Systematic Theology

Joseph Ogbonnaya, Marquette University (Wisconsin)
joseph.ogbonnaya@marquette.edu 
George Gilmore, Spring Hill College (Alabama)
ggilmore@shc.edu 

One of the major though silent revolutions in Christianity since 1968 is the global spread of Christianity to places that were not Christian before. Almost at the same time, there was the shrinking in the number of practicing Christians in places that was predominantly Christian. The success and the challenges of this shift demands the attention of systematic theology. For instance, despite the shift in the center of gravity of Christianity to the global South, intra-ecclesial tensions globally remain those of the relationship of culture to religion. The questions posed revolve around to what extent Western Christianity should be adapted to local cultures? Should we talk of Christianity in non-Western contexts or majority world Christianity? Is it appropriate to describe the shift as the emergence of global Christianity or world Christianity? Should Christianity in the global South mimic Christianity in the global North, or can they be different in the light of the diversity of their cultures? Can Africans, Asians, Latin Americans, Europeans and North Americans—the entire global community—speak of God in the same way? How is this shift to impact the writing of the history of Christianity? What should be the method of doing theology amidst variety of contextual theologies? What influence has classical theology over the local theologies? Papers should address these and other issues related to the implication of world christianity to systematic theology including but not limited to: 

• Constructing systematic theology in the World Church 
  
• Intra and extra ecclesial relations in World Christianity 
  
• Christian anthropology 
  
• social thought in World Christianity 
  
• The new evangelization/Church and mission 
  
• The impact/importance of classical theology