He Said I Was Out of Pocket: On Being a Caribbean Contextual Theologian in a Non-Caribbean Context

Abstract

This article emerges from a personal struggle to address the challenges associated with being a Caribbean, contextual theologian, operating outside of that region. The issue is problematized with the use of the expression "being out of pocket," used by an American theologian to question the legitimacy of my attempt to promote Caribbean theology in the United States. This problematic is engaged in light of similar critiques that could be raised by theologians operating in the Caribbean. In the process, there is explication of the conceptual grounding for a contextual approach to doing theology, showing that it is unavoidable and identifying its strengths and limitations. "Dialectical contextualism" is promoted as an approach to theologizing that enables a Caribbean, contextual theologian operating outside the region to acknowledge some alienation, and yet contribute relevantly, to the regional theological processes. One is able to bring to bear a perspective on Caribbean life that is not possible for those who are in the very midst of it. There is also the ability to contribute to the refinement of theological ideas that emerge in the Caribbean, with the benefit of insights, developed from theological pursuits in another context, carried out with sensibilities, nurtured in the Caribbean context.