Contextualisation

I'm reading Frost & Hirsch's The Shaping of Things to Come; a very stimulating book. As an aid to my thinking I try to consider the implications of the ideas in it with reference to any possible work I might do with the 'new age thinkers' around here. Something which struck me profoundly was the notion of contextualisation (chapter five).

There I came across the C1 to C6 spectrum proposed by 'John Travis' (a pseudonym for an evangelist amongst Muslim people). There's more at a couple of articles by 'Joshua Massey': "His Ways Are Not Our Ways" and "Misunderstanding C5". Basically Travis argues that, in Islam, there are six possible types of Christ-centred communities (C) in an Islamic context.

C1 is a typical transplant of a church from one country to another. Inside a C1 church, everything is almost exactly the same as it would be in its country of origin, including the language.

C2 is basically the same as C1, except C2 uses the local language. C2 doesn't use any Islamic religious vocabulary, but instead has a distinctively "Christian" vocabulary for religious description.

C3 is essentially the same as C2, except C3 uses local music styles, dress, art and other native cultural elements. C3 makes a clear distinction between practices that are purely "cultural" and those which are "Islamic." Islamic forms are rejected. C1-C3 believers all identify themselves as "Christians."

C4 is much like C3 but has also adopted biblically permissible Islamic forms and practices (e.g., praying prostrate; washing before prayer and before touching the Bible; abstaining from pork; etc.). C4 believers do not call themselves "Christians" but "followers of Isa (Jesus)." However, the Muslim community does not generally see C4 believers as fellow Muslims.

C5 is much like C4, with the primary difference being self-identity. Whereas C4 believers identify themselves as "followers of Isa," C5 believers identify themselves as "Muslim followers of Isa"—much like Messianic Jews, who call themselves "Jewish followers of Jesus." Islamic theology incompatible with the Bible is rejected. In contrast to C4, Muslims may view C5 believers as Muslim, though perhaps a "strange kind of Muslim."

C6 is a secret believer, who may or may not be an active member in the religious life of the Muslim community. (Taken from "His Ways Are Not Our Ways")

Does this typology have any reference to other 'faith communities' in the UK - specifically those who are 'New Age' worshippers? I think that I have been hovering around a C2 or C3 approach: you have to 'do church' but you can do it in ways which are more congenial to you (candles, incense, meditation, etc.) This is basically a "we'll change the trappings if you'll change your fundamentals" approach - which fits well with the notion of metanoia, or turning around, to be found in concepts of repentance and conversion, but may not be culturally appropriate.

The question is, what would a C4 or C5 New Ager look like? I don't know the answer but it is worth thinking about. I have a sense that they would reinterpret some forms of prediction as prophecy and some forms of clairvoyance as words of knowledge and so on.

Whether notions such as chi or chakras could be 'baptised' seems less certain. Quabala or Tantric yoga also seem a long way from authentic Christianity, even for C5.