No abstract

In the face of globalization, approaches to contextualization developed in the late 20th century must be expanded upon. Two main developments of globalization are examined and implications for contextualization are drawn. First, the increased interconnectivity of the global church and the McDonaldization of ministry imply that the focus of contextualization must be increasingly upon processing, evaluating, and rejecting or assimilating these global Christian influences. Second, globalization had led to the hybridization of cultures from which four implications are drawn. Contextualization must be focused more on understanding and responding appropriately to rapid social change now, and less on preserving or transforming the “traditional culture” of the past. Contextualization must be more radically rooted in biblical truth and identity. Contextualization must reevaluate the place of the catholicity of the church in relation to theological and ecclesial traditions. Finally, contextualization might be reconceived as a process of hybridization as opposed to homogenization or fragmentation.

This article explores how the use of biblical metaphors for salvation can be a significant aid in communication of the gospel. Metaphor is a powerful communicative tool that not only illustrates truth, but can touch emotions and can shape cognitive functions. Four New Testament images of salvation are described with examples of how they may resonate with the plausibility structures found in various cultural settings.

how such children were perceived, understood, and treated, when their primary hope was often seen as a life with perfect hearing in the hereafter. But this history and legacy in turn cast light on "contemporary representations of childhood innocence, religiosity, Christian education, the mother-child bond and childhood death scenes" (159).In such a context, the stakes are high indeed. Another contributor, Emily Manktelow, argues that "examining religious childhoods can have a wide-ranging impact on our understanding of history" (43). Although this assertion is not developed in her chapter, there is a significant confirmation of this belief in Grace Bateman's fascinating study of confirmation (chap. 10), which concludes: "Studying childhood can thus be helpful for understanding a society more generally" (208). The overall impression of the volume as a whole is that ignoring children, childhood, and religion in this period, and probably to the present day, is likely to impede accurate historical description and analysis.It is a commendable and enlightening volume, and my copy is full of underlining and notes, particularly in passages that describe actual incidents or conversations. The illustrations are especially welcome. My sense is that there is much more to come. I certainly hope so. This feels like the opening of the floodgates.

No abstract