Table Of ContentWHAT ARE PEOPLE SAYING ABOUT THEOLOGY IN THE CONTEXT OF WORLD
CHRISTIANITY
This book is a great idea, executed well — offering a vital complement to traditional,
“Western” doctrinal categories. There is much instruction here for theological students and
teachers alike. Tennent asks important questions, providing answers that are often insightful
and always biblically thoughtful.
DANIEL J. TREIER, associate professor of theology, Wheaton College, and author of Virtue
and the Voice of God: Toward Theology as Wisdom
This volume masterfully demonstrates that listening to theological reflection from around the
globe yields fresh contributions to discussions of Christian faith and practice. It contains new
insights, new challenges, yet all the while interwoven with Christian history and thinking past
and present. May Tennent’s work be the first of many stimulating conversations!
M. DANIEL CARROLL R. (RODAS), Earl S. Kalland chair of Old Testament, Denver Seminary
(USA); adjunct professor, El Seminario Teológico Centroamericano (Guatemala)
For a long time the systematic theology developed by the church has been generally
deficient because it did not take into account the approaches of Christians from “the rest of
the world” and of people of other faiths. This book by Tim Tennent shows us how to do this.
He has taken samplings of some crucial issues and done an admirable job in showing how
they should influence our theological formulations. The added benefit of this book is that it is
easy to read — something that cannot be said of most theology books!
AJITH FERNANDO, national director, Youth for Christ, Sri Lanka
This book is a must-read for all people who are interested in a new and exciting way of doing
theology at a time when Christianity is already a post-Western and global religion. Truly
fascinating!
SUNG WOOK CHUNG, associate professor of theology, Denver Seminary
This is the book we have waited a long time for. We have all sampled selections from the
growing menu of theological reflection in the Majority World church, but so often these have
been viewed by scholars and students in the West as the theological equivalent of ethnic
restaurants — exotic and interesting but not to be taken too seriously in the dining hall of
real (Western) theology. Meanwhile Philip Jenkins, Andrew Walls, Lamin Sanneh, and others
have thrust the staggering realities of Majority World Christianity into the forefront of
Western Christian consciousness. Theologians are now at last grappling with what
missiologists have been saying for years: theology is a cross-cultural team game with global
players. And the referee is no longer the Western academy, but the Scriptures themselves.
Tim Tennent engages all his experience in mission and theology to argue that it is not just
the outer forms of Christianity that are culturally translatable, but theology itself. No part of
the global body of Christ can say to any other part, “I have no need of you.” Every part is
enriched — theologically too — by every other part. Theology, like mission, has to be “from
everywhere to everywhere.” This book, organized in the systematic way that Western
theology likes, offers teacher and student alike a representative, thorough, constructively
critical compendium of some of the key contributors to the task of global theology. The point
is not whether we will like everything we read here, but whether we are willing to listen. These
are the voices we must increasingly engage with in the global conversation of Christian
theology.
REV DR CHRISTOPHER J H WRIGHT, international director, Langham Partnership International
THEOLOGY
in the context of
WORLD CHRISTIANITY
ZONDERVAN
Theology in the Context of World Christianity
Copyright © 2007 by Timothy C. Tennent
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By
payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable
right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be
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introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means,
whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express
written permission of Zondervan.
ePub Edition January 2009 ISBN: 978-0-310-29848-9
Requests for information should be addressed to:
Zondervan, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49530
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Tennent, Timothy C.
Theology in the context of world Christianity : how the global church is influencing the way
we think about and discuss theology / Timothy C. Tennent.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and indexes.
ISBN-13: 978-0-310-27511-4
1. Theology — Methodology. 2. Globalization — Religious aspects — Christianity. I. Title.
BR118.T44 2007
230.09 — dc22
2007014651
All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New
International Version ®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society.
Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.
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07 08 09 10 11 12 23 22 21 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Dedicated to the memory of my father,
Robert W. Tennent Sr. (1925 – 2005),
who always encouraged me to
reach for God’s highest
Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright Page
Acknowledgments
Forewords
Preface
1. The Emergence of a Global Theological Discourse
2. THEOLOGY Is the Father of Jesus the God of Muhammad?
3. BIBLIOLOGY Hindu Sacred Texts in Pre-Christian Past
4. ANTHROPOLOGY Human Identity in Shame-Based Cultures of the Far East
5. CHRISTOLOGY Christ as Healer and Ancestor in Africa
6. SOTERIOLOGY Is “Salvation by Grace through Faith” Unique to Christianity?
7. PNEUMATOLOGY The Holy Spirit in Latin American Pentecostalism.
8. ECCLESIOLOGY Followers of Jesus in Islamic Mosques
9. ESCHATOLOGY Jonathan Edwards and the Chinese Back to Jerusalem Movement .
10. The Emerging Contours of Global Theology
Glossary
About the Publisher
Share Your Thoughts
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I am indebted to the trustees and faculty of Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary for
granting me a sabbatical to write this book. My long-standing academic pursuit has been
dedicated to finding new ways to reconnect the disciplines of theology and missiology. I can
think of no better place to engage in this task than Gordon-Conwell. I would like to extend
special thanks to my colleague Jack Davis, who read the manuscript and provided many
helpful suggestions.
I am also indebted to the students, staff, and faculty of the Luther W. New Jr. Theological
College in India, where I have had the privilege of teaching for the last twenty years. My
interaction with students, both at GCTS and at NTC over the years, has been a continual
source of insight and joy. Many of the ideas for this book arose out of stimulating
discussions with students in classrooms in the USA and in India. I am particularly grateful for
the friendship and mentoring I have received from my dear friend George Chavanikamannil,
who opened up the door of India to me.
Although I explore this more in chapter 10, I also want to thank Andrew Walls for pointing
out to me that “theological scholarship needs a renaissance of mission studies.” It is this
spark that was fanned into a flame and eventually became this book.
Most of my sabbatical was spent at the Overseas Ministries Study Center in New Haven,
Connecticut, where I served as Senior Scholar in Residence. I am indebted to Jonathan
Bonk, the director of OMSC, and his wonderful staff for their encouragement and support
during the many months it took to write this book. Being able to walk across the street to
the Day Missions Library of Yale Divinity School, arguably the finest missions collection in
the world, is one of those great treasures I will always cherish.
I am deeply appreciative of the hard work and dedication of my research assistant, Lou
Ann Stropoli. She spent many hours on my behalf tracking down that illusive book or article.
Throughout the past year I have observed her growth as a budding scholar, and Lou Ann
stands as a testimony to the abiding value of the Byington program at the seminary. There is
no doubt that this book is stronger, and was able to be completed on time, due in no small
part to her efforts on my behalf.
I am grateful for the capable assistance of Katya Covrett, Verlyn Verbrugge, and Moisés
Silva from Zondervan. I commend Zondervan for their foresight and long-term commitment
to helping the church understand more about the emergence of global Christianity.
I will always be grateful to my wife, Julie, for her constant encouragement and love. She
faithfully read every word of the manuscript and provided invaluable feedback and thoughtful
advice. I am blessed to be married to someone with such a keen interest and facility in
theology and global Christianity.
Because of the beauty and breadth of world Christianity, no single person can do justice to
the burgeoning theological discourse around the world. But I am reminded of Basil’s wisdom
when he said, “The athlete does not so much complain of being wounded in the struggle as
of not being able even to secure admission into the stadium” (On the Holy Spirit 3.29; trans.
