All Theology is Local

Filed under:Church, Culture, Mission, Theology — posted by Ryan Bolger on November 3, 2008 @ 6:02 am

I created a slide (still rough) that merged the work of David Bosch, Andrew Walls, and Wilbert Shenk into a map of the local theologies in history. We often think of theology as revealing universals that will be true for all people in all cultures for all time, but in reality theology is more about answering local questions that reside in particular contexts at particular times. The church gets into problems when it asserts that one theology is to be imposed on all other churches or cultures, outside of the one local culture where and when that particular theology was created. Reflection about God and creation, through the Bible, and with the church, while immersed in the culture, needs to be done for every context and time…

one comment so far »

  1. [...] 9. Ryan Bolger argues that all theology is local. [...]

    Pingback by …read MORE and learn MORE…maybe…maybe not « Community of the Risen — November 3, 2008 @ 4:08 pm

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image: detail of installation by Bronwyn Lace