Contextual theology or contextualizing theology refers to theology which has responded to the dynamics of a particular context.

Terminology

The term contextualizing theology was used in

missiology Missiology is the academic study of the Christian mission history and methodology. It began to be developed as an academic discipline in the 19th century. Definition Broadly speaking, missiology is "an interdisciplinary field of inquiry into Ch ...

Shoki Coe Shoki Coe (; 20 August 1914 – 28 October 1988) was a minister of the Presbyterian Church in Taiwan, erstwhile principal of Tainan Theological Seminary (1949–1965) and director of the Theological Education Fund of the World Council of Churches. ...

when he argued that the Venn- Anderson

three-self formula The three-self formula or three-self principle is a missiological strategy to establish indigenous churches. Its principles are: self-governance, self-support (i.e., financial independence from foreigners), and self-propagation (i.e., indigenous ...

was inadequate in addressing the sociopolitical context of his native Taiwan. Coe popularized this notion through the Theological Education Fund of the

World Council of Churches The World Council of Churches (WCC) is a worldwide Christian inter-church organization founded in 1948 to work for the cause of ecumenism. Its full members today include the Assyrian Church of the East, most jurisdictions of the Eastern Orthodo ...

. While it was initially understood as part of a

liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * Generally, a supporter of the political philosophy liberalism. Liberals may be politically left or right but tend to be centrist. * An adherent of a Liberal Party (See also Liberal parties by country ...

approach to theology, it has grown in currency among

evangelicals Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide, interdenominational movement within Protestant Christianity that emphasizes evangelism, or the preaching and spreading of the Christian g ...

and

Roman Catholics The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

. An individual may come from a particular cultural

worldview A worldview (also world-view) or is said to be the fundamental cognitive orientation of an individual or society encompassing the whole of the individual's or society's knowledge, culture, and Perspective (cognitive), point of view. However, whe ...

, such as

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...

n culture, or be faced with particular sociopolitical issues. Hence, examples of contextualized theologies include

Latin American liberation theology Latin American liberation theology (, ) is a synthesis of Christian theology and Marxian socio-economic analyses, that emphasizes "social concern for the poor and political liberation for oppressed peoples". Beginning in the 1960s after the Sec ...

Minjung theology Minjung theology () emerged in the 1970s from the experience of South Korean Christians in the struggle for social justice. It is a people's theology, and, according to its authors, "a development of the political hermeneutics of the Gospel in te ...

, and African theology. The

systematic theologian Systematic may refer to: Science * Short for systematic error * Systematic fault * Systematic bias, errors that are introduced by an inaccuracy inherent to the system Economy * Systematic trading, a way of defining trade goals, risk control ...

Regunta Yesurathnam Regunta Yesurathnam (16 October 1941 – 8 August 2011)Senate of Serampore College (University), ''Minutes of the Eighty-sixth meeting of the Senate of Serampore College (University) held on 9 and 10 February 2012 at the New Theological College ...

sees contextual theology as including "all that is implied in

indigenization Indigenization is the act of making something more indigenous; transformation of some service, idea, etc. to suit a local culture, especially through the use of more indigenous people in public administration, employment and other fields. The t ...

inculturation In Christianity, inculturation is the adaptation of Christian teachings and practices to cultures. This is a term that is generally used by Catholics and the Orthodox, whereas Protestants (such as Anglicans and Lutherans), especially associated ...

, but also seeks also to include the realities of contemporaneity, secularity, technology, and the struggle for human justice." The missiologist

Stephen B. Bevans Stephen Bennett Bevans, SVD (born July 14, 1944) is an American Catholic priest, theologian, and professor emeritus at Catholic Theological Union in Chicago, Illinois. He is known for his book '' Models of Contextual Theology''. Biography Bevan ...

argues that there is no such thing as normative theology, that "doing theology contextually is not an option" since it is a human enterprise which is created within a particular human context. According to Bevans, ''contextualization'' is a better term than ''indigenization'' to describe social location and particular experience because it "broadens the understanding of culture to include social, political, and economic questions," while indigenization merely focuses on the "purely cultural dimension of human experience." Secondly, Bevans comments that indigenization tends to "see both the home culture and the culture 'out there' as good," while contextualization is usually "more critical of both cultures." Thirdly, the term ''contextualization'' suggests that "theology needs to interact and dialogue not only with traditional culture value, but with social change, new ethnic identities, and the conflicts that are present as the contemporary phenomenon of globalization encounters the various peoples of the world."

Biblical studies

In the field of

Bible translation The Christian Bible has been translated into many languages from the biblical languages of Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek. the whole Bible has been translated into 756 languages, the New Testament has been translated into an additional 1,726 lan ...

and interpretation, contextualization is the process of assigning meaning as a means of

interpreting Interpreting is translation from a spoken or signed language into another language, usually in real time to facilitate live communication. It is distinguished from the translation of a written text, which can be more deliberative and make use o ...

the environment within which a text or

action Action may refer to: * Action (philosophy), something which is done by a person * Action principles the heart of fundamental physics * Action (narrative), a literary mode * Action fiction, a type of genre fiction * Action game, a genre of video gam ...

is executed. Contextualization is used in the study of Bible translations in relation to their relevant

cultural Culture ( ) is a concept that encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and Social norm, norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, Social norm, customs, capabilities, Attitude (psychology), attitudes ...

settings. Derived from the practice of

hermeneutics Hermeneutics () is the theory and methodology of interpretation, especially the interpretation of biblical texts, wisdom literature, and philosophical texts. As necessary, hermeneutics may include the art of understanding and communication. ...

, it sought to understand the use of words borrowed into the

Hebrew Scriptures The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
. ''

gospel Gospel originally meant the Christianity, Christian message ("the gospel"), but in the second century Anno domino, AD the term (, from which the English word originated as a calque) came to be used also for the books in which the message w ...

accounts. However, since the early 1970s, the word's meaning has widened. It is now used by

secular Secularity, also the secular or secularness (from Latin , or or ), is the state of being unrelated or neutral in regards to religion. The origins of secularity can be traced to the Bible itself. The concept was fleshed out through Christian hi ...

, religious and political groups to render their message into different settings by adjusting or accommodating words, phrases or meanings into understandable contexts in

respondent A respondent is a person who is called upon to issue a response to a communication made by another. The term is used in legal contexts, in survey methodology, and in psychological conditioning. Legal usage In legal usage, this term specificall ...

cultures.

References

{{Authority control Christian missions Biblical exegesis World Christianity