Reflection and Contextualization

Reflection and Contextualization

Introduction

Religion and theology are the most widely discussed and addressed issues in the world, and a large number of books have been written on the same issue. These titles not only cover the mythical side of religion but also go through the humane side of it and make the understanding of religion easier of readers. The two titles under discussion in this essay, entitled Christianity and Culture and

'Christianity and Culture' and 'Mission Shift' deals with the collection of response essays that highlight the various aspects of Christianity and issues related to that. The following paragraphs would discuss the two titles in detail and provide reflection on both of them. In addition, the essay would also focus on the theological evidences in favor of the concept of contextualization, which would be clarified in the following paragraphs:

Discussion

Reflection on 'Christianity in Culture' by Charles H. Kraft

In his renowned book Christianity and Culture, Charles H. Kraft has highlighted the fact that human's ideas and concepts must continue to change as the societies continue to alter and the changes must be in accordance with each other, so that a balance could be maintained. The idea has been presented by the previous authors as well but Charles threw light on the issue in an intellectual manner, thus making the concept easy to understand for the readers.

Charles has also explained that the there can be no universal criterion that applies to all the cultures, societies and all parts of the world. Each culture has its own demands and requirements and thus has to be dealt with accordingly, with participants of each culture being different from the other and requiring a unique and distinct treatment. It is eminent to mention over here that none of these can be declared final or the most suitable one: each one of them has its own needs and demands and presents different types of ideas in distinct manner, and thus has to be treated accordingly. The differences are not there to create some sort of competition between them but to highlight the need of distinct treatment.

The title has focused on all the various issues and facts and has presented the idea that the success of an anthropologists lies in the idea of believing in validity of other cultures as well: those who do not believe in the validity of other cultures can never gain a neutral and full insight. The same goes for theology as well and the success in studying the topic lies in the acceptance of other cultures and societies. However, it must be kept in mind that the concept has nothing to do with acceptance of socially unacceptable concepts, such as cannibalism, infanticide, widow- burning and premarital sex. Mentioning so, the writer has raised the question regarding cultural validity and the concept of declaring any concept as universally acceptable or universally sinful. The contradiction has been raised from the fact that values and concepts can be transformed from one culture to the other, and thus ...