Communicating “revelation-faith” with Culture in Mind

Abstract

"While popularly known for its statements on scripture (Witherup, 2006), the document speaks in its first six articles of a more basic reality. It is a truth underlying the Bible itself: the relationship between God and people, technically articulated as “revelation” (God‟s life-giving initiative and action) and “faith” (the lived human response). Because this relationship (revelation-faith) is foundational, the way it is interpreted has an impact on the manner we regard who Jesus Christ is (Christology), what the Church and its mission are (Ecclesiology), what the purpose of life is (Eschatology), how we are to follow Jesus (Spirituality), and how we make decisions in accord with our life of faith (Christian Ethics). Needless to say, “revelation-faith” is crucial in our understanding and communication of the Christian faith as well as in the study of theology in general. But how are we to understand “revelation-faith”? If we want to really communicate this reality or any theological reality for that matter, I suggest that we consider the role that culture plays in understanding reality, including the theological: “All human beings are cultural beings. Jesus must be culturally relevant if he is really to be understood and appreciated. This is a most obvious fact unfortunately only too often ignored” (Luzbetak, 1988: 374)."(pg 1)