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Theology and Contextuality: A Systematic Survey of the Theology-Context Relationship in Western and Non-Western Contexts*
Winter/Spring 2013
This course aims to introduce the multifarious hermeneutics of the relationship between theological knowledge and cultural contexts in Christian thought. It does this by (1) presenting the major contemporary Christian approaches to the Gospel-culture or theology-context question, and (2) displaying literature on theological discourses that come from different cultural and intellectual contexts around the world. In every session, the students and the instructor will read, discuss, and assess classical and contemporary theological texts and apprehend some forms of theology done in the light of the questions and challenges of cultures and contexts from the non-western world. At the end of the course, the students will acquire basic knowledge about the nature of contextual theological reasoning. They will also have the chance to evaluate and learn about how western and non-western Christians think theologically in relation to their particular contextual inquiries and how they understand the relation between faith and culture or theology and context.
Tuesdays and Thursdays, from 7:40 p.m. to 9:10 p.m., beginning January 22, in Room 206
Downloads:
Books:
Required Readings: there is no single textbook for this course. Students are required to read sections from specific assigned texts in every session during the semester. The bibliographical information of these texts and the section that are required for reading therein are jotted down under every relevant session in the course’s outlines.
Recommended Basic Readings: the students are encouraged, though not required, to read at least one of the following basic texts either before the beginning of the semester or during its progress. These texts offer general overview on major aspects and questions related to Christian theology in relation contextuality. The texts are placed here in alphabetical order:
Bergmann, Sigurd. God in Context: A Survey of Contextual Theology, Aldershot & Burlington; Ashgate, 2003.
Bevans, Stephen B. Models of Contextual Theology, Maryknoll: Orbis Books, 2003.
Cartledge, Mark J and David Cheetham (eds.), Intercultural Theology: Approaches and Themes, London: SCM Press, 2011.
Frei, Hans W. Types of Christian Theology, G. Hunsinger and W.C. Placher (eds.), New Haven & London: Yale University Press, 1992.
Newlands, George. The Transformative Imagination: Rethinking Intercultural Theology, Aldershot & Burlington: Ashgate, 2004.
Niebuhr, Richard H. Christ and Culture, San Francisco: HarperCollins Publishers, 2001.
Parratt, John (ed.). An Introduction to Third World Theologies, Cambridge & New York: Cambridge University Press, 2004.
Pears, Angie. Doing Contextual Theology, London & New York: Routledge, 2010.
Tanner, Kathryn. Theories of Culture: A New Agenda for Theology, Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1997.