Western Theology and Local Realities

Darrell Whiteman commends Andrew Walls, stating, “[N]o one is better qualified to reflect on the worldwide spread of Christianity and its theological implications than the eminent historian Andrew Walls.”[1] This observation is confirmed in my own reading of Walls’s essay Globalization and Church History.[2] Walls’ criticism that Western models of theology have little to contribute to the challenges of the non-Western world—particularly the pressing issues of witchcraft and sorcery in the African context—is both persuasive and thought provoking.[3]

Similar to the African context, pastors in India regularly encounter issues related to witchcraft or sorcery in their ministry. In certain mysterious incidents, some individuals are accused of practicing witchcraft, while others are perceived as victims of it. Particularly when someone falls ill in the church, pastors often interpret the situation through the lens of witchcraft and address it from that perspective, without clearly discerning whether the cause is a natural health condition or the work of evil forces. As a result, such issues become more complex in church and in the society. This, in my observation, is due to lack of relevant theological education.

In Indian theological education, undergraduate and master’s level students typically study the course Systematic Theology which is a Western perspective.[4] To have an Indian perspective, they study the course Indian Christian Theology which is largely philosophical.[5] While these courses are significant, I observed that they contribute little to addressing the practical cultural issues students encounter in the mission field.[6] In view of this, I am interested on whether an integration of mission history and world Christianity into one continuous narrative, as Walls suggests,[7] help the current generation to have the resources for a successful mission in the contemporary world?

Bibliography

Walls, Andrew F. “Globalization and the Study of Christian History.” In Globalizing Theology: Belief and Practice in an Era of World Christianity, edited by Craig Ott and Harold A. Netland, 70–82. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2006. Whiteman, Darrell L. “Anthropological Reflections on Contextualizing Theology in a Globalizing World.” In Globalized Theology: For the 21st Century, edited by Craig Ott and Harold A. Netland, 49–70. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2006.

[1] Darrell L. Whiteman, “Anthropological Reflections on Contextualizing Theology in a Globalizing World,” in Globalizing Theology: For the 21st Century, ed. Craig Ott and Harold A. Netland (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2006), 31.

[2] Andrew F. Walls, “Globalization and the Study of Christian History,” in Globalizing Theology: Belief and Practice in an Era of World Christianity, ed. Craig Ott and Harold A. Netland (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2006), 70–82.

[3] Walls, “Globalization and the Study of Christian History,” 76.

[4] Systematic/Christian theology books written by Wayne Grudem, Louis Berkhof, Millard Erickson, Alister McGrath, etc., are the primary textbooks.

[5] The primary text book for the course Indian Christian Theology is Robin Boyd’s Indian Christian Theology. This book is primarily a philosophical outlook of the development of the Indian contextual theology.

[6] My observation is not just based on the comment of Walls on Western theology, but also on my own experience teaching these courses in my previous work.

[7] Walls, “Globalization and the Study of Christian History,” 80.