Vulnerable Love by Bernhard J. G. Reitsma

Author:Bernhard J. G. Reitsma [Reitsma, Bernhard J. G.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781839730009
Publisher: Langham Global Library
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

8.4.3 Contextualization in Context

We need to be cautious as Christians from one particular culture in determining what correct contextualization looks like for Christians in another culture. The risk is that we base our judgement on the cultural form the gospel has been given in our own culture instead of on the gospel itself. That is true for Christians in the West who have trouble with C5 or C6 Christians in the Islamic world. It is also true for Christians in the Middle East (especially Muslims who are following Jesus) who have trouble with how the Western church is trying to contextualize in a postmodern world. The way in which the church relates to Islam is especially hard to judge from a different context. However, I do not advocate for a form of cultural relativism, as if the contextualization of the gospel should not be subject to critical evaluation. The point is that every Christian community should be consciously aware of its own contextualization. It suits the church to be humble. Only then can we discuss the right relationship between gospel and culture across the boundaries of different cultures. In the end, it requires the meeting of Christians from very different cultures in order to discover the wealth of the gospel. In that process, however, the encounter with Muslims and Islam also plays an important role. Their very different religious context is precisely what forces the Christian church to think about its own faith and its own connection to a particular social-cultural context. This meeting can help the Christian community discover its blind spots and see how its forms, customs, habits, and even its way of explaining the Bible, or theological emphases, are marked by culture.

It will be seen that we should not label Western culture as “Judeo-Christian” all that fast. Of course, there have been centuries in which Christianity was the dominant religion in the West, and that has had influence on the norms, values, and arrangement of society. At the same time, we should be cautious with this label. What is so Judeo-Christian about Western culture today? The justice system does not come straight from the Christian tradition but is based on a Roman form of justice. If we objectively look at Western norms and values, we discover that there are not that many Judeo-Christian principles present today. There is just as much in Western culture, if not more, that is contrary to the basic values of the Christian faith than it has in common with them. Not to mention that most Jews consider it a form of patronization and annexation to connect Judaism to Christianity in this way. In light of all this, Western Christians should wonder how they can say that Islam is not compatible with Western culture but Christianity is. What does that imply? Has the gospel been adjusted so much that it seamlessly fits within a Western lifestyle and alongside Western norms and values? Is there still a critical interaction possible between the gospel and

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