Notes from the Road More Traveled: Doing Theology in a US Cultural Context

One of the most significant consequences of Vatican II has been the worldwide effort at inculturation and contextualization of the Christian tradition, particularly at the level of foundational theology and method. This process implies drawing on the unique patterns of thought, social structures, cultural narratives, and rituals to develop new theological and pastoral sensibilities. This process, termed “prophetic dialogue” by Steve Bevans and Roger Schroeder, [1] seems to be dramatically underway practically everywhere in the Roman Catholic world except, most notably, in the United States. While Hispanics/Latin@s, African Americans, Asian Americans, feminists, etc., have continuously served with an awareness of the need for contextualization, Euro-American academic and ecclesial theology has largely failed to analyze, articulate, and critique its own US cultural context and to engage it in a serious evangelical and theological dialogue. In this article, I propose to offer what I believe are four significant insights about to the task of inculturation/contextualization as it relates particularly to Euro-American theology in the church and academy in the coming decade. [1] Stephen B. Bevans And Roger P. Schroeder, Constant in Context: A Theology of Mission for Today, Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2004, 385-95. See also Bevans and Schroeder , Prophetic Dialogue: Reflections on Christian Mission Today, Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2011 .