VULNERABLE MISSION

VULNERABLE MISSION: QUESTIONS FROM A LATIN AMERICAN CONTEXT
Discussing the “western captivity of theology,” Andrew Kirk, a theological educator in
Latin America and other Majority World contexts, articulates the basic problem that
theological education faces in contexts such as Arequipa’s:
Theological education is restricted in many instances to those who have reached a particular
level of academic achievement, who can lay hands on sufficient financial resources
for study and who share the cultural background of the educator. How is theological education
to be made available to people who inhabit a “non-book” culture, i.e. for those
who have not succeeded in meeting the expectations of the normal educational process?
Present patterns of theological education will probably continue to reinforce the Western
Church’s alienation in deprived, urban areas. How is it possible for existing Western theology,
given its cultural assumptions, to equip a genuinely indigenous leadership in all strata
of society? 65
Both local resources and local thinking styles are at issue when we decide to make the
theological library a component of education. It is not a decision to make lightly. Of
course, the same can be said about the decision to translate, mass publish, and disseminate
the Bible. Even if we hold firmly to VM convictions, when practical benefit outweighs
idealism we must discern legitimate compromises. Undoubtedly, Christianity can
thrive and expand without access to theological texts. But what is most beneficial for the
urban Peruvian church: absolute economic independence or access to historical, social,
and global dialogue? This is a situational dilemma that cannot be reduced to a choice
between right and wrong but instead requires discernment of the contextually most beneficial
option—which in turn makes us vulnerable to error. We must pose such questions
prayerfully and humbly. And it is perhaps best to reiterate that our commitment to
missiological principles already excludes Western academic institutionalism, ministerial
professionalization, and economically unsustainable church forms.
I believe interculturality is the best mode for Latin American theological education—and
probably for the global church of the twenty-first century. In Peru, at least, it is already
an intelligible pedagogical framework. In this dialogical mode, which fosters theological
interdependence, hybridity, and “a new level of partnership that is fully bi-directional,”
it is a legitimate compromise for wealthy churches to put theological tools at the disposal
of under-resourced churches. 66 The use of those tools in a contextually appropriate educational
framework will require creativity, experimentation, a permanently repentant
heart, and attention to Latin American theologians who are already leading the way. 67
65 J. Andrew Kirk, “Re-envisioning the Theological Curriculum as if the Missio Dei Mattered,” Common
Ground Journal 3, no. 1 (Fall 2005): 33–34.
66 Timothy Tennent, “Theological Education in the Context of World Christianity,” keynote address at
the 2012 Lausanne Consultation on Global Theological Education, held at Gordon-Conwell Theological
Seminary, http://conversation.lausanne.org/uploads/resources/files/12418/Transcript_-_
Theological_Education_in_the_Context_of_World_Christianity_-_Timothy_Tennent.pdf.
67 See, e.g., the curriculum of the Centro de Estudios Teológicos Interdisciplinarios (CETI):
http://kairos.org.ar/images/pdfvarios/ceti/cetidiplomaturasprospecto.pdf. CETI is a ministry of
the Kairos Foundation:
[Kairos was] formed as a community in 1976 by a group of Christian leaders residing in Argentina.
Its main objective was the formation of disciples of Jesus Christ who would relate their faith to every
aspect of life and particularly to their own professions. In 1987 the community was registered as a
non-profit organisation called ‘Fundación Kairós’. For over thirty years Kairos has been inspired and
led by René and Catharine Padilla.”
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