This is the best quote I have come across on contextualization, and it happens to come from…you guessed it…Tim Keller. Much thanks to Darrin Patrick for talking through this and pointing to this definition about contextualization at the FSI Lecture Series this weekend on the Emerging Church (check out http://covenantseminary.edu in a couple of days/weeks for the audio – if they post it.)
Quote on Contextualization:
Contextualization is not giving people what they want. It is giving God’s answers (which they probably do not want) to the questions they are asking and in forms they can comprehend.
This is a great quote! Contextualization is seen as compromise by traditionalists, and often is in the hands of emergents. God give us wisdom to contextualize anyway as Keller defines it.
Thanks for the comment truthinflux. I would agree that all contextualization does not equal capitulation to the culture. At the same time, I can understand the position of those who are leary of this happening, and I readily appreciate and value their heart.
I’m not saying that you’re not, just that there’s a fine line to walk on the contextualization of and contending for the truth. After all, our creed tell us that the church exists in both a catholic (universal, omni-cultural) and apostolic (peculiar to culture) form.