This article is a case study of contextualization in a Melanesian community and explores the challenge of how to live faithfully as a Christian and relate effectively to one's own culture. After discussing the difference between contextualization and syncretism, the author portrays several examples of how Maiwala Christians in Papua New Guinea are trying to affirm much of their traditional culture while remaining faithful to the claims of the gospel on their lives. While practices of feasting, fighting, and killing have stopped, the practice of and belief in magic continues underground.
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