Week 1- Bevans, Chapter 1

I agree  with Bevans that theology must be done contextually.  The West has done a huge disservice to the world by representing “white male theology” as the only form of theology. We must include others’ perspectives. It is important that as we do this, though, we are making sure that we can hold onto all of the contextualized theologies and not simply fall into our own camp. The woman in Africa who has not connected with Western white male theology must embrace her own contextualized theology as an African woman, but she must also hold alongside of her theology, the Western white male’s theology. Part of me wants to say that she is entitled to her own contextualized theology and she has been so oppressed by Westerners in theology that she gets to swing the pendulum. But isn’t that just repeating the same mistake? Or does she have to immerse herself in her own contextualized theology, excluding all others, in order for it to really take root? But does that lead to exclusion?

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