theology

• West and East still need each other
• Emic Analysis from an Insider participant
• Etic Analysis from an Outsider participant

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Hermeneutical area of meaning and significance .
. .
REVELATION
RELEVANCE
READER
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Parameters of the theological (hermeneutical)
process

• Revelation
• Text, Objectivity
• Relevance
• Theology, Contextuality
• Reader
• Theologian, Subjectivity

All held in tension with each other
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RevelationText, Objectivity

• CREATION (Gods Works)
• The heavens declare . . .
• CONSCIENCE (Gods Witness)
• A natural instinct of right and wrong
• CHRIST (Gods Word)
• The highest revelation of God

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Relevance Theology, Contextuality

• ALL theology is contextual
• Irrelevance Middle Ages, Monastic, Cloistered
  Christianity
• Kraft theology, when perceived as irrelevant, is
  in fact irrelevant
• History Historical(Chronos) Historic(Kairos)
• The incarnational model

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Reader Theologian, Subjectivity

• Different Readings of the same text
• Postmodernity and Reader-Response Hermeneutics
• Internalizing (instead of rationalizing or
  relativizing) the truth

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To understand the tensions . . .
REVELATION Text, Subjectivity
RELEVANCE Theology, Contextuality
READER Theologian, Subjectivity
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To further clarify the picture . . .
REVELATION ORTHODOXY, HEAD, FACT
RELEVANCE ORTHOPRAXIS, HAND, REALITY
READER ORTHOPATHY, HEART, TRUTH
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Theology in flux
The Bible is the Word of God
River of Living Theology
Jesus is Lord
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Two banks of the River of Living Theology

• Living suggests continuing change
• Point of Departure The Bible is Word of God
• Climatic Declaration Jesus is Lord
• Human and Divine tension BUT this is NOT
  relativism

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Incarnational Nature of the Bible
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ULTIMATE MISSION MISSIONS

• The only reason for Jesus leaving the disciples
  behind on earth was the Great Commission
• The Conclusion of Matthews Gospel Matt.
  2816-20
• Mountain The Climax
• Authority The Crux
• All The Comprehensiveness

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AN EVANGELICAL APPROACH TO CONTEXTUAL THEOLOGY
TEXTRevelation
The Bible is the Word of God
Missiological Motive The Great Commission
River of Living Theology
Parameters for Contextual Hermeneutics
Jesus is Lord
CRITICReader
CONTEXTRelevance
ULTIMATE OBJECTIVE
APPLICATIONS
HERMENEUTICS
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GENERAL DIRECTIONS OF THEOLOGIZATION
TEXTRevelation
The Bible is the Word of God
Missiological Motive The Great Commission
River of Living Theology
Parameters for Contextual Hermeneutics
Jesus is Lord
CRITICReader
CONTEXTRelevance
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IDEALLY, theologization should be BI-DIRECTIONAL
. . .
TEXTRevelation
The Bible is the Word of God
Missiological Motive The Great Commission
River of Living Theology
Parameters for Contextual Hermeneutics
Jesus is Lord
CRITICReader
CONTEXTRelevance
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Pentecostal/Evangelicals

• Pentecostals have all the elements of
  evangelicalism, with the addition of the Baptism
  in the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking
  in tongues.
• Therefore, Pentecostals are sometimes referred to
  as Evangelical Plus.
• Of course, we can also view Evangelicals
  (especially the Charismatics) as Pentecostals
  Minus

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TRINITARIAN CHRISTIANITY
Creation
CatholicsLiberals
FATHER SPIRIT SON
Easter
Pentecost
PentecostalsCharismatics
Evangelicals
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3 Divine Intervention Events
It is in the concrete relational and experiential
interface between God and man that the Trinity is
understood better . . . and not in the
traditional conceptual terms.
The Divine Intervention Events are Gods
Missionary Acts
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PENTECOSTAL TRINITARIANISM
I suggest that this language is better than the
oft-used restorative, revival, remnant
terminologies. WHY?

• Complimentary
• Completive
• Culminative
• NOT
• To compete
• To supplant
• To replace

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Schwarzs Trinitarian Approach
According to Schwarz, this is based on our
experiences of the Godhead. Therefore, this is
not an abstract conception but a description of
practical realities.
Father, Creator, Body, World, Science, Liberal,
Syncretism, Rainbow
Spirit, Pentecost, Spirit, Church, Experience,
Charismatic, Spiritualism, Dove
Son, Calvary, Soul, Christ, Scripture,
Evangelical, Dogmatism, Cross
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THE TRINITY AND SPIRITUAL GIFTS A Simplistic
Pentecostal Model.
GIVER (creator/source)
MEDIATOR (apportions)
GIFT GIFTS (empowers)
HUMAN VESSELS (stewards)
ALL FLESH
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TWO MODELS OF THE TRINITY
EASTERN MODEL
WESTERN MODEL
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TRINITARIAN PNEUMATOLOGY

• Western Model Christocentric and Holy Spirit may
  lose Its dignity in the Trinity but it will
  remain a Christian Spirit.

• Eastern Model Focus on Gods Fatherhood and
  Spirit may be released from Christian bondage.

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PENTECOSTAL WESTERN MODEL
Theological model of most Pentecostals
The real model of most Pentecostals
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Restoring Pentecostalisms Eastern/Orthodox
Heritage

• History Stanley Burgess
• Spirituality Simon Chan
• Theology Amos Yong

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Pentecostal Missions Contextualization of
Trinity

• Pentecostals as true Trinitarians Trinitarians
  with power
• (Difference between Pentecostals
  Charismatics . . . )
• Trinity is example of early effort at
  contextualization Jewish to Greek
• The main stumbling block of Christian mission to
  Islam is the doctrine of the Trinity
• Pentecostals are at an advantage
• Missionary zeal
• the power/praxis aspect
• Pentecostals are weak in history theology
• Missionary zeal
• the power/praxis aspect

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Results of Contextualized Missions

• Planting Churches instead of Converting
  Individuals
• Coherence between Form and Meaning
• Relevance of Christian message
• Kingdom mentality remove barriers
• Level playing field for theological enterprise
• Ownership of missiological enterprise

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Shifting Focus? Culture to Religion

• Earlier Discussion Missions and Culture
• Purely cultural and supracultural Gospel elements
  identifiable and separable
• Christian Faith vis-a-vis worldviews
• Solution simplistic
• Current Discussion Missions and Religion
• Religion and culture are admixtures of each other
• Christian Faith vis-a-vis faiths
• Solution complex
• Greatest Challenge today is Islam
• We see the complex contextualization issues here
• John Travis proposed the C1-C6 Spectrum,
  opting/allowing for C5 (Mosque Christians or
  Messianic Muslims)