CAUTIOUS AND CIRCUMSPECT
IN A DANGEROUS WORLD
“CONTEXTUALIZATION” OF THE GOSPEL—
A FREE-FALLING CATASTROPHE
BY ROGER OAKLAND
ou may not have heard the term
before, but contextual theology is a
prominent message from the emerging
church. In his book, Models of Contex-
tual Theology (1992), Stephen B. Bevans
defines contextual theology as:
Y
. . . a way of doing theology in
which one takes into account: the
spirit and message of the gospel;
the tradition of the Christian
people; the culture in which one
is theologizing; and social change
in that culture, whether brought
about by western technological
process or the grass-roots
struggle for equality, justice and
liberation. 1
In other words, the Bible in, and of
itself, is not free-standing—other fac-
SOME THOUGHTS ON
“PUB THEOLOGY”
EDITOR’S NOTE: Recently, a father called us
very concerned about the growing popular-
ity of “Pub Theology.” He asked if we had
any information about it. The late Larry
DeBruyn wrote the following article in
2009 and gave permission for Lighthouse
Trails to post it. Since 2009, Pub Theology
has indeed increased greatly in popularity,
especially among evangelical millennials.
Type “Pub Theology” in quotes which nar-
Volume 6—No. 6
tors (culture, ethnicity, history) must
be taken into consideration, and with
those factors, the message of the Bible
must be adjusted to fit. As one writer
puts it, “Contextual theology aims at
the humanization of theology.” 2 But two
questions need to be asked. First, will the
contextualizing of Scripture cause such a
twisting of its truth that it no longer is the
Word of God, and secondly, is Scripture
ineffective without this contextualiza-
tion? To the first, I give a resounding
yes! And to the second, an absolute no.
The Word of God, which is an inspired
work of the living Creator, is far more
than any human-inspired book and has
been written in such a way that every hu-
man being, rich or poor, man or woman,
intelligent or challenged will understand
the meaning of the Gospel message if it
BY MARIA KNEAS
See then that ye walk circumspectly,
not as fools, but as wise, Redeeming
the time, because the days are evil.
(Ephesians 5:15-16)
R
ecently, I had lunch at a local restaurant,
and I noticed that a woman in the booth
next to mine was wearing a tee-shirt that said,
“Proud To Be A Hater.” I asked her what that
meant, and she said she was a Cowboys fan,
and therefore she hated the Redskins. Seeing
that shirt shocked me. “Proud to be a hater” is
the kind of thing I would expect to hear from
an ISIS terrorist—not from a middle-aged
American woman who chatted pleasantly with
me after I asked her about her shirt.
Suppose that two men whose fathers are pro-
fessional football players were serving together
Continues on page 3
rows the results into Google, and it comes
up over 43,000 times! DeBruyn’s article
offers some valid (and Scriptural) advice
and insight on Pub Theology.
SOME THOUGHTS ON “PUB THEOLOGY”
BY LARRY DEBRUYN
s he begins to rip into “a screaming
guitar solo,” a band member sarcasti-
cally yells out at the audience, “Let’s go to
church boys!” 1 Welcome to Pub Theology.
As the reporter describes it, Pub Theology is
“a Sunday night show that’s one part church
A
Continues on page 6
and one part party.” Among other posters
on the barroom walls, one alludes to the
final verse of the biblical chapter on love. It
reads, “Faith, Hope, Love and Beer” (The
biblical text reads, “And now abideth faith,
hope, charity, these three; but the greatest
of these is charity” 1 Corinthians 13:13).
Being “shaggy-haired, body-pierced and
colored with assorted body art,” members of
the Sunday evening pub rock group double
as members of a mega-church’s “worship
team” on Sunday mornings. Confessing to
Continues on page 4
November/December 2018