Taking God Out of Context: Bevans’ Typological Models of Religious Life

Abstract

Beginning with a brief historical sketch founded upon the seminal work of Coe and then Bevans, this essay attempts to provide an exploratory biblical critique of contextual theology mainly as applied to missiology. This brief historical review is followed by an outline and critique of the essential components of Bevans’ typological model of contextual theology as well as general theological views, focusing mainly on underlying assumptions contained in his methodology. Serious questions are then raised about the appropriateness of applying a ‘typological model’ methodology to theology, an approach originally developed in the natural sciences to study physical phenomena in a laboratory setting. The essay argues that the belief or claim there is nothing but ‘contextual theology’ as an imperative is profoundly unbiblical. To claim or to imply that everything is only ‘contextual’ means that everything is dependently material and physical. In turn, this denies the independent existence and input of divine providence and Holy Spirit and/or reduces them strictly to material interactions.