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Contextualization among Muslims : Reusing Common Pillars

  • Muslim-Christian Encounter
  • Abbr : MCE
  • 2017, 10(2), pp.55-111
  • DOI : 10.30532/mce.2017.09.10.2.55
  • Publisher : Torch Trinity Center for Islamic Studies
  • Research Area : Humanities > Christian Theology > Mission Theology
  • Received : August 30, 2017
  • Accepted : September 25, 2017
  • Published : September 30, 2017

Woodberry J. Dudley 1 Chung Seung-hyun 2

1풀러신학교
2주안대학원대학교

ABSTRACT

J. Dudley Woodberry carefully lays out how most of Islamic vocabularies and the five pillars of Islam initially belong to Jews and Christians, and then proposes how they can be re-used in the context of Christian missions by examining outcomes of two international conferences: The North American Conference for Muslim Evangelization held in Glen Eyrie, Colorado in 1978 where a number of foundational papers devoted to contextualization were included in the compendium The Gospel and Islam; the outcomes of international conference of the Muslim Track of the Lausanne Committee for World Evangelization in Zeist, Holland in 1987. After reviewing the research trends, Woodberry explained specifically that Jews and Christians mostly own and practiced the vocabulary and the five pillars of Islam. Among many vocabulary words, Woodberry explains the origins of Allah, Wahy (revelation), Nabi (prophet), Injil (Gospel), Qiblat (direction of prayer), and Salat (ritual prayer). Woodbury then proves the same for the five Islamic pillars; Shahada (confession of faith), Salat (Ritual prayer), Zakat (Almsgiving), Sawm (Fasting), and Hajj (Pilgrimage). Woodberry recognizes the difficulties of reusing the widely accepted five pillars as the core of Islam for Christian missions and presents concrete examples of contextualizing Islamic vocabulary and the five pillars in the context of Islam. Woodberry argues that this is necessary for training leaders to facilitate creative and new growth movements, finding balance with other matters of the church, discarding meaning in Muslim terms and reusing forms only, and overcoming ossified contextualization. Woodbury emphasizes that despite the challenges of contextualization, he witnesses God’s blessing which reuses the vocabulary and the five pillars of Islam to reach out to God’s new people.

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