Biblical theology for oral-preference communities
Teaching in a non-individualist oral-preference culture in Indonesia, I have encountered the mismatch of theology developed for Western cultures and the needs of my students and their congregations that characterizes much postcolonial theological education. The use of proverbs and poetry as resource...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Sage
2021
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| In: |
Missiology
Year: 2021, Volume: 49, Issue: 3, Pages: 250-262 |
| IxTheo Classification: | CD Christianity and Culture HA Bible KBM Asia RJ Mission; missiology |
| Further subjects: | B
divine-ecclesial institutions
B theological metaphor B Theo-drama B postcolonial theological education B oral-preference learners |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | Teaching in a non-individualist oral-preference culture in Indonesia, I have encountered the mismatch of theology developed for Western cultures and the needs of my students and their congregations that characterizes much postcolonial theological education. The use of proverbs and poetry as resources for theology addresses the need for theology to inspire and guide, but not the critical function of guarding responsible interpretation. Western theology has done the latter via abstraction of the biblical material into consistent propositional systems, an approach that also functions to inspire and guide for many of the highly literate people who developed Western theology. This connects with the deep Western philosophical tradition of finding order through abstraction, whereas oral and even literate Asian cultures create order through ritual. The Bible is not Western, however, and we show how the biblical story or theo-drama guides, guards, and inspires in a way that opens space for local theology. We then show how the identity of believers within this story is best developed for people in non-individualist cultures through ecclesial metaphors that in turn connect with divine metaphors. Three such “divine-ecclesial institutions” are sketched, namely family, kingdom, and cult. They shed light on missiological issues such as the priority of personal growth versus ritual observance. They provide a way of organizing the biblical material that offers a better starting point for the dialogue of contextualization than systematic Western theology. |
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| ISSN: | 2051-3623 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Missiology
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1177/0091829620944826 |