Evangelical Review of Theology

EVANGELICAL REVIEW OF THEOLOGY VOLUME 7 P. 3 Volume 7 • Number 1 • April 1983 Evangelical Review of Theology Articles and book reviews selected from publications worldwide for an international readership, interpreting the Christian faith for contemporary living. GENERAL EDITOR: BRUCE J. NICHOLLS Published by THE PATERNOSTER PRESS for WORLD EVANGELICAL FELLOWSHIP Theological Commission p. 4 ISSN: 0144–8153 Vol. 7 No. 1 April–September 1983 Copyright © 1983 World Evangelical Fellowship Editorial Address: The Evangelical Review of Theology is published in April and October by The Paternoster Press, Paternoster House, 3 Mount Radford Crescent, Exeter, UK, EX2 4JW, on behalf of the World Evangelical Fellowship Theological Commission, 105 Savitri Building, Greater Kailash-II, New Delhi-110048, India. General Editor: Bruce J. Nicholls Assistants to the Editor: Kathleen Nicholls, Gulrez Wesley Committee: (The executive committee of the WEF Theological Commission) David Gitari (Chairman), Arthur Climenhaga (Vice-Chairman), Wilson Chow, Jorgen Glenthoj, Pablo Perez. Editorial Policy: The articles in The Evangelical Review of Theology are the opinion of the authors and reviewers and do not necessarily represent those of the Editor or Publisher. The Editor welcomes recommendations of original or published articles and book reviews for inclusion in the ERT. Please send clear copies or details to the Editor, WEF Theological Commission, 105 Savitri Building, Greater Kailash-II, New Delhi-110048, India. p. 7 2 Editorial The Struggle for Identity The function of the Evangelical Review of Theology is to interpret the Christian faith for contemporary living for an international readership. This number alters the established format by focusing on theology and the Bible in the context of the Third World of Asia, Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean. It includes the papers (abridged in the case of four) given at the Third World Theologians’ Consultation Seoul, Korea 1982. For further details see the Seoul Declaration. The papers in this number mark an historic moment in the development of third world theological reflection. The degree of unity. achieved in the midst of incredible diversity and tensions of cultures, mission and ecclesiological heritages, economic and political systems is remarkable. It reflects a common determination to uphold the primacy and authority of Scripture and devotion and obedience to one Saviour and Lord. We may find fault with the wording of the Seoul Declaration, but its central thrust is clear and augers well for the theological undergirding of the churches which will embrace three-fifths of the world’s Christians by the 21st century. A central issue for the Third World evangelicals, if not for all evangelicals, is a struggle for identity—living between obedience to the Word of God and searching for relevance in the missiological task of communicating the Gospel across cultural frontiers and in situations of escalating poverty and oppression. Increasingly, it is the poor and those who suffer from man’s inhumanity to man who are the unevangelized. This is true of the slums of Calcutta, the villages of the Chad and the Indian settlements of Bolivia. The struggle for identity as biblical Christians and as national citizens is both individual and communal. It involves living in the tension between the analytical and linear ways of thinking of the west and the synthetical and cyclic ways of thinking of much of the “Third World”. It calls for an evaluation (as objective as possible) of existing theologies, western and third world. The papers in this volume reflect these struggles. The development of theology in the Third World is perhaps 20 years behind its western counterpart, but the gap is closing. A theology orientated to evangelism and to growing and maturing churches will of necessity take risks but it will also take care. The call to all of us is to be patient, reserve judgement, trust in the sovereignty of our triune God, and be obedient to the Word of God. In the words of the Seoul Declaration “For us, to know is to do, to love is to obey.” p. 8 The Seoul Declaration Toward an Evangelical Theology for the Third World Fifty delegates and 33 observers from Asia, Africa, Latin America, the Caribbean and the Pacific Islands met together in Seoul, Korea, from August 27 to September 5, 1982, in order to consider our theological task. Having as its central theme, “Theology and the Bible in Context”, this consultation was organized by the Asia Theological Association, the Theological Commission of the Association of Evangelicals in Africa and Madagascar, and the Latin American Theological Fraternity; it had a fourfold purpose: (1) to deal with 3 theological issues which are vitally related to evangelism and church growth and which are common to churches in developing countries; (2) to exchange ideas and information among evangelical theologians in the Third World; (3) to encourage fellowship and co- operation among these theologians; and (4) to learn from the church in Korea, which is one of the fastest growing churches in the world. We are grateful to this country and particularly to the Evangelical churches that have hosted us for their kind hospitality. We are grateful to God for the opportunity of discussing a number of theological issues in a context of Christian fellowship, mutual trust, commitment to God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ and to His Church, and a common acceptance of the authority of Scripture. The present document is a brief summary of our discussion. 1. CRITIQUE OF WESTERN THEOLOGY We give thanks to our sovereign God who has preserved and renewed the church during the past 19 centuries. We express our indebtedness to the creeds of the Early Church, the confessions of the European Reformation, and the spiritual awakenings of the revival movements of modern times. We recognise the contributions of western churches and missionary agencies in the birth and growth of churches in many parts of the Third World. We have no desire to articulate our theology merely in reaction to western theology, whether liberal or evangelical, conservative or progressive. Our concern is to interpret the Word of God in the light of our own historical context for the sake of Christian obedience. The western approach to theology has deeply affected our own understanding of the theological task. We have, therefore, dealt with a number of pitfalls into which western theology has fallen and which we must avoid. Western theology is by and large rationalistic, moulded by western philosophies, preoccupied with intellectual concerns, especially those having to do with the relationship between faith and reason. All too often, it has reduced the Christian p. 9 faith to abstract concepts which may have answered the questions of the past, but which fail to grapple with the issues of today. It has consciously or unconsciously been conformed to the secularistic worldview associated with the Enlightenment. Sometimes it has been utilised as a means of justifying colonialism, exploitation and oppression, or it has done little or nothing to change these situations. Furthermore, having been wrought within Christendom, it hardly addresses the questions of people living in situations characterised by religious pluralism, secularism, resurgent Islam or Marxist totalitarianism. We have recognized that if Evangelical theology is to fulfil its task in the Third World it must be released from captivity to the individualism and rationalism of Western theology in order to allow the Word of God to work with full power. Many of the problems of our churches are, in part, the result of this type of theology. Consequently, we insist on the need for critical reflection and theological renewal. We urgently need an Evangelical theology which is faithful to Scripture and relevant to the varied situations in the Third World. 2. CRITIQUE OF THIRD WORLD THEOLOGIES We have taken a critical look at current theological trends in the continents we represent. We have recognised the similarities in our historical past, vis-à-vis colonization and oppression, our present struggle against injustice, poverty and religious pluralism, and the imperative to articulate the Gospel in words and deeds in our various contexts. 4 We have found that some of the presuppositions, sources, and hermeneutics of theologies such as ethnotheologies, syncretistic theologies and liberation theologies are inadequate. Ethnotheologies are often politically motivated and do little or no justice to the Scriptures. Syncretistic theologies often accommodate biblical truth to cultural variables. Several liberation theologies have raised vital questions which we cannot ignore. But we reject their tendency to give primacy to a praxis which is not biblically informed in the doing of theology. Likewise we object to their use of a socioeconomic analysis as the hermeneutical key to the Scriptures. We reject any ideology which under the guise of science and technology is used as a historical mediation of the Christian faith. We unequivocably uphold the primacy and authority of the Scriptures. For us, to know is to do, to love is to obey. Evangelical theology must root itself in a life of obedience to the Word of God and submission p. 10 to the lordship of Jesus Christ. The theological task must be done under the constant operation of the Holy Spirit with adequate hermeneutical tools and a keen awareness of God’s continuing activity in history. 3. OUR BIBLICAL FOUNDATION We have concertedly committed ourselves to building our theology on the inspired and infallible Word of God, under the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ, through the illumination of the Holy Spirit. No other sources stand alongside. Despite our varying approaches to doing theology, we wholeheartedly and unanimously subscribe to the primacy of the Scriptures. Our commitment takes seriously the historical and the cultural contexts of the biblical writings. We have felt the need for a theology that addresses both traditional spirituality and the contemporary situations of our peoples.

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