Contextualize

To make an idea or principle meaningful to the particular circumstance or culture of the audience one are addressing.

The ability to contextualize lies at the heart of biblical exposition. This is because the books of the Bible were originally written with the ancient Israelites and the Christians of the Roman Empire in mind.

Deut 22:8, e.g., commands the Israelites,

"When you build a new house, make a parapet around your roof so that you may not bring the guilt of bloodshed on your house if someone falls from the roof."

This command assumes that the houses had flat roofs. In the summer, especially, these roofs become a convenient place to dry the crops and to sleep at night. Inevitably people fall off the roofs. This command establishes the principle that life is precious and should not be needlessly jeopardized. Contextualizing this for those of us who do not live in houses with flat roofs means that we take care to maintain our cars well so that we do not bring guilt of bloodshed if someone gets killed because our brakes failed for want of our negligence.

Contextualization is a necessary task as we seek to make the abiding Word of God meaningful and relevant to the modern world, right across the full spectrum of Christian reflection from the application of a single verse or to the entire realm of our doctrine and theology.

Print Resources:

Bruce Ware, Systematic Theology. Lecture 3: Cultural Contextualization; Theological Systems. BiblicalLearning.org.
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