Contextualization in the New Testament: Patterns for Theology and Mission
Overview
From Cairo to Calcutta, from Cochabamba to Columbus, Christians are engaged in a conversation about how to speak and live the gospel in today’s traditional, modern and emergent cultures. The technical term for their efforts is contextualization. Missionary theorists have pondered and written on it at length. More and more, those who do theology in the West are also trying to discover new ways of communicating and embodying the gospel for an emerging postmodern culture. But few have considered in depth how the early church contextualized the gospel. And yet the New Testament provides numerous examples.
As both a cross-cultural missionary and a New Testament scholar, Dean Flemming is well equipped to examine how the early church contextualized the gospel and to draw out lessons for today. By carefully sifting the New Testament evidence, Flemming uncovers the patterns and parameters of a Paul or Mark or John as they spoke the Word on target, and he brings these to bear on our contemporary missiological task.
Rich in insights and conversant with frontline thinking, this is a book that will revitalize the conversation and refresh our speaking and living the gospel in today’s cultures, whether in traditional, modern, or emergent contexts.
If you like this resource be sure to check out IVP New Testament Studies Collection (14 vols.).
- Examines how the early church contextualized the gospel
- Uncovers patterns and parameters of New Testament writers
- Explores contemporary missiology
Top Highlights
“I take contextualization, then, to refer to the dynamic and comprehensive process by which the gospel is incarnated within a concrete historical or cultural situation. This happens in such a way that the gospel both comes to authentic expression in the local context and at the same time prophetically transforms the context. Contextualization seeks to enable the people of God to live out the gospel in obedience to Christ within their own cultures and circumstances.” (Page 19)
“We have increasingly realized that it is not crosscultural missionaries alone who must grapple with these issues. Every church in every particular place and time must learn to do theology in a way that makes sense to its audience while challenging it at the deepest level.” (Page 14)
“In important ways, then, Acts is an intercultural document. It transposes a story that is grounded in the Hebrew Scriptures, as well as the Jewish identity of Jesus and the early Jerusalem church, into a Greco-Roman cultural setting.” (Page 29)
“This book is an attempt to look at the issue of authentic contextualization through the lens of the New Testament” (Page 14)
“Contextualizing the gospel is inherent to the mission of the church. The book of Acts tells the story of a church whose very identity involved expressing the good news about Jesus in multiple settings and among new groups of people.” (Page 25)
An outstanding and needed book in which Flemming wrestles with New Testament contextualization from the position of deep engagement with New Testament scholarship. He brings to the table the right instinct for missiological issues together with the depth of New Testament study that missiologists are often lacking. This is a must read!
—Scott Moreau, Editor, Evangelical Missions Quarterly
This is the mature work of a careful and caring teacher who has worked in the Philippines as well as in Europe and is well-qualified to handle the questions of how to set the Bible free to speak to different audiences and how we can follow the example of the first missionaries in the settings in which we find ourselves. This is a fine example of biblical scholarship serving the church in its task of holding fast to the apostolic gospel while presenting it in a sensitive, contextualized manner to our contemporaries.
—I. Howard Marshall, Honorary Research Professor of New Testament, University of Aberdeen
- Title: Contextualization in the New Testament: Patterns for Theology and Mission
- Author: Dean Flemming
- Publisher: IVP
- Print Publication Date: 2005
- Logos Release Date: 2011
- Pages: 344
- Language: English
- Resources: 1
- Format: Digital › Logos Research Edition
- Subjects: Bible. N.T. › Socio-rhetorical criticism; Christianity and culture › History--Early church, ca. 30-600; Intercultural communication › Religious aspects--Christianity--History of doctrines--Early church, ca. 30-600; Missions › Theory; Christianity and culture; Intercultural communication › Religious aspects--Christianity
- ISBNs: 9780830874798, 9780830828319, 0830874798, 0830828311
- Resource ID: LLS:CONTEXTUALNT
- Resource Type: Monograph
- Metadata Last Updated: 2022-09-29T22:58:17Z