Introduction
Introduction: Contextual Theology: Understanding Ourselves, Understanding God
Additional information, discussion, and resources
Zion’s Christian Soldiers? The Bible, Israel and the Church
This book from IVP confronts the theology behind Christian Zionism and offers some correctives. This is a great example of how theology influences the politics and policies of our nation. Here’s a little more from the IVP site:
“Many Bible-believing Christians are convinced that God blesses those nations that stand with Israel and curses those that don’t. This belief has had a significant influence on attitudes toward the ongoing Palestinian-Israeli conflict in the Middle East. Claims made in books like The Scofield Reference Bible and Hal Lindsey’s The Late Great Planet Earth have fed into contemporary Christian Zionism, with radical implications for how we view our faith and the world in which we life.
Stephen Sizer contends that this view is based on misinterpretation of the Bible. He provides an introduction to Christian Zionism and a clear response and positive alternative based on a careful study of relevant biblical texts.”
Latin American Theology: here’s an exceprt from an article about one of the leading theologians from Latin America.
“Gutiérrez focused on two landmark meetings of the Latin American bishops: Medellín, Colombia, in 1968, which first gave rise to the concept (if not yet to the precise phrase) of a “preferential option for the poor”; and the 2007 assembly in Aparecida, Brazil, which affirmed and consolidated that option, along with the broader legacy of liberation theology, following decades of controversy, acrimony, and official ambivalence.
The breakthrough at Medellín, Gutiérrez said, was shaped by two basic streams in Latin America during the 1960s: social and political upheaval, especially tension between authoritarian governments and the “eruption of the poor” as a political force; and post-Vatican II ferment in the Catholic church.”
