So I’m reviewing Doug Pagitt’s new book A Christianity Worth Believing and posing some questions to this emergent leader and ecclesiastical provocateur (which may result in a blogerview…blog interview with Doug…). I’m gonna look at chapters 4 and 5 today, which begins laying the ground work for his faith-repainting effort in the rest of the book.
He begins chapter 4 by pointing out that “the Bible was written to a particular people in particular circumstances.” Furthermore, “The gospels are not generic, abstract truths. They are embedded stories. They are filled with culturally relevant language, images, and symbols that made them ring true in the hearts of their listeners.” And similarly, the gospel is to be retold in away that makes sense to this time and space. The gospel itself doesn’t change, but the retelling of it does so that we too can find Life in it.
It’s called contextualization. It’s about making the expressions of God and His Story indigenous to particular groups of people and particular times.
For example, just listen to the voice of the Masai people in Kenya and Tanzania as they retell God’s story in their own words.:
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