The Limits of Indigenization in Theology

Abstract

How should the younger churches “do” theology? While Professor Taber maintains that they, not we, must answer this question, he sets forth some areas in which we have both over-indigenized and under-indigenized our theology in the West; then he expresses hope that the churches of the East and the South can not only avoid these pit-falls, but teach us in the process. He hopes, for example, that their efforts will be truly pastoral, preferring to speak to real needs within the community as they arise, rather than dealing technically or systematically with western time-encrusted categories. While concerned that the Gospel be conceptually understandable within each culture, he is equally concerned that the Gospel speak to each culture — including our own. He concludes with a delineation of 7 suggested “criteria” which he sees as universally normative for Christian theology.