Some recent literature on global theology and worldview mirrors tendencies of the soteriological inclusivism of a previous theological generation. A bevy of titles on global evangelicalism and religious experience in the last ten years have articulated a variety of approaches accounting for culture’s influence on theology but also culture’s control over theological language. Whereas some substantially wrestle with the impact of culture on contextual theologies (Pardue, 2023), others forsake traditional doctrines like Trinity and historical resurrection due to guiding ideas about deity and story (Woodley, 2022). Prescriptive works sometimes recommend contextual theologians render new views of God based on their prior experience and categories of knowledge rather than biblical revelation so as not “to stop being who they knew they were” (Dyrness and García-Johnson, 2015, p. 73).
When such methods resist clearly defined concepts in the Bible, especially in the use of story, they risk conflating pagan beliefs with Christian practice. This move reflects several emphases common to general revelation and world religions inclusivism of the late twentieth century (e.g., Pinnock, 1992; Sanders, 1992). First, both movements place great value on the efficacy of general revelation across human experiences. Second, both movements highlight the universal work of the Holy Spirit across cultural boundaries. Third, both movements promote the use of contextual imagery and language to allow non-Westerners to speak of God in ways that fit their pre-evangelical experience. However, when these theologies forsake the necessity of traditional evangelical touchpoints, they also pull against the historic Christian discipline of having beliefs transformed by progressive revelation. In this paper, I will utilize theological interpretation of Scripture to critique the inclusivist tendencies of some globalized theological methods through the repeated confrontation of ignorance in the spread of the gospel.
This paper will set guardrails for “globalized” evangelical theological method through a theological exposition of gospel encounters in the Acts of the Apostles. The book of Acts presents the Christian reader with a consistent progression of ignorance, knowledge, and repentance as the gospel is presented in new contexts (Peter at Pentecost, Solomon’s Colonnade, and the Sanhedrin; Philip to the Ethiopian; Peter to Cornelius; Paul to Jews, Gentiles, and philosophers). Contrary to older “holy pagan” arguments, both those who already acknowledged special revelation in the Jewish faith and those who were less exposed to prior verbal revelation needed their ideas of God and his activity to be corrected. I argue that this confrontation must also apply to contextualized theologies seeking to maintain belief in prior stories and language which stem from experience but conflict with Scripture. Throughout Acts, the apostles are clear that theological ignorance is willful and without excuse, and they repeatedly proclaim that the time for ignorance has passed. As Christians today pursue God, then, we also should expect progressive revelation, particularly through the Bible, to reshape beliefs and actions shaped by culture prior to conversion.