Prophetic hermeneutic in context: A study in dialogue between text and life - 8th century B.C. Israel and 20th century Asia.

Abstract

The fundamental question for which this thesis is a partial answer can be simply phrased: How does a living, contextual theology arise? . . . including what elements? And by what process? There can be no doubt that such a local theology is already emerging in many countries of Asia, and is central to any contemporary praxis of mission in the region. Because the response of faith, of ministry and mission must always be living (dynamically related to concrete life-situations), and local (shaped by a particular history and culture), theology itself must be so. But the processes by which history and culture, biblical word and life situation, find expression in theology, themselves require study and nurture. The theological task is in fact carried out within a series of concentric circles of context: that of the community of faith, of societal forms and social movements, of cultural change and a particular historical process. A living theology draws on all these as major sources, and arises where these interact and intersect.

The question as to how a living theology arises becomes therefore: how, in a particular nexus of such contexts, is the present activity of God, discerned and interpreted? This is the hermeneutic question concerning the way in which we recognize the 'beyond-in-the-midst' and in which such a recognition leads to a transformation of consciousness, of self and world.