David Hesselgrave and Ed Rommen define contextualization as "the attempt to
communicate the message of the person, works, Word, and will of God in a way that is
faithful to God's revelation, especially as put forth in the teaching of Holy Scripture, and that is meaningful to respondents in their respective cultural and existential contexts" (1989, 200). The first part of this definition focuses on authentic understandings or faithfulness to scripture: "The adequacy of an attempted contextualization must be measured by the degree to which it faithfully reflects the meaning of the biblical text" (1989, 201). Contextualization thus involves conceptions of (1) revelation (God's communication of eternal truth in human linguistic and cultural categories); (2) interpretation ("the reader's or hearer's perception of the intended meaning"); and (3) application (including how "the interpreter formulates the logical implications of his understanding of the biblical text" and how he "decides to accept the validity of the text's implications" by totally accepting it, accepting some parts and rejecting others, or superimposing his own meanings upon the text (1989, 201-202).
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
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