A Matter of Context? Why Context Matters

I am sitting in a class full of Korean D. Miss (Doctor of Missiology) students.  I don't know the Korean language, but these students have been taught English since they were in 7th grade.  Their individual abilities with the American language is a function of how much they have actually used the language in their life interactions, but they all understand enough language to converse with me on varying levels.  This scene is an example of the class we are all taking . . . Contextualization.  In short, my experience of this class is different because I took the class with Koreans as opposed to American D. Miss students.  The "context" changes the experience, and in some cases, the message received.  

The reason why we are all here, taking this class, is that context matters in all communication, particularly intercultural communication.  If I fail to consider the culture of the person I communicate with, then I will be misunderstood, at best, and disregarded, at worst.  The history of modern mission activities is full of disastrous results because of misunderstanding and disregard . . . the message wasn't received properly because the host culture was never accounted for in missionary cultural interactions.  What is true for the mission field is also true within our broad American culture and within a local church congregation.

A pastor who preaches a sermon every week, in the ideal, will evaluate his cultural history, her congregation's collective culture, and biblical culture together as he or she formulates a message that is relevant to his intended recipients.  I learned a certain amount of this sender/receiver ethic in my educational background that featured English composition, communication, and debate instruction.  The practice of taking the receivers of my communication into account continued in seminary with biblical interpretation, preaching, pastoral care, etc.  And yet, I don't recall having ever been taught that culture matters, at a foundational level.

A few of my seminary professors would likely roll their eyes at my disclosure were they to read this.  They would suggest I had been asleep during the portion of their lecture that discussed the role of cultural in biblical interpretation or preaching and they might be right.  My point is that cultural bias is so primary in how we are educated and how we educate others that contextualization should be immersed within modern seminary education.  It should be the first message a seminary sends, a constant drumbeat throughout all instruction within, and the last message an educational institution imparts to its graduates.  Instead, the matter of intercultural communication is confined to a section of biblical studies, or to more advanced education like I am receiving.  Contextualization should be a forethought of modern seminary education, not an afterthought.

---Disciple of Thomas

NEXT:  Contextualization in the Bible