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This course will help you: 

- to gain basic tools for doing intercultural communication (skills) 

- to understand and explain the possibilities and pitfalls of ‘theological conversation’ between Christians from different cultures and contexts (understanding) 

- to practice a learning attitude toward Christians from other contexts, needed for a fruitful intercultural theological conversation (formation) 

- to experience the global dimension of growing in the knowledge of Christ (spirituality). 

The student can: 

Knowledge 

1. Describe what intercultural theology is, as well (the questions about) its main concepts: culture, interculturality and religion (LOQ 1.2.3); 

2. Describe the concepts of ‘World Christianity’, ‘universality’ and ‘particularity’ of the Christian faith and the discussions related to these concepts (LOQ 5.6); 

3. Describe the meaning and implications of the ‘translatability’ and ‘incarnation’ of the Gospel in different contexts (LOQ 5.6.7); 

Skills 

4. Conduct an intercultural theological conversation/interview with a Christian from another culture or context (LOQ 4.5.7); 

5. Use basic concepts of intercultural communication and theology in the description, analysis and evaluation of an intercultural theological conversation as mentioned in (4) (LOQ 1.6). 

Attitude 

6. Show a receptive and spiritual attitude in an intercultural theological conversation, during the meetings and by interviewing a Christian from another culture or context (LOQ 5.7.8). 

In this course, you are introduced to the discipline of ‘intercultural theology’. In doing intercultural theology, we study and reflect upon ‘conversations’ between Christians from different contexts and cultures, conversations in which theologians as well as ‘ordinary believers’ participate. In this course we consider possibilities and pitfalls of intercultural communication, we reflect on methodologies for meeting other Christians across cultures and reflect on what intercultural theological exchange might have to offer. 

Why is Intercultural Theology important? Dutch society is increasingly multicultural and multi-religious. Globalization and migration bring new opportunities and challenges for Christians and churches in the Netherlands. In their work, pastors, servants in the church and professional theologians will most likely also interact and work with Christians and non-Christians from non-Western cultures and contexts. Paul writes, that together with ‘all the saints’ we can ‘grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ’ (Eph. 3: 16-19). As Christians in a ‘global village,’ we ask what it means to be part of the ‘worldwide Body of Christ’ and how we can relate to believers from non-Western contexts, how do other Christian appropriate the faith in and for their socio-religious context and what we can mutually learn from each other. 

In this course we will study the following topics: 

1. Intercultural communication - concepts, chances and pitfalls 

2. Intercultural theology – definition and basic terminology (esp. concepts of ‘culture’, ‘intercultural’, ‘theology’ and ‘religion’); intercultural conversations on selected theological topic. 

3. World Christianity and Christian Majority world theologies 

4. Translation of the Gospel – questions of inculturation and incarnation (examples/case studies) 

5. Model for appropriation & intercultural theological conversation: ‘doing theology’ in various cultural contexts. 

6. Lecture by a Christian theologian from another context or culture. 

We will study in an interactive way and have as much conversation and discussion in class as possible. There is a practical assignment in intercultural conversation: interviewing a Christian believer from another culture of context. This interview must be used for writing a final paper, in which the students show, that (s)he can apply the principles of intercultural theology, as studied in this course, in an intercultural conversation. One of the lectures will be done by a non-Western theologian, which gives another opportunity to practice and experience how theology can be done by a Christian from another culture. 

We do this in four ways: 

·        six meetings 

·        required readings as preparation for class discussion 

·        weekly preliminary reflections on the required readings - posted before the lectures at Canvas 

·        meetings & discussions in class / on-line 

Study load – 2,5 EC = 70 hours 

a. Weekly reflections on the required readings (to be posted at Canvas) 

b. Paper – 1500 words 

To show that you can use the basic principles of intercultural conversation, you have to interview a person from another culture or context. Choose a passage/text from Scripture, which you would like to understand better by speaking about it with a person from another culture or context. Instead of a biblical text, you can also choose a theological topic, which you would like to speak about with a person from another culture or context. Use at least two sources to describe the context of your respondent and two sources from your own context, which show how the conversation topic is treated in each context. 

Grading 

25% - reflections (weekly reading reports) 

75% - paper 

Both assignments needed to be sufficient. 

Required readings for each lecture 

Recommended literature 

1. Intercultural Theology 

- Wrogemann, Henning. Intercultural Theology: Intercultural Hermeneutics. Translated by Karl E. Böhmer. Downers Grove: IVP Academic, 2016. 

2. Intercultural Communication 

- Hofstede, Geert, Gert Jan Hofstede, and Michael Minkov, Cultures and Organizations: Software of the Mind, Third Edition, New York: McGraw-Hill, 2010. 

- Meyer, Erin. The Culture Map: Decoding How People Think, Lead, and Get Things Done Across Cultures. New York: Public Affairs, 2016. 

- Moreau, A. Scott, Evvy Hay Campbell, and Susan Greener. Effective Intercultural Communication: A Christian Perspective. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Academic, 2014. 

3. World Christianity 

- Goheen, Michael W. Introducing Christian Mission Today: Scripture, History, and Issues. Downers Grove, Illinois: IVP Academic, 2014. (esp. ch. 5 - A Survey of the Global Church) 

- Johnson, Todd M. ‘The Demographics and Dynamics of the World Christian Movement’. In The Wiley Blackwell Companion to World Christianity, edited by Lamin Sanneh and Michael McClymond, 699–718. The Atrium, Southern Gates, Chichester, West Sussex, UK: Wiley-Blackwell, 2016. 

- Johnstone, Patrick. The Future of the Global Church: History, Trends and Possibilities. IVP Books, 2011 

- Sunquist, Scott W., and Mark Noll. The Unexpected Christian Century: The Reversal and Transformation of Global Christianity, 1900-2000. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Academic, 2015. 

(esp. ch. 5: On the Move. Christianity and Migration) 

- Walls, Andrew F. ‘The Transmission of Christian Faith: A Reflection’. In The Wiley Blackwell Companion to World Christianity, edited by Lamin Sanneh and Michael McClymond, 685–98. The Atrium, Southern Gates, Chichester, West Sussex, UK: Wiley-Blackwell, 2016. 

- Yeh, Allen. Polycentric Missiology: 21st-Century Mission from Everyone to Everywhere. Downers Grove: IVP Academic, 2016. (esp. ch. 2, pp. 36-63: The Case for World Christianity) 

4. Intercultural Reading of the Scriptures 

- Adeyemo, Tokunboh, ed. Africa Bible Commentary: A One-Volume Commentary Written by 70 African Scholars. 2nd edition. Zondervan & Word Alive Publishers, 2010. 

- Kunhiyop, Samuel Waje. African Christian Theology. Grand Rapids, MI: Hippo Books, 2012. 

- Reed, David A. “Acts 17:16-34 in an African Context.” African Journal of Evangelical Theology 22 (2003): 87–101.  https://biblicalstudies.org.uk/pdf/ajet/22-1_087.pdf 

- Wintle, Brian, Havilah Dharamraj, Jesudason Baskar Jeyaraj, Paul Swarup, Jacob Cherian, and Finny Philip, eds. South Asia Bible Commentary: A One-Volume Commentary on the Whole Bible. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2015. 

5. Translation of the Gospel 

- Flemming, Dean. Contextualization in the New Testament: Patterns for Theology and Mission. Downers Grove, Ill: IVP Academic, 2005 (esp. pp. 13-55: Introduction + Contextualization in Acts:  Bridging Cultural Boundaries) 

- Toren, Benno van den. ‘Can We See the Naked Theological Truth?’ In Local Theology for the Global Church: Principles for an Evangelical Approach to Contextualization, edited by Matthew Cook and Rob Haskell, 91–108. Pasadena: William Carey Library, 2010. 

- Vanhoozer, Kevin J.; Anderson, Charles A.; Sleasman, Michael J. eds. Everyday Theology. How to Read Cultural Texts and Interpret Trends. Grand Rapids. Michigan, 2007. 

- Walls, Andrew F. The Missionary Movement in Christian History: Studies in the Transmission of Faith. Maryknoll, N.Y.; Edinburgh: Orbis Books; T & T Clark, 1996. (esp. ch. 1: The Gospel as Prisoner and Liberator of Culture; ch. 3: The Translation Principle in Christian History), pp. 3-15 and pp. 26-42. 

6. Appropriation 

- Vanhoozer, Kevin J. ‘“One Rule to Rule Them All?” Theological Method in an Era of World Christianity’. In Globalizing Theology: Belief and Practice in an Era of World Christianity, edited by Craig Ott and Harold A. Netland, 85–126. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Academic, 2006.