Live and Speak About the Cross: Intercontextual Challenge for Global Christianity (Essay‪)‬

The idea that Christianity is a "world religion" may raise ambivalent feelings today for many Christians. On the one hand, contemporary discussion about mission has been sensitive to the history that the commission to a world mission in Matthew 28 has been often mingled with the theology of empire in this post-Constantinian era. On the other hand, we tend to forget the fact that not until the twentieth century did a "truly worldwide church" appear as actual fact, not as a theological self-understanding of the church. (1) In this connection with the global spread of Christianity, my concern, as the one nurtured in the context of Christianity as a super-minority in Japan, focuses on the challenging issue of how Christians understand others and collaborate for the reign of God. What theologies kindle mutual understanding with respect to difference as difference? At the same time, while counting on the unity of Christianity, it is hopeful to see the diverse perspectives that contextual theologies present. Diversity is welcome, but this is also the challenge I see: how does each contextual theology open itself to other contextual theologies? (2) Firmly set within the global theological context, I will argue in this article that a theology of the cross works from an intercontextual perspective. Exploring three theologians of the cross in the North American context, I find that their theologies of the cross prompt us to conceive of a type of dialogue engaging multiple contexts for theology across the boundaries of a single context. First, I will explicate what a theology of the cross is through the study of the three contemporary theologians of the cross. Then, I will summarize the significance of the intercontextual perspective in terms of a theology of the cross.