Contested Contextualization: Towards a Regional, Critical, and Post-Colonial Contextual Theology from the North of England

The particularity of place in the economy of God's relationship with the creation is a consistent thread throughout the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament. It has had to be reckoned with across the history of the Christian tradition, not least because of belief in the incarnation of Jesus, the Christ, in first-century Palestine. Contextualization, inculturation, or contextual theology arose as a noble field of study within missiology in the final third of the twentieth century, partly as a response to the end of colonialism. Contested Contextualization attempts to review this field critically and make a unique contribution to it from several perspectives in the twenty-first century. Utilizing prior field research in the North of England, the book takes a regional starting point for this enterprise and asks what a northern theology might look like in England, embedded as it is in a post-colonial world. This requires taking seriously both the contested nature of context as well as the coloniality that the North experiences. Out of this particularity the book offers a thickening of the meaning and practice of contextualization for continuing reflection within World Christianity.


About the Author :
Nigel J. Rooms is an Anglican priest, missiologist, and practical theologian with a ThD from Birmingham University, UK. His portfolio of roles includes research, consulting, facilitation, spiritual direction, teaching, writing, and editing. He is the author of several books, many journal articles, and book chapters. He currently edits at the journals Ecclesial Futures and Mission Studies. Rooms is also a lifelong supporter of Hull City AFC.


Review :
"This book is a significant step forward in the discussion of the dynamics of church growth. Arising out of qualitative research in some growing churches in the North of England and through engagement with a number of recent academic voices, it deepens our awareness of the ecology of growth."
--Stephen Spencer, Director of Theology and Implementation, Anglican Communion Office

"Rooms takes his contextual theologizing to a new level of sophistication in these pages, engaging in a dialogue not only with churches in England's North, but with contextual, practical, and decolonial theologies in the world church. In the same way that he profits from these dialogues, contextual theologians worldwide can profit greatly from Nigel Rooms's brilliant new work."
--Stephen Bevans, SVD, Louis J. Luzbetak, SVD, Professor of Mission and Culture, Emeritus, Catholic Theological Union, Chicago

"As an Anglican priest and scholar, Nigel Rooms turns intentionally toward marginality and subaltern voices, gently reclaiming theology from the edges where faith is lived, contested, and continually renewed. By naming contextualization itself as 'contested, ' he invites us into a more humble and attentive reimagining of the relationship between gospel and culture."
--Bokyoung Park, President, International Association for Mission Studies

"We misunderstand Nigel Rooms if we think he is searching only for Northern identity. He is asking how each of our localities can be caught up in the mission of God. There is hope here for all who wrestle with the fragility of the church in overlooked contexts. But also a challenge: to find God even amidst anger and decline, and to follow Christ in ways that are not pre-packaged but patient, responsive and refreshingly convivial."
--Mark Powley, Archbishop's Mission Enabler for the North

"As a Northerner, I feel seen in Nigel Rooms's writing. This book presents an intricate portrait of the North and its church landscape in a way that challenges ideas of nativism and essentialism. Writing through the prism of post-colonial theology, Rooms weaves the North's unique, but subaltern, voice, contested notions of flourishing and a critical use of contextual theology. Capturing the northern identity in themes of authenticity, community, and humor, the book draws on a theology of political and cultural resilience."
--Sharon Jagger, Associate Professor in Religion, York St. John University